NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ultra leaks with 12 GB of GDDR6 VRAM

NVIDIA has a GeForce hardware event scheduled for next week, where the company is expected to announce desktop and laptop graphics cards. Based on past leaks, NVIDIA plans to announce at least the RTX 3050 and RTX 3060, along with a suite of laptop GPUs in Max-P and Max-Q flavours. These should include versions of the RTX 3060, RTX 3070 and RTX 3080, with NVIDIA reserving the RTX 3090 for desktops.

However, Wccftech has revealed a hitherto unknown SKU called the RTX 3060 Ultra. The card will have 12 GB of GDDR6 VRAM, which was previously thought to be a second SKU of the RTX 3060. If the RTX 3060 Ultra is the 12 GB version of the RTX 3060, then it will run on a 192-bit bus at 16 Gbps. By contrast, the RTX 3060 Ti has a 256-bit bus with a VRAM clock speed of 14 Gbps.

Wccftech expects NVIDIA to unveil the RTX 3060 Ultra at its GeForce hardware event on January 12. The leaked picture does not reveal any specifications of the card beyond its VRAM capacity, other than it has a 2.7 slot design. The appearance of Ultra branding suggests that we may see more Ultra cards this year, though.

There is some confusion about the price of the RTX 3060 Ultra, for the time being. On the one hand, Wccftech claims that the TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3060 Ultra (ASUS TUF-RTX3060U-O12G-Gaming) will retail for US$449, which would make it US$50 more expensive than the RTX 3060 Ti Founders Edition.

On the other hand, the website speculates elsewhere that the RTX 3060 Ultra will cost US$299. If the RTX 3060 Ultra is to be a lesser card than the RTX 3060 Ti, then it should also be cheaper. A US$100 saving on the RTX 3060 Ti indicates that NVIDIA may price the likes of the RTX 3050, RTX 3050 Ti and RTX 3060 aggressively, if one can get their hands on stock, that is.