GeForce RTX 3060 Ti: Overview | Benchmark | Test | Is it Good for Gaming (Boost 1695 MHz) – The video card in question was presented as the fourth in a row of models based on the new Ampere graphics architecture. It was announced in early December 2020, following the top-end GeForce RTX 3090, 3080 and 3070. The new architecture, named after the French physicist and mathematician André-Marie Ampère, has significantly higher performance compared to the previous generation Turing architecture. It was possible to achieve superiority due to technological optimization and a more “fine” technical process. In theory, the GeForce RTX 3000 series of graphics cards offers a significant improvement in terms of price-performance compared to the previous GeForce RTX 20 series. How is it with this model? Let’s figure it out.
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti uses the same graphics chip (GA104) as the older GeForce RTX 3070, but with a “cut down” number of stream processors, tensor cores and RT cores. Along with this, the GPU clock speeds have been reduced, both in base and in Boost mode. The video adapter uses a 256-bit bus and 8 GB of GDDR6 memory. Detailed specifications are provided in the table below.
RTX 3060 Ti – Best GPU
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti: Specifications
This section lists the nominal specifications for the GeForce RTX 3060 TI Founders Edition (NVIDIA Classic). Video card models from partners may have factory overclocked core clocks.
| GeForce RTX 3060 Ti | GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER | |
| GPU model (architecture) | GA104 (Ampere) | TU104 (Turing) |
| Technical process | 8 nm | 12 nm |
| Number of transistors | 17 billion | 13.6 billion |
| CUDA stream processors | 4864 | 3072 |
| Number of Tensor cores | 152 | 384 |
| Number of RT cores | 38 | 46 |
| texture blocks | 152 | 192 |
| Render units | 80 | 64 |
| Core clock (base) | 1410 MHz | 1650 MHz |
| Core clock (Boost) | 1665 MHz | 1815 MHz |
| Memory bus | 256 pages | 256 pages |
| Memory type | GDDR6 | GDDR6 |
| Memory frequency (effective) | 14000 MHz | 15500 MHz |
| Memory | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| Bandwidth | 448 GB/s | 496 GB/s |
| power usage | 200 W | 250 W |
| Maximum temperature | 93 °C | 88 °С |
| Interface | PCI-E 4.0 | PCI-E 3.0 |
| recommended price | $ 399 | $ 699 |
The video card from Palit also corresponds to the typical characteristics in everything, but at the same time it received a (very small) increase in the frequency in Boost mode up to 1695 MHz. It is hardly possible to call 30 MHz a significant “overclocking”, rather, here it is “for show”.
For an objective comparison, the graphics adapter of the previous generation GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (Founders Edition) was added to the two new products. As mentioned above, it is with him that the new RTX 3060 Ti competes. Game tests were carried out in the basic mode without artificial “overclocking” of the presented video cards.
Test Benchmark configuration:
- Processor – Intel Core i9-9900K;
- Motherboard — ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula;
- RAM – G.Skill TRIDENT Z (32 GB);
- SSD drive – Samsung 860 (500 GB);
- Power supply – Corsair AX1500i (1500 W);
- Operating system – Windows 10 Pro x64;
- Driver – GeForce 460.89 WHQL.
Games offered for the test:
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Control
- Death Stranding
- Battlefield V
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Borderlands 3
- Doom Eternal
- Metro Exodus
- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Testing was carried out with the maximum graphics settings set in all games at various screen resolutions. The results are represented by the average number of FPS.
Testing at FHD resolution without ray tracing
WQHD resolution testing without ray tracing
4K resolution testing without ray tracing
Now let’s look at the performance of the tested instances with DXR and DLSS technologies enabled (optional). Graphic settings are still kept at maximum.
FHD resolution testing with ray tracing
WQHD resolution testing with ray tracing
4K resolution testing with ray tracing
Conclusion
According to the results of the tests, we can conclude that the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is a good modern video card for playing at a resolution of 2560 × 1440 (not to mention FullHD), and has a good “margin” for the future, given that the tests were carried out at maximum graphics settings . The amount of video memory of 8 GB is also enough here, and with a resolution of 2K in the short term, it is unlikely that games will need much more. In some game projects, the new features are enough for 4K resolution, but still this accelerator is not quite designed for such a use case. Especially with a vision for the future.
NVIDIA’s assurance of a worthy competitor to the RTX 2080 SUPER is also confirmed. The new graphics card shows either similar or better results in games. At the same time, the RTX 3060 Ti has noticeably lower power consumption.
Perhaps the only drawback at present is the retail price of this accelerator. Even a month after the announcement of the video card, when this article was written, the cost of the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti in Russian stores starts at 55 thousand rubles for the simplest partner model. And this is far from the recommended price. We hope that this pricing policy is due only to novelty, and in the near future we will see a price reduction for a very interesting video card.
