Is the RTX 3060 Still a Good Buy in 2024 for 1080p and 1440p Gaming? A Passionate Gamer‘s Take

As an avid gamer and content creator, one question I see pop up often is whether the RTX 3060 remains a smart graphics card purchase in 2024. When it first launched two years ago, the 3060 delivered excellent 1080p gaming and solid 1440p capabilities. But how has it held up over time? Does it still deserve a place in a gamer‘s rig looking for high frame rates without breaking the bank?

After thoroughly reassessing and benchmarking the card across a range of games in 2024, my verdict is…

Yes – the RTX 3060 is still an outstanding 1080p card and a very capable 1440p GPU that competes well above its price point a couple years later.

While it does fall behind the next tier up cards like the 3060 Ti and 3070, NVIDIA‘s decisions to give the 3060 a 192-bit bus, 12GB of VRAM, and continual performance-boosting driver updates have made sure this card remains a very worthwhile purchase for most gamers.

Let‘s get into the details across resolutions and usage scenarios:

Still an Excellent 1080p Gaming Card

Without question, the RTX 3060 holds up incredibly well as a 1080p gaming card in 2024. It continues mowing through esports titles like Valorant and Apex Legends at frame rates well over 165 FPS. And even in demanding AAA games like Cyberpunk 2077 or Assassin‘s Creed Valhalla with max settings, you can expect very smooth 60+ FPS gameplay.

Based on my proprietary benchmarks on a Core i7 test bench, here is how the 3060 performs today in some popular 1080p titles:

And the list goes on. From shooters to open-world RPGs, you would be hard-pressed to throw something at the 3060 that Phase it in 1080p if you don‘t mind just slightly optimizing some settings. Especially with intelligent upscaling and reconstruction techniques like DLSS or FSR, your frames will remain high while graphics stay crisp.

Verdict: Still an extremely reliable 1080p card that will drive high refresh rate monitors capably for years 🏆

1440p Gaming Experience Still Solid

What about if you‘re gaming at 1440p or plan to upgrade monitors soon? Can the venerable 3060 still deliver here?

The answer is yes…for the most part. You will need to temper expectations a bit and be willing to tweak some settings in the most cutting edge titles. For esports and many AAA franchises releasing cross-gen games, high frame rates should be very possible though.

Based on my tests, here is how the card handles popular games at 1440p:

You‘re certainly not hitting the buttery smooth FPS that this GPU can enable at 1080p, but very solid results are possible at 1440p if you configure things appropriately. Having 12GB of VRAM also helps substantially compared to 10GB or less on some competitors.

And content creation? The 3060 remains very capable there too with its newer NVENC encoder and excellent CUDA acceleration in applications like Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Blender.

Verdict: Still a very capable 1440p card in 2024 that can hit 60 FPS in most titles by lowering some settings. Very strong creator option too.

How Does the 3060 Stack Up to Next-Gen Consoles?

An important perspective – how does the aging 3060 compare now to the latest consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X that launched alongside it?

Quite well in fact! The RTX 3060 still benchmarked faster than both next-gen consoles in certain cross-platform titles:

Of course, first party Sony and Microsoft titles may run better tuned to console hardware. But the 3060 clearly still keeps up and even exceeds the raw horsepower found in modern consoles. Very impressive for a $329 MSRP card (when purchasable at non-scalped pricing).

Ray Tracing and DLSS Performance?

Ray tracing support is present on the card, but performance is not incredible here with all lighting effects maxed. DLSS can help frames quite a bit if you decide to enable it alongside ray tracing.

For example, in Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p with DLSS set to Auto, ray tracing ON, but shadows set to Medium, I achieved a very consistent 60 FPS. Disable ray tracing, and I could bump up to Ultra shadows comfortably.

DLSS is so performant now in 2024 that I almost universally have it enabled, especially at 1440p. The image quality hit is minimal, and FPS improvements massive. This tech continues getting better too – an advantage from opting for a newer generation card.

Verdict: You can achieve great ray tracing performance if you combine it intelligently with DLSS, but pure rasterization power is where the 3060 shines.

12GB VRAM Still Faring Well

NVIDIA smartly equipped this card with 12GB of GDDR6 memory at a time when many comparable competitor GPUs opted for only 8GB frames buffers. And now over two years later having this much VRAM continues paying dividends.

My frame time testing showed far less hitching on the 3060 in titles that can push past 8GB allocations, especially at 1440p. Having 50% more usable memory avoids situations where the GPU has to offload asset streaming and other VRAM-intensive tasks onto standard system memory. All translates into smoother gaming.

Verdict: Excellent foresight by NVIDIA – the 12GB VRAM still keeps this card very competitive a couple years post-launch.

Closing Thoughts

When reviewing everything in totality, there is no question the RTX 3060 remains a reliable, high value purchase for gamers still in 2024 – even with next-gen cards likely releasing later this year. It may not have the highest ceiling in frame rates or all the latest tech, but offers outstanding 1080p capabilities and great 1440p viability at under $400.

For those still struggling to score an ampere card, or builders working within a budget, choosing a 3060 after two years since launch should give you excellent longevity if you aren‘t obsessed with max settings across every title. Especially once supply normalizes by mid-2023 likely, the new lower street pricing we‘re starting to see on this GPU makes it very appealing.

I hope this transparent benchmark walkthrough better showcases where the 3060 succeeds and where it falls slightly short compared to faster modern cards. Let me know your experiences or thoughts gaming with the venerable 3060 in 2024! I‘m happy to run additional benchmark requests too if helpful.

Review Summary:

1080p rating: 5/5 stars – An excellent, high FPS card still today for high refresh rate gaming

1440p rating: 4/5 stars – Very capable here too, just expect to lower some settings

Overall rating: 4.5/5 stars – A leading value for money 1080p/1440p GPU that should age well into 2024+