NVIDIA is reportedly discontinuing its most popular gaming GPU, the GeForce RTX 3060

Chinese tech forum Board Channels has been a great source of information in recent years. Its admin and users feature multiple people close to or representative of NVIDIA's key partners divulging information relating to GPUs - from hardware shortages to launch timings to potential issues.

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The GeForce RTX 3060 is currently the most used GPU among PC Gamers.

The latest news out of the forum is surprising: NVIDIA plans to halt production of its most popular gaming GPU, the GeForce RTX 3060. The GeForce RTX 3060 was first released in early 2021, and the company's new mainstream option quickly became popular among gamers.

Currently, the GeForce RTX 3060 is sitting on top of the Steam Hardware Survey for July 2024, a position it has held for several months as the most used GPU among PC gamers. Hearing the news that NVIDIA is potentially halting production and putting the RTX 3060 into 'end-of-life' mode is surprising.

According to the Board Channels admin, citing sources it believes to be accurate, NVIDIA has begun notifying partners to get their final orders for the GeForce RTX 3060. Colorful and Palit are two GPU makers and NVIDIA partners name-checked in the statement. The statement adds that NVIDIA will fulfill orders over months, so it would take a little while to feel the impact in the retail space.

With the GeForce RTX 3060 no longer available, gamers will most likely turn to its successor, the GeForce RTX 4060, which was released at the same $299 USD price point, albeit with 8GB of VRAM as opposed to the RTX 3060's 12GB. On the plus side, the GeForce RTX 4060 is faster than its predecessor and supports newer GeForce RTX 40 Series features like DLSS 3 Frame Generation.