So, the rumor regarding Nvidia giving GeForce RTX 3060 Ti a refresh is true. U.K. retailer Scan Computers has listed Nvidia’s unannounced GeForce RTX 3060 Ti along with upgraded GDDR6X memory.  

After the launch of the original GeForce RTX 3060 Ti in 2020, the chipmaker would be introducing a second variant too. The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti leveraged the GA104 silicon, on the other hand, GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GA103 used the GA103 silicon. This swap was not expected on Nvidia’s part. However, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GDDR6X flaunts a substantial upgrade in the memory subsystem. 

It is quite hilarious to note that Nvidia U.K. has not mentioned it on the company’s website till now. Instead, the chipmaker still lists the regular GeForce RTX 3060 Ti. If you add a GA104-based graphics card to your basket, it changes to GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GDDR6X. It is clear that Scan Computers is the retailer selling the new variant. It is not even on the U.K. store’s website. But, GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GDDR6X appears in stock and allows you to checkout. 

It is not known whether the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GDDR6X utilizes the GA104 or GA103 silicon. The shopping basket shows the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GDDR6X with a 1,410 MHz base clock and 1,670 MHz boost clock. Though the boost clock is 5 MHz higher, the base clock is the same as GeForce RTX 3060 Ti. It is not a problem as GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GDDR6X’s FP32 performance still maxes out at 16.2 TFLOPs. 

The memory quota between GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GDDR6X does not change at 8GB. Both models conform to a 256-bit memory bus. The faster memory is observed in the case of GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GDDR6X. The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti sports 14 Gbps GDDR6, while the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GDDR6X has 19 Gbps GDDR6X. The extra firepower will boost the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GDDR6X’s memory bandwidth to 608 Gbps, which is almost a 36% uplift over the normal version. 

The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GDDR6X model has a higher rating. GDDR6X consumes very less power in comparison to GDDR6. But still, the total power consumption is higher than GDDR6X as it operates at a faster frequency. 

Nvidia U.K. stated the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GDDR6X for $409 which is cheaper than some of the custom models. The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GDDR6X has a $10 higher price than the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti’s $399 MSRP. It is good to see that the GDDR6X premium only raised the price by 3%. 

It is quite funny that Nvidia has launched a third variant of the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti this late in the game. Intel recently launched the Arc A770, but we have seen that the Arc Alchemist graphics card is not a threat to the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti. As there is a 21% CUDA separation between GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and GeForce RTX 3070, thus the previous one won’t receive a fat memory upgrade. This performance gap won’t be closed by GDDR6X memory as well. Thus, it can be said that the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GDDR6X is Nvidia’s way of dumping Ampere inventory. As now the cryptocurrency mining fiasco has ended, Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3060 series are climbing the Steam charts. So, what is a better way to keep the momentum than to introduce another model into the market?