Nosotros're boot off our reviews of Nvidia's RTX 30 laptop GPUs with a expect at the GeForce RTX 3060, the more affordable of three new Ampere mobile GPUs released so far. It's a little unusual to be reviewing a laptop GPU variant before the desktop scrap, but to marshal with the laptop release cycle and the launch of AMD's new Ryzen 5000 APUs, nosotros're getting the RTX 3060 aslope the RTX 3070 and RTX 3080 all at the same time.

The mobile RTX 3060 is using Nvidia's GA106 silicon with 3840 unlocked CUDA cores, more than what you'll find in the desktop equivalent. There are a range of power configurations that OEMs can use, anywhere from 60 to 115 watts, which brings with it a boost clock anywhere from 1283 MHz to 1703 MHz depending on the variant you get. Of course, one of the key talking points around this generation is Nvidia removing the "Max-Q" characterization, instead giving all configurations from the 60W model (previously Max-Q) upward to 115W (Max-P) the same proper noun, something nosotros're non big fans of.

The retention configuration for all RTX 3060 laptop variants is 6GB of GDDR6 on a 192-flake bus, with clock speeds of either 14 Gbps or 12 Gbps depending on the power course. As this is a new GPU featuring the Ampere architecture, it'southward built on Samsung's 8nm process node and features all the new architectural benefits similar 3rd-gen Tensor cores, 2d-gen ray tracing cores, and dual FP32 pipelines.

For laptops specifically, Nvidia has introduced a range of new technologies such as Dynamic Boost 2.0, WhisperMode 2.0 and Resizable BAR, to go forth with previous stuff like Advanced Optimus. While these features fall under Nvidia's Max-Q umbrella, they aren't restricted merely to low power variants; all RTX 30 GPUs tin can utilize them. Not all of these features are required to be used though past the laptop manufacturer. From what we've seen and then far, uptake Dynamic Boost in item has been far higher than in prior generations.

For today'southward review, we'll be testing two variants of the RTX 3060 mobile GPU: ane with a base power rating of 80W, and some other with a base power of 115W. Note how we specify "base ability" here as both come up with Dynamic Boost 2.0, which is enabled by default. This balances system power load while gaming, and in some situations where CPU usage is light, it can enable the RTX 3060 to run up to 15W higher. Considering information technology'south enabled out of the box on both systems, this is how nosotros'll be testing these laptops and we'll be reporting a power range on our criterion charts.

Our RTX 3060 115-130W system today is the XMG Apex 17, a powerful fauna of a arrangement with pregnant cooling chapters. The RTX 3060 inside has a base clock of 1387 MHz and heave clock of 1702 MHz, along with 14 Gbps retention. It supports Dynamic Boost and Resizable BAR, but non WhisperMode or Advanced Optimus.

The XMG Noon is powered past the Ryzen seven 5800H, a new Cezanne APU that just launched and we'll be reviewing in detail shortly. There'south also 16GB of dual-channel DDR4-3200 memory and a 17-inch 1080p 144Hz display. 1440p laptops are also starting to filter into the marketplace now, just our testing for today volition remain at 1080p. Nosotros'll look to add 1440p to the mix in the future.

Our second RTX 3060 laptop is another XMG Noon 17 but equipped with a eighty-95W GPU ability configuration. The laptop is a slightly different model with a thinner chassis and smaller cooler. Clock speeds are 900 MHz base and 1425 MHz boost, also with 14 Gbps memory. This laptop features Dynamic Boost and WhisperMode, only not Resizable BAR or Advanced Optimus. Maybe the lack of Resizable BAR is downwardly to the apply of an Intel CPU. There'south likewise 16GB of dual-channel DDR4-3200 retentivity and a 17-inch 1080p 144Hz display.

It's interesting to see that XMG and ODM Clevo have decided to make Ryzen 5000 processors the focus of the Apex 17 serial. While many aspects to these chassis are like, the AMD model is notably larger and has amend cooling, allowing it to run the GPU at a college ability rating for meliorate performance. This is opposite to previous generations where Intel was e'er given the higher cease designs.

With that said, both of these Apex models are the sort of entry-level chassis options that XMG offers. Cadre and Neo models sitting higher up with slimmer builds and more than premium materials.

Benchmarks

Nosotros're starting off with some older games where we have more comparison data, then move into newer benchmarks with a smaller range of systems. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is upwards first, and immediately nosotros're seeing pretty decent results.

At that place wasn't a huge difference between the power configurations of our RTX 3060 laptops in this test, just information technology did let the fourscore-95W model to evangelize 17% more than performance than a 90W power configuration of the RTX 2060. So a similar power configuration hither, just a decent chunk more performance out of the new RTX 30 series GPU.

This places the RTX 3060 slightly above the RTX 2070 Super Max-Q in our charts. Meanwhile for those with a system a couple of generations old, say a GTX 1060 6GB for example, you're looking at more than than 65% better performance in the same power class.

In Metro Exodus, the RTX 3060 is able to flex its muscles, especially with the 115W power configuration. In both instances, the new RTX 3060 is pretty similar to an RTX 2070 Super of the same power rating, putting information technology towards the top of the charts. At 80W we're seeing 16% more functioning than the RTX 2060, although this extends to a thirty% delta at 115W. Plus, if y'all're upgrading from an older organization or something lower tier, the gains are much more than substantial.

Command is extremely GPU limited on laptops, and equally such shows some of the highest functioning gains for the RTX 3060 over the 2060 at 1080p. We achieved a 27% higher frame charge per unit when comparing at lxxx-95W, and 21% higher at the maximum 115W configuration.

So generation on generation, in the aforementioned sort of laptop design with the aforementioned cooler, an RTX 3060 will exist giving you a decent footstep up in terms of frame rate. This puts the 3060 slightly to a higher place the last generation RTX 2070 Super, but at a lower price bespeak.

Borderlands three shows a solid performance comeback for the RTX 3060, pushing frame rates 17% college in 80-95W range, and 19% college in the 115-130W range, over the RTX 2060. This makes the 3060 virtually v% faster than the RTX 2070 Super Max-Q in a lower ability configuration, or equal to that GPU in a college ability configuration. And while nosotros're non setting new records in the 90W power grade with this GPU, we're getting 88% of the performance of the RTX 2080 Super Max-Q in a price range that's well-nigh half as expensive.

Crimson Expressionless Redemption ii shows some of the strongest results in favor of the RTX 3060, with the new GPU delivering performance above the RTX 2070 Super in a watt for watt battle.

The 3060 ends up 24% faster than the RTX 3060 in both power classes, and almost twice every bit fast as the GTX 1060 for people thinking of upgrading from a much older laptop. Really, now is the time to think about ditching your Pascal gaming organisation for something newer.

Tom Clancy'southward Rainbow Six Siege is a classic case of a competitive game running at medium settings. With new AMD CPUs in these systems, nosotros're no longer suffering a huge performance punishment choosing an AMD-based laptop, so the end result is both RTX 3060 laptops deliver similar performance.

Large gains for the RTX 3060 in this title over previous generation GPUs, which is going to be particularly good if you buy a organization with a 240 Hz brandish.

In Assassinator'south Creed Valhalla, the RTX 3060 is able to outperform the RTX 2070 Super Max-Q by a couple of frames, delivering a 17 percentage performance gain over the RTX 2060 in a similar power class. Especially at 115W, this makes Valhalla quite playable on very high settings at 1080p, which wasn't previously the example.

Cyberpunk 2077 requires a lot of GPU horsepower for decent frame rates at 1080p on a laptop, and ultimately we'd recommend people decline the quality settings ane notch with a mid-range GPU like the RTX 3060. 17% more performance on offer than the RTX 2060 here in the lower power class, notwithstanding the RTX 3060 does autumn behind the RTX 2070 Super in this game.

Watch Dogs Legion, even at 1080p on Ultra settings, is quite punishing on the RTX 3060 and part of that comes down to Ultra settings needing 8GB of VRAM. The 3060 has only 6GB, which in some areas of the benchmark causes stuttering and a somewhat lower 1% low than the RTX 2070 Super despite similar average frame rates.

We're nonetheless seeing a substantial 29% gain over the RTX 2060, another 6GB GPU, however we think having more VRAM for this game would be nice if y'all wanted to play on Ultra settings. With that said, how realistic ultra settings are for a laptop GPU is some other question, and I'd probably plow down the preset one notch for actual gaming on a system similar this.

Hitman 3 is the newest title in our criterion suite, and for this test we are using the built-in examination prepare to the Dartmoor level. This is an intensive test on both the CPU and GPU, with the RTX 3060 putting upwards a good showing relative to other products in the chart.

It is only 15% faster than the RTX 2060 in a watt for watt battle, simply utterly obliterates the GTX 1060 configuration which is hamstrung by simply a quad-core Intel 7th-gen processor.

The final benchmark we'll be showing in detail today is Dirt v. The results seen here don't differ also much from the previous results, but this is a newer and more performance intensive title in some ways. With 17 percent more performance than the RTX 2060 on offering, it allows the 80-95W configuration to match the RTX 2070 Super Max-Q.

Performance Breakup

Time for some caput to head comparisons featuring 20 games in our up-to-date laptop GPU criterion test suite. When comparing the RTX 3060 (80 to 95W) with Dynamic Boost enabled, to the average of all our RTX 2060 laptops running at 90W, the RTX 3060 ends upwards xix% faster on boilerplate in the same power grade.

Some results were non every bit high for the new RTX xxx series GPU, similar Gears 5 and Cyberpunk with ray tracing enabled, while other games like Control and Watch Dogs Legion could be most 30 percent ahead on Nvidia's new GPU.

In the higher power form -- 115W-130W -- we don't take as many games that tin can exist used for a comparison. However, from the tests ran we can say that the RTX 3060 is 22% faster than the RTX 2060 on average. This suggests that the 3060 is delivering a similar improvement to efficiency over its Turing predecessor regardless of whether you get a mid-tier or college-end ability configuration.

Some other useful comparison is that the RTX 3060 provides similar performance to the RTX 2070 Super when you lot're on a similar ability class. The one outlier here is Cyberpunk 2077 with ray tracing enabled, where 6GB of VRAM is non enough and causes a significant operation loss compared to the 8GB-equipped 2070 Super. Remove that result and the 3060 is a couple percent faster on boilerplate.

Not dissimilar what nosotros've observed from previous generations, the college 115W power configuration is 11% faster on average than the 80W config of the RTX 3060. While there is also a CPU deviation at play here, most of our gaming benchmarks are GPU limited, with results ranging from a low single-digit comeback, to an uplift of xx% or more, depending on the game. These 2 power classes deliver fundamentally different operation and, of course, the 115W model is faster.

For those looking to upgrade coming from a GTX 10 series Pascal GPU of the same class, the RTX 3060 provides a huge 72% performance gain over the GTX 1060 6GB on average.

For those looking to upgrade coming from a GTX ten serial Pascal GPU of the same form, the RTX 3060 provides a huge 72% performance gain over the GTX 1060 6GB on average. Factored into this is likewise the uplift moving from a dated Intel quad-core that was commonly used in 2022'south laptops, to a new 8-core CPU that will exist widespread across today'due south gaming systems. This is the chief comparison Nvidia is making for RTX 30 laptop GPUs and information technology makes sense given with these sorts of gains we think considering a gaming laptop upgrade is well worth it, peculiarly for modern games.

The MaxQ naming issue (update)

Update (Feb 5): Soon after publishing this review, Nvidia announced that they volition now require all companies selling RTX laptops to exist more transparent about their graphics subsystems. In other words, while Nvidia used to encourage manufacturers to state clocks and power consumption on their product pages, now it requires them to do so. The Max-Q branding can even so be used, albeit for different reasons, such as indicating support for Dynamic Boost ii.0, Advanced Optimus, and Whisper Manner two.0.

Many RTX xxx-series laptop listings have yet to exist updated to reflect differences in the clock speed and full power consumption. Yet, manufacturers like Asus, Acer, Razer, Origin, MSI, Alienware, and Gigabyte take already updated some product pages, then things are moving in the correct direction for consumers.

The text beneath belongs to the original review, before Nvidia's change of heart with regards to RTX 30-serial laptop GPU branding...

Clearly, the new RTX 3060 laptop GPU delivers on the operation forepart, that's why it'southward disappointing Nvidia has decided to confuse users with mixed naming schemes – in particular the removal of Max-Q branding. We've been banging on about this for years now, only the problem is bad enough that fifty-fifty mainstream media is catching on. Laptop makers usually just betoken what's the basic GPU name (e.k. "RTX 3060"), but different ability configurations all differ in performance as we just saw in this review, sometimes significantly and so.

Essentially, the problem is that the same GPU model is beingness used across several power configurations.

Nvidia used to mitigate this somewhat by branding the lower power (and slower) variants as "Max-Q" and college-power laptops with "Max-P." And while there were nonetheless more sub-variants between the 2 extremes, this could at least give you some hint before you lot bought a new laptop. That's no longer possible with 2022'south laptops.

Using today'south review equally a basic example, nosotros looked at 2 RTX 3060 laptop GPU configurations that used an 80W and 115W base of operations ability level. The performance difference was ten% on average. That's significant enough in our opinion, but we didn't examination the even lower power 60W variant of the 3060 which could be 15-xx% slower, which is basically an entirely different GPU class at that point.

Now, Nvidia has said that they are encouraging laptop makers to be clear about the power and clock speeds of the laptops they sell. But let's be honest. What maker wants to admit their cooling solution is inadequate and that they're using a slower GPU variant?

The solution is simple, these GPUs should exist given different names. The RTX 3060 at 115W could be the RTX 3060MX, the 80W model could be RTX 3060M and the 60W model could exist RTX 3060Q. There, solved.

What We Learned

Overall, there'southward a lot to like from the new RTX 3060 from a performance standpoint. The laptop GPU provides a notable performance uplift over previous parts of the same class and power level, which is something we couldn't say about Nvidia's Super refresh concluding yr.

The upgrade to the Ampere architecture and Samsung 8nm process presents a solid leap for laptop hardware; hardware that's constrained by power and requires new architectures and next-gen process nodes to provide a leap in efficiency and therefore operation per watt.

When nosotros compare two laptop GPUs in the same price segment, relative to its generation – RTX 3060 vs RTX 2060 – nosotros get 20% amend performance on average. And then if we have two laptops with the same design, same cooling chapters, and likely a similar price tag, the newer RTX 30 series option is going to deliver a decent performance gain in today's games at 1080p. That's exactly what we're looking for.

The generation on generation performance leap with Ampere vs. Turing isn't as large as nosotros got from the Pascal to Turing upgrade on laptops. The RTX 2060, for example, was about 28 percentage faster in our 2022 testing compared to the GTX 1060. However, in this instance Nvidia also increased the price tag. That isn't the example with the RTX 3060.

Shopping for a gaming laptop

In today's marketplace, our conclusion higher up is not factoring in two key data points. Starting time, this price comparison is based off the MSRP. We can't say for certain if gaming laptops volition see inflated pricing due to the current terrible market situation for GPU hardware. It also doesn't account for end-of-life discounts on RTX 2060 laptops, and so initially there may be a bargain to be had on concluding-gen hardware. Simply if nosotros are comparing launch pricing to launch pricing, the RTX 3060 is well positioned and buyers are getting improve performance per dollar.

Some other manner to look at it is that the RTX 3060 matches the performance of the RTX 2070 Super from the previous generation, a GPU that was 2 steps in a higher place in the bureaucracy. Those laptops used to cost around $1,800 or more than, while some RTX 3060 laptops should be as low as $i,000-1,200. It's difficult to brand a straight comparison correct now every bit nigh RTX 30 series laptops aren't available to purchase merely still, but the early signs are a very strong value proposition for the RTX 3060 class of laptops.

It'due south too a promising mural for those wanting to upgrade from a 4-year-old GTX laptop. Even when yous don't factor in a drastic step upwards in CPU performance -- from say the i7-7700HQ -- new brandish tech and all the other benefits of modern laptops, the RTX 3060 alone is lxx% faster than the GTX 1060 in the same power class. That's enough of a operation gain to justify an upgrade.

From a performance standpoint and even without taking into consideration value-added features similar ray tracing, DLSS, Dynamic Boost so on, Nvidia is delivering the goods correct now in the laptop market place.

Shopping Shortcuts
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