rtx 3060 12GB or rtx 5060 8GB for dcs?

[TomaToma]

i want to get a budget pc for dcs and im wondering is an rtx 3060 12GB or rtx 5060 8GB better for dcs 

[Mustang]

5060 will outperform the 3060 at say, 1080p for sure but if you're aiming for higer resolutions you will be limited with that 8gb, depends on if you're aiming for monitor use or VR.

[Aapje]

If you have the option and the pricing is decent in your region, I would get a 9060 XT.

 

 

[Holbeach]

The 5060 has 44% more performance than the 3060 and is slightly under my 2080Ti

I run DCS on full settings on a 1440 monitor.

So the 5060 will be the better of the two.

...

[diego999]

4 hours ago, Aapje said:

If you have the option and the pricing is decent in your region, I would get a 9060 XT.

 

 

 

This is good advice, as both of your options aren't good.

[Pilotasso]

neither, wait for the NVIDIA refresh (5070 super) or like mentioned above the 9060XT. VRAM is life.

Edited August 4 by Pilotasso

[virgo47]

Depending on what you wanna see (details), don't even think about 8GB VRAM. Also, will you plug it into PCIe v3, 4 or 5? If you have an older PCIe 3.0, 5060 would be further throttled when loading textures and stuff from RAM to VRAM as it uses only 8 lanes. But having enough VRAM is better.

That does not mean that 3060 12GB is a better option here, it really is slower in the end because of raw performance, not to mention support for newer DLSS, etc. I upgraded from 3060 to 5060 Ti 16GB and it was nearly double the performance. (And yes, I have regularly allocated more than 8GB of VRAM, depending on the mission.)

So 3060 vs 5060 8GB... I'd choose none, really. Perhaps if you'd massively lower your texture quality - but what's he point then?

As for the memory consumption, just check my video comparing map in otherwise empty mission (timestamp goes right to the VRAM usage):

Hope that helps you making the right decision.

[Czar66]

Tough times for GPUs at the moment.

What @virgo47 said is on point.

On 8/3/2025 at 12:09 AM, Mustang said:

5060 will outperform the 3060 at say, 1080p for sure but if you're aiming for higer resolutions you will be limited with that 8gb, depends on if you're aiming for monitor use or VR.

It is better to avoid using the VRAM tips for general games in DCS. It is not only resolution that will scale the usage of your VRAM.

DCS has massive assets and textures, unlike the normal videogame that can run on a console, so you'll need VRAM to load the assets 1080p or not.
It is one of the main reasons hardware outlets said that 12gb of VRAM on a 3060 was "too much" and not necessary. They don't play DCS or memory heavy sims nor majority of their audience. 

Textures anything other than maximum is a harsh degrade and not recommended in older modules as the cockpit will become unreadable in everything other than gauges.

Getting your hands on a 16gb+ current gen card or nothing is the best way to go with this.

Best of luck with the build.

Edited August 4 by Czar66

[TheFreshPrince]

I run a 4060 with 8GB and it's totally fine for 2K resolution with fairly maxxed out settings. So the 5060 would be the best option OR pay a bit more for the Ti version. This is because DLSS and DLAA are king right now in DCS. Every AMD card will s*ck because newer FSR is not supported. VRAM size is not everything, VRAM speed is also a factor.

I tested four cards in the last months: 3070, 3070ti, 7700XT and the 4060. The AMD card had great FPS, but the worst looks. The Nvidia cards are just superior in DCS.

[virgo47]

VRAM is OK unless it suddenly is not. The problem is that with the very same mission, you can get various results with various aircraft. E.g. these are my numbers for UH-1H on Germany map:

The helo is actually hot, and with another CH-47F in view.

And this is the number with a cold CH-47F after the game finally loaded all the cockpit stuff:

This is a brutal difference. So think about that as well.

That said, faster memory (nVidia 5xxx wins here) and faster PCIe bus (depends on the MB)... and also PCIe lanes (depends, often AMD has more in the same price range) - this all affects your experience when you run out of VRAM. But the best thing is not to, if possible.

Edited Saturday at 07:38 PM by virgo47