Originally launched in February 2021, the GeForce RTX 3060 is making a comeback at some retailers, though not yet in France.
Graphics cards are expensive—very expensive, in fact—and this isn’t really news, since ever since the crisis linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s always been a good reason for the prices of our beloved GPUs to keep climbing: cryptocurrency, the war in Ukraine, and the insatiable demand from artificial intelligence. Today, it’s actually this last reason that’s being cited—albeit indirectly. In fact, AI isn’t just interested in GPUs; it’s currently absorbing the lion’s share of DRAM chip production—a component essential to our graphics cards for providing the video memory that allows them, among other things, to store textures.
The GeForce RTX 3060s are back in stores… at prices that are a bit too high. © VideoCardz
Well, you should know that to counter the price increases on its graphics cards, NVIDIA hasn’t cut into its profit margins. No, the American company has decided to relaunch a model dating back, depending on the version, to 2021 or 2022. In fact, while rumors had been circulating for several months, we now have confirmation: the GeForce RTX 3060 is indeed back on the shelves at certain retailers. As the website VideoCardz points out, various models have been spotted in Germany, notably the ASUS GeForce RTX 3060 Dual 12 GB OC V2, which can be found all over the country. However, it’s not the only one; models from Gigabyte, MSI, and PNY are also on sale.
Why the comeback? As we’ve mentioned, the cost of video memory is holding back production at NVIDIA and its partners. The GeForce RTX 3060 stands out precisely because it uses less advanced memory—GDDR6 instead of the GDDR7 found in newer models—which is a bit easier to source. Another key point is that NVIDIA GPUs are state-of-the-art and require equally advanced production lines. However, TSMC, the manufacturer of NVIDIA’s chips, cannot expand its production capacity. By returning to the RTX 3060 GPUs, NVIDIA is reconnecting with Samsung and its 8-nm process, whose production lines are less saturated. The return of the RTX 3060—a card that’s still perfectly capable—is therefore hardly surprising, except that it’s priced at around 330–350 euros, and at that price point you can still find GeForce RTX 5060s, admittedly with less video memory (8 GB versus 12 GB), but still…
