As technology advances, 4K will soon become the new sweetspot like 1440P is, so being prepared is on a lot of people’s minds.
For 4K gaming, you’re going to want your graphics card to be pretty strong as 4K is quite demanding depending on the title being played.
However, the RTX 3060 is actually capable of running certain games at 4K with acceptable frame rates, but it varies as not all games perform the same.
About The RTX 3060
The RTX 3060 is considered a mid range graphics card, and you usually don’t use mid range graphics cards for resolutions like 4k
The RTX 3060 is recommended to work best at 1080P which is 4 times smaller than 4K, so 4K is quite the jump. However, we do believe there are certain titles that’ll run exceptionally well at 4K.
We believe non-graphically intensive games can run well at 4K with reasonable graphical settings, but games like Cyberpunk will be near impossible to run at 4K with the RTX 3060.
| GPU Name | CUDA Core Count | Boost & Base Clock Speed | Memory Config | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RTX 3090 | 10496 | 1395 MHz / 1695 MHz | GDDR6X 24 GB | 1,499 USD |
| RTX 3080 TI | 10240 | 1365 MHz / 1665 MHz | GDDR6X 12 GB | 1,199 USD |
| RTX 3080 | 8704 | 1440 MHz / 1710 MHz | GDDR6X 10 GB | 699 USD |
| RTX 3070 TI | 6144 | 1575 MHz / 1770 MHz | GDDR6X 8 GB | 599 USD |
| RTX 3070 | 5888 | 1500 MHz / 1725 MHz | GDDR6 8 GB | 499 USD |
| RTX 3060 TI | 4864 | 1410 MHz / 1665 MHz | GDDR6 8 GB | 399 USD |
| RTX 3060 | 3584 | 1320 MHz / 1777 MHz | GDDR6 12 GB | 329 USD |
On this list, the RTX 3060 is clearly the weakest graphics card, and the most affordable which means you have limited options when it comes to playing games at 4K.
For 4K, it’s actually recommended you have at least an RTX 3080, so we’re quite far off in terms of raw graphical power. But the reason we think the RTX 3060 can run well at 4K is due to its unusual amount of VRAM.
It has 12GB of GDDR6 memory, not even the RTX 3080 has this amount of VRAM, and we know having a decent amount of memory is a huge benefit for gaming at large resolutions.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
Checking out the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla benchmark, we can see how the RTX 3060 performs at both 4K and 1440P.
At 4K, you receive an average frame rate of around 44FPS which to some is quite playable, and considering it’s not a competitive game, 44FPS might actually be enough.
But lowering the resolution to 1440P means you will receive an average frame rate of 64 which is considered playable by most individuals. As long as you have higher than 60FPS, the game is considered playable.
Battlefield V
Again, you average around 44 FPS when playing Battlefield V on the RTX 3060 at 4K which isn’t ideal considering it’s a first person shooter.
You’re going to want as much smoothness as possible when playing FPS games as it helps with aiming and precision, for this reason, we don’t recommend playing Battlefield V at 4K.
1440P is a bit better, you get an average of 73 frames per second which is playable on a 60Hz display, this would provide you a better experience as well as a competitive edge when gaming.
Call Of Duty Warzone
For Call Of Duty Warzone, 4K probably is not worth it, 41 FPS won’t be enough to gain a competitive edge against your enemies that have a smooth 144Hz gameplay.
But at 1440P, the average frame rate is 84 which to most people is considered playable, but since Call Of Duty Warzone is a first person shooter, many competitive gamers would argue that you need at least 144FPS.
So, we don’t believe the RTX 3060 can play Call Of Duty Warzone at 4K at an acceptable frame rate due to its face paced competitive nature. Graphics isn’t the number one priority when playing games like warzone, playability is.
Counter Strike Global Offensive
Counter strike is probably the perfect 4K game for the RTX 3060, this is because it’s a non-graphically intensive first person shooter that gets over 144FPS in game.
This means you’re able to enjoy 4K graphical quality and have the smoothness of 144Hz, so you retain a huge competitive advantage over non 144Hz enemies.
When running CSGO at 1440P, you get a huge surplus of frames with an average of 306FPS, this means the chances of you dropping below 144FPS is minimal.
1440P is recommended if you want consistent 144FPS, but CSGO performs exceptionally well at 4K, so we deem 4K CSGO playable with the RTX 3060.
Valorant
Valorant is a game that is also non-graphically intensive, this means the RTX 3060 will run well at 4K, this is evident as the average frame rate at 4K high settings is 195FPS.
Having an average of 195 FPS means you can benefit from 144Hz and even 165Hz for an additional competitive advantage, we recommend playing at 4K.
At 1440P, you should expect an average of 350 FPS which can seem quite excessive, maybe you can play on a 240Hz monitor, but it’s completely up to you.
We believe the RTX 3060 at 1440P is overkill for Valorant, so we recommend playing at 4K to get a decent balance of graphical quality and gameplay.
Fortnite
Fortnite is really a great and easy to run game if you play it on low or competitive settings, and this is what most competitive players do, this is because they prioritize playability over graphics.
So, at 4K low settings, the RTX 3060 is able to average around 201 FPS which is more than playable, you’ll be able to run the game at 144Hz or 165Hz with little issues.
At 1440P, you get 56FPS more with an average of 257FPS, this is also playable at 144Hz and 165Hz, so it mostly comes down to personal preference.
So we will say that the RTX 3060 is able to run Fortnite at 4K with little to no issues at reasonable settings, but competitive is ideal.
Conclusion: RTX 3060 Average Frame Rates At 4K
| Resolution | Average Frame Rate |
|---|---|
| 4K | 114 |
| 1440P | 189 |
So we have the average frame rates for each resolution, and it’s to be expected that 1440P generates higher frame rates on average.
But 4K holds up pretty well with an average frame rate of 114 which means you’re getting well above 100FPS most of the time making 60Hz gameplay playable.
So to conclude this post, the RTX 3060 can run 4K well, but it depends on what game you’re running, and what graphical settings they’re at.
