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The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is still one of the best graphics cards for gamers, so it's no wonder that MSI hasn't given up on it. The company (via HKEPC) has launched the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Super 3X 8GD6X in regular and factory-overclocked formats for the Chinese market.
While the name may give off the vibes of an unreleased graphics card, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Super 3X 8GD6X is just a rewarmed GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GDDR6X. Nvidia silently gave the regular GeForce RTX 3060 Ti a minor upgrade last year to bring the three-year-old GA104-based graphics card's memory up to the latest GDDR6X standard. Unfortunately, individual reviews have shown that the GDDR6X variant is only slightly faster than the original. Nonetheless, both versions continue to exist, although many retailers are dominantly carrying the newer GDDR6X version.
The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Super 3X 8GD6X evidently sports MSI's distinctive Suprim cooler with vibrant RGB lighting (the big Suprim logo is on the backplate if there is any doubt). Strangely enough, the company preferred to market the Ampere-powered card as the "Super 3X", which refers to the triple-fan cooling solution. The Suprim series used to be MSI's exclusive lineup for the top models only, so it's weird to see it on a mainstream GeForce RTX 3060 Ti. The only explanation we can think of is that MSI must have a lot of inventory for Suprim coolers that it needs to get rid of, one way or another.
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GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Super 3X 8GD6X
(Image credit: MSI)
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Super 3X 8GD6X
(Image credit: MSI)
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Super 3X 8GD6X
(Image credit: MSI)
The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Super 3X 8GD6X boosts clock speeds up to 1,755 MHz, while the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Super 3X 8GD6X OC can hit 1,845 MHz effortlessly. The reference GeForce RTX 3060 Ti comes with a 1,665 MHz boost clock. Therefore, the standard version features a 5.4% higher boost clock, whereas the OC version exhibits a 10.8% margin. It's a decent factory overclock but nothing to drool over, especially since the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8GD6X already offers consumers the same boost clock speed as the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Super 3X 8GD6X OC. MSI is probably just depleting the leftover stock at this point in the game.
The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8GD6X has a 323 x 140 x 56mm footprint, though, while the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Super 3X 8GD6X measures 335 x 140 x 62mm. Thanks to the large Suprim cooler, the graphics card is longer and thicker than the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8GD6X.
The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Super 3X 8GD6X has a 265W TDP (as does the overclocked model). This means both graphics cards still need two 8-pin PCIe power connectors for external power, and the minimum power supply recommendation of 600W still stands.
MSI has yet to share pricing or availability for the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Super 3X 8GD6X.
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Zhiye Liu is a news editor, memory reviewer, and SSD tester at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.
This tells me there's a huge oversupply of 3060 chips that vendors are struggling to clear from inventories. No wonder the 4070 launched with an unrealistic price and the 4060 is still missing.
Nvidia and vendors like MSI need to aggressively discount their 3060 chips instead of launching yet another variant. There's a clear disconnect between consumers and suppliers that MSI seems to think marketing can solve.
The problems that the RTX 3060 Ti (along with the 3070 and 3070 Ti) encountered had to do with the fact that it only has 8GB of VRAM. They weren't because it was GDDR6 instead of GDDR6X. So, instead of bumping the VRAM to 10GB of GDDR6, they just swapped out the insufficient amount of GDDR6 for an equally-insufficient amount of GDDR6X.
I bet that the price on this "new" card will be about the same as the RTX 3070 because, you know, the VRAM now has an "X" on it and the clueless noobs who buy these cards will think that it's something really special! If nVidia tells them that it's special, that is.
I swear, you can't make this stuff up. Here we have nVidia insulting the intelligence of their customer base yet again (remember the RTX 3060 8GB) and you just know that they'll sell a tonne of these cards.
Maybe, it's not an insult to their intelligence after all. Maybe Jensen just has a really accurate gauge of how intelligent his customers actually are and we just don't know it. :ROFLMAO:
Why does a 3060 Ti need a 3 fan cooler? 3080s and 3090s justify such a large cooler, but a 3060 ti? Why? So the card is 1db quieter and 1C cooler? Seems a waste of material for a card that only consumes a max of 265W.
