Is Nvidia RTX 3060 A Good GPU For You? Full Test
Introduction
Last Year, Nvidia Released RTX 3000 series and of them is the GPU that I have my hands on today – RTX 3060.
It’s well known that this graphics card is one of the best on the market, but the main question is should you actually buy it?
For all the information and answers, keep reading this post!
Nvidia RTX 3060 Specifications
| Memory Size | 12GB |
| Bus Width | 192bit |
| Graphics Processor | GA106 |
| Cores | 3584 cores |
| TMUs | 112 TMUs |
| ROPs | 48 ROPs |
| Memory Type | GDDR6 |
Best Nvidia RTX 3060 Offer
Is Nvidia RTX 3060 A Good GPU For You? Short Topic Answer
Nvidia RTX 3060 is definitely a powerful graphics card and you will have a good time using it. With 12GB of GDDR6 memory, you will have excellent experience in whatever game or program you try this GPU in. The biggest problem with this GPU is the price, and if you manage to find it cheap, go for it.
Is Nvidia RTX 3060 Good For Gaming?
Nvidia RTX 3060 is one of the best graphics cards when it comes to gaming. With RTX 3060 you can expect to run any game on increased settings even in 4k resolutions. For the best performance, pair RTX 3060 with a good processor as the support and you will have an amazing experience in games.
In the paragraphs below, I will test this GPU in the 3 most popular resolutions paired with the Intel I9 10900k. Keep reading to find out how good this GPU is in the popular titles.
Is Nvidia RTX 3060 Good For 1080p Gaming?
For the first benchmark, I wanted to try RTX 3060 in the most popular resolution – 1080p. Although you probably won’t play video games in 1080p, there are some people that only have 1080p monitors so this test is primarily for them.
I paired the RTX 3060 with a powerful Intel I9 10900k and 32GB of RAM, to get the most out of this graphics card.
As you can see in the table below, I tried 5 games and every one of them was on Ultra graphics settings. As expected, every game averaged more than 60 fps, even tho these games are harder to run since they arent that optimized.
To cut the story, you should take a look at the table yourself.
| specs: Nvidia RTX 3060 12GB, Intel I9 10900k, 32GB DDR4 3600MHz, 1TB SSD | AVERAGE FPS | 1% LOW FPS |
|---|---|---|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla (Ultra settings - 1080p) | 65 fps | 54 fps |
| CYBERPUNK 2077 (Ultra High settings - 1080p) | 89 fps | 71 fps |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 (settings - 1080p) | 75 fps | 62 fps |
| PUBG (Ultra settings - 1080p) | 185 fps | 87 fps |
| Battlefield V (settings - 1080p) | 134 fps | 85 fps |
Is Nvidia RTX 3060 Good For 1440p Gaming?
The second test that I did was in 1440p. This resolution is the sweet middle for gamers. While games look much better, you can still maintain the good fps in this resolution.
Once again I paired the RTX 3060 with Intel I9 10900k and 32 GB of RAM, which is more than enough to support this GPU.
The games that I tested and graphics details stayed the same since I want you to see the difference between these resolutions and the performance you would get.
This time 4 out of 5 games averaged more than 60 fps, which is a very good result if we consider that games were on 2k Ultra settings. The only game that averaged under 60 frames is Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which isn’t that worrying considering that this game isn’t as optimized as other PC games.
Now, Take a look at the table yourself.
| specs: Nvidia RTX 3060 12GB, Intel I9 10900k, 32GB DDR4 3600MHz, 1TB SSD | AVERAGE FPS | 1% LOW FPS |
|---|---|---|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla (Ultra settings - 1440p) | 52 fps | 47 fps |
| CYBERPUNK 2077 (Ultra High settings - 1440p) | 64 fps | 53 fps |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 (settings - 1440p) | 61 fps | 50 fps |
| PUBG (Ultra settings - 1440p) | 115 fps | 74 fps |
| Battlefield V (settings - 1440p) | 108 fps | 72 fps |
Is Nvidia RTX 3060 Good For 4k Gaming?
The final and maybe the most interesting test was done in the 4k resolution. This resolution is the one that requires a powerful GPU in order for gameplay to be smooth and playable.
Once again, RTX 3060 was paired with Intel i9 10900k, although you don’t need the CPU this strong in order to play games in 4k since the majority of the work is done by the graphics card itself.
As you can see in the table, 5 games out of 5 averaged under 60 frames per second, which is totally normal considering that every game was on 4k Ultra settings once again.
Have in mind that 30 fps in 4k looks and feels much better than 30 fps in lower resolutions. Every game felt fluid and smooth, so the overall experience was more than good.
Take a look at the table below.
| specs: Nvidia RTX 3060 12GB, Intel I9 10900k, 32GB DDR4 3600MHz, 1TB SSD | AVERAGE FPS | 1% LOW FPS |
|---|---|---|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla (Ultra settings - 4k) | 35 fps | 31 fps |
| CYBERPUNK 2077 (Ultra High settings - 4k) | 39 fps | 32 fps |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 (settings - 4k) | 37 fps | 33 fps |
| PUBG (Ultra settings - 4k) | 57 fps | 52 fps |
| Battlefield V (settings - 4k) | 54 fps | 49 fps |
Nvidia RTX 3060 vs AMD RX 6600 Xt – 1440p Test
Its well known that the biggest RTX 3060 Competition is AMD RX 6600 Xt. Although the prices of both of these cards were changing over the last year, RX 6600 Xt is now definitely the better option.
To prove that, I paired both of these cards in their own PC and paired them with the powerful AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, to get the most out of them. I tested them both in the same 6 games on the same graphics settings in 1440p resolution.
As you can see in the table, almost in every game that I tested these two, AMD RX 6600 XT performed better.
Although the difference isn’t that huge, on these settings and 1440p, 5 fps difference is something like a 10 to 15 fps difference in 1080p resolution.
Also, while testing, RTX 3060 consumed much more power and the temperatures were higher than on the RX 6600 XT.
If you have to choose, I would definitely buy the AMD GPU, but if you find the better deal for the RTX 3060, you should go for it.
Take a look at the table yourself.
| specs: RTX 3060/RX 6600 XT, Ryzen 9 5950X, 32GB DDR4 3600 MHz, 1TB SSD | RTX 3060 - AVERAGE FPS | RTX 3060 - 1% LOW FPS | RX 6600 XT - AVERAGE FPS | RX 6600 XT - 1% LOW FPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cyberpunk 2077 (Ultra settings 1440p) | 36 fps | 31 fps | 39 fps | 33 fps |
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla (Ultra High settings 1440p) | 51 fps | 37 fps | 57 fps | 43 fps |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 (Ultra settings 1440p) | 52 fps | 46 fps | 56 fps | 47 fps |
| Dirt 5 (Ultra High settings 1440p) | 50 fps | 44 fps | 62 fps | 56 fps |
| Horizon Zero Dawn (Ultimate settings 1440p) | 65 fps | 59 fps | 64 fps | 58 fps |
| Flight Simulator (Ultra settings - 1440p) | 45 fps | 37 fps | 42 fps | 36 fps |
Best Processor To Pair With Nvidia RTX 3060
AMD Ryzen 7 5800x is the best processor that you can pair with Nvidia RTX 3060 for the money you pay. Although there are a lot of processors that will do well with RTX 3060, Ryzen 7 5800x will be the perfect one with 8 cores/16 threads and the modern technology this CPU has.
You can read my post about this processor by pressing the button below.
Best AMD Ryzen 7 5800x Offer
Is Nvidia RTX 3060 Future-Proof
Nvidia RTX 3060 is definitely a future-proof graphics card. With 12 GB of GDDR6 memory and the modern technology that Nvidia implemented inside of this GPU, you can use it for at least the next 4-6 years without any problems. Even after that, this GPU would still be good enough for most users.
Is Nvidia RTX 3060 Good For Streaming?
Nvidia RTX 3060 is more than a good graphics card when it comes to streaming. With RTX 3060, you can expect that your streams run without any problems. For the best performance, you should pair this graphics card with a good Processor, Ram, and a fast SSD.
Is Nvidia RTX 3060 Vr Ready?
Nvidia RTX 3060 12GB is a 100% VR Ready Graphics Card. As we know, Nvidia RTX 3080, Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti and Nvidia RTX 3060 have everything you need to enjoy your time in the VR.
