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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104: In-Depth Expertise for Gamers and Professionals

April 2025

Introduction

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104 remains one of the most popular graphics cards in the mid-range segment even several years after its release. It combines affordability, support for modern technologies, and sufficient power for gaming and work tasks. In this article, we'll explore why this model is still relevant in 2025 and who should pay attention to it.

1. Architecture and Key Features

Ampere Architecture: The Foundation of Efficiency

The RTX 3060 12 GB is built on the Ampere architecture (2nd generation RTX), which uses Samsung’s 8nm process. The GA104 chip, originally intended for more powerful models, provides the card with additional headroom.

RTX and DLSS: A Revolution in Graphics

- RT Cores for Ray Tracing: Allow realistic computation of shadows, reflections, and global illumination in games like Cyberpunk 2077 or Alan Wake II.

- Tensor Cores and DLSS 3.5: AI scaling increases FPS without loss of detail. For example, in Hogwarts Legacy at 1440p, DLSS provides a boost of up to 40% (from 45 FPS to 63 FPS).

- Support for FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR): Although FSR is an AMD technology, it works on the RTX 3060, providing an alternative to DLSS in games where it is not implemented.

Additional Features

- NVIDIA Reflex: Reduces input lag in competitive shooters (Valorant, CS2).

- AV1 Decoding: Accelerates video streaming and editing.

2. Memory: Capacity and Speed

- 12 GB GDDR6: Sufficient capacity for games with HD textures (Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024) and work in 3D editors.

- 192-bit Bus and 360 GB/s Bandwidth: Not a record, but enough for 1080p and 1440p. In Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (1440p Ultra), the card uses 9-10 GB of memory.

- Comparison with Competitors: The AMD RX 7600 XT has 10 GB GDDR6, which may be a limiting factor at 4K.

3. Gaming Performance: Numbers and Resolutions

1080p: Maximum Comfort

- Cyberpunk 2077 (Ultra, RT Ultra, DLSS Quality): 58-62 FPS.

- Starfield (High): 75 FPS.

- Apex Legends (Ultra): 144 FPS.

1440p: Balance of Quality and Smoothness

- Horizon Forbidden West (High, FSR Quality): 55 FPS.

- Assassin’s Creed Nexus (Ultra): 48 FPS (DLSS raises it to 65).

4K: Only with DLSS/FSR

- Fortnite (Epic, DLSS Performance): 50-55 FPS. Without scaling — 28 FPS.

Ray Tracing: Beauty Comes at a Cost

Enabling RT reduces FPS by 30-40%, but DLSS compensates for the losses. For example, in Control (1440p, RT High, DLSS) — 60 FPS compared to 45 FPS without DLSS.

4. Professional Tasks: Not Just Gaming

- Video Editing: In DaVinci Resolve, rendering a 4K project in 10 minutes is sped up by 35% compared to the RTX 2060.

- 3D Rendering: In Blender (CUDA), the RTX 3060 processes a BMW scene in 4.2 minutes — 20% faster than the RX 7600 XT.

- Machine Learning: Support for CUDA and libraries like TensorFlow makes the card suitable for small projects (training neural networks on datasets up to 10 GB).

5. Power Consumption and Cooling

- TDP 170W: More modest than the RTX 4070 (200W), but requires a quality power supply.

- Cooling Recommendations:

- A case with 2-3 intake fans.

- Models with three coolers (ASUS Dual OC, MSI Gaming X) reach temperatures of 68°C under load, while reference models reach 75°C.

- Noise: Sound level is 32-36 dB, which is comfortable for home use.

6. Comparison with Competitors

- AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (10 GB): Cheaper ($270 compared to $290 for the RTX 3060), but lags behind in ray tracing and professional tasks. In Forza Horizon 6 (1440p), the RX 7600 XT delivers 72 FPS against 68 FPS for the RTX 3060, but with RT enabled, it loses with 48 FPS compared to 53 FPS.

- Intel Arc A770 (16 GB): Better in 4K ($280), but drivers are still less stable, especially in older projects.

7. Practical Tips

- Power Supply: Don’t skimp — at least 550W with 80+ Bronze certification (Corsair CX550).

- Compatibility:

- PCIe 4.0 x16, but also works on PCIe 3.0 with minimal losses.

- For full activation of Resizable BAR (increasing FPS by 5-10%), a motherboard with UEFI BIOS and a processor no older than Intel 10th generation or AMD Ryzen 3000 is needed.

- Drivers: Regularly update through GeForce Experience — in 2025, NVIDIA continues to optimize for new games.

8. Pros and Cons

Pros:

- Support for DLSS 3.5 and RTX.

- 12 GB of memory for future projects.

- Low heat and power consumption.

Cons:

- Limited 4K performance without DLSS.

- Price is higher than that of the RX 7600 XT.

9. Final Conclusion: Who is the RTX 3060 12 GB for?

- Gamers on 1080p/1440p: Maximum settings in most games of 2025.

- Streamers: NVENC reduces CPU load during encoding.

- Beginner Professionals: Sufficient power for video editing and 3D modeling.

Alternatives: If the budget is tight, consider the RX 7600 XT. If 4K is needed — the RTX 4060 or Intel A770, but with caveats.

Price: As of April 2025, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104 is available for $290-320 in new builds. It is an optimal choice for those who value a balance between price, technology, and long-term relevance.

Basic

Label Name

NVIDIA

Platform

Desktop

Launch Date

September 2021

Model Name

GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104

Generation

GeForce 30

Base Clock

1320MHz

Boost Clock

1777MHz

Bus Interface

PCIe 4.0 x16

Transistors

17,400 million

RT Cores

Tensor Cores

Tensor Cores are specialized processing units designed specifically for deep learning, providing higher training and inference performance compared to FP32 training. They enable rapid computations in areas such as computer vision, natural language processing, speech recognition, text-to-speech conversion, and personalized recommendations. The two most notable applications of Tensor Cores are DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) and AI Denoiser for noise reduction.

112

TMUs

Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) serve as components of the GPU, which are capable of rotating, scaling, and distorting binary images, and then placing them as textures onto any plane of a given 3D model. This process is called texture mapping.

112

Foundry

Samsung

Process Size

8 nm

Architecture

Ampere

Memory Specifications

Memory Size

12GB

Memory Type

GDDR6

Memory Bus

The memory bus width refers to the number of bits of data that the video memory can transfer within a single clock cycle. The larger the bus width, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted instantaneously, making it one of the crucial parameters of video memory. The memory bandwidth is calculated as: Memory Bandwidth = Memory Frequency x Memory Bus Width / 8. Therefore, when the memory frequencies are similar, the memory bus width will determine the size of the memory bandwidth.

192bit

Memory Clock

1875MHz

Bandwidth

Memory bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate between the graphics chip and the video memory. It is measured in bytes per second, and the formula to calculate it is: memory bandwidth = working frequency × memory bus width / 8 bits.

360.0 GB/s

Theoretical Performance

Pixel Rate

Pixel fill rate refers to the number of pixels a graphics processing unit (GPU) can render per second, measured in MPixels/s (million pixels per second) or GPixels/s (billion pixels per second). It is the most commonly used metric to evaluate the pixel processing performance of a graphics card.

113.7 GPixel/s

Texture Rate

Texture fill rate refers to the number of texture map elements (texels) that a GPU can map to pixels in a single second.

199.0 GTexel/s

FP16 (half)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy.

12.74 TFLOPS

FP64 (double)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy, while single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

199.0 GFLOPS

FP32 (float)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

12.485 TFLOPS

Miscellaneous

SM Count

Multiple Streaming Processors (SPs), along with other resources, form a Streaming Multiprocessor (SM), which is also referred to as a GPU's major core. These additional resources include components such as warp schedulers, registers, and shared memory. The SM can be considered the heart of the GPU, similar to a CPU core, with registers and shared memory being scarce resources within the SM.

Shading Units

The most fundamental processing unit is the Streaming Processor (SP), where specific instructions and tasks are executed. GPUs perform parallel computing, which means multiple SPs work simultaneously to process tasks.

3584

L1 Cache

128 KB (per SM)

L2 Cache

3MB

TDP

170W

Vulkan Version

Vulkan is a cross-platform graphics and compute API by Khronos Group, offering high performance and low CPU overhead. It lets developers control the GPU directly, reduces rendering overhead, and supports multi-threading and multi-core processors.

1.3

OpenCL Version

3.0

OpenGL

4.6

DirectX

12 Ultimate (12_2)

CUDA

8.6

Power Connectors

1x 12-pin

Shader Model

6.7

ROPs

The Raster Operations Pipeline (ROPs) is primarily responsible for handling lighting and reflection calculations in games, as well as managing effects like anti-aliasing (AA), high resolution, smoke, and fire. The more demanding the anti-aliasing and lighting effects in a game, the higher the performance requirements for the ROPs; otherwise, it may result in a sharp drop in frame rate.

Suggested PSU

450W

Benchmarks

FP32 (float)

Score

12.485 TFLOPS

3DMark Time Spy

Score

8928

Compared to Other GPU

FP32 (float) / TFLOPS

Radeon RX 6850M XT

12.946 +3.7%

RTX PRO 1000 Blackwell Mobile

12.642 +1.3%

GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104

12.485

Tesla P40

11.995 -3.9%

GeForce GTX 1080 Ti

11.567 -7.4%

3DMark Time Spy

RTX A5500

15314 +71.5%

GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER Mobile

10938 +22.5%

GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104

8928

GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile

6984 -21.8%

RTX A1000 Mobile 6 GB

4844 -45.7%