Gamers, have you ever been in a situation where you’re playing your favorite game and suddenly, your GPU makes weird noises? Suddenly, panic steps in. You ask yourself – Is the temperature too high? Do fans work?
In this article, we will take a look at both RTX 3060 and RTX 3060 Ti temperature ranges, starting from IDLE all the way to its temperature limit. I was surprised by the limited resources on this subject, so I decided to dig deep.
Here is the short summary:
| RTX 3060 Temperature Range | RTX 3060 Ti Temperature Range | |
| Expected IDLE Temperature | 35-50°C | 25-45°C |
| Expected Gaming Temperature | 50-85°C | 50-80°C |
| Temperature Limit | 93°C | 93°C |
We have so much more to share, so if you have this card or you really want to know more about it, you will want to continue reading, trust me.
RTX 3060 Idle temperature
In the simplest terms, idle temperature refers to when your graphics card is not performing any intensive load. Generally speaking, a good idle temperature is approximately 15-25°C above ambient temperature. Most of the time, this is anywhere between 35 and 55°C.
Where is RTX 3060 in that range?
Well, in this test, we can see that the RTX 3060 average idle temperature is 35°C, which is a dream for all users of this card. However, most RTX 3060 users report 40-50°C idle temperature.
Here is some more data we were able to pull out:
| GPU | IDLE Temperature (°C) |
| MSI RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio | 41 |
| EVGA RTX 3060 XC | 47 |
| ZOTAC RTX 3060 AMP | 43 |
| Palit RTX 3060 Dual OC | 54 |
That being said, if your RTX 3060 temperature is below 55C, you have nothing to worry about.
But what if it goes above 60C?
While 60C won’t negatively affect your GPU, idle temperatures above 60C are not considered quite normal, especially for 3060. This is the time to check a few things. First, make sure you don’t have any intensive apps that are using your GPU. Next, check your power settings in the NVIDIA control panel.
Enter the NVIDIA control panel and select Manage 3D Settings. Click on Power Management mode. If “prefer maximum performance” is selected, your GPU is not idle. Simply switch to Normal and restart the system.
I would also point out that if you have a high Idle temperature on 3060, make sure you have good airflow.
For instance, I know a guy who decided to do a total PC rebuild last year. The first thing he bought was the case. In his old case, GPU was running 75-85C, and the fans sounded like a turbojet. He moved everything in the new case, and temperatures dropped immediately (50C under normal use and 65-70C while gaming).
Ok, what about RTX 3060 Ti?
Most RTX 3060 Ti users report 30-36C average idle temperature, depending on the room temperature. I even stumbled upon some users that are getting 25C idle temperature on their RTX 3060 Ti.
Even if your idle temps are 45-55C, you don’t have anything to worry about.
As we can see, these are lower idle temps than seen in 3060. However, people are more interested in load or gaming temperature.
I would say one more thing before we move on.
According to Asus, RTX 3060 Ti fans won’t start spinning until the GPU temp is higher than 52C. On the other hand, RTX 3060 fans will start at 55-60C (according to user reports).
RTX 3060 load/gaming temperature
The temperature of your RTX 3060 can have a significant impact on the gaming experience. For instance, if it gets overheated, it may need to throttle its performance to prevent damage to the GPU. That usually means lower FPS, stuttering, and other issues.
But enough theory. You came here for the real data, so here it is.
First, we will take a look at the various RTX 3060 brands and their difference in load temperature. Big shout-out to Guru3d, for the awesome job of testing this.
| Card | Load Temperature (°C) |
| EVGA XC Black | 65 |
| Palit Dual OC | 68 |
| MSI Gaming X Trio | 61 |
| Asus Strix Performance | 58 |
| Zotac AMP White | 63 |
As we can see, in this test, the average RTX 3060 load temperature is 63°C.
Next, we analyzed another similar test. Here are the results:
| Card | Load Temperature (°C) |
| MSI RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio | 62 |
| EVGA RTX 3060 XC | 70 |
| ZOTAC RTX 3060 AMP | 70 |
| Palit RTX 3060 Dual OC | 64 |
| Average Temperature | 66.5°C |
Since we could not find what games were played in the previous two tests, we decided to find one that actually tested RTX 3060 temperature on multiple games, so here it is.
Specs:
CPU: Ryzen 5 5600x
GPU: Colorful RTX 3060 Battle Ax
MOBO: ROG Strix x570-F Gaming
RAM: 32GB 3600 mhz
RTX 3060 Average Gaming Temperature (1080p)
| Game | Temperature (°C) |
| Battlefield 2042 | 66 |
| Battlefield V | 73 |
| Battlefield 4 | 76 |
| Call of Duty: Vanguard | 69 |
| Call of Duty: Warzone | 70 |
| Halo Infinite | 69 |
| Valorant | 64 |
| Counter-Strike: Global Offensive | 69 |
| Overwatch | 75 |
| Apex Legends | 75 |
| PUBG: Battlegrounds | 69 |
| Fortnite Battle Royale | 71 |
| Forza Horizon 5 | 67 |
| Assassin’s Creed Valhalla | 68 |
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 73 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 74 |
| Grand Theft Auto 5 | 69 |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 73 |
As we can see, from 18 games tested, expected gaming temperature range for RTX 3060 is 63-75°C.
However, your setup is probably different, so you may achieve either lower or higher temps. Just watch the following benchmarks from a different gaming setup, and you will see what I’m talking about.
SPECS
CPU: Intel i9 10900K 3.7GHz
GPU: GeForce RTX 3060 12GB (MSI VENTUS 2X)
MOBO: MSI MPG Z490 GAMING PLUS
RAM: 32Gb RAM DDR4 3600Mhz
RTX 3060 Average Gaming Temperature (1080p)
| Game | Temperature (°C) |
| Battlefield V | 51 |
| PUBG | 56 |
| Forza Horizon 5 | 51 |
| Assassin’s Creed Valhalla | 49 |
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 52 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 50 |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 53 |
For this RTX 3060, gaming temperature ranges between 49 and 56°C. This is what I call good airflow!
Now let’s see how RTX 3060 Ti performs.
Average RTX 3060 Ti Gaming Temp (4K, Max Settings)
| Game | Temperature (°C) |
| Assassin’s Creed Valhalla | 67 |
| COD: Black Ops Cold War | 66 |
| Warzone | 67 |
| Control | 53 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 66 |
| Doom Eternal | 66 |
| Fortnite | 67 |
| GTA V | 68 |
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 68 |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 68 |
As we can see, you can expect 53-68°C while gaming on your RTX 3060 Ti.
To find how RTX 3060 actually performs in 4K gaming, check our Can RTX 3060 Run 4K? (Compiled Research).
User experiences
“I have this card as well, and my idle temps were between 40 and 45 degrees, so I used Afterburner to create a fan curve to prevent the fans from ramping up and down. In Serious Sam 4, I can reach 70 degrees.”
“I’m getting around 85 degrees Celsius under full load while gaming in a 23-degree Celsius room temp. I’m using the H1’s case, so there is no active airflow.”
“When I play video games, I regularly reach 86°. However, I usually play my games at their highest settings. When I get a chance, I’ll investigate how much of a temperature difference there is on lower settings.”
“My 3060 hits around 74/75c at auto fan speed while playing games like Cyberpunk, and 69/71c at max fan speed.”
RTX 3060/ti temperature limit
When people think of temp limit, people usually refer to throttling temperature. As you might know, the purpose of throttling is to prevent the GPU from overheating and to ensure stable performance.
Namely, when a GPU reaches a certain temperature, it may reduce its clock speed, voltage, or a mix of both, in order to reduce heat generation. This, in turn, reduces performance but also helps to prevent thermal damage.
From what I have been able to understand, the temperature limit for both RTX 3060 and RTX 3060 Ti is somewhere between 85-90°C. During gaming, we would recommend keeping your temperature lower than 90C to avoid throttling.
What about RTX 3060 in laptops?
In one of our previous articles, we did an in-depth analysis of normal laptop temp while gaming.
Today, we will look at one of the most popular laptops with RTX 3060, Acer Nitro 5.
Here are some gaming temps:
Average laptop RTX 3060 temperature while gaming
| Game | Temperature (°C) |
| GTA V | 86 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 68 |
| Forza Horizon 5 | 68 |
| Control | 53 |
| Minecraft | 62 |
| AC: Valhall | 69 |
| Fortnite | 85 |
| Apex Legends | 86 |
| Valorant | 75 |