Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Deals: Where to Find Them
Here's how to save on the GeForce RTX 3060 GPUs
Finding GeForce RTX 3060 deals, including GeForce RTX 3060 Ti deals, means locating one of these ephemeral GPUs for the lowest possible price — not a price matching or beating Nvidia's official MSRPs, which isn't going to happen. The perfect storm of supply failing to meet demand has resulted in worldwide shortages of the best graphics cards, or really anything from the past two generations in our comprehensive GPU benchmarks hierarchy. We've combed the interwebs looking for the best ways to get one of these GPUs, though, and there are still ways to save money.
Be sure to check our GeForce RTX 3080 deals and GeForce RTX 3070 deals as well. The latter is particularly useful as sometimes the cost difference between a 3060 and 3070 system may be relatively small.
Quick Links: RTX 3060 Deals
- Newegg: Up to 13% off RTX 3060 Desktops
- Alienware / Dell: Up to 23% off RTX 3060 laptops and desktops
- Newegg: RTX 3060 laptops from $1,029
- Best Buy: RTX 3060 desktops starting at $1,199
- eBay: All the RTX 3060 / 3060 Ti cards
Dell XPS Desktop Special Edition: was $2,099, now $1,567 at Dell
This Dell XPS Special Edition checks in with a Core i7-11700, GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, 1TB SSD, and 32GB of RAM. There's also a 1TB HDD for extra storage. It's a great deal on one of the most desirable GPUs currently available.
Alienware Aurora R10 (Ryzen 7, RTX 3060): was $1799, now $1322 at Dell
This Aurora R10 config is perfect for mid-range gaming. It sports a Ryzen 7 5800X CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and RTX 3060 graphics. This is one of the best gaming PC deals currently available.
ABS Master Gaming PC: was $1,399, now $1,299 at Newegg
The ABS Master comes with a Core i5-11400F, 16GB DDR4-3000 RAM, a 512GB M.2 SSD, and of course the GeForce RTX 3060. It's all wrapped up with a Rosewill Spectra D100 case with a tempered glass side panel. It's a potent gaming rig in this time of GPU scarcity.
Three Kinds of RTX 3060
Nvidia's RTX 3060 series consists of three potential GPUs. The RTX 3060 Ti 8GB came first, followed by the RTX 3060 12GB and the mobile RTX 3060 6GB for laptops. It's an interesting balance between features, performance, and price. Note that the RTX 3060 was also the first GPU to feature Nvidia's LHR (lite hash rate) technology, which it inadvertently "cracked" by releasing an unlocked driver. It has since been fixed with updated VBIOS revisions, while the original RTX 3060 Ti had no limiter but the newer models feature LHR tech.
The RTX 3060 Ti technically delivers the best overall performance, but in many ways the RTX 3060 ends up being more desirable. We've seen in multiple recent gaming benchmarks, the latest being Battlefield 2042, how having more than 8GB of VRAM can provide a smoother overall gaming experience. That puts the mobile RTX 3060 variant at a serious disadvantage, since it only comes with 6GB, but then you probably won't be attempting to run demanding games at 4K with maxed out settings on an RTX 3060 laptop.
Before we get into how to find RTX 3060 deals, let's set the stage. Our GPU price index tracks recently sold GPUs on eBay. The RTX 3060 Ti has a theoretical starting price of $399 and the RTX 3060 supposedly starts at $329, but in practice most cards sell for more than double that price. On eBay, the average price on the RTX 3060 Ti was $907 during the month of October, and the RTX 3060 averaged $698 — and average prices right now tend to be even higher, what with the holiday shopping spree kicking into high gear.
That's not a perfect look at the market, but it does give a reasonable indication of what some people are willing to pay. Retail outlets like Amazon and Newegg tend to follow the eBay trends, more or less using the adage of "if you can't beat them, join them" — "them" being the scalpers in this case. If you can find a GeForce RTX 3060 or GeForce RTX 3060 Ti for substantially less than the average eBay price, we consider that an "RTX 3060 deal," even if it's still far more expensive than the official MSRPs.
How Much Does a Standalone GeForce RTX 3060 Cost?
We've searched the usual suspects for standalone GeForce RTX 3060 cards. Most vendors charging "reasonable" prices are continually sold out. That means the easiest place to find an RTX 3060 is on eBay, though as usual you'll want to exercise caution — avoid buying from new accounts, and if the price looks too good to be true (basically, anything under $500), it probably is.
There are tons of scams going on right now, so act accordingly. Beyond eBay, there are third parties selling GPUs on Amazon and Newegg, and there's also the Newegg Shuffle. Here's what we've found looking at current prices.
- Average RTX 3060 eBay Price: $747 for sold listings
- Typical Newegg RTX 3060 Price: $777 or more
- Typical Amazon RTX 3060 Price: $850 or more
- Newegg Shuffle Price: $500 or more (often with bundled items)
The Newegg Shuffle is basically just a red herring, with extremely limited quantities available and potentially tens of thousands of users vying for a chance to win. I've tried many, many times and have never been selected for an RTX 3060 or RTX 3060 Ti.
Newegg's third party listings meanwhile start at over double the MSRP, but that's the same as eBay and Amazon. Given the risks of dealing with eBay, paying $30 more to go through Newegg might seem reasonable, but there are other options we'll get to in a moment.
- Average RTX 3060 Ti eBay Price: $969 for sold listings
- Typical Newegg RTX 3060 Ti Price: $883 or more
- Typical Amazon RTX 3060 Ti Price: $940 or more
- Newegg Shuffle Price: $520 or more, depending on bundle
Unlike the 3080 and 3070 cards, the RTX 3060 Ti arrived before the vanilla 3060. In a strange twist of fate, increased competition from AMD and a concern for the efficacy of another 6GB "mainstream" card led Nvidia to equip the desktop RTX 3060 with 12GB of memory. It's also 15Gbps GDDR6 rather than 14Gbps, which is what the 3060 Ti and 3070 use. However, the memory uses a 192-bit interface instead of 256-bit, so total bandwidth ends up at 360GBps vs. 448GBps on the 3060 Ti. Combined with the lower core counts, performance often ends up being about 20% lower than the 3060 Ti, but we've seen several recent games where the added memory enables better performance at 1440p and 4K.
Because the 3060 Ti originally came without a hashrate limiter, it remains quite popular among cryptocurrency miners and the price is nearly the same as the RTX 3070. We've included both LHR and non-LHR models in our research, but generally speaking the non-LHR models tend to cost about $100 more than the LHR variants. If you're only interested in gaming, using your GPU the way the good lord Jensen intended, don't pay extra for a non-LHR card.
GeForce RTX 3060 Deals in Prebuilt PCs
Given the difficulty of finding a reasonable price on a standalone RTX 3060 series card, if you're potentially in the market for a more extensive PC upgrade, there are much better RTX 3060 deals to be had. You could also just shuck the GPU and resell the rest of the PC, though there are pros and cons to doing that. Here are the best RTX 3060 and 3060 Ti desktop deals we're currently tracking.
The lowest prices we've seen for a complete RTX 3060 desktop PC start at around in the $1,200 range. Interestingly, you can get a laptop with an RTX 3060 for a lower price (see below), but you'll also get lower performance from the laptop. Generally speaking, you'll want at least a Ryzen 5 or Core i5 processor, 16GB of memory, and a 500GB or larger SSD.
Based on what we're seeing online, the cost of a complete prebuilt PC — not including the RTX 3060 — works out to around $525. That doesn't include the cost of assembly or the OS, which typically add about $200. That means you're effectively paying around $525 for an RTX 3060 if you buy a full PC at the lowest possible price.
ABS Master Gaming PC: was $1,399, now $1,299 at Newegg
There's a similar deal below, but this has the better CPU: a Core i5-11400F. You also get 16GB DDR4-3000 RAM, a 512GB M.2 SSD, and of course the GeForce RTX 3060. It's all wrapped up with a Rosewill Spectra D100 case with a tempered glass side panel.
Alienware Aurora R10 (Ryzen 7, RTX 3060): was $1799, now $1322 at Dell
This Aurora R10 config is perfect for mid-range gaming. It sports a Ryzen 7-5800 CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and RTX 3060 graphics.
HP Pavilion Gaming PC: $1,199 at Newegg
This version of HP's 2021 PAvilion gaming PC has a Ryzen 3 5300G, a GeForce RTX 3060, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB NVMe SSD.
ABS Master Gaming PC: was $1,499, now $1,299 at Newegg
This gaming PC arrives with a Core i5-10400F alongside a GeForce RTX 3060, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD.
Dell XPS Desktop: was $1,799, now $1.322 at Dell
Dell's latest XPS gaming desktop wields a Core i7-11700 and a GeForce RTX 3060 along with 32GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD.
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Deals in Prebuilt PCs
Doing the same for an RTX 3060 Ti yields a modest increase in price and potentially better performance, as long as you stay away from 4K ultra settings where the 8GB VRAM becomes limiting. Here are some places to check, as deals are constantly changing.
The lowest price we're seeing right now is at least $100 more than the RTX 3060 desktops, but that's a reasonable premium, especially since you get some other worthwhile upgrades. The base PC would cost around $675 on its own, plus the OS and assembly add about $200, which means you're paying the equivalent of around $505 for an RTX 3060 Ti. If that were for a standalone GPU, it would be far and away the best deal around right now.
ABS Master Gaming PC: was $1,699, now $1,499 at Newegg
The ABS Master Gaming PC is equipped with a Core i5-11400F, GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, 16GB of RAM and a 1TB Intel M.2 NVMe SSD.
ABS Master Gaming PC: was $1,799, now $1,599 at Newegg
Nearly the same as the above, but with a different case and a Core i7-11700F for $100 more. The CPU should ensure you have plenty of headroom for future upgrades, and the case adds a bunch of RGB bling.
Dell XPS Desktop Special Edition: was $2,099, now $1,567 at Dell
The special edition of the XPS checks in with a Core i7-11700, GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and 32GB of RAM. For storage, the PC provides a combination of a 1TB M.2 SSD and a conventional 1TB SATA hard drive.
Skytech Shiva Gaming Desktop: was $1,699, now $1,599 at Newegg
This desktop includes an impressive set of hardware, including a Ryzen 5 5600X, 1TB SSD, 16GB RAM, and an 80 Plus Gold 600W PSU. And of course, you also get an RTX 3060 Ti and lots of RGB lighting effects.
GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop Deals
As noted above, RTX 3060 laptop GPUs are a slightly different beast from their desktop counterparts. Clock speeds are lower, though in an interesting twist you get a fully enabled GA106 GPU with 3840 CUDA cores. However, the memory capacity gets slashed in half to just 6GB, which can prove limiting, and it uses slower, 14Gbps GDDR6 VRAM.
All told, performance tends to be around 10-15% lower than the desktop 3060 in games where you don't exceed the VRAM capacity. That might not seem too awesome, but also keep in mind that performance is substantially higher than the rather anemic RTX 3050 and 3050 Ti laptops.
The good news is that, while performance might be somewhat lower than a desktop 3060, prices on RTX 3060 laptops are really quite reasonable, with several starting at under less than a grand. Pay attention to the various specs, as a lot of these will ship with just 8GB RAM in pursuit of the lowest price possible, and you might end up with a previous generation CPU as well.
Alienware m15 R5 (Ryzen, RTX 3060): was $1679, now $1322 at Dell
Powered by an 8-core, Ryzen 7-5800H and RTX 3060 graphics, this laptop is ready for serious gaming and productivity. It also comes with 16GB of RAM and a modest 256GB of storage, which you can upgrade after you buy.
Gigabyte G5 KC Thin: was $1,199, now $999 at Newegg
The first of two Gigabyte gaming laptops, the lower cost G5 KC comes packed with a 10th Gen Intel Core i5 CPU, 16GB RAM and a 512GB PCIe SSD, plus Nahimic 3D audio and a full RGB-backlit keyboard.
MSI GF65 Gaming Laptop: $1199 at Amazon
The GF65 has a 15.6-inch display with an FHD resolution at 144Hz. Under the hood, it's powered by an Intel Core i7-10750H processor alongside an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU. Storage-wise, it comes with a 512GB internal SSD and 16GB of DDR4 for memory.
If you just want to see what’s out there, check our complete list of all the RTX 3060 laptops you can buy. We'll be looking for any other reasonable GeForce RTX 3060 deals during the holiday season and will update this page and our list of the best gaming laptop deals if and when we find them.
Given the continued supply shortages and increased demand for gaming PCs and laptops, many of the best deals will sell out quickly. Leave a comment if you find something better than what we've currently listed.
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Jarred Walton is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on everything GPU. He has been working as a tech journalist since 2004, writing for AnandTech, Maximum PC, and PC Gamer. From the first S3 Virge '3D decelerators' to today's GPUs, Jarred keeps up with all the latest graphics trends and is the one to ask about game performance.