As we know currently in the market NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3060 is one of the best graphics cards for lower-end systems. However recently the card has undergone a small transformation involving defective dies from more powerful GPUs.
According to the latest information coming from Matthew Smith, the one who maintains TechPowerUp‘s graphics card database, Nvidia is reportedly utilizing GA104 dies inside an unannounced GeForce RTX 3060 model.
However, it’s also true that the production of the chip isn’t perfect, and some silicon does come out defective. But this is to be expected and those silicon’s termed as defective can be used in weaker SKUs.
So, chipmakers tend to generally recycle this defective silicon to manufacture lower-tier products. Recycling dies is a common practice, and more so now that we’re in the middle of a global semiconductor shortage.
Nvidia has previously switched up the silicon on the GeForce GTX 1650 and now, its more recent was EVGA with the GeForce RTX 2060 KO Gaming. But, now the green team is looking to switch up things with the GeForce RTX 3060.
The original GeForce RTX 3060 is based on the GA106 die and the new variant reportedly utilizes the GA104 die, which is the silicon that Nvidia utilizes for the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, RTX 3070, and RTX 3070 Ti.
The GA106 die is 276 mm² big and houses 13.25 billion transitions on the other hand the soon to become a norm, GA104 die is substantially bigger silicon coming in at 392 mm² with 17.4 billion transistors.
Its also true that NVIDIA will be retaining the same specifications as it has with the GA106 die for the GeForce RTX 3060 GA104 as well, and its performance should be in the same alley if not identical to the GeForce RTX 3060.
