EVGA XC Vs FTW (Comparison & Which One Is Better?)

Let’s have a look at EVGA XC Vs FTW! The RTX 3060 is already available, although it would take a while. It has much potential for 1080p players searching for an upgrade as the GTX 1060s rumored successor.

There isn’t a Founders Edition this time, so I’m examining the EVGA RTX 3060 XC Black. Does this graphics card live up to the hype? It delivers massive performance in a small package for $329 (assuming you can buy it cheaply).

The fastest GeForce RTX 3060 Ti we have tested is the EVGA FTW3 Ultra. It uses a bit more power and runs a bit louder than competing models, but this is unimportant. This graphics card is adequate.

EVGA XC Vs FTW

The FTW card generally performs better than the XC card because it is built better, has more power supply components, better cooling, better lighting, and a more aggressive design (Although it’s arbitrary to say which one is more attractive)

Choose the EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 XC GAMING for these three reasons:

• You can save $50 if something is 11% less expensive.
• Lower thermal design power by about 15%.
• (4 GB more memory is now accessible)

The EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FTW Ultra Gaming is recommended for two reasons:

• An average improvement of about 29% in gaming performance.
• Improved gaming effectiveness value. 

EVGA RTX 3060 XC Features

A necessary graphics card is the RTX 3060. What kind of performance difference customers could anticipate without the Ti name was an open topic following the release of the Swift RTX 3060 Ti. The most affordable RTX 30-series GPU to date, it is positioned to start at $329 (at least theoretically).

This generation’s graphics cards offered a new on-ramp to cutting-edge graphics technology while also hitting the sweet spot between affordability and performance due to the shortage and high demand for them.

With this new card, Nvidia has not been coy about who it hopes to attract. The GTX 1060 users are the direct target market for the RTX 3060. The most well-liked GPU on Steam’s hardware charts is still that card, which is now two generations and five years old.

The last generation, Nvidia, was unable to win over enough gamers to unseat 1060, but as that card ages, the likelihood of a new replacement is growing. It’s hardly an exaggeration to say that this launch is among the most exciting for mainstream gamers, given how deeply the GTX 1060 permeated the market and that the RTX 3060 intends to do the same, so let’s take a deeper look.

The EVGA RTX 3060 XC Black is a Tiny and covert graphics card. With an utterly blacked-out look, it lives up to its moniker. If you need more convincing to transform your gaming system into a showpiece with a tempered reflector side panel, this is an excellent option to put a side panel over and call it a day because there is no RGB.

Even though it has a simple appearance, it isn’t dull. The card has a stealth ops style that is quite impressive on its own, and I particularly enjoy the contouring and texture work EVGA has applied. Even without a backplate to finish the design, it is still plain and uncomplicated, which is a missed opportunity.

The card has a cooling system with two fans and two slots. It is an inch smaller than the already-compact RTX 3060 Ti Founders Edition and has 7.94 x 4.4 inches, so it should easily fit into even small projects.

Although the two fans from EVGA don’t share any unique technology, a closer look reveals that the blades are imprinted with the brand’s emblem, which may interfere with airflow. The heatsink uses copper heat pipes beneath to transfer heat from the contact plates to the fin stack.

EVGA might have stopped there for a card designed for budget gamers, but I was happy to see that it also has cut-outs below the rear fan to remove heat better. In my tests, the card reached its maximum temperature of 69C, produced almost the same 36dB of noise as the RTX 3080, and worked well with my case fans.

As we examine the engine, things become intriguing. The RTX 3060 models have 3584 CUDA cores, an 87% increase from the 2060s 1920 cores. That doesn’t imply you’ll get 87% more frames per second, as we’ve seen with every card this generation; there is little increase compared to other 30-series cards.

Impressive nonetheless. The card I’m looking at matches the 1.78GHz default Boost Clock. However, it frequently ran faster and tended to hover around 1.9GHz while gaming.

The following key enhancements over the basic RTX 2060 are significant and were made possible by Nvidia’s most recent Ampere architecture:

• Shader TFLOPS increased by 95% to 12.7.
• (24.9 RT TFLOPS, an increase of 28%);
• Ray Tracing: 37.6 Total TFLOPS (+45% increase)

Remember that TFLOP measures are not 1:1 between devices but are relevant for comparing generational advancements. These figures show how far Ampere has progressed in a generation but shouldn’t be compared to a current-gen console.

This model has 12GB of GDDR6 RAM, more than any other RTX-30 card outside of the RTX 3090, which intrigues me more. It is perplexing on several levels. Why does the entry-level RTX 3080 have more RAM than the most recent model in the 30-series?

Although the VRAM used here isn’t the super-fast GDDR6X available on that card, it is debatably unnecessary for this application, just as a card designed for 1080p gaming doesn’t require 12GB of video memory at all. The memory uses a 192-bit bus rather than the 256-bit bus used by the 3060 Ti and above variants, which is also essential to note.

Similar to staring a gift horse in the mouth, this is. Although having extra memory isn’t necessarily harmful, 1080p games today won’t consume that much video memory. But, in a few years, when graphics advance in complexity, that might change, so I still appreciate the feature as a nod to the long-term viability of this card.

The EVGA RTX 3060 XC Black has four video outputs available for I/O. It has one HDMI 2.1 connection and three DisplayPort 1.4a connections. The HDMI output can support 4K at 120Hz with full HDR support for those with high-end displays or who intend to play games on a cutting-edge screen. For streaming, the card also supports AV1 decoding. All of these outputs can have a maximum resolution of 8K. (7680×4320).

Performance

I use a variety of simulated and real-world gaming tests to evaluate graphics cards. I start with synthetic experiments to compare ray tracing and rasterization performance to that of other relevant cards.

Scores are often used to measure them. I then play various games using various graphical styles and game genres on each card, recording the average FPS for each. Except where otherwise stated, games are set at Extreme settings.

I was startled to see the RTX 3060 fall short of the RTX 2060 Super from the previous generation starting with the synthetic rasterization testing. However, remember that this is an improved version of the original RTX 2060, so an apples-to-apples generational comparison would probably show closer results. However, a fascinating way to start the test.

You can see the effect of the more CUDA cores as it maintains a sizable lead over the RTX 3060 Ti. Regarding ray tracing, the list gets shorter because the RX 5700 and 5700XT are removed. Nonetheless, the RTX 3060 falls short of its competitors. It appears that synthetics are not kind to this card. Indeed, in contrast to the people I tested it against.

I started with our standard rotation of five core games for the game tests. It is immediately apparent that 1080p is where this GPU shines. Most games barely maintain 30 FPS at 4K. It becomes more realistic at 1440p, and at 1080p, the card truly starts to shine.

It performs 1% quicker at FHD, 3% faster at QHD, and 11% faster at UHD compared to the 2060 Super. The 3060 Ti significantly improves simultaneously, running 21% quicker on average at 1080p, 29% faster at 1440p, and 32% faster at 4K.

The comparison with the RTX 2070 Super is the most intriguing. These tests made me wish I had an original RTX 2070 to compare against, as I didn’t have one. Compared to the Super, the RTX 3060 performed 12% slower on average at 1080p and 4K and 9% slower at 1440p.

As the Super typically outperforms the original RTX 2070 by 15-20%, the RTX 3060 will likely match, if not outperform, the RTX 2070 in average performance. This is interpreting between the lines, but it clarifies the performance this card gives compared to what we expected from the last generation.

EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FTW Design And Features

Nvidia’s official specifications, which we examined in our GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Founders Edition review, are closely mirrored by EVGA’s basic technical configuration. It features the same reduced GA104 “Ampere” GPU with 4,864 CUDA cores, 8GB of GDDR6 memory over a 256-bit bus, and a 600-watt power supply requirement. All of that is expected given that they share the same core technology, though EVGA does add some flavor in several crucial areas.

EVGA significantly boosts the clock speeds. Due to a significant factory overclock, the FTW3 Ultra is rated at 1,800MHz clock speeds right out of the box even though the more costly Asus card has a considerably larger cooler that exceeds the 1,665MHz reference speed (which Nvidia’s Founders Edition utilizes) and is quicker than the 1,755MHz fast speed of the Asus TUF RTX 3060 Ti.

To support faster speeds, EVGA increased the FTW3’s maximum power output by 40W compared to Nvidia’s Founders Edition. Adding another 20W (8%) can increase that with overclocking software like EVGA’s outstanding Precision X1.

How Nvidia’s GPU Boost algorithm operates allows GeForce graphics cards to hit (and maintain) higher clock frequencies with more significant power restrictions. Modern GeForce cards typically operate at substantially faster rates than they are rated for.

No exception, the EVGA RTX 3060 Ti FTW3 Ultra typically runs at a little less than 2GHz. The FTW3 Ultra also helps real-time ray tracing and Nvidia’s essential DLSS technology. The EVGA FTW3, however, differs most from other contemporary custom graphics cards in that it has a unique physical design.

Although sharing the same moniker, the FTW3’s RTX 3060 Ti variant doesn’t attempt to match the features of the more expensive RTX 3070 and 3080 variants. These cards, along with the previously mentioned Asus TUF 3060 Ti, have enormous triple-slot coolers that are jam-packed with thick, hefty metal heatsinks, several BIOS switches, and a ton of extra features.

The EVGA RTX 3060 Ti FTW3 adopts a more streamlined methodology that looks better suited for this more widely popular (albeit still pricey) pricing point.

Because the 3060 Ti version of the FTW3 Ultra is slightly thicker than two slots, its heatsink is less substantial than the one found on its more expensive brethren. It should therefore fit into the majority of Computers, including some compact form-factor cases, more readily.

Several aftermarket RTX models imitate Nvidia’s Founders Edition with a condensed PCB and backplate cutouts that allow the card’s rearmost fan to blow air directly through it. To maintain airflow, EVGA chose to use a full-length PCB throughout the 11.2-inch length of the FTW3 Ultra. However, the attractive metal backplate also has equivalent apertures with substantial cuts.

Performance

Watch Dogs: Legion is one of the first titles to launch on next-generation consoles. Real-time ray tracing and Nvidia’s DLSS are just two cutting-edge features that Ubisoft incorporated into its Disrupt engine.

We turn off such effects for testing purposes, but Legion is still a taxing game, even on powerful hardware with the high-resolution texture pack enabled. With Ultra graphics options enabled, no GPU can sustain an average frame rate of 60, and even at 1440p, the game uses more than 8GB of memory. Oof.

Now, PlayStation-only content is coming to PC, the Decima engine from Guerrilla Games, which also powers Death Stranding, powers Horizon Zero Dawn. We test with Ambient Occlusion set to Medium because Ultra can produce unreliable results. All other graphic options are at their maximum.

After benchmarking everything else, we loop the F1 2020 benchmark at 4K for roughly 20 minutes to assess the power draw. We then record the maximum reading on our Watts Up Pro meter, which gauges the power usage of our whole test system. The hardest part of the race is at the beginning when all of the cars are onscreen at once.

To assess performance while the graphics card works hard, we carefully selected a GPU-bound game running at a GPU-bound resolution and disabled the Core i7 8700K’s overclock. You can notice higher overall system power needs if you’re playing a game that strains the CPU. You have been forewarned.

Conclusion

To conclude, EVGA XC Vs FTW. The EVGA RTX 3060 XC Black graphics card performs admirably for the price. Since it runs most similarly to an RTX 2070, gamers who have been debating might consider upgrading. Nonetheless, it’s not worth paying more for than the rest, so hold off and wait for it to restock.

The advantages and disadvantages of various graphics cards are typically broken down in further detail in our conclusions. Still, the value is difficult to assess in the current market when graphics cards sell out in seconds and continue getting more costly. The EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FTW3 Ultra is a reliable version of an outstanding GPU.

We recommend it if you can find one in stock for about the same price as other customized RTX 3060 Ti models, whatever they may be when you read this. If you value cold, silent, nearly overengineered cooling over EVGA’s higher clock speeds, power caps, and overclocking-friendly software, the Asus TUF is also something to consider.

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