Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3060 and RTX 3050 Ampere GPUs rumored to already be in production

Word on the street is that Nvidia has already completed designs for the mainstream and entry-level RTX 3000 Ampere GPUs and production for these models apparently started a few weeks ago. Twitter user kopite7kimi reports that GA106 and GA107 are the latest GPU SKUs to enter production (presumably at the Samsung fabs on the 8 nm node).

Looking at past naming schemes, we immediately identify the GA106 SKU as the upcoming RTX 3060 mainstream solution. Kopite7kimi also specifies that there is a GA106-300 SKU, which hints at a variety of models within the 3060 family, just as we now have the RTX 2060 (TU106-200) and RTX 2060 Super (TU106-410). The standard RTX 3060 is rumored to include only 6 GB of RAM, which seems like a downgrade from the 8 GB coming with the RTX 2060 Super, but specs are bound to go through more changes before the official launch. In any case, the standard RTX 3060 will most likely get a price tag closer to US$300, whereas the beefier versions with 8 GB could be priced closer to US$400.

On the other hand, the GA107 appears to be reserved for the entry-level RTX 3050 models. We hear that the entire RTX 3000-series will get ray tracing support this time around, and even the RTX 3050 could be delivering decent ray tracing performance. This entry-level family is expected to get an even greater variety of versions with prices ranging between US$150 and US$300, which represents the most profitable market sector, and AMD is expected to launch serious RDNA2 competitors for this niche, as well.

Although it may seem a bit early for these two SKUs to see production, we still have to keep in mind that Nvidia usually prioritizes the upper-mid-range and high-end models for the initial big reveal of each generation, while the lower-mid-range and entry-level solutions release several months after. However, since AMD is threatening to take over the market with the RDNA2 GPUs this fall, we could see Nvidia rushing the lower SKUs to counter AMD’s dominance.

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