TECH NEWS – Aside from the VRAM amount, this is still an older card based on outdated architecture.

Nvidia has been forced to re-release one of its older graphics cards: the RTX 3060 12 GB model. This comes as no surprise, as rumors have been circulating since last year due to the growing demand for mainstream graphics cards and the fact that chip manufacturers are unable to focus on the consumer segment because of the increased demand for AI chips. The increased demand has pushed not only GPUs but also AIBs out of the DRAM market.

As the DRAM crisis worsens, graphics cards are becoming more expensive. There is a strange set of priorities for certain higher-capacity models where higher profit margins lie. All new RTX 5000 GPUs come with GDDR7 memory, the best available. The problem is that all types of general-purpose memory are expensive these days. Retailers in the U.S. and Europe are restocking their Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB models, with prices starting at $329 and €333, respectively. It launched at the same price in 2021, so nothing has changed in five years.

The MSI Ventus GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB is a dual-fan model available in the United States at a suggested retail price of $329. It has more memory than the current RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti (8 GB GPUs); however, it lacks the features offered by Blackwell, such as DLSS 4.5 and other architectural capabilities, including faster tensor cores, an updated rendering engine, and improved encoding/decoding. The RTX 5060 8 GB is available for $349–$359. This is higher than the manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $299, and it is $20 more expensive than the RTX 3060. Aside from VRAM, however, the card delivers better performance in the vast majority of games, unless you’re playing in 4K, which makes little sense for a graphics card in this category.

The RTX 3060 is a significantly weaker GPU. Its only selling point would have been if its price had stayed under $300. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. The DRAM shortage could further increase the cost of newer GPUs, so the current price difference of $20–$40 between the RTX 3060 and the RTX 5060 could eventually rise to over $50 or more. The crisis will not end anytime soon since DRAM manufacturers have signed multi-year, long-term contracts. Despite the fact that all DRAM manufacturers have pledged to invest billions of dollars in new manufacturing facilities built exclusively to meet AI-driven demand, these facilities are unlikely to pull the consumer market out of this situation.

Source: WCCFTech, Hardwareluxx