For the past few weeks, the GeForce RTX 3060 has been available in an 8 GB edition. This version has appeared alongside another new feature, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti equipped with a VRAM update (GDDR6X).
In both cases, these solutions are positioned as “additional” versions, thus giving players and creators more choice as the end-of-year celebrations approach. On the other hand, be careful, this GeForce RTX 3060 8 GB does not only offer a simple change in memory capacity. Nvidia has also changed the width of the memory bus from 192 bits to 128 bits. This second modification is not insignificant since it has an impact on bandwidth, which affects high definition performance.
For the rest we find the same mechanics with a GA106 GPU supported by 3584 CUDA cores and 170 Watts of TDP.
Hardware Unboxed testing at 1080p and 1440p. The choice of these two definitions is no coincidence because it allows not to exceed the maximum capacity of the card, ie 8 GB of VRAM.
The results at 1080p under 12 games tested reveal a drop in performance of up to 17% compared to the 12 GB model. At 1440p the gap widens by 1% in favor of the 12 GB model. 8GB suffers from a confusing name in view of too large a performance gap compared to the GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB. In addition, this GeForce RTX 3060 8GB seems to suffer from an ill-suited price.
| GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB | GeForce RTX 3060 8 GB | |
| GPUs | GA106-300/302 | GA106-302 |
| CUDA Hearts | 3584 | 3584 |
| Boost Frequency | 1770MHz | 1770MHz |
| Memory | 12GB G6 | 8GB G6 |
| Memory bus | 192 bit | 128 bit |
| Memory speed | 15 Gbps | 15 Gbps |
| Bandwidth | 360 GB/s | 240 GB/s |
| PDT | 170W | 170W |
