Steam's favourite GPU, the RTX 3060, is nearing its end as Nvidia gets ready to issue the last batch of chips

pcgamer.com:

Is three years too early to discontinue one of the most popular GPUs in recent times? According to a report, Nvidia is getting ready to distribute the final batches of its GA106 graphics processor, the chip that powers the GeForce RTX 3060, and if that's the case, it would mean the jolly green giant has officially closed the doors on the GPU that's been top of the Steam hardware charts for ages.

Launched in early 2021, the GeForce RTX 3060 stood out for all kinds of reasons. At the time, global supplies of graphics cards were extremely poor, thanks to the effects of the global pandemic and cryptominers snapping every GPU around the globe.

With a launch MSRP of $329, the RTX 3060 was the cheapest Ampere-powered model at that point, even though it was loaded with 12 GB of VRAM. However, it wasn't an instant success as its performance wasn't brilliant enough, especially when compared to the RTX 3060 Ti.

But hey, it was a GPU and at that time, it was more than enough. Over the following years, though, the RTX 3060 rapidly gained in popularity and it's been topping the Steam hardware survey charts for a long time.

But all good things must come to an end and a report by Board Channels (via Videocardz) states that Nvidia has stated the model is now officially discontinued, and that the last few batches of GA106 GPUs will be it.

Its successor, the RTX 4060, has got a long way to go before it becomes the most popular GPU with Steam users, if it ever even does. That's because the aforementioned RTX 3060 Ti, the RTX 3070, and the Turing-powered GTX 1650 are all considerably more popular than the RTX 4060.

While its launch MSRP of $299 was less than the RTX 3060's, the fact that it only has 8 GB of VRAM didn't go down well with many reviewers and PC gamers.

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At face value, the RTX 4060 is a really good 1080p graphics card, especially when you factor in the full DLSS 3.5 support