In my review of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060, I will share the following:
- Overview of the GeForce RTX 3060 Graphics Card
- RTX 3060 GPU Engine Specs
- Which Brands are the Best and Cheapest
- The games and graphics settings you should expect to be able to play well
Overview of NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3060
NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3060 is an awesome performance graphics card for all games on 1080P resolution. This graphics card should also allow you to stream content on 1080P without any issues. You should be able to meet the system requirements for all games that are released in 2023 and expect good performance on 1080P resolution.
You should also expect to be able to play 1440P on ultra-presets for most games and still have a pretty smooth experience. When you get up to 4K resolution, you will likely start having problems. You will need to lower graphics settings and play at lower FPS (frames per second).
RTX 3060 GPU Engine Specs
The RTX 3060 GPU provides 1.3GHz base clock, 1.7GHz boost clock, 3,500 CUDA cores and 12GB of VRAM. Those specs are going to bring you over the top of the system requirements for today’s games on 1080P resolution.
| GPU Engine Specs | |
| Boost Clock (MHz) | 1780 |
| Base Clock (MHz) | 1320 |
| CUDA Cores | 3584 |
| Memory Type | GDDR6 |
| VRAM | 12GB |
The most graphics-intensive games in recent years include Elden Ring, Red Dead Redemption 2, Far Cry 6, and soon to be released Starfield. We know from the system requirements of the games that have been released that the RTX 3060 go above those requirements. Those games still call out graphics cards from two generations ago as system requirements, as illustrated below with Elden Ring.
You can expect that going into 2023 and 2024 the RTX 3060 will still be relevant and still surpass the recommended system requirements of modern games.
GeForce RTX 3060 – Which Brand?
NVIDIA licenses their graphics cards to OEMs like EVGA, MSI, Gigabyte, and ZOTAC. The technology underneath is the same but what does differentiate the brands are pricing, support, and minor differences like size and number of fans, which is important if you plan on overclocking.
On one side of the spectrum, you have EVGA, which in my opinion is the best. They typically have the most features and offer U.S. based support. There is a return process, a number you can call to talk to someone, and they make it easy. You will be paying for that up front when you buy the graphics card because EVGA is also more expensive.
On the other side of the spectrum is ZOTAC, which in my opinion is the least expensive option. They still offer all the great technology that comes with NVIDIA, but they are a Chinese-based company and are not as well established in the U.S.
27 Games and Performance for GeForce RTX 3060
The list below will provide you with an overview of 27 popular modern AAA games and the type of graphics settings and resolutions you can expect to play at. Of course, this is all given that the rest of your system is set up with similar performance hardware.
| Game | Ideal Resolutions | Ideal Graphics Settings |
| Elden Ring | 1080P-1440P | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – Ultra 4K – Low |
| Modern Warfare 2 / Warzone 2.0 | 1080P-1440P | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – Ultra 4K – Ultra |
| Fortnite | 1080P, 1440P, 4K | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – Ultra 4K – Ultra |
| Halo: Infinite | 1080P-1440P | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – Ultra 4K – Low-Medium |
| CS:GO | 1080P, 1440P, 4K | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – Ultra 4K – Ultra |
| PUBG | 1080P, 1440P, 4K | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – Ultra 4K – Ultra |
| Minecraft | 1080P, 1440P, 4K | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – Ultra 4K – Ultra |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 1080P-1440P | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – Medium-High 4K – Low |
| Far Cry 6 | 1080P-1440P | 1080P – High 1440P – Medium 4K – Low |
| Dota 2 | 1080P, 1440P, 4K | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – Ultra 4K – Ultra |
| Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5) | 1080P, 1440P, 4K | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – Ultra 4K – Ultra |
| World of WarCraft | 1080P, 1440P, 4K | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – Ultra 4K – Ultra |
| CyberPunk 2077 | 1080P-1440P | 1080P – High 1440P – Medium-High 4K – Low |
| RUST | 1080P, 1440P, 4K | 1080P – High 1440P – Medium-High 4K – Low-Medium |
| Civilization VI | 1080P, 1440P, 4K | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – High 4K – Medium-High |
| Overwatch 2 | 1080P, 1440P, 4K | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – Ultra 4K – Ultra |
| League of Legends | 1080P, 1440P, 4K | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – High 4K – High |
| Valorant | 1080P, 1440P, 4K | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – Ultra 4K – Ultra |
| Battlefield V | 1080P, 1440P, 4K | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – Ultra 4K – Ultra |
| Team Fortress 2 | 1080P, 1440P, 4K | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – High 4K – High |
| Apex Legends | 1080P, 1440P, 4K | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – High 4K – Medium-High |
| Lost Ark | 1080P, 1440P, 4K | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – High 4K – High |
| War Thunder | 1080P, 1440P, 4K | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – High 4K – High |
| New World | 1080P, 1440P, 4K | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – Medium 4K – Low-Medium |
| Terraria | 1080P, 1440P, 4K | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – High 4K – High |
| Battlefield 1 | 1080P, 1440P, 4K | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – High 4K – High |
| Unturned | 1080P, 1440P, 4K | 1080P – Ultra 1440P – High 4K – High |
NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3060 Review Highlights
Overall, the GeForce RTX 3060 targets gamers who plan to game at 1080P and 1440P resolutions. It’s not really a 4K GPU, so you if you have expectations around that, you should seek a higher-level GPU such as the RTX 3080 or 3080 Ti.
The GeForce RTX 3060 will be relevant for years to come. Games released today are still referencing graphics cards from two generations ago. Those graphics cards were released anywhere in the neighborhood of 4-7 years ago. Therefore, you should feel confident that the RTX 3060 will meet your needs as long as you’re okay with playing on 1080P or 1440P resolution.