December 4th, 2022 at 8:45 am by Andreas Link – The Geforce RTX 3060 is now also available as an 8 GB version, but what does that cost in terms of performance compared to the 12 GB version? This has now been measured in 12 games.
The Geforce RTX 3060 8GB is a new model released by Nvidia last month alongside the Geforce RTX 3060 Ti with improved GDDR6X. Both maps were announced as “additional versions” to give players and developers more choices; but also to occupy more price points on the part of Nvidia and thus sell off the Ampere chips without having to grant extreme price reductions.
Geforce RTX 3000: Nvidia is said to be planning RTX 3060 with 8 GB and 3060 Ti with GDDR6X [Gerücht]
Logically, the question arises as to what the slimmed-down version of the Geforce RTX 3060 with 8 GiB instead of 12 GiB can do. A test by Hardware Inboxed now provides a first impression. A mix of 12 games was measured in 1080p and 1440p. The aim of the measurements was also to measure the differences in bandwidth, since the memory interface had to be reduced from 192 bits to 128 bits.
In 1080p, the difference between 8 and 12 GiB is 17 percent on average for the 12 games in favor of the larger memory expansion. In 1440p, that increases to 18 percent. In higher resolutions, the scissors would widen further, whereby the sheer amount of memory can often have a limiting effect.
Recommended editorial contentHere you will find external content from [PLATTFORM]. To protect your personal data, external links are only displayed if you confirm this by clicking on “Load all external content”:Load all external contentI agree that external content is displayed to me. Personal data is thus transmitted to third-party platforms. Read more about our privacy policy.
Depending on the market, this makes the 8 GB version quite unattractive in terms of price. In the US, the differences are too small to recommend the Geforce RTX 3060 8GB. Elsewhere there is a difference of up to 100 dollars – here you have to weigh up whether it’s worth it. If you only play the usual online shooters anyway, we can argue that more easily than someone who has a penchant for graphic finesse in triple-A games. In any case, Hardware Unboxed attests a “terribly anti-consumer step” because the average customer is often not deep enough in the subject to understand the scope of a Geforce RTX 3060 8 GB and 12 GB. This is exactly what caused trouble with the Geforce RTX 4080. If at least the price of the 8 GB was attractive, one could argue about it. However, the market does not currently allow this.
What do you think of the RTX 3060 8GB? Use the comment function and let us know what you think. You would need to be logged in to PCGH or the Extreme forums to comment. If you don’t have an account yet, you could consider registering for free, which has many advantages.
