In brief: It seems the long-running rumor that Nvidia is bringing back the RTX 3060 in response to the memory crisis has proven accurate. According to a new report, the Ampere-era card has now been made available to purchase in China, presumably ahead of a wider global rollout.
Claims that Nvidia could restart production of the incredibly popular RTX 3060 12GB first surfaced in January. The card was originally discontinued in 2024 and it's believed that all warehouse inventory was depleted in December 2025, but RAMageddon has caused huge disruption to graphics card supply, especially those that use GDDR7 memory (I.e., almost all of the RTX 5000 series).
In April, prolific leaker MEGAsizeGPU wrote that Nvidia would relaunch the RTX 3060 in June. A few weeks later, a post on the Chinese forum Board Channels put the launch window sometime in July.
Now, a new Board Channels post claims that Chinese manufacturer Colorful has sent its Battle Axe RTX 3060 Duo 12GB V2 to some stores in China. It adds that the bulk wholesale price is 2,199 RMB, which converts to around $325.
The initial allocation of cards is said to be very small – only a few dozen units per region – but Colorful is apparently going to start regular weekly restocks to ensure a stable supply.
VideoCardz writes that Colorful's official store has the card listed at 2,349 RMB, or around $347; its original MSRP in 2021 was $329. It also states that shipments start this week, with delivery expected before June 5.
The obvious question is why Nvidia would revive the RTX 3060 rather than the newer RTX 4060. The answer likely comes down to manufacturing capacity. The RTX 4060's AD107 GPU is built on TSMC's custom 4N process, which Nvidia also uses across much of its more recent product stack. Bringing that card back in larger numbers could put it in competition with higher-margin products, especially AI accelerators, for the same wafer supply.
The RTX 3060, by contrast, is based on the older GA106 GPU made on Samsung's 8N node. That gives Nvidia a way to increase supply without eating into its more valuable TSMC allocations.
There is also the memory factor. With 12GB of VRAM, the RTX 3060 still has a marketing advantage over the 8GB RTX 4060 at a time when graphics memory capacity has become an increasingly important selling point for gamers.
Five years after it launched, the RTX 3060 remains the most popular GPU among participants of the Steam survey, illustrating its enduring popularity.
Nvidia brings back the RTX 3060 12GB for $350 as GPU market gets weird again
