Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Review

The new GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is Nvidia's latest $400 GPU designed to supervene upon the RTX 2060 Super. This has been a long rumored release, and example in point, we have several cards on hand already.

Although we did non receive a Founders Edition model on time for this review, we practise have four AIB cards, including the Evga RTX 3060 Ti FTW3 Ultra, Asus ROG Strix RTX 3060 Ti, MSI RTX 3060 Ti Gaming X Trio and Gigabyte RTX 3060 Ti Gaming OC Pro. That's nice. Since the Gigabyte model arrived first we've used information technology for testing and will be representing the RTX 3060 Ti on our benchmarks, afterward on we'll explore what is unique about each card all the same.

Now, when compared to the RTX 2060 Super, the RTX 3060 Ti should be a substantial upgrade as in terms of specs it sits somewhat shut to the excellent RTX 3070. It packs merely 17% fewer cores, TMUs and ROPs. The retentivity subsystem remains the same, though we saw the aforementioned configuration with the 2060 Super, that's 8GB of GDDR6 memory clocked at 7000 MHz for a 14 Gbps transfer speed. The 256-bit wide memory double-decker results in a elevation bandwidth of 448 GB/south.

The cores are clocked 3.5% lower than the RTX 3070'southward at 1665 MHz. As a result the 3060 Ti has a lath power rating of 200 watts which is a xiv% increase from the 2060 Super. Given what we've seen from Ampere so far, we're expecting the 3060 Ti to exist a good fleck faster than the 2060 Super, though the real test should be how information technology fares against the outgoing Radeon RX 5700 XT.

GeForce	RTX 3080	RTX 3070	RTX 3060 Ti	RTX 2060 Super
Price MSRP	$700	$500	$400	$400
Release Date	September 2020	October 2020	Nov 2020	July 2019
Process	Samsung 8N			TSMC12FFN
Transistors (billion)	28.3	17.4		10.eight
Die Size (mm2)	628.4	392.five		754
Core Config	8704 / 272 / 96	5888 / 184 / 96	4864 / 152 / 80	2176 / 136 / 64
GPU Boost Clock	1710 MHz	1725 MHz	1655 MHz	1650 MHz
Memory Capacity	x GB	8GB
Retentivity Speed	nineteen Gbps	14 Gbps
Memory Blazon	GDDR6X	GDDR6
Motorcoach Blazon / Bandwidth	320-bit / 760 GB/s	256-fleck / 448 GB/s
TGP	320 watt	220 watt	200 watt	175 watt

After all, the 5700 XT is the previous generation $400 champ as it was over 20% faster than the 2060 Super on boilerplate, so we're dandy to run across if the 3060 Ti tin can finally put down AMD's first crack at their RDNA architecture.

For testing we're withal using our Ryzen 9 3950X test system, which will get upgraded to the 5950X as shortly every bit we can. The 3950X has little influence on the 1440p data and doesn't limit the 4K results at all, so for the most part very footling will change when moving to the 5950X, or and then we expect.

Speaking of resolutions, our focus on today's review will be on 1440p performance since this isn't a 4K graphics card. We've too dropped 1080p performance as scaling is very like to what will be shown at 1440p. With that said, nosotros have provided the 18 game average 1080p and 4K data, while also including it in our cost power frame analysis.

One last important detail, since nosotros are not testing Nvidia'south RTX 3060 Ti Founders Edition graphics card, we've tested using the Gigabyte Gaming OC Pro. This card comes with a 6% manufacturing plant overclock, so it will perform slightly better than cards following the reference or base of operations spec, delight be aware of that. On the upside, we're as well using the MSI Gaming X version of the 2060 Super which is also a factory overclocked, equally is the 5700 XT we tested, represented by PowerColor'due south Red Devil.

When we update all our benchmarking information with the Ryzen nine 5950X, we'll replace the Founder Edition results for the 3070, 3080 and 3090 with factory OC AIB models, nosotros'll also do the aforementioned for our Radeon RX 6800 and 6800 XT results. Truth be told, it won't make a huge deviation, a 6% overclock volition typically cyberspace you a 3 to four% performance uplift, only we wanted to exist transparent about what'due south going on here.

Benchmarks

Offset up we have Godfall and equally expected the 3060 Ti isn't a great deal slower than the RTX 3070, trailing by but a 13% margin with 62 fps on average. That meant information technology was nineteen% faster than the 5700 XT, which is a reasonable operation uplift. Of course, the massive 48% uplift over the 2060 Super is far more impressive.

Whereas Godfall is a new AMD sponsored title, Watch Dogs Legion is a new Nvidia sponsored title and unsurprisingly the 3060 Ti does fifty-fifty ameliorate here relative to the 5700 XT, beating the previous generation Radeon GPU by a 30% margin.

The RTX 3060 Ti is also 42% faster than the 2060 Super and just 13% slower than the 3070.

Having said all that, only 61 fps on average at 1440p isn't exactly amazing performance and we've yet to enable ray tracing, though we will look at that soon forth with DLSS functioning in this title.

The RTX 3060 Ti performs very well in Assassinator's Creed Valhalla, trailing the 3070 by just a 9% margin, though again we're only looking at 58 fps on boilerplate which absolutely is enough for this style of game, though I personally would tune the quality settings for reduced input latency.

When compared to the 2060 Super we're looking at an almost 30% performance boost, so that'southward dainty, though the 3060 Ti was only able to match the 5700 XT in this new AMD sponsored championship. So it would seem Nvidia has some driver optimization piece of work to practice.

Dirt 5 is yet another new AMD sponsored title and we find a situation where the 3060 Ti is slightly slower than the old 5700 XT, despite chirapsia the 2060 Super by a 30% margin. It will be interesting to see how the 5700 XT and 2060/2070 Super stack up by this time adjacent yr, we certainly seem to already be seeing a state of affairs where the RDNA compages is crumbling much amend than Turing.

Even in Death Stranding the new RTX 3060 Ti isn't a slap-up deal faster than the 5700 XT, beating it by a thirteen% margin despite abaft the 3070 by merely a nine% margin.

Nosotros're likewise talking about a massive 40% functioning uplift over the 2060 Super, so again while the 3060 Ti looks fantastic compared to Nvidia'southward previous $400 offering, it's far less impressive when compared to AMDs.

We are seeing a rather salubrious 25% performance boost for the 3060 Ti over the 5700 XT in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, taking the boilerplate frame rate at 1440p up to 40 fps on average. That means it'due south just 9% slower than the 3070 and almost 30% faster than the 2060 Super.

Even in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the 3060 Ti was just 9% slower than the RTX 3070 with 108 fps on average. It was besides much faster than the 5700 XT, beating it past almost 30% and a massive 46% margin over the 2060 Super, making Tomb Raider one of the best showings nonetheless for the 3060 Ti.

The RTX 3060 Ti remains strong in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Vi Siege, beating the 5700 XT by a convincing 24% margin and called-for the 2060 Super by an incredible 56%.

Information technology's likewise just 12% slower than the RTX 3070, so overall a swell consequence and non that far from the 2080 Ti, a card that one time fetched $1200.

F1 2020 has been a strong championship for AMD in the by and hither nosotros're seeing that the 3060 Ti is only able to trounce the 5700 XT by 7%, though we are seeing 2080 Super-like functioning from the 5700 XT, and so like nosotros said, this is a strong championship for AMD.

Despite the disappointing margin from the 5700 XT, the 3060 Ti was 51% faster than the 2060 Super, so that's a monstrous generational improvement for Nvidia at the $400 price signal.

We're again seeing the RTX 3060 Ti delivering RTX 2080 Super-like performance with 82 fps on average at 1440p in Gears 5, making information technology just 9% slower than the 3070. It was too 11% faster than the 5700 XT, despite chirapsia the 2060 Super by an almost 40% margin.

The Horizon Zero Dawn results are surprising every bit here the 3060 Ti was just 4% slower than the RTX 3070, delivering 92 fps on boilerplate, allowing it to vanquish even the RTX 2080 Ti. When compared to the 5700 XT we're looking at a 31% operation increase, so very impressive and a truly massive 61% increase over the 2060 Super.

We're looking at a decent 21% performance proceeds over the 5700 XT in World War Z. Too a massive 61% performance spring over the 2060 Super. When compared to the 3070, the RTX 3060 Ti was just eleven% slower, and then non much separating these two Ampere products.

Metro Exodus is 1 of the few games that'due south quite heavily CPU express with the Ryzen 9 3950X at 1440p, and as a result the 3060 Ti is simply iv% slower than the 3070. Despite that, the 3060 Ti doesn't appear all that CPU limited given it was still 27% faster than the 5700 XT and well-nigh 40% faster than the 2060 Super.

Testing with Resident Evil three reveals the 3060 Ti to exist simply 10% slower than the 3070 and this is fairly typical of what we've seen and then far. Even more than impressive is the fact that in this title information technology was 32% faster than the 5700 XT and 51% faster than the 2060 Super. That's a really nice upgrade at the $400 price bespeak.

The RTX 3060 Ti managed to edge out the 2080 Super, this fourth dimension in DOOM Eternal and that meant it was 99% faster than the RTX 2060 Super, pretty crazy stuff.

So basically the RTX 3060 Ti is a brute in Doom.

It was less impressive relative to the 5700 XT, though still a big gain at 42% faster. And then basically the RTX 3060 Ti is a fauna in Doom.

The RTX 3060 Ti also dominated the previous-generation contest in Wolfenstein: Youngblood, beating the 5700 XT past a 42% margin and the 2060 Super past a 56% margin. It was also a mere eleven% slower than the 3070 and 2080 Ti.

In the last game we tested, the 3060 Ti was just 10% slower than the RTX 3070 in Hitman two and 27% faster than the 5700 XT, so an excellent result here.

Nosotros're likewise looking at a 42% performance uplift over the 2060 Super, and then when compared to Nvidia'southward previous generation $400 function, the 3060 Ti looks amazing.

Average Gaming Performance

Hither's a await at the average performance seen across the xviii games tested. Although nosotros didn't spend time looking at 1080p functioning on each of the games tested then far, we did collect the data.

A await at the 1080p average data is below and as y'all tin see at this lower resolution the RTX 3060 Ti was on boilerplate simply 8% slower than the RTX 3070, though be aware at times the 3070 will accept been express by the CPU.

Still, for those gaming at 1080p with a CPU similar (or slower) than the Ryzen nine 3950X, the 3060 Ti won't be much slower than the RTX 3070, though it also won't be much faster than the older Radeon RX 5700 XT. Here nosotros see a 15% operation uplift on boilerplate.

When compared to the 2060 Super we are looking at a rather massive 41% functioning improvement, so that's quite impressive.

Now at 1440p nosotros're almost never CPU limited, with the exception of 2 or iii titles.

The 3060 Ti is ix% slower on average when compared to the RTX 3070, which is similar to the margin seen at 1080p. The GeForce does extend its atomic number 82 over the 5700 XT out to 21%, which is a decent performance uplift, while not an extreme leap for a side by side generation GPU.

Of course, the super impressive leap is seen when looking at the RTX 2060 Super. Here the new RTX 3060 Ti is on average 50% faster at 1440p and that's a serious generational improvement.

At 4K, the RTX 3060 Ti is seen trailing the 3070 by but 12%, which is a surprisingly small margin. It'south also now 28% faster than the 5700 XT which is a decent margin, though in our opinion neither are really suitable for 4K gaming. The cut off hither nosotros'd say is the 2080 Ti / RTX 3070 and even the 3070 might be questionable moving forward with its limited 8GB VRAM buffer.

Cost Per Frame

Time for a look at the price per frame and for at present we're going to stick with the MSRP data for the 1080p results. We'll make some adjustments to the 1440p results, which we'll look at in a moment.

In a perfect world, where the MSRP meant something, the RTX 3060 Ti would be coming in well below annihilation we've previously seen in terms of cost per frame...

Only let's move to the 1440p results to continue this discussion.

We'll outset with an MSRP comparison before looking at retail prices. When compared to the RTX 3070, the 3060 Ti should be coming in offer 13% more value per frame and 14% when compared to the RX 6800.

Now, when compared to the approachable models like the 2060 Super and 5700 XT, the 3060 Ti is xviii% more affordable per frame when compared to the 5700 XT and 33% more affordable when compared to the 2060 Super. Given the functioning just seen and the fact that they should all cost $400, no surprises there.

Only what nearly actual retail prices? Well let's start with pricing over at Newegg. Now exist aware almost all of these graphics cards are out of stock and while the Ampere GPUs have seen numerous re-supplies, they sell out instantly.

What we're looking at here is the cheapest listing price for each AIB model, there are three 3070 AIB cards at the MSRP and three 3080 cards at the MSRP. There is a unmarried 6800 that'south simply below the MSRP, it'due south the PowerColor Fighter and at that place's another at the MSRP. The 6800 XT though doesn't have any AIB models at the MSRP, the cheapest existence the Sapphire Nitro+ at $770.

Finally, there's a few 5700 XT's at $400, but the vanilla 5700's are all overpriced, presumably due to a lack of supply at the moment. Taking those listings this is what we terminate upward with. Basically the 3060 Ti is however great value with the RX 6800 too looking very practiced, albeit at a much higher toll. The RTX 3070 also looks good though it is coming in at a 14% premium per frame when compared to the 3060 Ti.

It'due south really just the 6800 XT that looks a bit weak here, though it's not likewise bad compared to the RTX 3080, at least for those wanting to game at 1440p.

Ray Tracing Performance

For ray tracing and DLSS performance, we're going to have a look at 1080p and 1440p performance. We'll exist comparing the RTX 3060 Ti with the 2060 Super and the RX 6800, which is currently the cheapest Radeon GPU that supports ray tracing, though it'southward not a directly competitor for the 3060 Ti.

As we saw before, the 3060 Ti is 34% faster than the 2060 Super in Watch Dogs Legion at 1080p and with ray tracing enabled that margin doesn't change much, using ultra quality ray tracing the RTX 3060 Ti is 38% faster and 41% faster with medium quality RT.

We're then looking at a 36-42% margin when RT + DLSS enabled and then merely a 26% margin with both using just DLSS. So while Nvidia has optimized the 2nd-gen RT cores and tertiary-gen Tensor cores, there's no tangible improvement in performance at the finish of the day given there'due south less of them. An efficiency comeback sure, but an actual operation improvement relative to the standard rasterization performance, not so much.

The RTX 3060 Ti will offer like ray tracing functioning to that of the 2080 Super, which is proficient for a $400 graphics card, simply how useful that is at this functioning tier will depend on your standards.

Personally, gaming at 60 fps feels pretty sluggish for me, even games similar Watch Dogs, I like to play at around xc fps, the input but feels a lot ameliorate and I favor input over visual quality, at to the lowest degree when information technology ways playing at or below near ninety fps.

Of class, anybody is dissimilar, so if you're happy gaming at around 60 fps then the RTX 3060 Ti will evangelize a expert experience at 1080p with DLSS enabled.

We also find the visual upgrade from 1080p to 1440p to exist massive, certainly bigger than the upgrade from 1440p to 4K, which is probably one reason why gamers aren't rushing to 4K. Anyhow, if you want to play at 1440p you'll have to be okay with less than 60 fps with DLSS enabled and you can expect regular dips downwards in the low 40s. The game is unplayable using RT in my stance without DLSS enabled.

Again, my personal preferences would come across me disable ray tracing entirely in Watch Dogs Legion with an RTX 3060 Ti and instead become with quality DLSS for 77 fps on average which saw frame rates consistently above 60 fps. For this championship and likely many others that support DLSS 2.0, the RTX 3060 Ti can deliver a amend experience than even the Radeon RX 6800, and that'southward very impressive.

Power Consumption

Because we don't take the base of operations Founders Edition model on hand, these power figures are going to be a bit all over the place, and therefore we've tested all four AIB models which may be even meliorate for futurity reference.

As you can see on the graph below, the Asus ROG Strix model used the to the lowest degree amount of power, but even so total system consumption was increased by a few watts when compared to the RTX 3070 Founders Edition.

The 3060 Ti Iron model should utilize around 20 watts less power, making these AIB models a lot less efficient, idea that'southward fairly typical.

Using Nvidia's PCAT to await at board power specifically, we see that the Asus ROG Strix model uses the aforementioned power as the RTX 3070 Founders Edition at 226 watts, which is 200 watts over the base of operations spec.

The MSI Gaming X Trio is way more power hungry though hitting 255 watts which is well over spec, presumably MSI's been aggressive with their stock voltage.

For performance per watt, we're using the Gigabyte Gaming OC Pro data equally that's the model we used for all game benchmarks. Nosotros're also using the 1440p data, previously nosotros've focused on the 4K data for this which is much more favorable for the higher-cease Ampere GPUs which practise scale better at this college resolution.

At 1440p nosotros've seen simply how inefficient the 3080 and 3090 are in terms of performance, and as a result performance per watt isn't as impressive as what nosotros've seen at 4K.

The RTX 3070, which scales more consistently does fair every well, losing but to the RX 6800. The Gigabyte RTX 3060 Ti Gaming OC Pro though uses the same amount of power as the RTX 3070 Founders Edition and therefore doesn't score every bit well, though the performance per watt is even so quite expert. If we had the FE model to test, we imagine the 3060 Ti would exist comparable to the 3070.

Thermal Functioning

Permit'southward talk a bit most thermal operation, fan speeds and operating clock speeds. Starting with the Gigabyte Gaming OC Pro, it peaked at just 67C, which is a fairly low temperature, though the fan speed was very loftier as 2100 RPM.

In that location's the choice of a silent BIOS only due to extreme time constraints we've but been able to test each of these four AIB graphics cards using the primary or default BIOS. So, 67C with a 2100 RPM fan speed and maintaining a clock speed of 1950 MHz after xxx minutes of gameplay. By the way, all this testing was conducted in the Corsair Obsidian 500D, with a 21C ambient temperature.

Next up nosotros take the Asus ROG Strix which peaked at just 58C, that's a 9C improvement on the Gigabyte model, though you tin expect the Strix card to fetch a higher price. Anyway, 58C with a 1600 RPM fan speed, an excellent outcome.

The Evga FTW3 Ultra peaked at 72C with a 2000 RPM fan speed, that'south the worst result nosotros've seen so far and although the clock speed was ane.5% higher at 1980 MHz, that's a negligible departure.

Finally, the MSI Gaming X Trio which is another premium RTX 3060 Ti and this model peaked at just 61C with an 1800 RPM fan speed, though like the EVGA version it maintained a core clock speed of 1980 MHz. Based on this quick look, nosotros'd say the all-time model here is the Asus ROG Strix, though information technology'due south likely to cost the most, and then the MSI Gaming X Trio.

Overclocking

Hither's a wait at overclocking with the Asus ROG Strix RTX 3060 Ti, given how cool this model ran we decided to use information technology for overclocking.

It managed a stable 2.1 GHz for the cores, while the retention accomplished 16 Gbps and this resulted in a further 9% performance which placed it on par with a stock base spec RTX 3070. Not bad, though fairly typical for these new Ampere GPUs.

What We Learned

The RTX 3060 Ti is a mighty impressive upgrade when compared to Nvidia's previous $400 offer, the RTX 2060 Super, offer 50% more than performance at the aforementioned toll bespeak. The 2060 Super wasn't exactly great value withal, same equally most of Turing's lineup, and in this price range the go to selection for all-time operation for your dollar was the Radeon RX 5700 XT. In that comparison, the RTX 3060 Ti is offering about 20% more than performance.

The 5700 XT has been bachelor for about 18 months, so a 20% heave in that timeframe isn't bad, it's just not globe shattering. Had the RTX 3060 Ti offered more VRAM, it'd be a bit more than exciting and perhaps more enticing for someone already rocking a 5700 series GPU.

The RTX 3060 Ti is a corking upgrade option for those with something like a GTX 1070, who decided to skip Turing, the ray tracing hype generation that offered very fiddling in the way of a price per frame improvement. For those with a GTX 1070, yous're looking at a 90% performance uplift on average at 1440p, while GTX 1080 owners are looking at a solid 60% performance uplift. You're also getting ray tracing support, which equally you know from previous reviews, it'southward non something I personally find relevant because of the minor just growing list of games supported (and consequent functioning hit).

Allow'south talk a fleck nearly that, and know that this is all based on my personal preferences... First, we're non downward to play at 1080p, particularly when spending $400 (or more than) on a graphics card. That'due south just also much to be spending on a 1080p experience, unless you're doing it for professional competitive gaming. In my view, 1440p offers a significant visual upgrade and considering of this I haven't used a 1080p brandish in over a decade -- not since 2008 when I purchased my first 2560x1600 monitor, an investment that was with me for almost a decade.

That being the instance, 1080p ray tracing performance only isn't where it's at for me. These cards demand to deliver at 1440p and a sub-60 FPS feel when leveraging DLSS is non something we're particularly interested in. So for me the RTX 3060 Ti technically doesn't support ray tracing as it can't evangelize an acceptable level of gaming operation with it enabled, even with the aid of DLSS.

On the other mitt, what is a very swell feature and something we'd absolutely use is DLSS.

Going from 61 fps in Sentry Dogs Legion to 77 fps with no noticeable downgrade to the visuals is a big bargain. It's likewise a feature nosotros'd use in more competitive games, such as Fortnite, for instance, which now also supports DLSS. Fortnite supports ray tracing, but it'southward a complete waste even with an RTX 3090, as whatsoever one-half decent gamer will be turning most furnishings downwardly or entirely off, for competitive advantage, and that'due south exactly what we do.

For those of you who are wondering why we didn't enable DLSS for the benchmarks we but saw in the games that support it, similar Expiry Stranding for instance, in short we adopt to show native operation as that's an apples to apples comparison. DLSS while super impressive, isn't ever flawless, sometimes suffering from artifacts where it fails to properly fill in the missing information. AMD has said they have their own DLSS-blazon technology on the way, and promise to accept it supported by a much broader range of games. That could drastically modify this discussion in the nigh future, only of course, we'll have to wait and meet on that one.

No matter which way y'all slice it though, right at present the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is the all-time value $400 graphics card on the market. In that location's simply no way you'd invest in a Radeon RX 5700 XT beyond this bespeak. And then again, if availability is annihilation similar what we're seen with the 3070, 3080 and 3090, buying a 3060 Ti is going to be extremely hard at launch. Based on what we're hearing, availability will be like to that of the RTX 3070. There will be some RTX 3060 Ti stock available just information technology'll sell out right away and will exist hard to get for the side by side few weeks.

Another relevant bespeak to this conversation, of the 4 3060 Ti graphics cards we take on manus, none of them volition be available at the $400 MSRP. The Evga RTX 3060 Ti FTW3 Ultra is expected to cost $450, while the MSI RTX 3060 Ti Gaming X Trio will starting time at $470, and nosotros look we'll see a similar price for the Gigabyte RTX 3060 Ti Gaming OC Pro. Asus didn't get usa proper pricing in time for this review, but remainder bodacious that the ROG Strix model will price at to the lowest degree $500, at which indicate you might as well start looking at buying an RTX 3070 instead.