19:23Machine-translated from Azerbaijani by AIRead in Azerbaijani
75 W RTX 3060 Graphics Card Performs Worse Than the Older GTX 1060
A nonstandard GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card from Nvidia that runs at 75 W has been tested. This China-made card has no additional 6- or 8-pin power connector. As a result, the card draws all of its power from the computer’s PCIe slot. Results published on September 4, 2026, showed that this version performs significantly worse than the regular model. For comparison, the standard model with 12 GB of memory launched in early 2021 with a 170 W power limit. Nvidia re-released that model 2 months ago because the component shortage was continuing.
The new version occupies just 1 slot in the computer case. The card has a low-profile design and a small cooling system that blows hot air out of the case. Its size is close to that of a modern smartphone. It has only 1 HDMI port and 1 DisplayPort port for connectivity. The card has no fins to help dissipate heat and no backplate. Cooling is handled by a thin metal shroud, a basic heatsink and 1 fan located at the far end of the card. When the card was disassembled, it was found that there were no heat-conducting thermal pads or paste on the memory chips. The metal shroud touches the graphics chip directly. However, no proper air intake or airflow has been provided for cooling. By reducing the voltage of a regular RTX 3060, it can run at 100 W with only a slight loss in performance. A PCIe x16 slot, however, supplies no more than 75 W. To adapt the card to this limit, the electrical resistance of a component known as a shunt was increased. This method is usually used to reduce resistance during overclocking. Here, however, the process was carried out in the opposite direction.
The maximum boost clock specified for the card is 1,770 MHz. During testing, however, it barely exceeded 900 MHz. The card scored 4,821 points in the Time Spy test. The standard RTX 3060 easily scores more than 9,000 points in the same test. The older and more affordable AMD RX 580 and Nvidia GTX 1060 models also outperform this card. Reducing the power limit by more than half had a direct impact on performance. During the Time Spy test, the temperature at the hottest point of the graphics chip exceeded 90 degrees Celsius. This shows that the cooling system could not manage the heat even though the card was running at just 75 W. As the temperature rose, the card reduced its speed further to protect itself. Its small size and Ampere architecture could be considered advantages for compact systems. However, in 2026, the integrated graphics in some mini PCs already deliver similar or better performance.
The new version occupies just 1 slot in the computer case. The card has a low-profile design and a small cooling system that blows hot air out of the case. Its size is close to that of a modern smartphone. It has only 1 HDMI port and 1 DisplayPort port for connectivity. The card has no fins to help dissipate heat and no backplate. Cooling is handled by a thin metal shroud, a basic heatsink and 1 fan located at the far end of the card. When the card was disassembled, it was found that there were no heat-conducting thermal pads or paste on the memory chips. The metal shroud touches the graphics chip directly. However, no proper air intake or airflow has been provided for cooling. By reducing the voltage of a regular RTX 3060, it can run at 100 W with only a slight loss in performance. A PCIe x16 slot, however, supplies no more than 75 W. To adapt the card to this limit, the electrical resistance of a component known as a shunt was increased. This method is usually used to reduce resistance during overclocking. Here, however, the process was carried out in the opposite direction. The maximum boost clock specified for the card is 1,770 MHz. During testing, however, it barely exceeded 900 MHz. The card scored 4,821 points in the Time Spy test. The standard RTX 3060 easily scores more than 9,000 points in the same test. The older and more affordable AMD RX 580 and Nvidia GTX 1060 models also outperform this card. Reducing the power limit by more than half had a direct impact on performance. During the Time Spy test, the temperature at the hottest point of the graphics chip exceeded 90 degrees Celsius. This shows that the cooling system could not manage the heat even though the card was running at just 75 W. As the temperature rose, the card reduced its speed further to protect itself. Its small size and Ampere architecture could be considered advantages for compact systems. However, in 2026, the integrated graphics in some mini PCs already deliver similar or better performance.