- Palit has launched a new RTX 3060 model with 12 GB of VRAM
- This continues a recent theme of old GPUs making a resurgence
- These GPUs can pack 12GB of video RAM at a relatively affordable price, but they don’t make sense compared to current-gen pricing
We may not have seen any new graphics cards so far from Nvidia this year – and no RTX 5000 Super updates are in sight (although there are rumors again) – but we continue to witness the resurrection of some old GeForce GPUs, with Palit officially unveiling a new RTX 3060.
The popular workhorse of a gaming GPU has already made something of a comeback, returning to the shelves of retailers like Newegg as an alternative budget graphics card in a RAM-starved climate where the prices of many of these current-gen boards are being jacked up (along with other PC components, of course).
As noted by VideoCardz, Palit has trumpeted the launch of its new GeForce RTX 3060 Infinity 2 OC graphics card as “the return of a classic,” which is certainly one way to put it.
Although to be fair, even today the RTX 3060 remains a very popular GPU, coming in second in the June 2026 Steam hardware survey (only behind the RTX 4060 laptop GPU in a rather bizarre twist I won’t get into here).
Palit notes, “Combining a massive 12GB of GDDR6 memory capacity with a clean, all-black dual-fan shroud, the Infinity 2 delivers honest, reliable performance without the hefty price tag.”
Analysis: let’s hope for a price tag that can Palit, but so far RTX 3060 prices have been out of the shadows
The main selling point of these RTX 3060 models is that they are loaded with 12 GB of video RAM (VRAM), which Palit emphasizes with this new Infinity 2 OC model. Where this sidesteps the RAM crisis (to some extent) is that these previous generations of Nvidia cards use GDDR6 VRAM, a different memory supply to use than the GDDR7 used in RTX 5000 graphics cards (except the RTX 5050, which goes with GDDR6, but that’s the outlier here).
This means Nvidia can get its partners to produce graphics cards that have 12GB of GDDR6 VRAM (a load that a few gamers prioritize securing) but sit at the cheaper end of the market. Due to cost issues, selling lower-end GPUs that stack GDDR7 VRAM (like the RTX 5060 Ti with 16GB) is much less viable these days.
It’s sad that the RAM crisis has forced us to this point, but that’s the reality of the GPU world at the moment. What’s also problematic for me here is that the RTX 3060 might have 12GB of VRAM at a relatively affordable price, but looking at current prices in the US as an example, it’s not meaningfully cheaper than the RTX 5060 with 8GB.
Yes, you get a meager RAM configuration with the latter current-gen graphics card, but it’s still a much faster GPU – one that also benefits from DLSS 4 – and just over 5% more expensive (at the time of writing). At this kind of price difference, the RTX 3060 12GB doesn’t make much sense.
If these RTX 3060 models were a lot cheaper, then perhaps there is more of an argument. To be fair to Palit, we don’t yet have a price tag on this new offering, but the prices should be a lot more compelling than what I’m seeing right now (especially in the UK, where the RTX 5060 8GB is actually cheaper than the 3060 at some retailers, although there’s not much stock of the latter).
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