3060

The GeForce RTX 3060 is an entry‑level desktop graphics card in Nvidia's GeForce RTX 30 series, designed to deliver solid 1080p gaming performance with some 1440p capability. It was announced in January 2021 and released in February 2021 as part of Nvidia’s Ampere lineup. The card uses the GA106 GPU built on Samsung’s 8‑nm process and supports modern RTX features such as hardware-accelerated ray tracing and DLSS.

Core specifications commonly cited for the 12‑GB variant include 3584 CUDA cores, 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192‑bit bus, and bandwidth around 360 GB/s. Clock speeds vary by model and manufacturer, with boost clocks typically in the vicinity of 1.7 GHz. The card targets a typical graphics power (TGP) around 170 watts, with system recommendations generally ranging from 550 watts or higher depending on the rest of the components. It supports PCIe 4.0 and standard RTX technologies, including 2nd‑generation RT cores and 3rd‑generation Tensor cores used for DLSS, Reflex, and related features.

Performance and usage notes indicate the RTX 3060 is well suited for 1080p gaming at high settings and can handle many titles at 1440p with a mix of medium to high settings. Ray tracing can be enabled in supported games, but DLSS is often needed to maintain higher frame rates. The card sold for a launch price around $329 USD, though market prices fluctuated substantially due to supply conditions and demand in the years following release. Board partners released a variety of cooling solutions and factory overclocks to differentiate their models.

See also: GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, GeForce RTX 3050, Ampere architecture.