You sound like you are in the same boat as me. I bought the 2060 rtx sc ultra 2 weeks before the 3060ti came out (november 15th). I needed something then and wasn't going to wait as all the cards were being bought up and out of stock. Not to mention the 3080 and 3070 cards were gone the moment they launched, due to demand, lack of supply, covid, shipping issues, bots, scalpers, miners and thieves. lol :(
Glad I did as the 2060 was not available in stock at normal retailers 1 day later and hasn't been since. Sure you can buy one from a 3rd party Reseller "price gouging scalper company", who sells it 2x msrp, but I would advise against anyone supporting such practices.
So for your questions i am a newbie here too, but from what i gathered i think i can help, it appears this step up forum doesn't get much traffic outside of the 3080 threads.
1. From what I gather you can switch if you are within the 90 day period, meaning you can cancel and re-do the step up. Now if you go past the time frame then you won't be able to. If you go into the member -> products section and see your card it should tell you how long until step up is expired.
Granted if you do that you will loose your place in line as you will be joining a new stepup for a different card. I would keep that in mind.
2. I can only tell you my thought process on the same thing. That price difference to me was too much. I paid $380 for the 2060 so it was a bit more of a difference in price from me (the non super was cheaper) almost $300 more when you factor in shipping etc.. Now the 3060ti I would only be paying $80 more plus shipping. Big difference. You already mentioned the minor improvements. The 3070 has a tad more cuda cores but the same amount of ram/bandwidth.
Another thing, take a look at the card slot thickness. That was the other thing that turned me off from the 3070. They take up 3+ slots in width. I have a 4 slot case and have room for 1 2 slot card and 1 extra pci slot after that. So the 3060ti with its 2.2 slot (2 slots with 1-2mm going into the next slot) in width was ok, but the 3070 wouldn't cut it.
For me it depends on what you are using it for. I don't own a 1440p or 4k monitor. So 1080p is what i am focusing on. For that the 3060ti will work great for at least a few years before settings need to be lowered. I also think the 8gb vram will be fine at 1080p. If you need to run 1440p, it depends on what type of games you run. If its Cyberpunk , Assassins creed, AAA games than you may need the 3070. You can get away with a 3060ti for 1440p but the 3070 will be much better for that. For 4k I would go right for the 3080 or the newly leaked 3080ti. (there is also a leak about a 12gb 3060 and a 6gb 3060, both have less cores than the 3060ti, but will be cheaper still, no idea on when they will be announced, but they were filed to the gov by Gigabyte so its legit).
1080p - 3060ti top settings and 100+fps in most games, can play 1440p in current and older games but new ones may need dropped settings.
1440p - 3070 - card seems like a sweet spot for that.
4k - 3080+
It's all up to you though. If you feel $160 is worth it for the games you play or software than sure. Also keep in mind esport games (apex, fortnight, pubg, csgo, league of legend, overwatch, quake 3 arena remake (i wish), etc... are all going to run 100fps+ on any of these cards including the 2060 super you already own.
3. In this forum there are multiple queues posted. Look for the one that matches the card you entered for in step-up and post your step 1 email time and date. Someone should update the chart on the first post with your data (although it hasn't happened with mine for the 3060ti and its been 2 weeks. i think the post creator has abandoned the thread).
Hope this helps, answer some questions.
post edited by Midnightshade41 - 2021/01/02 14:48:17