RTX 3060 loses top spot to newer 40 series GPU in most recent Steam survey, while the 5060 slowly catches up
The RTX 3060 held the GPU throne in Steam survey results for months, but now the RTX 4060 is back on top. We actually saw the same thing happen in March last year, before the 3060 eventually clawed its way back to the number one spot. Nvidia’s laptop GPUs also continue to be popular, and with RTX 4060 laptops representing 3.99% of Steam users, albeit down from 4.05% in December. For comparison, older RTX 3060 laptops continue to drop – now actively used by just 2.04% of players.
Nvidia’s xx60 GPUs have long dominated the landscape on Steam, and the RTX 5060 is catching up. Back when the 8GB card was released in May 2025, a poll we ran on the site suggested hardly anyone wanted one. The most popular RTX 50 series GPU on Steam at the moment is the RTX 5070, with 2.87% of the share (up 0.46%). The RTX 5060 currently sits at 2.5% (up 0.72%).
RTX 4060 overtakes the RTX 3060 again, and the RTX 5060 is catching up
It’s hard to imagine just how much more popular the RTX 4060 will get, though it has some futureproofing with its Ada Lovelace architecture thanks to Nvidia’s Frame Generation technology – unlike the 3060, which only benefits from DLSS. The RTX 5060 on Blackwell upgrades that to Multi Frame Generation, now up to a 6x multiplier in DLSS 4.5.
The most obvious drawback for the two latest cards is the lower total video memory – the 3060 is notable for its popular 12GB variant, which not only means more VRAM, but a wider memory bus and higher bandwidth (than the 4060 for the latter). Despite plenty of criticism for 8GB GPUs – and their performance in modern AAA games – these budget cards remain popular for entry-level gaming, and that won’t change any time soon, especially with memory shortages restricting 16GB card stock.
| Specification | RTX 5060 | RTX 4060 | RTX 3060 |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPU | GB206 | AD107 | GA106 |
| Architecture | Blackwell | Ada Lovelace | Ampere |
| GPU process | TSMC 5nm | TSMC 5nm | Samsung 8nm |
| CUDA cores | 3,840 | 3,072 | 3,584 |
| Base clock speed | 2,280 MHz | 1,830 MHz | 1,320 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 2,497 MHz | 2,460 MHz | 1,777 MHz |
| VRAM | 8GB GDDR7 | 8GB GDDR6 | 12GB / 8GB GDDR6 |
| Memory bus | 128-bit | 128-bit | 192-bit / 128-bit |
| Memory bandwidth | 448 GB/s | 272 GB/s | 360 GB/s / 240 GB/s |
| Memory clock | 1,750 MHz, 28 Gbps effective | 2,125 MHz, 17 Gbps effective | 1,875 MHz, 15 Gbps effective |
| TDP | 145W | 115W | 170W |
With memory restrictions causing havoc for GPU manufacturers, there has even been a rumor of RTX 3060 production making a comeback. The rumor doesn’t suggest whether it will be the 8GB or 12GB model, though given the nature of the situation, it makes sense to expect the former. It is assumed that Nvidia may return to the 3060 as its slower (15 Gbps) memory chips are less affected by rising costs, especially in the case of the 5060, which uses the very latest GDDR7 modules.
