The RTX 3060 Ti – Everything We Know About Nvidia’s New Graphics Card

Today (December 1st) Nvidia has lifted its embargo for reviews of the RTX 3060 Ti graphics card, and have definitively confirmed that the card will actually be released on December 2nd 2020! Before rejoicing commences however, there’s no indication that the release of the new Nvidia GPU will not be plagued by the same stock issues that have faced the rest Nvidia and AMD’s graphics card releases this year, meaning that when you will actually be able to get hold of the card is still a very large question mark.

Nevertheless, a new graphics card on the block is still an exciting event, particularly if it means better performance per cost for the end consumer. The RTX 3060 Ti is aimed directly at those looking for decent performance on the latest games without breaking the bank and is purported by Nvidia to be of a similar power to its RTX 2080 Super of the previous generation, but for an impressive $300 less than the older card originally retailed at (the RTX Super Founders Edition card was released in July 2019 for $699).

Without further ado let’s have a look at how the two cards stack up in terms of specifications and, most importantly, FPS performance.

Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti vs 2080 Super - specification comparison

	RTX 3060 Ti	RTX 2080 Super
Boost Clock	1,665Mhz	1815MHz
CUDA Cores	4,864	3,072
Tensor Cores	152	384
RT Cores	38	48
Memory	8GB GDDR6	8GB GDDR6
ROPs	80	64
Power Needs	200	250
RRP	$399	$699

Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti Gaming Performance Comparison (Founders Edition)

As we can see from the graphs below, the RTX 3060 Ti Founders Edition has approximately the same FPS results as the 2080 Super in Shadow Of The Tomb Raider and Microsoft Flight Simulator at 1440p (the 2-3FPS gain in these titles being within the margin of error for the test). For CS:GO at 1080p however the increase is actually quite significant. Not bad for a card retailing at $300 cheaper.

Interestingly we can also see that, whilst AMD’s RX 6800 performs substantially better in most situations (as you’d expect for a card which costs $180 more at an RRP of $580), when Direct X Ray Tracing (DXR) is turned on in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, this difference in performance drops significantly. This really shows what a difference Nvidia’s edge in this area can make, even for graphics cards at a much lower price point.

Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti 4K Gaming Performance Comparison (Founders Edition)

In terms of 4K performance, as shown in the below charts, the RTX 3060 Ti suffers somewhat, producing only 53 FPS on average in Shadow Of The Tomb Raider on the highest settings when Direct X Ray Tracing (DXR) is turned off and really struggling when DXR is turned on, coming in around 34 FPS on average. Anything below 60 FPS, even on a single player non-competitive game, will produce noticeably choppy gameplay, and isn’t recommended unless you are particularly unfazed by such things. Titles like Microsoft Flight Simulator, which is a particularly demanding game, are slight exceptions to this as even on high end cards 60 FPS can be quite difficult to attain during graphically intensive sections of the game (such as during the Sydney Landing Challenge).

This is not to say that on some single player titles, if you are willing to play the game on medium settings, the RTX 3060 Ti would not manage, but ultimately if you want a graphics card capable of proper 4K gaming support you are going to have to spend more money. We would recommend an Nvidia RTX 3080 or AMD Radeon 6800 XT or higher for solid 4K performance, if you can get hold of them.

Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti Productivity and Workstation Performance Comparison

In terms of the comparative performance of the RTX 3060 Ti in workstation and productivity workloads, early indications suggest that the RTX 3060 Ti beats the older 2080 Super by a substantial margin, getting close to the performance offered by the significantly more expensive RTX 3070.

We can ascribe this boost to greater technological improvements in the 3000 series architecture, over the previous generation, along with the higher number of CUDA cores in the 3060 Ti over the 2080 Super.

Tests conducted by other independent benchmarkers confirm this assessment, with the RTX 3060 Ti beating the 2080 Super in Octanebench and SPECviewperf 2020.

Where To Buy The RTX 3060 Ti?

At this stage, stock levels for the RTX 3060 Ti are unknown. If the previous year is anything to go by, it might be late 2021 before stock levels catch up to demand for this card. Of course Nvidia could have an ace up its sleeve in the battle with AMD and surprise us all with a full and ready inventory of cards good to go, but we are somewhat sceptical.

Whatever ends up happening, be sure to check out our page on where to buy the RTX 3060 Ti for the latest.

Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti vs AMD - How Will AMD Answer?

The launch of AMD’s Radeon 6000 series back in Autumn 2020 was a direct challenge to Nvidia’s dominance of the higher end of the GPU market, with an emphasis on performance over price savings. As a result we have not yet seen a card occupying the same price/performance niche as the 3060Ti, something which disappointed fans of AMD’s earlier releases which catered more to the middle to budget end of the GPU spectrum.

Nevertheless, you can bet your sweet bippy that sometime in the first half of 2021 AMD will announce either a 6700XT, a 6700, a 6600XT or a 6600 GPU. Normally one might think this would be too late and AMD would lose market share of this price point to Nvidia, however given the aforementioned stock issues, AMD could feasibly end up releasing a competing card about the same time that people can actually get hold of the Nvidia 3060 Ti.

Whatever happens, stock issues aside, this is a great time to be a PC gamer – competition between the Red team and the Green team can only mean better value for the consumer and we are excited to see what AMD’s answer to the 3060 Ti will be. Nevertheless, would still advise snapping up a 3060 Ti now if you’re able to get one at RRP (i.e. not an inflated scalper’s price), rather than wait however long for a competing AMD card to come out.

In Summary

Nvidia have definitely achieved their stated aim in bringing a card that delivers 2080 Super level performance but for a fraction of the cost. Whilst the RTX 3060 Ti does not beat the 2080 Ti it does certainly offer an impressive amount of power per price over the previous generation.

If you have a particular interest in playing games with Ray Tracing functionality then the RTX 3060 Ti would be a great “affordable” option for gaming at 1440p or 1080p, though if you want a card powerful enough to run titles on a 4K screen at respectable FPS you will still have to fork out the extra money and buy either a RTX 3080 or AMD’s 6800 XT, or higher!

All in all, if the above sounds like something you are looking for, the Nvidia RTX 3060 TI is a fantastic value card that we highly recommend trying to get hold of ASAP, assuming you can find one in stock. Bear in mind that all of the above pricing and performance applies to the Nvidia Founders Edition of the card – we can expect to see different figures for both from various third-party cards, due to release at the same time.