Gigabyte RTX 3060 Gaming OC Graphics Card Review

A Closer Look

Of course, Gigabyte tends to keep its main series of graphics cards fairly uniform. If you’ve seen their other models, from the RTX 3060 Ti right up to the RTX 3090 Gaming OC, they all look pretty much identical. That’s no bad thing, though, as we know this Windforce 3X cooler can cool the much more expensive and powerful cards, so it should make easy work of the RTX 3060 chipset.

Of course, the heatsink configuration under the shroud is adjusted to fit each card, but we still get the same triple fan configuration. This uses their Windforce design that has the central fan spin anti-clockwise while the outer fans spin clockwise. This creates a bigger vortex of air even at lower RPM, helping cooler the card even further.

Airflow around the card is excellent, with lots of clearance on all sides for heat exhaust. You can also see the heatsink in three parts, bridged by 7 large copper heat pipes and their Direct Touch copper plate design.

The card draws power from a single 8-pin PSU header, which is more than enough for this more modest chipset, and it’s a lot more efficient too, so less power isn’t always what it seems these days.

The card reaps a huge benefit from a massive backplate, offering protection for the PCB and providing more passive cooling. What I do love, however, is that big cut-out, allowing the card to push huge amounts of heat up and away from the card.

The display connections offer up two HDMI and to DisplayPorts. I like this design, as so often you only get a single HDMI, which feels more balanced.

Finally, we also have a little touch of RGB, with the logo and a line of lighting under it on the card’s side. It’s pretty minimal, but honestly, that’s more than enough for me!