The first benchmark results for the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 have been released ahead of its February 25 launch. While this mid-range graphics card is impressive in some tests, others suggest that you might be better off buying the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti.

VideoCardz first posted the results of the Ashes of the Singularity (AotS) benchmark test, which is notorious for stressing GPUs, and found that the $329 GeForce RTX 3060 outperformed Nvidia's previous generation of high-end cards, the RTX outperformed the 2070. However, VideoCardz also posted a series of composite benchmark tests showing that the new GPU only kept pace with the older GeForce RTX 2060 Super, with the RTX 2070 ahead and the other RTX 30 series cards well ahead. [The RTX 3060 is the cheapest and least powerful of the RTX 30 series coming out tomorrow. And its obvious performance in AotS should be encouraging to anyone hoping to upgrade from an older graphics card.

The $399 RTX 3060 Ti is significantly better, averaging 84 frames per second compared to the RTX 3060's 69 fps. However, the latter is still a step ahead of the RTX 2070, which averaged 63 fps in the same test.

In contrast, in synthetic benchmarks, including popular GPU benchmark tests such as Fire Strike Extreme and Superposition, the RTX 3060 struggles somewhat. average performance in all six tests is arguably 1% lower than its successor, the RTX 1 percent lower than the 2060 Super and 3 percent lower than its predecessor, the RTX 2070. The RTX 3060 Ti also beats its less expensive sibling by an average of 39%.

If you are thinking of upgrading your GPU, you may want to wait another day or two for independent benchmark results. Especially for games you actually want to play as opposed to synthetic benchmarks. Still, so far RTX 3060 results have been mixed.

However, newer graphics cards tend to see performance gains after their release due to new driver support and software optimizations. Therefore, these benchmarks are worth taking with a pinch of salt, as they may be based on early RTX 3060 samples that do not have the latest drivers.

Of course, benchmark comparisons mean little if you can't buy the cards themselves; as anyone who has looked for a place to buy an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti knows, there is a significant shortage of GPU inventory, and for several months the RTX 30 series affecting the entire range.

Nvidia is intentionally limiting the GPU's mining effectiveness in order to get more inventory into the hands of the average gamer, so the RTX 3060 could see a drop in demand, at least from digital currency miners. However, the cards have already fallen victim to profiteering resellers, including one reseller who is selling three RTX 3060 cards for about $1,080 each.