NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GA103

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GA103

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GA103: A Hybrid of Power and Affordability in 2025

An Updated Classic for Gamers and Professionals


Architecture and Key Features: Ampere 2.0 with a Focus on Optimization

The RTX 3060 Ti GA103 graphics card is based on the updated Ampere 2.0 architecture, which is NVIDIA's response to increasing demands for energy efficiency and support for new technologies. The GA103 chip, in contrast to the original GA104 found in early versions of the RTX 3060 Ti, is manufactured using TSMC's 6-nanometer process (instead of Samsung's 8N), which has helped reduce heat output and increase transistor density.

Key Features:

- RTX (Ray Tracing): Third-generation hardware support for ray tracing — up to 28 ray tracing cores.

- DLSS 3.5: Artificial Intelligence Super Resolution with an improved frame generation and image reconstruction algorithm.

- FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR): Compatibility with AMD technology, which is a rarity for NVIDIA cards. This makes the RTX 3060 Ti GA103 a versatile choice for cross-platform projects.


Memory: GDDR6X and Balance for 1440p

The card comes with 10 GB of GDDR6X memory (previously GDDR6) with a 256-bit bus and a bandwidth of 608 GB/s (compared to 448 GB/s of its predecessor). This solution has eliminated the “bottleneck” in 4K gaming, although the primary focus remains on 1440p.

Why This Matters:

- Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty (1440p, Ultra): VRAM consumption — up to 9 GB. The 10 GB of GDDR6X help avoid stuttering.

- Stability in Professional Applications: Rendering 3-layer scenes in Blender requires 8-10 GB — memory headroom is critical here.


Gaming Performance: 1440p as the New Standard

The RTX 3060 Ti GA103 is positioned as the ideal solution for 144 Hz monitors with a resolution of 2560x1440.

FPS Examples (max settings, without DLSS/FSR):

- Alan Wake 2 (1440p): 48-55 FPS (with RT enabled — 32-38 FPS, but DLSS 3.5 boosts it to 60+).

- Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (1440p): 75-90 FPS.

- Horizon Forbidden West (PC version, 1440p): 60-65 FPS.

4K Capabilities:

In games with DLSS 3.5 (e.g., Starfield: Shattered Space), the card achieves 45-50 FPS at 4K, but to maintain stable 60+ FPS, settings will need to be dialed down.


Professional Tasks: CUDA Ensuring Productivity

With 4864 CUDA cores (the same as the GA104 but with better optimization), the RTX 3060 Ti GA103 is suitable for:

- Editing in DaVinci Resolve: Rendering a 4K video takes 12-15 minutes (compared to 18-20 minutes for the RTX 3060 Ti GA104).

- 3D Modeling in Maya: Render speeds are 20% faster than the RTX 3060 (2020).

- Scientific Calculations: Support for OpenCL 3.0 and CUDA 12 makes the card viable for entry-level machine learning.


Power Consumption and Thermal Output: Lessons in Efficiency

The card's TDP is 225 watts (25 watts more than the GA104 version), but the 6-nanometer process and improved Founders Edition cooling system offset this increase.

Recommendations:

- Power Supply: At least 650 watts with an 80+ Bronze certification.

- Case: Good airflow (2-3 intake fans). For compact builds, models with a 3-slot cooler (e.g., ASUS Dual OC) are suitable.

Temperature under load ranges from 68-72°C, which is 5°C lower than the GA104.


Comparison with Competitors: The Mid-Market Battle

- AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (2024): 12 GB GDDR6, slightly higher rasterization performance (by 8-10%), but weaker in RT (lagging by 25-30%). Price: $399 vs. $379 for the RTX 3060 Ti GA103.

- Intel Arc A770 (2025): 16 GB GDDR6, excellent results in DX12, but issues with optimization in older projects. Price: $349.

Conclusion: NVIDIA triumphs thanks to DLSS 3.5 and driver stability.


Practical Tips: How to Avoid Mistakes

1. Power Supply: Even if your system consumes 400 watts, go for 650 watts — peak loads for Ampere 2.0 are unpredictable.

2. Platform: PCIe 4.0 x16 is essential — on PCIe 3.0, you can lose up to 7% performance in RT games.

3. Drivers: Disable "experimental features" in GeForce Experience — by 2025, NVIDIA is actively testing integration with AI services, which can sometimes lead to conflicts.


Pros and Cons

✓ Pros:

- Best price-to-performance ratio in the $350-400 segment.

- Support for DLSS 3.5 and FSR 3.0.

- Versatility for both gaming and work.

✕ Cons:

- 10 GB of memory is the limit for 4K in 2025.

- Absence of HDMI 2.2 (only 2.1) — a limitation for 8K/60Hz.


Final Conclusion: Who Should Consider the RTX 3060 Ti GA103?

This graphics card is the perfect choice:

- For gamers who want to play at 1440p with max settings and RT.

- For editors and designers seeking budget-friendly rendering acceleration.

- For upgrading older PCs where balance between power and energy consumption is important.

Priced at $379 (for new models in April 2025), it stands as one of the most sensible offerings on the market. If you're not chasing 4K ultra settings, the GA103 will be a reliable companion for the next 3-4 years.

Basic

Label Name
NVIDIA
Platform
Desktop
Launch Date
February 2022
Model Name
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GA103
Generation
GeForce 30
Base Clock
1410MHz
Boost Clock
1665MHz
Bus Interface
PCIe 4.0 x16
Transistors
Unknown
RT Cores
38
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.
152
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.
152
Foundry
Samsung
Process Size
8 nm
Architecture
Ampere

Memory Specifications

Memory Size
8GB
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.
256bit
Memory Clock
1750MHz
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.
448.0 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.
133.2 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.
253.1 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.
16.20 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.
253.1 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.
15.876 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.
38
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.
4864
L1 Cache
128 KB (per SM)
L2 Cache
4MB
TDP
200W
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
6.5
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.
80
Suggested PSU
550W

Benchmarks

FP32 (float)
Score
15.876 TFLOPS
Blender
Score
3254
OctaneBench
Score
358

Compared to Other GPU

FP32 (float) / TFLOPS
17.307 +9%
15.357 -3.3%
14.596 -8.1%
Blender
15026.3 +361.8%
3514.46 +8%
1064 -67.3%
OctaneBench
1328 +270.9%
163 -54.5%
87 -75.7%
47 -86.9%