Nvidia plans to continue producing the RTX 3060 into 2024, recommends price drops

[AlphaX]

In context: Despite launching over three years ago and being succeeded by the RTX 40 series, Nvidia has continued to provide some updates to GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards. This time around, Nvidia has requested that manufacturers and retailers make yet another change to the RTX 3060.

According to Board Channels, a Chinese product information source, Nvidia plans to continue distributing RTX 3060 GPUs at least until Q1 2024. Shipments may cease starting in Q2 2024, but this will depend on manufacturers' interest in continuing RTX 3060 sales.

Nvidia has requested that these new shipments be priced under 2,000 RMB, which is roughly $280. The strategy aims to maintain the RTX 3060's competitive pricing against AMD's slightly more powerful rivals, the Radeon RX 6700 XT and the Radeon RX 6750 GRE.

Last year, Nvidia made a rather peculiar update to the RTX 3060 graphics card last year, re-releasing it with reduced memory capacity. This change was unusual: Nvidia reduced the capacity from 12 GB to 8 GB, aligning it with the slightly more powerful RTX 3060 Ti. In an era where games increasingly demand more memory, this decision seemed counterintuitive for consumers, particularly as the price remained at the original MSRP.

Also read: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 8GB: Why You Should Avoid It

As the RTX 3060 approaches its third anniversary, the graphics card had yet to experience a significant price reduction. Whether it's the original 12 GB model or the 8 GB version, the prices have generally hovered around the intended MSRP of $330. However, in recent months, the cards have started to drop below $300.

Typically, Nvidia starts phasing out previous-gen cards about a year after launching new ones. With the RTX 4060 released in June 2023, the RTX 3060's prominence might be short-lived but given the novel demand for AI GPUs, maybe this could change.

In the meantime, in response to Nvidia's requests, the Asia-exclusive graphics card manufacturer Onda has already launched its latest RTX 3060 model, the RTX 3060 Aegis 12GD6-B V2, priced at 1,899 RMB (approximately $268). It remains to be seen if or when AIBs and manufacturers in other regions will adhere to Nvidia's pricing recommendation.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/101042-nvidia-plans-continue-producing-rtx-3060-2024-recommends.html

 

[yukka]

I take issue with the 3060ti being “slightly more powerful” than the 3060

Must be a reason why the inferior card particularly at 1440p is the one Nvidia want to mass produce. 3060ti is around 2080 super performance while the 3060 is nearer the 2070 and 5700xt.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Review

The GeForce RTX 3060 is Nvidia's latest $330 desktop GPU offering that you're unlikely to find at its suggested retail price. But what does that mean for...

www.techspot.com

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I feel like NV could have gotten away with simply rebranding most of the 3xxx series as 4xxx (all the cards through AM104) , keeping them on Samsung to keep costs down, and then dropping the 4070ti/4080/4090 on top to replace AM102 and up performance with the expensive to produce parts.

 

[RudyBob]

$250 - $300 Is all I would ever pay for a future closet videocard. It might be time to upgrade

 

[yRaz]

A 3060 12gb for $250-300 would be a welcome change, even for me and I make no secret about my recent hate for nVidia over the last year. At these performance levels things like RT is a non issue but I'm certain that people would love DLSS at that price point. I forget if they can add support for frame gen on the 30 series but in this market a 3060 12gb level of performance for $250 would a game changer.

It seems like everyone is obsessed with the 4090, with good reason, but most people aren't buying 4090's. My next card will likely be a 7900XT if I can find one for ~$700. The 7900XTX needs to drop down from its $1000 price point. Sure, it can be found for $20-30 under that, but it's basically a $1000 card and it's not worth $1000. Only reason I think it's holding that price is the 4080 is still $1200.

There will always be a need for ultra-highend cards but this market is absurd. It's like nVidia is gimping their lowend in order to make the highend cards look like a better value. AMD isn't doing a much better job, either, but the rx7600 is a nice card for its price range but it needs to be at $250, not the $270-300 range I often see it at.

 

[rmcrys]

I bought 1.5 years ago a RTX 3060Ti 8 GB for 200€, second hand (just one year old, personal use, no bitcoin mining) and it’s working fine. I won’t give any more money to these companies so that a couple of years afterwards it is already outdated.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

I take issue with the 3060ti being “slightly more powerful” than the 3060

Must be a reason why the inferior card particularly at 1440p is the one Nvidia want to mass produce. 3060ti is around 2080 super performance while the 3060 is nearer the 2070 and 5700xt.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Review

The GeForce RTX 3060 is Nvidia's latest $330 desktop GPU offering that you're unlikely to find at its suggested retail price. But what does that mean for...

www.techspot.com

Unfortunately the dimwits at Nvidia fitted the wrong card with 12GB. The 3060 Ti will often run like total crap due to memory issues. To repeat this mistake with the grossly overpriced 4050 Ti erm I mean 4060 Ti just shows the contempt they have for the consumers.

 

[jbc029]

3060 performance has been available below $250 for months. It's called a 6650xt.

 

[rmcrys]

3060 performance has been available below $250 for months. It's called a 6650xt.

Not really: RT, DLSS and driver quality is superior on Nvidia.

 

[nnguy2]

Not really: RT, DLSS and driver quality is superior on Nvidia.

RT.. really? on a 3060 card that can barely run 1440p Ultra?

 

[jbc029]

Not really: RT, DLSS and driver quality is superior on Nvidia.

No. A 3060 cannot do RT well. Nothing new below $400 can. DLSS is matginally better than FSR. Both have decent drivers.

Speaking as both a 3080 12GB and a 6950 owner. I *know* DLSS is only marginally better for upscaled 1440p.

 

[takaozo]

For 1440p anything below 3080 it's lower than 60 fps in majority of newer games.

Here is the comparison chart in percentage.

And here is the FPS for some games.

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/asus-geforce-rtx-4060-strix-oc/34.html

I own a 3070 and have a first hand experience with RT and 1440p...not usable.

 

[emmzo]

I feel like NV could have gotten away with simply rebranding most of the 3xxx series as 4xxx (all the cards through AM104) , keeping them on Samsung to keep costs down, and then dropping the 4070ti/4080/4090 on top to replace AM102 and up performance with the expensive to produce parts.

Rebranding is AMD's game. Nvidia's is making marginally better chips with 10x price or more.

 

[rmcrys]

RT.. really? on a 3060 card that can barely run 1440p Ultra?

No. A 3060 cannot do RT well. Nothing new below $400 can. DLSS is matginally better than FSR. Both have decent drivers.

Speaking as both a 3080 12GB and a 6950 owner. I *know* DLSS is only marginally better for upscaled 1440p.

Even if the RT performance is not good enough, it’s still better than AMD’s; vídeo encoding, CUDA engine for professional apps and so on, are better than from AMD’s.

“Both have decent drivers”: no, AMD has decent drivers, NVIDIA has good drivers. That’s why most games work more stable, why DLSS tech implementation is better and so on. At same price or even a little lower for AMD, Nvidia sells more because their tech and drivers are better.

And I have no special love for any of them, but with AMD/ATI or Intel iGPUs I never had really reliable experiences, with Nvidia…the opposite, I never had any troubles.

 

[yRaz]

Even if the RT performance is not good enough, it’s still better than AMD’s; vídeo encoding, CUDA engine for professional apps and so on, are better than from AMD’s.

“Both have decent drivers”: no, AMD has decent drivers, NVIDIA has good drivers. That’s why most games work more stable, why DLSS tech implementation is better and so on. At same price or even a little lower for AMD, Nvidia sells more because their tech and drivers are better.

And I have no special love for any of them, but with AMD/ATI or Intel iGPUs I never had really reliable experiences, with Nvidia…the opposite, I never had any troubles.

Professionals are not using a 3060. There is no reason to buy an nVidia card on the low end. I also don't understand what everyone's issue with AMD drivers are. I game on LINUX and have less issues with my 6700xt than I did with my 1070ti.

Also, AMD has open source drivers, fixes are often

 

[Bobbygdue]

Even if the RT performance is not good enough, it’s still better than AMD’s; vídeo encoding, CUDA engine for professional apps and so on, are better than from AMD’s.

“Both have decent drivers”: no, AMD has decent drivers, NVIDIA has good drivers. That’s why most games work more stable, why DLSS tech implementation is better and so on. At same price or even a little lower for AMD, Nvidia sells more because their tech and drivers are better.

And I have no special love for any of them, but with AMD/ATI or Intel iGPUs I never had really reliable experiences, with Nvidia…the opposite, I never had any troubles.

Better RT performance only means something when it's at playable frame rates. I would never use RT performance on such a low-level card to argue any performance for or against anything.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Professionals are not using a 3060. There is no reason to buy an nVidia card on the low end. I also don't understand what everyone's issue with AMD drivers are. I game on LINUX and have less issues with my 6700xt than I did with my 1070ti.

Also, AMD has open source drivers, fixes are often

AMD has a LONG storied history of bad driver. It took them 12 years after buying ATi to admit their drivers were crap, and another 3 to fully fix them.

that kind of thing sticks with users a long time. Us linux bois get the best AMD can offer, but its worth noting the windows drivers are NOT open source and rely on AMD. Things like rDNA2 falling behind ampere because AMD didnt release a driver for 3 months do not help this image.

I feel like NV could have gotten away with simply rebranding most of the 3xxx series as 4xxx (all the cards through AM104) , keeping them on Samsung to keep costs down, and then dropping the 4070ti/4080/4090 on top to replace AM102 and up performance with the expensive to produce parts.

The entire ada generation has been full of mess. Nvidia really doesnt want to give up ampere, for some reason.

I agree that simply stopping at the 4070ti would have made more sense, except we DID get a low profile 4060. That was worth it.

 

[yukka]

Unfortunately the dimwits at Nvidia fitted the wrong card with 12GB. The 3060 Ti will often run like total crap due to memory issues. To repeat this mistake with the grossly overpriced 4050 Ti erm I mean 4060 Ti just shows the contempt they have for the consumers.

3060ti will only run like total crap if you load it up with visual settings that aren’t realistic. Cyberpunk on Ultra settings @ 1440P runs under 60fps. Cyberpunk 2077 with hardware unboxed optimised (quality) settings is 70fps with 100+ using DLSS quality. Most of my games look stunning @ 120fps. If they didn’t I’d buy a different card.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

3060ti will only run like total crap if you load it up with visual settings that aren’t realistic. Cyberpunk on Ultra settings @ 1440P runs under 60fps. Cyberpunk 2077 with hardware unboxed optimised (quality) settings is 70fps with 100+ using DLSS quality. Most of my games look stunning @ 120fps. If they didn’t I’d buy a different card.

Those settings are not unrealistic, they are held back by an artificially low VRAM ceiling.

You somehow completely missed that part.

 

[yukka]

Those settings are not unrealistic, they are held back by an artificially low VRAM ceiling.

You somehow completely missed that part.

I underestimated the FPS on Ultra for the 3060ti. Its 60+ happily on Ultra @1440p and in the 70-80s with DLSS quality. It’s a 3060ti not a 3070 or a 3080, bought for msrp on day of release in the middle of a pandemic and 4-8Gb extra VRAM it would have sent the £419 purchase price soaring above £500. With volumetric cloud resolution and volumetric cloud quality on medium, and screen space reflections on medium, its in the high 90s without DLSS. 120+ FPS with DLSS quality (I played half the game with DLSS off and then put DLSS on and didn't notice/bat an eyelid - 120+ fps vs 70fps - and if there is loss of detail then it doesn't bother me enough to switch it back).

Saying "The 3060ti will often run like total crap due to memory issues" makes it sound like the 3060ti just randomly often runs like crap and there is nothing anyone can do about it which is untrue because PC games scale and you can always scale settings to suit your GPU. It would be better to have more VRAM but that would have added considerably more money on to the card and I think the architecture for the 3060ti and 3070 doesn't allow for 12GB of VRAM so it would have been 16GB or nothing. I don't have a problem with it shipping with 8GB and I will turn settings down to keep the fps up until I don't like the results. I won't put up with it "running like total crap" but it won't run like total crap because I will optimise the settings for my own graphics card.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

Title: Nvidia is continuing to make the 3060 in 2024 and lower the price!

Article: Nvidia is continuing to make the 3060 until Q1 2024 and the price was lower during black Friday which might continue in 2024.