Choosing a video card

I need a new GPU for my z440 workstation, which I primarily need for productivity tasks, mainly photo and video editing. I decided on two possible GPUs that would suit my requirements. On the one hand the 3060 with 12gb vram, on the other hand the 3060ti with 8gb vram. Why this?

In my opinion, these two cards currently have the best price-performance ratio for my purposes. Yes, I know that AMD has a better price-performance ratio, but not when it comes to video editing. Since I will mainly be editing 1080p and 4K videos with Davinci Resolve, Nvidia is the only option for me. However, I'm having a hard time deciding which of the two cards is better, especially because of the offers I have. The 3060TI is a bit faster, but many Davinci users say that 8GB is too low and that it is better to have more VRAM.

To be completely honest, I think that my rather modest video editing will hardly reach the limits of 8GB, even at 4K. In case I reach my limits at some point, I can always get a better card with more RAM in a few years. The reason why the 3060ti seems very attractive is because I can currently get a Gigabite 3060TI Gaming OC that's about a year old and still has a full two-year warranty for just under $245, and that's the faster version with gddr6X memory. On the other hand, I could get an ASUS GeForce ROG STRIX RTX 3060 OC (12GB) for just $220. In my opinion, the 12GB version is more future-proof for video editing. In addition, the Strix model is certainly one of the best 3060 cards available and also uses a lot less power, which is relatively important in my region. The only argument against this is that the Strix only has a warranty of around 5 months, compared to the two years of the 3060TI.

I hope one of you can give me some input as to which card I should buy, because unfortunately the card that's perfect for me, a 3060TI with more than 8GB of RAM, doesn't exist.

Thanks in advance

[Peter Chamberlain]

Have you considered the 4060? its the newer generation and 8GB GPU memory will likely be ok if you are not using the advanced Resolve FX tools, magic mask and other memory intensive tools when in a 4K timeline.

Datapoint: I have a 12GB RTX3060 and using Resolve 18.1 I regularly see VRAM usage sit at around 11.7GB for quite long periods when rendering UHD timelines so wouldn't dream of using an 8GB card if there is the possibility that you might need to do something non-trivial with resolutions higher than 1080p.

Those prices don't seem low. Locally a new 3060 starts at just over €300.

Who is providing the warranty? Are you sure the card hasn't been abused?

Go for 12GB one.

In my opinion, these two cards currently have the best price-performance ratio for my purposes. Yes, I know that AMD has a better price-performance ratio, but not when it comes to video editing.

That's unfortunate as its simply not true. I have no clue where this myth started.

AMD cards work great in Resolve and Premiere, especially in Resolve.

In 3D rendering, yes they're slower than the Nvidia counterparts but that's not video editing, even if the end result is a video.

I also own the 12 GB 3060. I don't have any issues even with UHD media.

Testing out Depth Map for the first time today. Well see...

+1