We still have about three weeks to wait until the release of the new GeForce RTX 3060 12GB graphics cards for desktop PCs. The new "Ampere for every gamer" cards were launched at CES 2021 in January, and we know to expect them sometime in "late February". At CES, Nvidia provided a decent amount of detail on the new GeForce RTX 3060 but limited its internal comparison tests to six AAA games titles to show the new SKU in a favourable light – pitted against the RTX 2060 and GTX 1060.
While we patiently wait for the official RTX 3060 12GB release, or even some meaty benchmark comparison leaks to tide us over, VideoCardz has shared a little fresh Ampere meat in the form of a purported GA106 die shot.
The picture above shows the GA106 flanked by six memory modules of 2GB each, adding up to the 12GB total. These K4ZAF3258M-HC16 memory chips are said to be clocked at 16Gbps. It is observed that the GA106 (RTX 3060) and GA104 (RTX 3060 Ti / RTX 3070) GPUs are expected to be pin compatible – and you can see the overall chip size is the same in the comparison below. However, the new GA104 is quite a lot smaller - it is estimated to be 276mm2 compared to 392mm2. Using the same package size should help AIBs reduce development costs and the smaller die should help minimise the per chip costs from Samsung. VideoCardz reckons that the upcoming RTX 3050 Ti might also use GA106 and the same socket.
Remember that the GeForce RTX 3060 12GB is supposed to be released at US$329.99. Fingers crossed that Nvidia and its partners can have bountiful stocks ready at launch to satisfy the initial surge in demand, and so PC gamers can easily source these graphics cards at MSRPs.
