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We are currently in the midst of a turn in a generation of PC gaming hardware. With new GPUs dropping like the Nvidia RTX 4090 Founders Edition (opens in a new tab), what we consider state-of-the-art hardware is currently being changed. However, if you can’t get your hands on a fancy new 40-series card, you’re probably not alone. Between pricing and availability, the dream of a brand new machine running the latest gear will likely remain just a dream for many of us.
Fortunately, repeats of older cards are still quite common, and are a much more affordable option. Right now it looks like the RTX 3060 GPUs (opens in a new tab) are set to get the treatment, with two brands releasing 8GB variants of the 2021 card. These should make for a much cheaper upgrade for those in need.
According to VideoCardz (opens in a new tab), both Manli and Asus release GPUs based on the same RTX 3060 8GB SKU. These appear to be essentially identical to the brand’s 12GB variants, but with only 8GB of memory. This uses a 128-bit memory bus as opposed to 192-bit, so you’ll get less bandwidth and lose the future proofing of the 12GB on offer. It will definitely be a cut card, but with a price tag to match.
The Manli cards (opens in a new tab) take cues from the brand’s RTX 3060 LHR model as Asus adds its new 3060 8GB to its Dual series of GPUs (opens in a new tab). Other than that, both should be pretty similar with 3584 Nvidia CUDA cores, and 240GB of memory bandwidth along with the typical 170-watt TDP we’re used to with the RTX 3060s.
Of course, whether or not this card will be worth looking at all depends on the price. If this budget GPU costs the same, it could be a really nice little upgrade for those of us still rocking 10-series cards. The good old 1060 still holds the top spot in the Steam Hardware poll (opens in a new tab)with RTX 3060 not sitting as far as the 6th most popular card.
Considering the current RTX 3060 cards sit around $400 USD, they’re already a bit of a hard sell. The Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti (opens in a new tab) often happens around the same, worth the upgrade if you can get your hands on one. The smaller 8GB RTX 3050s don’t often come under the $300 mark, and that’s where I’d like to see these 8GB 3060s if they get a look at all. Hopefully we’ll be pleasantly surprised, and these really will become the budget build option to get us through.
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