MSI RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio 12GB: Review | Test| Config | Specs | Hashrate | Set-up

MSI RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio 12GB to the test: Nvidia Ampere puts the fifth: Review | Specs | Hashrate | Set-up | CPU performance| Test

It’s called GeForce RTX 3060 the fifth gaming video card Nvidia based architecture Ampere . The new proposal, according to the US company, represents the ideal solution for those who want to upgrade their system from a GTX 1060 or earlier card , as it allows you to enjoy good Full HD performance at over 60 fps , even with titles with support for ray tracing and DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling). The GTX 1060 is the most popular card among gamers according to Steam statistics, so the RTX 3060 takes on an even more important role for Nvidia than the other models presented so far.

Peculiarities of this card are the 12GB of GDDR6 memory , useful not only for gamers but also for content creators. A quantity of VRAM that stands out if you look at the GeForce RTX 3000 lineup: except for the 24GB-strong RTX 3090 aimed at the world of creators, the RTX 3080 stops at 10GB, while the RTX 3070 and RTX 3060 Ti count “only. “8GB. Why does the RTX 3060 come with 12GB of VRAM?

When asked, Nvidia generically replied that being the RTX 3060 equipped with a 192-bit memory interface, the card can be equipped with 6 or 12GB of memory. “We decided on 12GB because this solution offers the best balance between performance and price.”

Dal nostro punto di vista, si tratta di una mossa “preventiva” di Nvidia per rispondere alla scelta di AMD di dotare le Radeon RX 6000 di un gran quantitativo di memoria. Le Radeon RX 6800/6800 XT e 6900 XT hanno tutte 16GB di memoria, ben pi dei 10 GB della RTX 3080. Poco importa che la scheda di Nvidia offra prestazioni del tutto simili alla 6800 XT (stiamo parlando di rendering tradizionale, con il ray tracing non c’ partita), l’azienda sa come ragionano i consumatori: in molti vedono nella quantit di memoria un parametro fondamentale, altri potrebbero pensare che pi memoria garantisca maggiore longevit.

Per questo, in previsione di una futura Radeon RX 6700 XT e di altri modelli che potrebbero contare fino a 12 GB di memoria, Nvidia ha deciso di alzare l’asticella. possibile quindi che in futuro vedremo un rinnovamento della fascia alta con molta pi memoria VRAM a bordo. La nuova GeForce RTX 3060, secondo Nvidia, pu comunque rappresentare un buon aggiornamento prestazionale anche per chi ha scelto la RTX 2060, la scheda video meno costosa della scorsa generazione in grado di gestire in hardware il ray tracing e il DLSS. A suo dire, offre il 30% delle prestazioni in pi rispetto alla RTX 2060 e questo la porta al livello – pi o meno – della RTX 2070.

Specification – GeForce RTX 3060 12GB

The GeForce RTX 3060 is the first Ampere video card based on the GA106 GPU, produced by Samsung with a “custom” 8 nanometer process and equipped with 12 billion transistors (276 mm2) . On board we find 28 Streaming Multiprocessor units with 3584 CUDA cores active , more than 80% more than those of the RTX 2060. If we take the data of the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, the number of CUDA cores is down by about 26%.

In addition to the CUDA cores we find 112 Tensor cores and 28 RT cores , respectively of the third and second generation: due to the changes in the Ampere architecture, in numerical terms they are lower than those present on the RTX 2060, but being more efficient they compensate for the disparity. The RTX 3060 offers shader performance of 12.7 TFLOPs, while the RT cores reach 24.9 TFLOPs. Tensor cores reach 102 TFLOPs thanks to sparse matrix calculations. Finally, there are other fundamentals of Ampere architecture, from AVI decoding to HDMI 2.1 support.

GA106 GPU Diagram: Count 30 SMs, so 3840 CUDA cores. The RTX 3060 loses 2 SM, stopping at 3584 CUDA cores.

Since Nvidia has not presented a Founders Edition, the card that allows us to test the capabilities of the new RTX 3060 the MSI RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio . The difference with respect to the standard specifications communicated by Nvidia lies in the boost frequency, which we have highlighted in the following table:

Hashrate

Side Notes: Mining Limiter and Resizable BAR

The GeForce RTX 3060 12GB figure, as announced by Nvidia (and then further detailed here), a software limiter (firmware and driver) to halve the performance of the card with the algorithms used by cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, and more generally those digital currencies that they use Dagger Hashimoto or Ethash-like algorithms. The goal clearly is to dissuade miners from buying gaming video cards , in favor of a new range of dedicated solutions called CMPs. We’ll see if it will be effective, but it will certainly take time.

Another novelty is the support of Resizable BAR , a feature of the PCI Express protocol that allows direct access to all the VRAM memory, without making small continuous accesses. AMD was the first to support this feature with RX 6000 cards – the company coined the name Smart Access Memory. We have carried out several tests to verify, on our platform, more or less marked advantages with the games in our suite from the enabling of Resizable BAR: well, we have not found any major changes , which is why we have concentrated on traditional tests.

MSI RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio 12GB

Before moving on to the tests, let’s dwell on the MSI RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio, a decidedly oversized card for the market segment it is aimed at and the cooling need of the GA106 GPU . At the top of the MSI offer (the communicated list price of 549 euros ), this card adopts the same cooler that we have seen on the Ti version tested in recent weeks. The long and heavy card, and no coincidence that MSI bundled the card with a bracket to relieve its weight on the PCI Express slot .

La scheda di MSI dotata di un sistema di raffreddamento Tri Frozr 2 in cui spiccano le tre ventole TorX 4.0 con cuscinetti a sfera. Le ventole sono caratterizzate da coppie di pale collegate da un anello esterno che, a detta di MSI, incrementa fino al 20% la pressione dell’aria rispetto alla precedente TorX 3.0, con una pressione statica che passa da 2,76 mmAq a 3,35 mmAq. In questo modo le ventole immettono pi aria fresca lungo il radiatore sottostante. Le ventole, come sempre, sono dotate di tecnologia Zero Frozr per azzerare il rumore in assenza di carico.

Al di sotto delle ventole troviamo il voluminoso radiatore, formato da due blocchi collegati da diverse heatpipe e contraddistinti da alette con un nuovo progetto a onda che guida l’aria in modo mirato per ottimizzare il raffreddamento dei vari componenti sul PCB e contenere la rumorosit. Sopra la GPU c’ un blocco dissipante a contatto diretto, una soluzione che MSI chiama “Core Pipe” in quanto caratterizzata da un insieme di scanalature pi fitto al fine di diffondere meglio il calore lungo l’intero blocco e poi verso il radiatore. L’azienda, rispetto al sistema precedente “Oval Pipe”, dichiara un miglioramento dell’efficienza del 50%. Sei Core Pipe disperdono il calore nei radiatori che incrementano l’area dissipante. MSI, come su altre proposte, ha posizionato pad termici su memoria, VRM e condensatori, in modo da non lasciare nulla al caso.

In the back there is a backplate to which thermal pads are anchored to improve heat capture from the back of the PCB. The new video card is also equipped with RGB lighting, with a strip that runs along the backplate, fully controllable via MSI home software. The power is entrusted to a double 8-pin PCIe connector . On the back there are three DisplayPort 1.4 connectors and one HDMI 2.1 ; the latter allows you to manage 4K monitors up to 120 Hz.

As already written, in terms of technical specifications there is only one change compared to the reference ones communicated by Nvidia and MSI’s proposal: the factory boost clock that rises from 1777 MHz to 1852 MHz, thus increasing by about 75 MHz . We know that the GPU boost algorithms go up (if possible) well beyond the declared frequencies, so we will see in our tests where the solution of the Taiwanese company goes.

Test setup

The tests were conducted at resolutions of 1920×1080 pixels, 2560×1440 pixels and 3840×2160 pixels , trying to use very high quality settings to shift the load as much as possible on the GPU. The benchmarks were run with the latest drivers from both AMD and Nvidia (we retested the cards with the latest drivers to check for any changes from previous reviews). Below are the video cards included in this article:

• Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 (Founders Edition)

• Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 (Founders Edition)

• Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 (Founders Edition)

• Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (Founders Edition)

• Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 12GB (MSI Gaming X Trio)

• Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (Founders Edition)

• Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 (Founders Edition)

• Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super (Founders Edition)

• Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super (Founders Edition)

• Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 (Founders Edition)

• Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Founders Edition)

• Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 (Founders Edition)

• Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB (Founders Edition)

• AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (reference)

• AMD Radeon RX 6800 (reference)

• AMD Radeon VII (reference board)

• AMD Radeon RX 5700XT (reference board)

• AMD Radeon RX 5700 (reference board)

• AMD Radeon RX 5600XT (Sapphire Pulse)

Below is the configuration of the system used for the tests:

• Operating system: Italian Windows 10 Pro

• Processore: Intel Core i9-10900K

• Power supply: CoolerMaster Silent Pro Gold 1200 Watt

• Motherboard: ASUS ROG Maximus XII Hero WiFi

• Memoria: G.Skill Trident Z 2x8GB DDR4-4000 (17-17-17-37)

• SSD: Crucial P1 M.2 2280 1TB

Raster game performance

Analizziamo le prestazioni della GeForce RTX 3060 di Nvidia partendo dai classici titoli privi di ray tracing o tecnologie come il DLSS. Sono ancora la maggioranza, e poich il ray tracing non una tecnologia obbligatoria e disabilitabile, i cosiddetti “giochi tradizionali” rappresentano ancora il vero banco di prova delle schede video di questa generazione. In Assassin’s Creed Odyssey vediamo che la nuova arrivata in un sandwich formato dalla RTX 2060 SUPER e dalla GTX 1080 Ti. Le schede sono tutte molte vicine e la RTX 2070S/2080 non poi cos lontana: insomma, sembrerebbe confermarsi fin da subito una certa similarit con la RTX 2070 (che purtroppo l’unica RTX 2000 non presente nella nostra dotazione in laboratorio).

In Borderlands 3 vediamo uno scenario simile. Il titolo strizza leggermente l’occhio alle GPU di casa AMD, con le Radeon che generalmente guadagnano qualche posizione sulle concorrenti Nvidia. La GeForce RTX 3060 poco sotto la RTX 2070 Super, esattamente dove deve essere. Possiamo inoltre gettare lo sguardo alla GTX 1060, che ancora molto diffusa e obiettivo dichiarato della nuova arrivata: la differenza palese, con un aumento del frame rate del 100% e oltre.

In questo articolo abbiamo introdotto una sessione di test con Cyberpunk 2077, il chiacchieratissimo gioco di CD Projekt RED. Aggiornato all’ultima versione, l’abbiamo testato senza attivare il ray tracing o il DLSS, appurando come sia semplicemente troppo per la GTX 1060 da gestire con dettagli al massimo. La RTX 3060 consente invece di arrivare ai fatidici 60 fps, ma in ogni caso il nostro consiglio comunque di ridurre leggermente il livello di dettaglio in favore di una maggiore fluidit.

DiRT 5, fresh from the Energy Content Pack , has seen a clear improvement on Nvidia GPUs in recent months thanks to patches and driver updates . The RTX 3060 behind the RTX 2070 Super (as scheduled) and paired with the old, but still valid in some ways, GeForce GTX 1080 Ti.

Doom Eternal doesn’t represent a heavy load for any modern GPU or even a few years on its shoulders. The game is frenetic, fast and enjoyable even with a good level GTX 1000 series thanks to the engine developed by Id Software and the Vulkan API. We find the RTX 3060 once again behind the RTX 2070 Super, just above the RX 5700 XT in Full HD, but we can clearly decide a draw.

Cambiamo decisamente genere e passiamo a F1 2020. Anche in questo caso si tratta di un gioco facilmente alla portata di qualsiasi GPU recente e la RTX 3060 compie un exploit lasciandosi alle spalle la RTX 2070 Super. L’avevamo gi visto in passato, questo gioco sembra apprezzare le novit dell’architettura Ampere. Al tempo stesso, il trio di schede Radeon in testa al gruppo mostra come anche l’architettura RDNA 2 gestisca alla grande il gioco di corse di Codemasters.

In the past we had already tested Godfall with a custom run, but we switched to the integrated benchmark . Again we see some appreciation of the title for the Radeon GPUs, while the RTX 3060 does not perform badly, even if the gap in Full HD with the RTX 2070 Super slightly higher than expected. Nothing to worry about though, at higher resolutions it seems more memory helps.

After years of trying Hitman 2, we couldn’t help but upgrade to Hitman 3 . We chose the Dubai integrated test scenario and put the cards to the test with updated drivers. Here too we see how the game, at least at this moment, is able to better capitalize on the characteristics of the RDNA 2 architecture . We are talking about performance that, even for Nvidia’s GPUs, far exceeds the needs of a game of this type. The RTX 3060 between the RTX 2060 Super and the RTX 2070 Super, as expected.

In attesa che prossimamente esca la Enhanced Edition, Metro Exodus rimane un “must” per provare le schede video. La quinta GPU Ampere gaming di Nvidia riesce a garantire prestazioni giocabili o quasi con dettagli Ultra nel titolo di 4A Games, ovviamente in Full HD. Da rilevare invece come la GTX 1060 sia in crisi nera.

Il gioco di Rockstar Games, basato su API Vulkan, viene gestito molto bene dalla nuova GeForce RTX 3060. Il resto del lotto mostra prestazioni altalenanti, con Nvidia e AMD che si cedono lo scettro a seconda della risoluzione.

In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the RTX 3060 behaves more like an RTX 2060 Super than an RTX 2070 Super, but roughly reconfirms itself in the position indicated by Nvidia. This game reminds us that not in all titles, especially when dealing with different architectures, the gaps from one card to another are constant. Sometimes it depends on the game itself, or on the drivers – the variables are different.

We close with the third game in Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs series. The GeForce RTX 3060 behind the RTX 2080 Super because, oddly enough, it returned us two fps less in Full HD (no big deal, huh). This is a case where the RTX 3060 does not seem to shine, but it could be because of the title given the behavior shown in the other tests.

Performance only ray tracing

There are currently 39 games with ray tracing and / or DLSS support, 33 of which support DLSS. There are 16 more RTX games in the pipeline this year. Since AMD still does not offer a DLSS analogue, we show you the performance in some titles with only ray tracing active on several cards, including the new GeForce RTX 3060:

These benchmarks serve more than anything else to show you how ray tracing, although Nvidia is ahead of the competition from AMD, is clearly still a load so convincing as to require the help of a technology that allows somehow to accelerate its performance. Nvidia, for over 2 years now, has been offering us the DLSS; AMD instead expected with a technology called Super Resolution that should give a big hand to what, we remember, the first generation of ray tracing in Radeon sauce.

Ray tracing performance with DLSS

Here you can see instead the actual performance of Nvidia cards when, in parallel with ray tracing, DLSS is also enabled. The scenario changes a lot, with the DLSS that keeps the performances high – without affecting the image quality – bringing them to levels of playability (depending on the GPU and the resolution, of course).

Metro Exodus has its own particular relationship with DLSS and is not always activated at all resolutions, so some results are identical or very similar to those without ray tracing seen before. We have included them anyway, so as not to leave some fields empty.

Consumption, temperature, noise and thermal analysis

This part obviously linked to the specific model that arrived in the editorial office, the MSI RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio . We’ve written it before, the oversized cooling system for this graphics project and so everything worked fine during testing . The GA106 GPU on board the RTX 3060 pushes just beyond 1900 MHz and, if we isolate one of the benchmark sessions, we see how the average frequency under load settles around 1850-1860 MHz.

The GA106 GPU does not even reach 60 C , and this gives the size of how much the GPU does not heat up and how efficient the heatsink of MSI’s Gaming X Trio is (even the photos with the thermal imager show contained temperatures and localized hot spots). We have also entered the data on the hotspot, the hot spot, and also in this case no problem: we arrive at just over 71 C.

Even in terms of consumption there are no particular problems, with a card that reaches around 170W, with the GPU weighing almost 140W. The previous generation RTX 2060 has a TDP of 160W, but offers roughly 30% less performance than the newcomer Ampere.

By virtue of what has been written so far, noise is not a problem . More than the values, trust our ear: from the Radeon VII we do not run into a video card that can be defined as really noisy. Of course, we haven’t tried all the custom models, but between reference models and manufacturers customized, there shouldn’t be any problematic cards in circulation. There are those who do better and those who do worse, but in the case of this Gaming X Trio we have no doubts: it works well, and it does it silently.

Overclock

The MSI RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio proved stable with an increase in GPU frequency up to 200 MHz and memory of 1000 MHz . To achieve this we brought the power limit to 105% , the temperature limit to 90 C and we did not intervene on the fan speed, leaving control to the card itself.

We tested the stability of the OC with a dozen sessions of Metrox Exodus and other tests of our suite. MSI’s cooling system does a good job of allowing the GPU to go up by 200 MHz, but at the same time we may also have been lucky as we had a smaller margin with other chips. Obviously the OC, as we always repeat, to be understood linked to the specific sample, other RTX 3060 models could have a greater or lesser margin.

Conclusions

Being the first GeForce RTX 3060 that arrives in the editorial office, this review can be understood as the “progenitor” of those to come. First, we need to talk about the customization of MSI. Well, what about? Nothing to complain, a card made well and that works properly. Like all manufacturers, the Taiwanese company will also offer a range with different models to cover various needs, including price. The Gaming X Trio is the top of the range of the family and, as such, comes at a salty price: 549 euros.

According to Nvidia, the GeForce RTX 3060 starts at 329 dollars, 339 euros in Italy . The price of the Gaming X Trio is over 200 euros higher, and although it is a very good card, we have to say that 529 euros is much, too much. The only consolation that it is a “fictitious” price, in the sense that you do not expect to find it easily at that price list, at least in the first period, given that the shortage situation will continue for some time. The effect of the performance limiter in cryptocurrency mining has yet to be evaluated.

Regarding the RTX 3060 in general, Nvidia told us that the card was created above all to capture the heart – and the wallet – of those who have skipped the RTX 2000 series and want to update their gaming system. In particular , the focus is on that very large group of players who still have the GTX 1060 . If we look at the graph below, you see how the RTX 3060 is practically twice as fast as the GTX 1060 with games that do not use ray tracing and DLSS . In addition, the new card supports these two technologies, ensuring good performance even with the latest generation titles. We are facing an important, undeniable step forward.

Let’s say that, like myself, you have purchased an RTX 2060, the entry port to ray tracing of the last generation. The leap forward fluctuates between 20% and 40% depending on the resolution in our “raster” test suite and therefore we can speak of an average improvement of 30%, again confirming Nvidia’s projections. We are not telling you to switch from the RTX 2060 to the RTX 3060, just a useful data to interpret the situation.

Taking the RTX 3060 as a point of reference, we can see how the RTX 3060 Ti performs 30% faster in our test suite . Take this into account when purchasing if you are undecided.

Evaluating the RTX 3060 in this historical moment is a lottery game :

undoubtedly a valid card for playing in Full HD, as Nvidia says, and certainly a step forward because it offers practically the performance of an RTX 2070. The card in a market without competition, as AMD’s mainstream range is only coming soon. Plus, it debuts at a time when talking about prices can almost seem like a joke. The RTX 2070 at launch started at 532 including VAT, today we are talking about a starting price of 339.

If the market were not undermined by the purchases of miners, scalpers and some resellers who take advantage of the situation, the step forward would be undeniable. Unfortunately, the reality is another and we, like you, can only wait for better times for a concrete evaluation, which is not affected by dynamics against which we can do nothing. One thing we can say: Nvidia held the possibility of placing a card between this RTX 3060 and the Ti …. is there something SUPER in the pipeline?

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