What are the use of video card roundups now? Besides the fact that as a true tweaker you probably enjoy reading about hardware anyway, you better have paid too much money for a good card than for a bad one. Let’s hope the video card craze will soon be over and this article will soon become a useful reference for anyone really in the market for an RTX 3060.
The difference in performance between the tested RTX 3060 variants is small. This is partly because all cards have a standard power limit of 170W. If you want to achieve better performance by increasing that limit, then you have to go to the Gigabyte cards (especially the Aorus Elite), because Inno3D and MSI have zero leeway in that area.
However, the MSI card is equipped with the best cooler, so that it can offer the best balance between good cooling and quiet operation. The Gigabyte Aorus Elite is the runner-up as far as the cooler is concerned and also has a quiet mode bios. The quietest card, however, is the Inno3D iChill X3 Red, where the temperature rises a little further so that the fans can turn slowly – a good trade-off as far as we’re concerned. After all, even the hottest RTX 3060s in the test barely get warmer than 60 degrees.
All in all, we think MSI delivered the best RTX 3060, closely followed by the Gigabyte Aorus Elite and the Inno3D iChill X3 Red. An Excellent award is justifiable for all three: MSI’s card has the best cooler, Gigabyte’s is the only dual-bios and two HDMI ports, and the Inno3D is the quietest out of the box. The Aorus Elite and MSI card can certainly be just as quiet, but then you have to get started with the fan profile yourself. Finally, the Gigabyte Gaming and Vision OC have to rely on their relatively compact dimensions and relatively competitive price. At the time of writing, we cannot say much about the latter.
Still, a small tip in view of the current situation: we understand from shops that for the Inno3D cards, as a relatively unknown manufacturer, far fewer pre-orders are received than for cards from the ‘big three’, while the supply is relatively substantial. If you do have to pre-order one, the Inno3D could be a good bet, and given the test results, a great choice.
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