GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3060 Gaming OC 12G (REV2.0) Graphics Card, 3X WINDFORCE Fans, 12GB 192-bit GDDR6, GV-N3060 Video Card

Installed the GIGABYTE RTX 3060 Gaming OC 12GB in a mid-range gaming build and it performed exactly as expected. The triple-fan cooling design keeps temperatures under control even during extended gaming sessions, and noise levels stay reasonable under load. The 12GB of VRAM is a major advantage compared to some newer mid-range cards with less memory. It handles modern games at 1080p ultra settings comfortably and performs well at 1440p with optimized settings. For content creation tasks like light video editing or GPU-accelerated workloads, the extra VRAM also helps. Build quality feels solid, and installation was straightforward using a standard 8-pin power connector. No driver issues during setup, and stability has been consistent. If you’re building a balanced gaming system and want solid performance without jumping to higher-priced GPUs, this card still offers strong value — especially for users who benefit from the larger memory capacity.

So far so good. I have a 2015 Windows 10 build that was not able to handle anything new in the way of video games. Photoshop was was still doing a good job. The video card I had in the computer was not even the best card in 2015 by a long shot, Gigabyte GTX 960, which is usually in last place for modern video cards. The GTX three fan 960 was able to play every game I threw at it until I bought Death Stranding for my new Alienware gaming laptop with an RTX 3060, which ran the game quite well. I also use either a 65" Samsung 240hz 4k TV, or a 32" Dell 165hz 1440p model to view games. The newest game that sent the GTX 960 into a tailspin was Last of US Part One. This newer version is miles above the original Playstation version on PS3. I pulled the 960 out of the computer after going to the Device MGR and removing the old drivers. OOPS, forgot to go to the ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS to finish the job, and had to start all over again by putting the 960 back in the computer!! Rookie move, but I don't do this for a living, and we get too excited about new stuff, right? I still long for the old days when these companies put start up discs in the box. I'm not even sure there was an instruction manual on how to get the thing installed. Even though the drivers were old, you could still get all the software that sent you to NVIDIA to update everything. WTS, it was a breeze going to NVIDIA and having them download and install the new drivers and software. I did a lot of research on this purchase. 1xxx and 2xxx NVIDIA versions had great specs, but were either used or refurbs, or the same price as a 3060. The GTX 960 was from a 2015 launch date. I was skipping the GTX generations of 1xxx, 2xxx, and going to the 3xxx series. Problems arise here by going to far beyond older motherboards and operating systems. The computer was already using DirectX 12, so that was good. I had 32 GB of RAM, and that was very good too. The main problem I saw was going from pcie 3.0 to pcie 4.0 with the RTX 3060. All the other versions after GTX 960 up to GTX 2xxx are on the pcie 3.0 standard. The RTX 3060 uses the newer pcie 4.0 version. Everything I read on the subject said that the RTX 3060 was in no way going to flood the 3.0 pcie port for some kind of bottlenecking. You will read tons of info talking about the dangers of bottlenecking . The next generation cards above are the RTX 4xxx and 5xxx use the 4.0 and 5.0 pcie versions, and that was too far for me to go with my old Windows 10. I tried to put Windows 11 upgrade on it, and Windows said NO way. Once I got everything installed and drivered up, I played some Tomb Raider Risiing on 4k Ultra settings. The game looks incredible and played fast. The benchmarks on the game were an average of 55fps in 4k. The real test was my new version of the Last of US Part one Remastered on Steam. The game was only playable at 1080p with GTX 960 installed. The RTX 3060 ran the new Last of US Part One game in 4k Ultra with it rendered in 2560.x1440p. I don't exactly know how that works, but that is what the graphics settings auto loaded within certain VRAM limitations. Obviously with a newer computer running the latest CPUs, Mobos on 5.0 pcie, 64gb of RAM, and other new features, complete 4k wonderment might be possible? My old Windows 10 was using a very good i7-4790k Intel processor, which is still a very capable processor today. Intel processors are into 14xxx numbered units now, which is well beyond my 4xxx i7 processor. Competant gaming and computering can still be had with old equipment and updated upgrades. Eventually, what will kill this computer, like Windows Xp-7 will be Google not supporting it anymore. Steam games, same thing, once Google stops supporting it, you need to go to Windows 11 or 12 eventually. Bottomline, don't toss out that old Windows 10 computer too fast. With a few well placed upgrades like this RTX 3060, yo can revive an older unit on life support. I have no doubt that this revived computer will be good for a few more years. One other item I forgot to mention earlier, I'm running a Samsung 870 EVO on the Windows 10, and other research is telling me that the Ray Tracing on RTX cards run a lot better on fast M.2 SSDs. I only have a 500gb SSD drive and don't have enough extra space to add a newer game with all the massive GBs they come with. What is the immediate downside here, Last of US P1 takes an interminable amount of time to load from external storage. I had to load this game directly on my laptop to get a normal load time. So I ordered a new Samsung 990 M.2 on AMZ with lightspeed capability. Ray Tracing is very intense and needs fast storage to process all that wonderful lighting effects. So one upgrade can lead to other issues that need solving. My new 990 M.2 will be here soon for Ray Tracing goodness. Half Life 2 even has an RTX version that I'm dying to try out also. So far, the garaphics from Last of US Part 1 are literally blowing away whatever anyone ever saw on PS3 at 720p. The updated visuals are ridiculously better without Ray Tracing working to its optimum. Another note, my laptop got a new infusion of RAM to 32gb, and that also made the new game run better by a mile. Don't be afraid to upgrade that old computer. There are some good prices for new computers though. If I notice anything earth shattering once I connect up the Samsung 990 I will try to update this review. For $200-$300 you can breathe a lot of new life into old computers.

UPS were the people who shipped this via Amazon. I spent nearly $320 on this product and UPS was very incompetent and extremely stressful to work with. First off I had to download the proprietary UPS app to track my package, second off they skipped my house literally 3 times and then when they passed my house the 4th time, that's when they actually delivered it. Then they wanted a signature which my roommates were really not wanting to do since I was at work, but someone did sign for it and I just installed it in my computer. Please note that you do need a PSU that supports either a 6+2 pin or an 8-pin configuration, and if you have neither of those you need to upgrade your PSU. There are 8-pin adapters for this but they are very dangerous to use and are a serious housefire risk due to how the nature of the pins work by design. Now that the GPU is actually delivered and I'm looking at what it's doing performance wise, it's getting 97 FPS 1080p with the Uniengine Heaven benchmark. I bought this card as a replacement to my GTX 980 which was starting to fail. The second reason I bought this card was because I was tired of having 40 FPS while 1080P gaming. My goal is to get as close to 240FPS as possible and so far with this benchmark I'm doing, it's meeting my expectations. Please note that my settings for the Unigine Heaven benchmark 4.0 was Ultra Quality, 1920x1080 8xAA Fullscreen, Extreme Tessellation under a 2700x Ryzen 7 on Win 11. I'm aware that if I turned down Tessellation, my score would be higher. October 2024 Edit: GPU is still working after 4 months. GPU never really gets hot unless I put on a very intensive game. Most games get 140+ FPS with older titles HITTING that 240 FPS I bought the GPU for. Should've I gotten the 40xx series? I didn't bother cuz my PSU doesn't support 16-pin connectors that the 40xx lineup requires. Pros: -Almost always cool, never gets that hot -Is quiet even under load -140+ FPS usually... Had over 120+ FPS in the RE4 Remake and a solid 40-60 in the new Silent Hill 2 Remake -GREAT PRICE for the GPU you actually get Cons: -GPU still struggles with DX12, my 980 GTX struggled even worse with the API -2x 6-Pin (or 4+2) required, meaning you will need to have support for that out of the box on the PSU -Runs hot when playing something like Resident Evil 7, and you can feel the heat emanating from it when it does run hot -There are better GPUs to buy that perform better but this 3060 RTX is more for if you got a tight budget -UPS will overcomplicate the shipping process and you'll have to download thier software to track your package

Honestly, spending more $$ than this to chase a few extra fps ain't worth it. And it won't burn your house down (looking at you 5xxx)!!! Bought this for my MS2020/XP12 flight sim and on both graphics settings were autoset to max. Combined with an i5 13xxxK CPU, 32GB RAM, and a 1TB 990 Pro (should've gotten the 2TB version), and the system runs like butter. I kind of dislike all of the LED crap and the bloat from the drivers and LED controller software, but I can't say they've hindered the system at all.

I've had this card for three years now and it's held up great. It's no longer my primary GPU -- I've since upgraded -- but it's found a second life running locally hosted AI, where that 12GB of VRAM really earns its keep. A lot of cards in this class shipped with 8GB and you'll feel that limitation sooner than you'd like; the 12GB on the 3060 was a smart call and it's aged well because of it. Solid card, still going strong, no complaints.

Everything looks and works fine, but the is one pin on the pcie connector that is stripped. Not sure how much of a problem it is just sucks..

Really solid card for the price. Recommend it to anyone on a budget

The card seemed nice but ended up with a lot of artifacting after I installed it. The temperature seemed comparable to the package but even though there was an issue with a card, I was able to switch it out and get a different one and it's been fine. I am sure with this card. It will do majority of anything that you're wanting to play and don't care about 4K. The styling and build the card looked very solid and would have continued with this one. I just ended up going RTX.