The much-anticipated GPU series from NVIDIA, the RTX 3000 series was officially released on 1st December 2020. The RTX 3000 series comprised of RTX 3060 Ti, RTX 3070, RTX 3080 and RTX 3090.
The entry-level GPU of the RTX 3000 series, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti has been set for an affordable price of $399. In India, the RTX 3060 Ti has a sweet starting price of just Rs 35,900. It is faster than the previous generation GeForce RTX 2080 Super, priced at Rs 65,500, and delivers blistering 1080p and 1440p gameplay along with some 4k gaming.
The RTX 3060 Ti is about half of the price of RTX 2080 Super but almost beats it in every front. This data insight from NVIDIA clearly got all the gamers’ attention and everyone was hyped about this entry-level 4K gaming GPU.
Fortunately, I got my hands on Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Gaming OC 8G. There has been a market shortage for the OC versions of this GPU but I was lucky enough to get one. I was completely overwhelmed by seeing its gaming benchmarks and I hope you all would also get your answers of why I called this the best entry-level 4K gaming GPU if you read this article till the last.
Specifications
- Graphics Processing: GeForce RTX™ 3060 Ti
- NVIDIA Ampere Streaming Multiprocessors
- 2nd Generation RT Cores
- 3rd Generation Tensor Cores
- Core Clock: 1740 MHz (Reference Card: 1665 MHz)
- CUDA® Cores: 4864
- Memory Clock: 14000 MHz
- Memory Size: 8 GB
- Memory Type: GDDR6
- Memory Bus: 256 bit
- Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec): 448 GB/s
- Card Bus: PCI-E 4.0 x 16
- Digital max resolution: 7680×4320@60Hz
- Multi-view: 4
- Card size: L=282 W=117 H=41 mm
- PCB Form: ATX
- DirectX: 12 Ultimate
- OpenGL: 4.6
- Recommended PSU: 600W
- Power Connectors: 8 pin*1
- Output: DisplayPort 1.4a *2, HDMI 2.1 *2
- WINDFORCE 3X Cooling System with alternate spinning fans
System Specs
- Motherboard: Gigabyte Z490m
- CPU: Intel Core i7-10700k (reviewed separately here)
- RAM: 16GB 3000MHz
- SSD: 240GB WD Sn550
- Power Supply: Cooler Master 750W
- GPU: Gigabyte NVIDIA Geforce RTX 3060 Ti Gaming OC 8G
- CPU Cooler: Cooler Master H410R
- Monitor: LG 27″ 4k gaming monitor – 27UL650
- Cabinet: MSI Mag Vampiric 100R
Synthetic benchmarks
So now let’s dive into the real-life performances of the RTX 3060 Ti. To start off, first, let’s take a look at the synthetic gaming benchmarks.
Geekbench 5
The OpenCL score of 125197 which I got is higher than which is provided in the Geekbench 5 database. So it clearly shows that the RTX 3060 Ti is beating the RTX 2080 Super and even the AMD Radeon RX 6800 according to the database.
Time Spy
Time Spy is a DirectX 12 benchmark with native support for new API features like asynchronous compute, explicit multi-adapter, and multi-threading. Time Spy Graphics tests are rendered at 2560 × 1440 resolution. This GPU scores an impressive 10274 in Time Spy with a graphics score of 10974.
Time Spy Extreme
Time Spy Extreme raises the rendering resolution to 3840 × 2160 (4K UHD). The enhanced CPU test is ideal for processors with a large number of cores. The RTX 3060 Ti gets a score of 5357 which proves this GPU can perform well in extreme test cases as well.
Fire Strike
Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for high-performance gaming PCs and overclocked systems. The Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Gaming OC 8G scored a massive 23468 overall with a graphics score of 28745.
Fire Strike Extreme
Fire Strike Extreme is designed for testing PCs with multiple GPUs. It raises the rendering resolution from 1920 × 1080 to 2560 × 1440 and improves the visual quality. The RTX 3060 Ti comes out with flying colours as well in this test with a score of 13522.
Fire Strike Ultra
Fire Strike Ultra raises the rendering resolution to 3840 × 2160 (4K UHD), drawing four times as many pixels per frame as Fire Strike. The RTX 3060 Ti still manages to get a respectable score of 7335.
Port Royal
Port Royal is a graphics card benchmark for testing real-time ray tracing performance. The score of 6784 is quite good, which means you can now easily afford a graphics card with Ray Tracing feature.
Gaming benchmarks
Apart from the above benchmark tests, we also tested the RTX 3060 Ti by playing various types of PC games which included some very graphic-intensive games. So, let’s check out the average FPS we got by playing the games with the 3 highest quality presets given in each game.
Resolution: 2560×1440
We have already covered: Cyberpunk 2077 on NVIDIA Geforce RTX 3060ti: How to get 60 FPS with Ray Tracing and DLSS on?
Resolution: 3840×2160 (4K UHD)
We have already covered: Cyberpunk 2077 on NVIDIA Geforce RTX 3060ti: How to get 60 FPS with Ray Tracing and DLSS on?
Verdict
The NVIDIA GeForce 3060 Ti has paved the way for affordable entry-level 4K gaming. It gives the best performance in 1080p and 1440p gaming but if you want to try 4K gaming and playing on lower FPS isn’t an issue for you then you won’t find any issues with this affordable GPU.
When you compare one of the best GPUs from the RTX 2000 series, RTX 2080 Super with the entry-level RTX 3000 series, RTX 3060 Ti, you can clearly see how much leap NVIDIA has taken from the previous generation to this generation. The improvement is massive.
If you’re tight on budget and is looking for a GPU for around Rs 40,000-50,000 and want to have some entry-level 4K gaming experience, then the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is the perfect match for you. Just go for it, it’s absolutely worth the money!
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You can also buy GIGABYTE Nvidia GeForce RTX™ 3060 Ti Eagle 8GB GDDR6 Graphics Card, GIGABYTE Nvidia AORUS GeForce RTX™ 3060 Ti Master 8GB GDDR6 Graphics Card or GIGABYTE Nvidia GeForce RTX™ 3060 Ti Eagle OC 8GB GDDR6 Graphics Card.
Or, if you prefer ASUS TUF gaming accessories you can also buy the ASUS TUF Gaming NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti OC Edition Graphics Card from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3aCAhtm
But if you want to focus more on 4K gaming and is ready to loosen your wallet a little bit more, then you can go for the RTX 3070 or RTX 3080. Stay tuned as we’ll also be reviewing the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 very soon. 😉
