Is it good for crypto mining? It is simply an LHR (Lite Hash Rate) card which means it’s not for crypto-miners. It is NOT crippled at all for gaming. Nvidia created these LHR cards to make more cards available to folks who want to game, not run mining rigs for crypto-currency. Without these cards, you probably wouldn’t be able to get one at all. Explore more in EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti XC Gaming 08G-P5-3663-KL 8GB GDDR6 review.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Stylish design
- Ideal for 1440p gaming
- Solid ray tracing performance
- Runs quiet
- Impressive performance — can match an RTX 2080
- 4K at lower settings
- HDMI 2.1, PCIe 4.0
Cons
- Mediocre 4K performance
- 8GB of VRAM
- Annoying 12-pin power connector
Specs – EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti XC Gaming 08G-P5-3663-KL 8GB GDDR6
- Architecture: Ampere
- RT Cores: 38
- Tensor Cores: 152
- Process: 7nm
- CUDA Cores: 4,864
- Memory: 8GB GDDR6
- Memory speed: 448 GB/s
- Core clock: 1410 MHz
- Boost clock: 1710 MHz
- Recommended PSU: 600W
- Power connectors: 1x 8-pin
- Memory interface: 256-bit
- Bus standard: PCIe 4.0
- TDP: 200W
- Ports: 2x HDMI 2.1, 3x DP 1.4a, HDCP 2.3 support
- Dimensions: 110 x 201.8 mm, (4.33 x 7.94 inches)
Price
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is available starting December 2, 2020, and you can pick it up starting at $399 (about £299, AU$540). This largely falls in line with what we’d expect a graphics card in this segment to cost, especially considering the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super started at the same $399 (about £315, AU$580) and the RTX 2060 was $349 (about £260, AU$475).
EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti XC Gaming 08G-P5-3663-KL 8GB GDDR6 review
Design
Compared to the RTX 3070, you get the same 8GB GDDR6 memory, 256-bit memory interface and in identical cooler too. The flow-through fan design is still here and there are two fans in total, although the RTX 3060 Ti has a silver housing rather than the gun metal grey of the RTX 3070. What really sets this video card apart from EVGA’s other offerings is its small size, coming in at just 7.94 in/ 201.8 mm in length, 4.33 in / 110 mm in height, and 1.5 in/ 38 mm in width
Ports
On the rear of the GPU, you’ll find three DisplayPort 1.4 ports with a single HDMI 2.1 port. You’ll want to use DisplayPort to enjoy the full fruits of NVIDIA’s G-Sync technology, which will work wonders with DLSS and ray tracing. As well as raw specifications, NVIDIA also bundled a few new features with the RTX 30 series that RTX 3060 Ti owners too will be able to take advantage of.
Memory
With this graphics card, you’re getting 8GB of the same GDDR6 memory found in the RTX 3070, paired with 38 Ampere Streaming Multiprocessors (SM). However, because of changes Nvidia has made to its SM since Turing, each of these now has 128 CUDA cores, double that of the 64 in each Turing SM. That means there are now 4,864 CUDA cores in the RTX 3060 Ti, up from the 2,176 found in the RTX 2060 Super.
Frame rates in EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti XC Gaming 08G-P5-3663-KL 8GB GDDR6
The Nvidia Geforce RTX 3060 Ti brings game-changing 1440p performance to the mid-range market, and should remain a go-to 1440p card for quite a while, considering how both AMD and Nvidia have set their sites on 4K as the new Flagship battleground.
Throughout most of the games we tested the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti in, the graphics card showed its strength in 1440p gaming, with only Red Dead Redemption 2 and Total War: Three Kingdoms resulting in framerates less than 60 fps at max settings. And, considering just how heavy those two games are, the RTX 3060 Ti’s scores of 55 fps and 59 fps, respectively, is damn impressive.
In actual games, the RTX 3060 Ti obviously kills it. In Metro Exodus without ray tracing and on the Ultra quality preset at 1440p, the RTX 3060 Ti manages 69 fps to the RTX 2080 Super’s 68 fps – which is within margin of error. When you turn on ray tracing however, the third-generation RT Cores get to stretch their wings, with a wider 8% performance lead.
Temperature
When you took things a step further with an overclock things were different. First our maximum temperature increased to 72c, not that bad on its face until you remember we had the fans spinning at 100% to obtain this result. While this did allow us to increase clock speeds, its was simply untenable, as the noise was incredibly loud. If you plan on getting this card and overclocking it, be prepared to setup a custom fan curve as you will need it.
Cooling
Moving back to the physical card we see that cooling here is handled by a custom EVGA heatsink equipped with a dual fan cooling solution. EVGA has seen fit to implement a cooper cold plate with 4 heat pipes on this model, which is a welcome inclusion. That cold plate makes direct contact with the GA104 die and contact with all the GDDR6 memory modules by way of 3 thermal pads.
Power consumption
The total graphics power (TGP) is 200W for the RTX 3060 Ti, up from the 175W of the RTX 2060 Super. It’s more, but it shouldn’t be so much more that you’ll need to worry about upgrading your power supply to accommodate – assuming you have a competent one in the first place, that is.
Overclocking
It is equipped with 152 Tensor Cores for AI purposes. GPU The central unit runs at 1410 MHz and goes up to 1710 MHz, in Turbo Mode. Memory The GPU accesses an 8GB frame buffer of Second Gen GDDR6 through a 256-bit memory interface, while the Memory Clock Operates at 1750MHz, or 14GHz effective.
Ray tracing
With ray tracing enabled at 1080p, Metro Exodus gives the RTX 3060 Ti an easy ride, coming close to matching the more expensive RX 6800 and not a million miles away from the RTX 3070 either.
The RTX 3060 Ti was impressive withy ray tracing and DLSS enabled, again matching the RTX 2080 Super and outstripping the RX 6800’s average frame rate too, but ultimately a fair way behind the RTX 3070.
Alternate of EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti XC Gaming 08G-P5-3663-KL 8GB GDDR6
AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
AMD’s “Big Navi” RX 6800 XT is a bit more affordable than the RTX 3080, yet it trades performance blows and doesn’t suck up as much power. Its 16GB of VRAM are great for futureproofing, and it has a number of included features gamers will love. Just remember that its ray-tracing abilities aren’t as developed.
Pros
- 16GB of VRAM
- Power efficient
- Performance comparable to RTX 3080
- Rage Mode and Smart Access Memory
- More affordable than RTX 3080
Cons
- Ray tracing and FSR not as mature
Memory: 16GB GDDR6 | Memory bandwidth: Up to 512Gbps | Memory bus: 256-bit | Base clock: 2,015MHz | Boost clock: 2,250MHz | Stream processors: 4,608 | Process: 7nm | Power: 300W
If you’re on Team Red and want a GPU that can handle 1440p and 4K gaming, the RX 6800 XT is undeniably a great option that should cost less than the RTX 3080 once stock and prices settle.
It has some impressive raw specs, including a whopping 16GB of VRAM that will set it up nicely for the future. If you’re buying a new GPU today and want it to last for the next five years, 8GB of RAM doesn’t look so impressive.
AMD’s “Big Navi” Radeon RX 6000 GPUs based on RDNA 2 technology bring a ton of power that puts them among the top options out there. In particular, the RX 6800 XT will generally perform as well as the RTX 3080 in 1440p and 4K games, with each card moving up and down based on other factors. The RX 6800 XT is more power efficient, sitting somewhere between the RTX 3070 and RTX 3080.
One big advancement with these GPUs is the addition of ray tracing, previously something only NVIDIA could offer. Your games are going to look prettier, but you’re going to see a more significant hit to performance on the AMD cards. Chalk it up to having more time to develop on NVIDIA’s part.
AMD does have something called Smart Access Memory (SAM) that can boost performance in some games. The gains aren’t huge, but they are noticeable in plenty of titles. We benchmarked Smart Access Memory to see how much of a difference it really makes. NVIDIA has since opened up Resizable BAR Support for its own GPUs, essentially making this point null.
Want to overclock and not void your warranty? AMD’s Rage Mode is another nice addition that will get the job done without harming your hardware. And finally, AMD has now introduced FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) to its GPUs new and old. This is a rebuttal to NVIDIA’s DLSS, and for the most part it works quite well despite using a different approach. The list of compatible games is growing, but it will take some time to catch up to NVIDIA. Take a look at our AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution vs. NVIDIA DLSS comparison for more information.
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