Nvidia may have a few new spins on its current-gen graphics playing cards coming quickly sufficient, going by chatter on the grapevine.

Particularly, the assumption is that an RTX 3060 with 8GB of VRAM, quite than 12GB, is within the pipeline for the tip of October, with the cardboard additionally having the reminiscence bus purportedly dropped to 128-bit (quite than 192-bit).

This would seem alongside an RTX 3060 Ti which has the identical quantity of VRAM (it had 8GB already), however is provided with quicker GDDR6X reminiscence (quite than plain GDDR6). Presumably this will likely be 19Gbps video RAM (as seen on the 3070 Ti), so it could usher in a bandwidth enhance of simply over a 3rd.

This was a rumor beforehand floated on Twitter by MegaSizeGPU (opens in new tab), and it’s now been given extra weight after VideoCardz (opens in new tab) has talked to its sources, and apparently obtained phrase from graphics card makers that these new fashions of the RTX 3060 are certainly deliberate.

Supposedly it is a drive by Nvidia to broaden its portfolio of mid-range GPUs within the face of what’s described as rising competitors.

Extra recent Ampere variations could also be deliberate, too, in line with MegaSizeGPU, however that pair of RTX 3060 refreshes are the one fashions for which now we have VideoCardz’s assurance that they’re taking place. One other rumor hints at an RTX 3070 Ti with a GA102 GPU, which is the chip that powers the RTX 3090 and 3080 (the RTX 3070 Ti because it exists is GA104). If that occurs, nonetheless, it might be area particular (comparable to Asia solely).

Evaluation: Making sense of the brand new fashions

The theorized RTX 3060 8GB model wouldn’t simply have a lesser quantity of RAM, but additionally constrained bandwidth with that reminiscence bus dropped to 128-bit, so players may anticipate efficiency to drop a bit. By the identical token, we’d additionally anticipate pricing to drop, too, and we might be a brand new mannequin which retails at $300 within the US (round £260, AU$510), or possibly even lower than that. This might be a horny proposition for these seeking to get a extra inexpensive GPU.

It’s fascinating to listen to that that is apparently a response to rising competitors, though Nvidia’s GPUs nonetheless appear to be very a lot the dominant pressure, at the very least trying on the rankings of the best-selling graphics playing cards at Newegg proper now as a snapshot. Moreover, Workforce Inexperienced’s GPU market share is up in line with the most recent figures, too. That stated, possibly it is a reference to Intel’s entry to the market with its top-end Arc A7 graphics playing cards that are due quickly, and can compete with the RTX 3060 and 3060 Ti, roughly. (Though clouds of doubt has been forged over Intel’s GPU prospects of late, on the grapevine at the very least).

Within the total image, it might appear odd to listen to that Nvidia is rumored to be readying these new RTX 3000 fashions, when extra inventory of current-gen graphics playing cards is an acknowledged drawback. However as we’ve seen, the RTX 3060 is making good progress with gross sales – actually going by Steam’s {hardware} survey, the place the GPU has been forging upwards of late – so it is smart for Nvidia to maintain capitalizing on that momentum for now.

And actually, the surplus inventory concern seems to pertain to the RTX 3070 graphics playing cards and better, that are the merchandise seeing the massive value reductions of late (supposedly with extra to come back). So, what appears to be the case is Nvidia is shifting these GPUs earlier than debuting their successors, the RTX 4090, 4080 and 4070 – and the launch of these next-gen playing cards will likely be layered with Ampere choices, as Workforce Inexperienced has already advised us.

All of which may imply, in brief, that we see these next-gen GPUs combined in with the brand new RTX 3060 fashions – and that tentatively factors to the RTX 4060 most likely being a way off. We haven’t heard as a lot concerning the RTX 4060 by way of the rumor mill, both, in comparison with the RTX 4070 and above, so once more, this all strains up in a style (with all the regular caveats round hypothesis utilized, in fact).

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