The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 has taken over as the most popular GPU in Steam’s latest March 2023 hardware survey. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 continues a long-running trend with NVIDIA’s x50/x60 line of graphics cards often taking the top spots in the survey. What is also a common trend with these lines of graphics cards is that NVIDIA typically releases them with multiple VRAM configurations throughout each generational release. The RTX 3060 launched with an 8 GB of memory but then also had a 12 GB variant released that can still look attractive to buyers who can make use of the extra VRAM. NVIDIA chose not to release a Founders Edition of the RTX 3060 but did provide an MSRP of $329.99 which was actually $20 cheaper than the previous RTX 2060 which currently is in second place on the survey.
The Top 20 Breakdown
A closer look at the survey shows that the previous three generations of NVIDIA’s x60 graphics cards hold the top three spots and are then followed by the RTX 3070. The x70 line is also often considered a good value and is seen throughout the top 20 cards as well. Sadly, AMD doesn’t make the top 10 and only shows up at the bottom of the top 20 with Intel closely behind it. WccfTech reports that the GTX 1650 was previously number one, further proving the most popular cards tend to be the most affordable ones.
Other notable entries on the top 20 list include the RTX 3080 at number 9, a still highly sought-after top-tier card from the previous Ampere generation for the lucky few who could grab one at the $699 MSRP or less, and then x50/x60/x70 Ti variants. NVIDIA’s “Super” line of GPUs still holds a number of spots with GTX 1660 and RTX 2060/2070 Super variants. Unsurprisingly, none of NVIDIA’s top-tier halo cards such as the X80 Ti or x90 are on the list as these cards, even at MSRP, at often priced too high for most buyers.
RTX 40-series
This list also shows that the retail sweet spot for graphics card sales tends to be in the $150-$400 range, with a handful of folks willing to splurge upwards of $800. NVIDIA is expected to launch its next round of mid-tier x60/x70 ADA GPUs soon and an RTX 4050 6 GB is said to be coming in June. So far the only confirmed price is $599 for the GeForce RTX 4070 but it is possible the RTX 4060 and RTX 4050 could be comparatively priced to their predecessors. It presently remains unknown if NVIDIA is planning anything below the RTX 4050 which means PC enthusiasts are unlikely to see any current GPUs from team green coming in at under $250 (RTX 3050), especially since the GTX line has stopped being produced.