We’re still waiting for an RTX 4060 release date, but Nvidia is allegedly cooking up another RTX 3060 graphics card instead. The revamped Ampere model could end up with a GDDR6X VRAM upgrade and a different GPU. However, it’ll naturally miss out on all the DLSS 3 bells and whistles included with Lovelace GeForce options.
The Nvidia RTX 4060 has yet to join its GeForce squad on the best graphics card battlefield, but the next-gen war is arguably just getting started. If our RTX 4070 Ti review is anything to go by, we’re still holding out for a mid-range hero, and rumours suggest the GPU giant is unfortunately still hellbent on selling RTX 3000 cards.
According to TechPowerUp’s GPU Database Editor, T4C Fantasy, a new RTX 3060 will be a thing, armed with the same GA104 GPU and 12GB of faster GDDR6X memory (via Videocardz). Naturally, the latter should provide memory bandwidth benefits, and it’ll likely cost a chunk less than the eventual Nvidia RTX 4060.
Of course, Nvidia hasn’t confirmed any plans for another RTX 3060 model, and we’d take any whispers with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, the company has a habit of re-releasing old cards, and says RTX 3000 is still part of the current gen family. So, the leaked model in question could, in theory, release alongside the RTX 4060 as a cheaper option, as we reckon the entry-level Lovelace card will cost more than the RTX 3070 at launch.
As mentioned above, opting for an RTX 3000 graphics card in 2023 comes with glaring caveats, as groundbreaking features like Nvidia DLSS 3 only work on RTX 4000. At the moment, features like Frame Generation are locked behind a premium price point, as even the cheapest Lovelace card we’ve tested, the RTX 4070 Ti, comes in at $799.
We can only hope that more affordable 4000 series cards arrive soon, as even the mid-range Nvidia RTX 4070 has yet to show its face. While it’ll likely be a while before Ampere truly retires, it’d be nice to see a few entry-level successors provide DLSS 3 capabilities sometime this year.