Nvidia has confirmed earlier rumors by announcing that its entry-level RTX 3060 graphics card will be available on Thursday, February 25; Nvidia also clarified that it has no plans for a Founder's Edition reference card this time around

The 3060 is definitely a cheaper version of the RTX 30 series, but by no means inferior: it has fewer CUDA cores than the 3060 Ti (3,584 vs 4,864) and lower bandwidth with a 192-bit memory interface, but to compensate, 4GB of GDDR6 video memory has been added, bringing the total to 12GB

We will have to wait for official benchmarks to see how this affects real-world performance, but it remains a significant improvement for those switching from the GTX 1060 and RTX 2060

Those eagerly awaiting the RTX 3060's first day should be ready to log in at 9 am PT (12 pm ET) when Nvidia announces the card will officially launch However, given the recent history of GPUs, simply having a web browser ready does not guarantee success; demand for Nvidia's previous RTX 30 cards has far exceeded supply, and it would be very surprising if it did not this time as well

Demand for the weaker cards may be low compared to the fierce rush for the RTX 3080, but it may not be low enough for the average buyer to notice the difference if enough bitcoin miners and scalper bots are put off After all, competition for new graphics cards is so fierce that this week Nvidia decided to bring back production of the RTX 2060 and GTX 1050 Ti (mid-range cards that first debuted in 2016)

Those hoping for an early end to these shortages are likely to be disappointed Last week, European retailer Alternate posted a statement on its website that supplies of RTX 30 series GPUs will worsen in the first quarter of 2021 due to both raw material shortages and Chinese New Year celebrations that will result in temporary factory closures

We are tracking retailers and flagging RTX 30 units as we find them available; if you still want a 3060Ti, 3070, or 3080, be sure to visit our Where to Buy page