Nvidia RTX 3060 review: the typical performance upgrade spectrum

Our final three rasterised games offer technical brilliance and satisfying gameplay; they are Metro Exodus, Dirt Rally 2.0 and Assassin's Creed Unity.

In order to deliver precise results, our performance data is more than just a readout of an average frame-rate at the end of a test. Instead, we use the FCAT tool built into Rivatuner Statistics Server (RTSS), which overlays a coloured border to the left side of the screen. Each new frame is represented by another coloured box in the sequence - and its height signifies the time it took to generate. We capture a direct feed of the game footage and border from the graphics card we're testing, analysing the video file with our own tools to essentially write down the frame-time for each frame. This metadata is then uploaded to the Eurogamer website and then rendered by the server into the live performance widgets you see below, allowing us to pick and choose the comparisons you'll find most interesting or helpful - and give you the power to make your own choices too.

Metro Exodus

Metro Exodus is another game with a great standalone benchmark; like Hitman 2 you can adjust graphical settings, run the test and then make changes to hit your preferred mix of fidelity and performance. Unlike Hitman 2, it offers the option of DLSS to boost frame-rates, but we're leaving this option disengaged to allow AMD hardware to compete on an even playing field. The 3060 delivers a cinematic 33fps at 4K, but things look a lot better at 1440p (54fps) and 1080p (68fps). Focusing on 1080p, we're getting around 72 per cent the performance on an RTX 3060 Ti at 82.5 per cent of the cost; not a great trade-off unfortunately. The RTX 2070 holds a five per cent advantage at 1080p, putting the RTX 3060 more in line with the RTX 2060 Super, a rare disappointing result. Regardless, if the aim is delivering a solid 60+fps experience at 1080p, then we've got to consider the box ticked.

Dirt Rally 2.0

Dirt Rally 2.0's high speed dirt tracks can be tough for newcomers to get to grips with, and so it is with the 3060 too. The mainstream card only manages 36fps at 4K, 64fps at 1440p and 86fps at 1080p. Thankfully, there are 8x MSAA specified in the settings is extreme overkill, so there's room here to achieve higher frame-rates if you have a high refresh rate monitor to take full advantage of them. At 1080p, the 3060 barely edges out the GTX 1080 and exhibits the biggest disadvantage against the RTX 2070 yet, falling 12 per cent behind the older card. The cost/performance analysis also doesn't work out in the 3060's favour against the 3060 Ti, where the new GPU delivers just 73 per cent of the 1080p frame-rate at 83 per cent of the cost.

Assassin's Creed Unity

It's something of a shame that Assassin's Creed Unity is only known by some players for its buggy launch, but the PC version of the game - and the Xbox version running on Series X - is a genuine technical achievement. The 3060 gets back to expectations here too, beating the RTX 2070 and RX 5700 XT by a few percentage points at 4K, 1440p and 1080p. The game becomes smooth from 1440p downwards, as long as the game's expensive MSAA is disabled, so if you do end up picking up this GPU we'd recommend this classic title as one to try!

That brings our analysis of traditional rasterised games to a close, but now it's time to check out RT performance. Ampere's second-generation RT cores have proven capable in our previous 30-series tests, so we expect to see an even greater margin between the 3060 and last-gen cards like the 2070.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Analysis

• Introduction and Hardware
• Doom Eternal, Control, Borderlands 3, Shadow of the Tomb Raider - Game Benchmarks Part 1
• Death Stranding, Far Cry 5, Hitman 2, Assassin's Creed Odyssey - Game Benchmarks Part 2
• Metro Exodus, Dirt Rally 2, Assassin's Creed Unity - Game Benchmarks Part 3 [This Page]
• RTX Game Benchmarks - Control, Metro Exodus, Battlefield 5
• Resizeable BAR Testing - Watch Dogs Legion, Battlefield 5, Metro Exodus
• Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 - the Digital Foundry verdict