NVIDIA transforms faulty GeForce RTX 3070 Ti into RTX 3060

TechPowerUp’s Matthew Smith found that some NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 are using the GA104 chip. This chip is used in the RTX 3070, but it appears that NVIDIA is using these faulty chips to counteract the lack of stock. The company limits the chip and modifies it so that it can be used for the RTX 3060. The RTX 3070, RTX 3070 Ti and RTX 3060 Ti GPUs use the GA104 chip, while the RTX 3060 uses the GA106 chip currently.

In order to reuse this chip, NVIDIA disables some parts that are not working properly and limits the power so that they can be used in a lower-end GPU. This is not to say that the GPUs are faulty.. NVIDIA is a prestigious company and they have probably already tested these chips to the bone. In addition, this practice is nothing new in the world of technology, many companies recycle components to use them in other products.

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Without going further, NVIDIA in the past used modified TU104 chips for the RTX 2060, which originally used the TU106. The TU104 was used for the RTX 2080s, and just like now, NVIDIA had to deal with a stock of faulty chips that they simply reused in other GPUs.

The interesting thing is that when these chip changes are made, improvements in performance are usually seen of course. Sometimes the improvements are noticeable and sometimes they are not. For example the RTX 2060 that had the TU106 chip had more performance for rendering tasks. In the case of the RTX 3060 with the GA104 chip, they maintain more stable clock speeds and better power control. Although for most this improvement will not be noticeable, it is still an improvement.

Sources: WCCFTech | TechPowerUp