so my friend JUST ordered a 3060ti on my recommendation.... kinda feel I need to tell them to cancel now....
don't. If it's a part like described with 192bit memory interface and with 3840 cuda cores, then it'll be far inferior to 3060ti. larger VRAM doesn't matter. It will be slower card, much slower actually. 25% less cores AND less memory bandwidth. larger memory pool won't help at all and it's especially important with cut down memory interface: you still need the speed to feed the VRAM. it's like stupid decision anyway, just to lure ppl to buy one. i bet that they made 6GB version with less cores just to show that 12GB card is faster, because without more cores it wouldn't be, haha.
There are games and scenarios, where 6GB is too low (watch dogs 1440p ultra + RT), but thats way beyond capability of the card anyway, not even because of VRAM shortage. Or maybe GA-106 yields are so bad, that they need a lower binned part right from the start.
it's like saying, we "hey! We remove electronic speed limiter and put a 200mph speedo on the dash, but yeah, engine is still 1,5L". But now its ultra-mega edition.
i understand idea of 3060ti and 3070ti, both are just bad bins from their upper product. it's just happens that some gpus do not pass full spec, but still are not completely bad, so they could disable small part of defective cores and then stick it to "bigger" brother card, so 3060ti-s are pretty much 1:1 to 3070 and 3070ti to 10GB 3080. Easy to manufacture, same coolers, same memory config and chips, VRM, same components and PCB, just slightly inferior GPU core. Just change the badge on the box (some cards don't even have product name on the card/shroud itself) and thats it. Depends on the yields, but this badly binned stock grows as more gpus are produced and it's smart and easy way to utilize those slightly faulty cores.
stupid and confusing naming. should have named just 3060, with 6GB and 12GB option, preferably with similar core count. Then peeps would decide, whether pay 50usd more per card for higher VRAM or not. It's not like the cards would actually differ anyway for manufacturers. Even amount of mem chips would be the same, just 16Gbit instead of 8Gbit ones.