GeForce RTX 3060 Review: NVIDIA's Most Affordable Ampere Yet


NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060: Game Tests And Gen Over Gen Benchmarks

Crytek’s Neon Noir demo was created with an advanced version of CRYENGINE’s Total Illumination technology, which is used in Crysis Remastered to enhance the game’s visuals. Neon Noir was developed on a customized version of CRYENGINE 5.5., and is both API and hardware agnostic. It enables ray tracing to run on virtually any modern GPU, however, future integration of the technology will be optimized for the latest GPUs and APIs like Vulkan and DX12...

Crytek Neon Noir
API Agnostic Ray Tracing Test
neon noir screenshot
Crytek Neon Noir

neon noir 1 geforce rtx 3060


neon noir 2 geforce rtx 3060

The GeForce RTX 3060 pulled ahead of the GeForce RTX 2060 Super on the Neon Noir benchmark as well, and offers significantly better performance than the GeForce RTX 1660 Ti. Stepping up the stack to the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti though, results in some big performance gains.
Metro Exodus
With And Without RTX / DLSS
Metro Exodus is based on author Dmitry Glukhovsky's series of Metro novels that started with Metro 2033 back in 2005. The first installment in the series was Metro 2033, which was then followed by Metro Last Light (and later, Last Light Redux). Like other games in the series, Metro Exodus follows a post-apocalyptic story line that takes place in the former Russian Federation. The game features advanced graphics and visuals and also supports NVIDIA’s RTX and DLSS technologies.

metro exodus screenshot
Metro Exodus

metro 1 geforce rtx 3060


metro 2 geforce rtx 3060

Using the Ultra quality preset in Metro Exodus, the GeForce RTX 2060 Super is able to edge-out the GeForce RTX 3060, but things couldn't be much closer. This test is as tight as it gets with less than a single frame per second separating the cards.

metro 3 geforce rtx 3060


metro 4 geforce rtx 3060

When using the RTX preset (which enables DXR ray tracing effects and DLSS) in this game, the GeForce RTX 3060 and RTX 2060 Super trade victories depending on the resolution. Though the 3060 doesn't target 4K gaming, this is a situation where its larger 12GB memory configuration (for a mainstream GPU) and newer RT and Tensor cores give it a big edge over the RTX 2060 Super. Regardless, neither card is really "playable" at this setting.

Red Dead Redemption 2
DirectX Gaming Blockbuster
Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2 is the third entry in the Red Dead series. The game’s storyline is set in 1899 and follows outlaw Arthur Morgan of the Van der Linde gang in a fictional wild-west type setting. The game features rich, detailed graphics, which can be taxing on high-performance GPUs, when cranked up to maximum image quality.

red dead redemption 2 screenshot
Red Dead Redemption 2

red dead 1 geforce rtx 3060


red dead 2 geforce rtx 3060

Red Dead Redemption 2 also had the new GeForce RTX 3060 outpacing the GeForce RTX 2060 Super. Stepping up to the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, however, results in significantly more performance -- if you've got the budget, of course.

Gears Tactics
DirectX Tactical Shooter
Gears Tactics is a turn-based tactical game spun-off of the popular Gears of War franchise. Technically, Gears Tactics is a prequel to the first game, but it was just recently released. Like Gears 5, Gears Tactics features a wide array of graphics options that can be tweaked and tuned to optimize performance on a given system.

gears tactics screenshot
Gears Tactics

gears 1 geforce rtx 3060


gears 2 geforce rtx 3060

The new GeForce RTX 3060 performed well in Gears Tactics. In this game, the RTX 3060 actually pulled ahead of the GeForce RTX 2080 Super, and left the GTX-series cards in its dust.

Far Cry New Dawn
The Dunia Engine Lives On

Next up, we’ve got some benchmark scores from Far Cry New Dawn, the latest installment in the storied franchise. Like its predecessors, Far Cry New Dawn is a fast-action shooter set in an open world environment with lush visuals and high graphics fidelity. The game takes place in a fictional county in Montana, where a cult has taken over control of the area. We tested all of the graphics cards here at multiple resolutions using Ultra Quality settings to see how they handled this recently-released AAA title.

farcry 5
FarCry New Dawn

fcr 1 geforce rtx 3060


fcr 2 geforce rtx 3060

FarCry New Dawn was CPU limited at 1440p, so performance is all over the map --- you can disregard that result. With the resolution cranked up though, we saw much of what we've seen throughout our testing, with the GeForce RTX 3060 performing much like the GeForce RTX 2060 Super.

Gen Over Gen Comparisons @ 1080P
Worth The Upgrade?

NVIDIA is targeting 1080p gamers with the GeForce RTX 3060. We focused all of our earlier comparisons at higher resolutions to ensure a clear spread between the cards and to try and suss out any areas where the bigger 12GB frame buffer might translate to increased performance. But, we're sure many of you want to see what performance looks like at 1080p, so we've got some straight-up gen-over-gen-over-gen comparisons for you as well...

geforce rtx 3060 gen to gen

All of these games were run with their Ultra or Highest-Quality graphics presets at 1080p resolution. As you can see, the performance trend we've seen throughout most of the other numbers plays out again here. The GeForce RTX 3060 is a significant upgrade over anything below a GeForce GTX 1660 Ti. The RTX 3060 offers nearly double the performance of GeForce GTX 1060 and makes some games that fall below the 60FPS on the 1660 Ti, smoother and more playable.

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