EVGA RTX 3060 XC Gaming Video Card Review

In this review we looked at the EVGA RTX 3060 XC Gaming.  By now most anyone reading this review will know about the performance of the RTX 3060 and is looking to get some more specific details about the card.

Overall design is typical EVGA.  The heatsink features an overbuilt cooler featuring two extremely long heatpipes the contact a large cold plate that cools both the GPU and memory while also offering a small section to the VRM.  This heatsink is cooled by two “E” fans that work extremely well.  In default trim they are extremely quiet and will go into a Zero Noise mode when the GPU is at idle or in 2D mode.  During my many gaming sessions I never once was bothered by the GPU fans and rarely noticed them running.

During my overclocking sessions I used Precision X1 to kick the fans up to 70-80% and the once tame air movers roared to life moving considerably more air, generated more noise and helped to drop GPU load temperatures by 30 degrees.  Of course, the reason for the drastic temperature drop is due to how warm the RTX 3060 normally runs, which is just cool enough to keep the card from throttling.

The cooler does an excellent job at keeping the card in the optimal thermal operating range to ensure that all of the available performance is delivered.

Performance was what you would expect.  Games ran extremely smooth and as the benchmarks showed the small RTX 3060 can hold its own against the bigger RTX 2080 Super while drawing less power and generating less heat.  The smaller footprint also means it will take up less space in your chassis giving you a real option to go Mini ITX and not worry about if things will fit.

Overclocking the EVGA RTX 3060 XC Gaming left much to be desired.  This isn’t a slash at EVGA but rather the class of GPU.  The GPUS at the 60-Series level are designed for mainstream consumption meaning they will deliver all the technology at a playable level and that is it.  Not quire entry level but pretty darn close. 

EVGA helps take the edge off with a nice factory overclock pushing the Boost clock up to 1882Mhz allowing the card to have a 210.G GT/x Texture Fill Rate.  I know from my testing that while 1882Mhz is what it says on the box this card was regularly boosting beyond 2000Mhz offering more performance due to the cooler temperatures on the bench.

Overall, this is an amazing RTX package.  Solid cooler, excellent out of box performance and despite the small size the card can deliver.  Come June of this year look to get a card for yourself, the hash rate limiters will be locked in stone with the hope that more cards will be available to gamers, the way it should be.

Small Form Factor
Excellent Dual Fan Cooler
Silent Operation at Idle
RTX Performance Close to RTX 2080 Super
Backplate Included
Factory OverBoost Clock

Limited headroom for overclocking
Didn’t see any option for RGB