Possible RTX 3060 prices suggest some cards will cost more than the RTX 3060 Ti

WTF?! Nvidia confirmed the long-rumored RTX 3060’s existence earlier this month, revealing that the next Ampere product has an MSRP of $329. But the graphics card market’s turbulent state means we could be in a strange situation where the third-party models cost the same or more than the RTX 3060 Ti.

As reported by VideoCardz, UK retailer CCL Computers has several RTX 3060 models listed on its site. The upcoming card will have no reference design—you’ll only be able to buy it from third-party board manufacturers.

CCL Computers doesn’t reveal how much the cards cost, but VideoCardz discovered what’s likely a bug in the website that exposes the prices.

Tom’s Hardware analyzed all the cards and believes those from Asus are the only ones correctly priced—the others are likely placeholders.

The cheapest RTX 3060 is the non-overclocked RTX 3060 12GB TUF, priced at £457. That includes the UK’s 20 percent tax, so the US equivalent would be around $512. There’s also an Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3060 OC Edition for £513 (~$585). For comparison, the Asus Dual GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Mini OC Edition is £495 (~$564), and the Asus Dual GeForce RTX 3060 Ti OC Edition is £549 (~$627)

We love the RTX 3060 Ti and praised its fantastic price vs. performance ratio. And while the RTX 3060 comes with 4GB more GDDR6 than the Ti version, the older card has it beat in other areas, including CUDA core count. If the price difference between the two is insignificant, or if the RTX 3060 Ti is cheaper, it’s hard to imagine consumers opting for the standard RTX 3060.

A tax on imports from China, supply shortages, and demand from miners lured by the high value of crypto are pushing the graphics card market closer to the bad old days of 2017 and 2018, with prices constantly rising and a dearth of stock. EVGA, Zotac, and Asus have all raised their prices, and there are rumors that Nvidia could re-introduce the RTX 2060 and RTX 2060 Super to ease the pressure.