Question RTX 2060 12GB vs RTX 3050 which one to pick? September 2022

[RajTheGeek]

Hello there,

So my last gpu GTX 1060 6 GB broke. For a while I had random black screen flickering and now it stopped responding at all. No display outout and after booting up the fans just stopped spinning. So I changed my gpu with my very old gtx 750 ti while I buy a new one. Now I'm really confused which one to pick between RTX 2060 at 26K INR(325USD) or RTX 3050 at around the same price it seems. Benchmark shows that 2060 still outperforms 3050 by 30%. But it has better RT cores. And just Nvidia launched 4000 series and DLSS 3.0 I am wondering if 2060 is still a good option for 1080p 60fps at high settings. DLSS 3.0 will only work in 4000 cards because it has newer RT cores. But still we have chance they can implement it on 3000 cards in future. Also 3050 consumes less power around 50W. My plan was to wait for a year or more till newer budget gpu comes. But those are gonna be more expensive and power hungry. Seems I have to buy now. Let me know guys what you think.

my system:
Ryzen 3 3100
PSU: Corsair cx 550

 

[MEMOFLEX]

Hi Raj.

Based on some of the benchmarks I have looked at then the 2060 does seem to perform a little better although it is nowhere near 30% from what I can see. Obviously this will depend on the type of game as there will always be some that favour one and over the other.

What is the pricing like on AMD cards where you are? Would this be an option or are you only looking at Nvidia?

 

[Zerk2012]

If I remember right the 2060 12GB cards used up the old 2080 chip stock. That made the benchmarks higher than the old 2060 but the gaming performance stayed about the same.

 

[MEMOFLEX]

I was thinking something like a 6600 would be the better option than both the the 3050 and 2060. From what I can see there are options available at around 30k INR but it depends on if the budget can stretch that far.

 

[RajTheGeek]

Hi Raj.

Based on some of the benchmarks I have looked at then the 2060 does seem to perform a little better although it is nowhere near 30% from what I can see. Obviously this will depend on the type of game as there will always be some that favour one and over the other.

What is the pricing like on AMD cards where you are? Would this be an option or are you only looking at Nvidia?

Yes RX 6600 is around at the same price as well. And performance is superior I know but I am very much worried about its drivers. Many users are complaining about poor driver quality. random crashes, black screens etc. Want to be on safer side. If that wasn't the case I wouldn't be confused.

 

[MEMOFLEX]

From my understanding a lot of the AMD driver issues are historical and they have been stable for some time now. Certainly since RDNA 2 onwards.

I do not have an AMD card at present so I cannot fully comment if this is definitely the case.

 

[Tac 25]

Yes RX 6600 is around at the same price as well. And performance is superior I know but I am very much worried about its drivers. Many users are complaining about poor driver quality. random crashes, black screens etc. Want to be on safer side. If that wasn't the case I wouldn't be confused.

almost the same reason why I chose Nvidia over AMD, by funny coincidence during the time I was deliberating on what GPU to buy, there were multiple threads here about people having problems with their 6600/6600XT. I did have a friendly debate about a week or two later with a friend on discord, he insists that there was nothing wrong at all with AMD.

if you're choosing between RTX 2060 and RTX 3050. I would say buy the 2060, it's the stronger gpu. Purchased the 3050 because I wanted the newer generation ray trace cores, and also because the 3050 is a short gpu that would fit without problems into my pc case.

ray tracing King of Fighters XV with my 3050.

Spoiler

 

[RajTheGeek]

almost the same reason why I chose Nvidia over AMD, by funny coincidence during the time I was deliberating on what GPU to buy, there were multiple threads here about people having problems with their 6600/6600XT. I did have a friendly debate about a week or two later with a friend on discord, he insists that there was nothing wrong at all with AMD.

if you're choosing between RTX 2060 and RTX 3050. I would say buy the 2060, it's the stronger gpu. Purchased the 3050 because I wanted the newer generation ray trace cores, and also because the 3050 is a short gpu that would fit without problems into my pc case.

ray tracing King of Fighters XV with my 3050.

Spoiler

I see. Thanks. I'll probably buy 2060 then.

 

[Zerk2012]

I see. Thanks. I'll probably buy 2060 then.

The 2080 chip was used in the KO version about a 47% work performance increase over the regular 2060 no real gaming increase.

View: https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/esq00b/theres_an_rtx_2080_gpu_in_rtx_2060_ko_up_to_47/


For the 2 cards listed I think the 2060 is better overall but depends some on the specific game.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MqOqdgIFAII

 

[joeybutterhands]

Absolutely no issues with my RX6600 and outperforms a 3050. That gets my vote

 

[PEnns]

Yes RX 6600 is around at the same price as well. And performance is superior I know but I am very much worried about its drivers. Many users are complaining about poor driver quality. random crashes, black screens etc. Want to be on safer side. If that wasn't the case I wouldn't be confused.

Actually, I have been reading right here WAY MORE complaints about Nvidia drivers than AMD for over 2 years now!!

 

[LukaNyan]

Never had issues with drivers with my AMD cards (I had a r9 290 tri-x and now a rx 6700 XT).
I could say go for the RX 6600 (or the 6600xt even better) but that's up to you man.

 

[Eximo]

If I remember right the 2060 12GB cards used up the old 2080 chip stock. That made the benchmarks higher than the old 2060 but the gaming performance stayed about the same.

2060 12GB is equivalent to the 2060 Super, has more CUDA cores than the original.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

I have a 6700xt and have had good luck with drivers. Also, I saw a thread here yesterday where someone had issues with an AMD card and drivers. Someone recommended these 3rd party drivers which seemed to work if I recall. So far I've been on stock drivers and they seem decent though I'm tempted to try these just because.

Amernime Zone - AMD 3rd Party Drivers

 

[RajTheGeek]

hello, I can get RTX 3060 in a bit higher than my current budget. $100 more. Now I am worried about power consumption of both cards RTX 2060 or RTX 3060. Both consumes around same power. Some I have seen 3060 draws a bit lower. My current psu is CX 550. Which one to pick? Is it okay if I go with either of them? Online many says 550 should be okay and many says go with 600 or higher psu. When I calculated wattages I believe my psu can handle it. I don't want my PC to crash. https://www.asus.com/Motherboards-Components/Graphics-Cards/Dual/DUAL-RTX3060-O12G/

 

[ohio_buckeye]

According to nvidia’s site, the 2060 needs about a 500 watt unit.

If you can find one near the same price, the better card over either of those is the amd rx 6600 8gb. It performs closer to the 3060 you wanted, I think 5% slower. Below is a video that’s supposed to show the 6600 vs the 6600xt(it’s big brother essentially), vs

View: https://youtu.be/W-p3koZ5P_Q



From what I’ve seen the 6600 is a budget king right now. If I had to be on a budget the rx 6600 would be on my shortlist for sure.

 

[RajTheGeek]

According to nvidia’s site, the 2060 needs about a 500 watt unit.

If you can find one near the same price, the better card over either of those is the amd rx 6600 8gb. It performs closer to the 3060 you wanted, I think 5% slower. Below is a video that’s supposed to show the 6600 vs the 6600xt(it’s big brother essentially), vs

View: https://youtu.be/W-p3koZ5P_Q



From what I’ve seen the 6600 is a budget king right now. If I had to be on a budget the rx 6600 would be on my shortlist for sure.

Yes I agree 6600 has better performance. But atm I'm really not comfortable with amd cards right now. I experienced that Nvidia ones are more stable in terms of drivers and all. In future sure I will consider it. I have CX 550W psu do you think RTX 2060 should be enough? In PC builds I have seen many have used 650W in RTX 2060 builds. But probably for future proofing.

 

[jasonf2]

One other thing to take into consideration. Nvidia doesn't support drivers forever. It doesn't mean the card won't work, you just don't get updates. I have never timed it but it seems to be somewhere around 5 years. So if you have two cards that are pretty much identical in performance and one is the newer generation I would go with the newer card for support longevity.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

He’s got a point. My 6700xt has been pretty good. Also there are actually 3rd party drivers out there that I saw. I actually installed them to try with my card last night which seem decent. But apparently they’ve modded them to add support for older cards that amd doesn’t create drivers for anymore as well. Which if you kept the card a long time that might be a bonus for you.

 

[RajTheGeek]

One other thing to take into consideration. Nvidia doesn't support drivers forever. It doesn't mean the card won't work, you just don't get updates. I have never timed it but it seems to be somewhere around 5 years. So if you have two cards that are pretty much identical in performance and one is the newer generation I would go with the newer card for support longevity.

I have 750 TI and they still provide regular updates. I sure wouldn't worry about that. You can consider 10 years easily I would say.

 

[jasonf2]

I have 750 TI and they still provide regular updates. I sure wouldn't worry about that. You can consider 10 years easily I would say.

It is highly dependent on card. I have a 680 series on a laptop that I haven't been able to get driver updates for 2-3 years now. I am also running a 1080ti that while updates are issued the newer drivers are often more of a headache than an advantage because nvidia has moved on long ago. Nvidia uses a universal driver package, so the same driver for the 3090 is used on the 1080 that I have. For the 3090 owner this means new features and potential bugs, for me it usually just means potential bugs. After about two generations improvement pretty much stops and after it gets far enough away Nvidia will drop support on the newest drivers.

 

[RajTheGeek]

It is highly dependent on card. I have a 680 series on a laptop that I haven't been able to get driver updates for 2-3 years now. I am also running a 1080ti that while updates are issued the newer drivers are often more of a headache than an advantage because nvidia has moved on long ago. Nvidia uses a universal driver package, so the same driver for the 3090 is used on the 1080 that I have. For the 3090 owner this means new features and potential bugs, for me it usually just means potential bugs. After about two generations improvement pretty much stops and after it gets far enough away Nvidia will drop support on the newest drivers.

After sometime you don't need that much driver support as most of the time it has been optimized. Unless some game or application or something new comes up and need to work on it I guess.

 

[jasonf2]

After sometime you don't need that much driver support as most of the time it has been optimized. Unless some game or application or something new comes up and need to work on it I guess.

It really depends on the game. The biggest issue is that if your new game doesn't work with your driver, you don't have any real option to just wait until it is updated next month for it to work after Nvidia fixes their bug in the main package.

 

[RajTheGeek]

It really depends on the game. The biggest issue is that if your new game doesn't work with your driver, you don't have any real option to just wait until it is updated next month for it to work after Nvidia fixes their bug in the main package.

Agree on that. But still I believe they provide decent driver support for new games as well. Also question. Will Ryzen 3 3100 bottleneck rtx 2060?