New GeForce RTX 3060 cards go on sale in Germany, with prices sitting a little too close to $400 USD

It wasn't too long ago that we began to hear rumblings that NVIDIA was planning to re-release the Ampere-era GeForce RTX 3060 as a response to the current component and memory crisis. The idea is that it would be a more cost-effective mainstream solution due to its use of 12GB of GDDR6 memory compared to the more advanced GDDR7 memory found on the GeForce RTX 50 Series lineup, including the GeForce RTX 5060.

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According to a new report from the German outlet hardwareLUXX, the GeForce RTX 3060's return with GDDR6 memory has arrived, with a brand-new ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 3060 OC V2 popping up in various retail outlets. The report notes that the lowest price of 333.64 EUR (about $380 USD) is notably higher than the RTX 3060's historic price of 245 EUR.

Although the big selling point compared to 8GB cards like the GeForce RTX 5050, RTX 5060, and RTX 5060 Ti 8GB is the increased VRAM capacity, the value proposition compared to the more affordable GeForce RTX 5060 is questionable based on the improved DLSS 4.5 support that includes Dynamic Frame Generation not being available. Even when it comes to raw 1080p and even 1440p gaming performance in titles that aren't VRAM capacity constrained, the GeForce RTX 5060 is still decidedly faster.

In our review of the ASUS PRIME GeForce RTX 5060 8GB OC Edition, we found raw 1080p performance to be around 50% faster than the GeForce RTX 3060 12GB, with that lead maintained at 1440p.

Again, this covers games where VRAM capacity isn't a bottleneck, and for titles where 8GB isn't enough, tinkering and optimizing settings can make up the shortfall. In the US, due to shortages and current market conditions, the GeForce RTX 5060 8GB is currently selling for around $350, which means a GeForce RTX 3060 re-release with 12GB of GDDR6 memory would need to be priced at around $250 for it to make sense. Unfortunately, based on what we're seeing here, the RTX 3060's return is more of a less-powerful RTX 5060 replacement, likely sold at a similar price point.