Do you keep in mind that time whenever Nvidia “unlaunched” something, saying that despite being truly a great pictures card, it absolutely wasn’t named right?… “Having two GPUs with all the RTX that is same 4080 is confusing.” That’s right, we’re talking about the “unlaunching” of the 12GB RTX 4080 about two months ago.
For those of you not up to speed, when* that is( launched their newest GeForce 40 show, they performed therefore with three services and products: the leading RTX 4090, the RTX 4080 16GB and RTX 4080 12GB. The issue ended up being that the 2 RTX 4080 variations had been completely different and people variations weren’t restricted to memory ability since the naming system had been hinting.
That’s because so that you can cut the memory capacity down without using lower density chips, you also need to reduce the memory bus width. Using different silicon that would result in substantially different performance was not a good move, but this sort of dodgy behavior wasn’t new. Nvidia had done it before, for example with the DDR4 version of the GeForce GT 1030.
The Big mistake was announcing the RTX 4080 12GB and that particular anti-consumer move to the world in the event that is biggest Nvidia had held in many years. Traditionally the way they choose to deal with product that is dodgy is to sneak them out at a later date via a silent launch, meaning far fewer people notice and even fewer seem to care.
Well, this is exactly what they have done with the 8GB variant of the GeForce RTX 3060. Ironically, they launched this product on October 27, just 12 days after unlaunching the 12GB 4080 for having a name that is confusing
Although it really is correct that both the 8GB and 12GB variations for the RTX 3060 depend on the GA106 silicon — so it’s officially the GPU that is same changes still go well beyond an adjustment to memory capacity. The memory subsystem of the 8GB model has been drastically reduced, the L2 cache is 50% larger for the 12GB model as is the bus width. All in all, bandwidth is 61% greater in the original RTX 3060 model producing 360 GB/s whereas the “new” 8GB variant has been slashed to just 224 GB/s — the same bandwidth as the RTX 3050.
Ultimately, this means the 8GB RTX 3060 is going to be slower than the 12GB model — and spoiler alert, it’s ~15% slower on average — but in some instances we’re seeing margins of over 30%, so it’s a big enough deal it to your attention.(* for us to bring) additional note,
One has not made any adjustments that are official MSRPs, so the 8GB RTX 3060 still comes in at $330. Nvidia over at Looking, we can see that the 12GB RTX 3060 starts at $350, with a number of models available for between $350 and $380. Newegg, the most 8GB that is affordable originates from Meanwhileno3D plus it begins at $385, though you can find In designs on backorder at $360 and $370. Asus is, with regards to prices, there isn’t any identifying amongst the original 12GB designs and these new gimped versions that are 8GBPoint we bought a
In Australia model you might think, “Well that’s okay,” but it’s not that we purchased for a 10% discount from the original 12GB version, and. The GeForce RTX 3060 was launched virtually two years ago, everybody is knowledgeable about just how it works, and people that are not can very quickly seek advice from the bevvy of web benchmarks. Meanwhile, this 8GB that is new is nowhere to be found as there isn’t a review program, it’s up to reviewers to purchase the card and inform consumers.
In fact, you might not even know there was an version that is 8GB just assumed the RTX 3060 just included 8GB of VRAM, equally the 3060 Ti does. The pitfall the following is that naive consumers might be baited into spending RTX 3060 12GB cash, or really almost therefore for the product which’s dramatically reduced.
We Asked* that is( for an official response about why the 8GB version was released and they simply said it was to offer customers more options. They also stated that the 12GB version was going to remain available in parallel. And just to be clear, this is an* that is( sanctioned product and never their particular lovers going rogue, rather it is possible lovers tend to be obligated to produce it.
Nvidia is apparently trying to clear their inventory out of lower-end Ampere GPUs, and are no doubt keen to maximize profits as they do so. This also allows them to sell defective GA106 silicon for far more as an RTX 3050.(* than they would get selling it) problem is needless to say they don’t deliver the same level of performance and in many instances it’s not even close that we now have two products called “GeForce RTX 3060” and. And we’re not talking about memory testing that is bound like in surpassing the 8GB VRAM buffer — we are speaking about overall performance whenever staying really inside the 8GB buffer.
So why don’t we see that, we are going to discuss a games that are few then show you a 12 game average. For collecting these results we used fresh data with both 12GB and 8GB RTX 3060 cards using the latest display drivers. Other GPUs are included for comparison purposes.
Benchmarks
Starting with Cyberpunk 2077, we find that the 12GB model is 13% faster at 1080p when compared to the 8GB that is new, not just a huge distinction however it’s definitely noteworthy.
That margin expands to 18% at 1440p now we are searching a two various tiers of overall performance as well as a visibly much better video gaming knowledge about the first 12GB model.
Moving on to Dying Light 2, right here we now have a game title this is certainly demonstrably memory hefty and thus the 8GB design restricts the overall performance of this RTX 3060 GPU.
The initial card had been a huge 35% quicker at 1080p, that is a great overall performance distinction for just two services and products revealing the exact same title, and it’s really the exact same tale at 1440p. In reality, right here we get coming from a really console-like 34fps because of the 8GB variation up to a much smoother 46 fps utilizing the original (* that is 3060 sees the 12GB model offering 21% greater performance at 1080p, going from 63 fps to 76 fps, another big performance difference for two products that share the name that is same. The margin stays comparable at 1440p, where original 12GB 3060 ended up being 19% faster.
Horizon Zero Dawn views an inferior 16% overall performance enhancement for the model that is 12GB the new 8GB version, though that margin did grow to 20% at 1440p.
Both results are bad as a double-digit change in performance is unacceptable, especially given the difference in memory capacity plays no role here.
We’re also looking at 22% greater performance for the 12GB variant in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, as the 8GB that is new falls overall performance to 85 fps. The margin is comparable at 1440p, where in fact the 12GB variation is 20% quicker, making one more 12 fps.
Performance Summary
That’s adequate utilizing the game that is individual, you can easily get the idea. On average you can expect 17% better performance with the 12GB model at 1080p, but as it enjoys significantly more memory bandwidth.(* as we saw that margin can be as high as 35%…
What We Learned
The a similar story at 1440p, when working within the 8GB buffer the 12GB model was still on average 18% faster) New version that is 8GB of GeForce RTX 3060 is noticeably slower than the original, and in a number of instances was significantly slower in our testing. In our opinion this is a horrible move that is anti-consumer Nvidia, it acts bit more rather than line their particular pouches while misleading and possibly ripping down consumers.
It’s True that pricing could be improved, at which point it may not be bad in terms of value. After all, let’s say Nvidia drops the price relative to the 12GB version by 20%, or even 30%, then the 8GB RTX 3060 would start looking pretty great in terms of value, at least compared to Nvidia’s own product stack.
We would agree with that assessment had it been called, let’s say the “GeForce RTX 3060 8GB that is LE something which causes it to be obvious to potential purchasers this is simply not your typical RTX 3060. In that instance, we mightn’t genuinely have difficulty using this model that is cut-down while we’d still prefer a name change entirely, we could at least accept a more honest attempt at making it clear to buyers that this is a different version.
To demonstrate just how difficult it is for the uninitiated to even tell which model they’re buying, or that there is even a model that is different discover the container for the initial RTX 3060 and also the brand-new 8GB field…
Those running underneath the presumption that the RTX 3060 is definitely an RTX 3060 might see an 8GB design offering for the reasonable rebate and believe they have discovered a steal, break it, simply to understand their particular steal is very a little reduced than it might have now been usually. And for people nothing the better it simply implies you might have done better, and perhaps gone more between upgrades.
Unfortunately this type of behavior will stay unless Nvidia deals with adequate backlash from customers and also the community that is enthusiast. We’re always going to fight against this sort of anti-consumer behavior from corporations, whether it be Nvidia, AMD, Intel, LG, Samsung, MSI, Asus and so on, many of these companies we’ve taken to task in the past, and we’ll continue to do so.
Rest assured, if AMD was to pull a similar stunt we’d go we dedicated several articles to call them out over the plans to axe We 3 support for 300 and 400 series motherboards after them just as hard, much like when. Put had been none that is having of excuses, we didn’t buy into the technical reasons for why they had to end support.
We simply, they misled consumers, we went they corrected course, and this was made possible thanks to strong push back from the community.(* after them, and) do not expect you’ll begin to see the thing that is same right here with Nvidia, but we have done our little bit, you have today already been made alert to exactly what the 8GB RTX 3060 is, and also you understand in order to avoid it at existing asking costs.
