Steam's favourite GPU, the RTX 3060, is nearing its end as Nvidia gets ready to issue the last batch of chips

Zotac RTX 3060 12GB Twin Edge graphics card — (Image credit: Future)

Is three years too early to discontinue one of the most popular GPUs in recent times? According to a report, Nvidia is getting ready to distribute the final batches of its GA106 graphics processor, the chip that powers the GeForce RTX 3060, and if that's the case, it would mean the jolly green giant has officially closed the doors on the GPU that's been top of the Steam hardware charts for ages.

Launched in early 2021, the GeForce RTX 3060 stood out for all kinds of reasons. At the time, global supplies of graphics cards were extremely poor, thanks to the effects of the global pandemic and cryptominers snapping every GPU around the globe.

With a launch MSRP of $329, the RTX 3060 was the cheapest Ampere-powered model at that point, even though it was loaded with 12 GB of VRAM. However, it wasn't an instant success as its performance wasn't brilliant enough, especially when compared to the RTX 3060 Ti.

But hey, it was a GPU and at that time, it was more than enough. Over the following years, though, the RTX 3060 rapidly gained in popularity and it's been topping the Steam hardware survey charts for a long time.

Its successor, the RTX 4060, has got a long way to go before it becomes the most popular GPU with Steam users, if it ever even does. That's because the aforementioned RTX 3060 Ti, the RTX 3070, and the Turing-powered GTX 1650 are all considerably more popular than the RTX 4060.

While its launch MSRP of $299 was less than the RTX 3060's, the fact that it only has 8 GB of VRAM didn't go down well with many reviewers and PC gamers.

At face value, the RTX 4060 is a really good 1080p graphics card, especially when you factor in the full DLSS 3.5 support and the superb NVENC video encoders. It's just that it feels far more like an RTX '4050' rather than 60-class GPU and had Nvidia marketed it as such, and priced it accordingly, the reception would have been far better.

Your next upgrade

Nvidia RTX 4070 and RTX 3080 Founders Edition graphics cards — (Image credit: Future)

Best CPU for gaming: The top chips from Intel and AMD.
Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.
Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.
Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game ahead of the rest.

Imagine if the original RTX 4070 had been sold as an RTX 4060—with a price tag of $329, it would have sold out instantly.

Fortunately, the RTX 3060 will actually be around a little while longer, as it's still in stock with plenty of retailers, although its continued popularity means prices are somewhat higher than they perhaps should be. They'll probably take a big dip once Nvidia launches the RTX 5060 but that won't happen until January 2025 at the very earliest.

If you're looking for a really good GPU that's under $300, you're far better off getting a Radeon RX 6750 XT. Over-priced at launch, they're much cheaper now and at 1080p, it'll give the RTX 4060 Ti a good run for its money, as long as you don't enable ray tracing in games.

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Nick, gaming, and computers all first met in the early 1980s. After leaving university, he became a physics and IT teacher and started writing about tech in the late 1990s. That resulted in him working with MadOnion to write the help files for 3DMark and PCMark. After a short stint working at Beyond3D.com, Nick joined Futuremark (MadOnion rebranded) full-time, as editor-in-chief for its PC gaming section, YouGamers. After the site shutdown, he became an engineering and computing lecturer for many years, but missed the writing bug. Cue four years at TechSpot.com covering everything and anything to do with tech and PCs. He freely admits to being far too obsessed with GPUs and open-world grindy RPGs, but who isn't these days?