Did Nvidia get it right with the surprise RTX 3060 Ti launch?

You thought you were done with scrambling to try and secure yourself a new graphics card? Unfortunately not thanks to the surprise release of the RTX 3060 Ti – the even more budget RTX 30 series GPU.

When we say surprise release we mean it. While there have been a plethora of rumors about this card releasing at some point soon, Nvidia sprung this announcement on us December 1st with the unit itself launching a day later. This is definitely not the approach they’ve taken with the rest of the 30 series and one that might have been used in an effort to disrupt the trend of scalpers and bots hoovering up all the stock.

Before we get into whether Nvidia finally got it right or not though, let’s take a step back and look at why this new 30 series option is such an attractive option for many.

The RTX 3060 Ti comes in as the lowest-costing next-generation GPU for Nvidia retailing at $399 (£369) but just because it’s cheap (for a new graphics card that is) doesn’t mean that it’s lacking in power. The RTX 3060 Ti aims to replace the whole 2060 line with both improved performance and value but what it actually does is compete with variants that it really has no right to. It does very well against 2080 Super, and even the 2080 Ti in some aspects, making it a budget PC builder’s dream if you’re able to secure one at retail price. Comparatively speaking, when you pit it against the RTX 3070 and the RTX 3080, it really doesn’t do half bad and if you were to throw some overclocking at it, we think you’d be extremely impressed with the overall results.

Now, the RTX 3060 Ti launch, was it a success or failure? Well, we’re sad to report that the surprise approach that Nvidia employed this time round still didn’t give consumers the ability to get their purchase in. Scalpers and bots secured a bunch of GPUs as per usual making the already paper-thin stock levels seem pretty non-existent to the general public.

The usual suspects’ websites slowed or broke down altogether leaving potential buyers again disappointed, not even giving them the slightest of chances against the robot competitors. Some even described the RTX 3060 Ti as ‘a myth’ with no options to buy the graphics card even popping up on the websites they visited, begging the question of was the GPU in stock at all?

At this point, there’s not much more to say. The RTX 3060 Ti release followed the same trend as so many before it in 2020 and unfortunately fell flat on its face. Maybe this time next year all of these stock horrors will be a distant memory and we’ll all be enjoying our next-gen tech. Hopefully…

If you fancy trying your luck at picking an RTX 3060 Ti or RTX 30 series cards in general, head to our where to buy pages as you’ll probably have the best chance with all the necessary links in one place.