Home / GPU Comparison / NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070: What's better?

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060

vs

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card comparison

GPU Comparison Result

RTX 3060 vs RTX 4070: Same 12 GB, But Different Performance Levels

At first glance, when it comes to memory and bus, the RTX 3060 and RTX 4070 appear to be twins: 12 GB, 192-bit. But this resemblance is deceptive. In reality, these cards belong to different weight classes. One remains a popular choice for 1080p gaming, while the other is a solid workhorse for 1440p with a margin for modern technologies. Meanwhile, the RTX 3060 is still significantly more popular: according to the Steam Hardware Survey for May 2026, it occupies 4.19% of the market compared to 1.87% for the RTX 4070.

The key differences between the two generations are summarized in the table below. We are comparing the 12 GB RTX 3060, not the cut-down 8 GB version with a 128-bit bus - the latter is noticeably slower and would only distort the picture.

Parameter	GeForce RTX 3060	GeForce RTX 4070
Architecture	Ampere	Ada Lovelace
CUDA Cores	3584	5888
Boost Clock	1.78 GHz	2.48 GHz
Memory	12 GB GDDR6	12 GB GDDR6 / GDDR6X
Memory Bus	192-bit	192-bit
RT Cores	2nd Generation	3rd Generation
Tensor Cores	3rd Generation	4th Generation
DLSS	DLSS Super Resolution	DLSS 3.5, Frame Generation
Video Encoder	NVENC 7th Generation	NVENC 8th Generation, AV1 Encode
Power Consumption (TGP)	170 W	200 W
Target Resolution	1080p, partially 1440p	1440p, sometimes 4K with DLSS

Gaming Performance

According to aggregate testing from NanoReview, the gap in raw FPS is colossal. The RTX 4070 averages 139 FPS compared to 81 FPS at 1080p Ultra, 107 FPS versus 60 FPS at 1440p Ultra, and 62 FPS compared to 32 FPS at 4K Ultra. While these are average figures across a specific set of games, the scale of the gap is evident: the RTX 4070 is 70-90% faster in demanding scenarios. Where the RTX 3060 struggles at 1440p, the RTX 4070 performs confidently, allowing high-refresh-rate monitors to shine in 1080p without compromises.

Tom’s Hardware's June GPU hierarchy also places these cards on different tiers. The RTX 3060 remains in the "affordable Full HD" segment, while the RTX 4070 is firmly established in the "high-end 1440p" category.

Ray Tracing and DLSS: The Difference Beyond FPS

The main advantage of Ada Lovelace is exclusive technologies not available on Ampere. The 3rd generation RT cores provide a noticeable boost in ray tracing, but the real trump card is DLSS 3.5 with Frame Generation. Where the RTX 3060 only relies on upscaling, the RTX 4070 can generate entire frames, dramatically increasing smoothness in story-driven blockbusters. For games like Cyberpunk 2077, Alan Wake 2, and upcoming releases, this difference translates to "playable on medium settings" versus "beautiful, smooth, on high settings."

Moreover, the AV1 encoder makes the RTX 4070 significantly more attractive for streamers and anyone capturing gameplay moments: at the same bitrate, the picture quality is noticeably better than with the RTX 3060's encoder.

Memory: Why "12 GB vs 12 GB" Doesn't Mean Equality

Both cards have 12 GB of memory and a 192-bit bus, which constitutes the main marketing trap. The performance difference is explained not by the amount but by the chip and architecture. The RTX 4070 has many more execution units, higher clock speeds, and significantly improved cache memory (the L2 cache of Ada is much larger). The result is not just an FPS boost but a different level of comfort. On the RTX 3060, it is often necessary to reduce settings at 1440p, not just due to memory limitations but because of a lack of computing power. So, having the same gigabytes doesn’t make the cards equal - it’s a classic case where one should consider the bigger picture rather than just one number.

Power Consumption and Cooling

The TGP for the RTX 3060 is 170 W, while for the RTX 4070 it is 200 W. The difference of just 30 W comes with a double performance advantage (in several scenarios) - this is a huge leap in energy efficiency. Under load, the RTX 4070 stays cooler and quieter, despite delivering significantly more frames. In most models, the fans rarely ramp up to annoying speeds. For builds with a 550-600 W PSU, the RTX 4070 is often the optimal maximum without needing to upgrade the power supply.

Who Should Choose What

Consider the RTX 3060 (12 GB) if:

Your budget is limited, and the card is available at a reasonable price on the second-hand market;
Your main monitor is 1080p, and you have no plans to upgrade to 1440p in the next couple of years;
DLSS Super Resolution meets your needs, and ray tracing is not a priority.

That said, it is essential not to choose the 8 GB version of the RTX 3060 - its reduced bus and lower memory capacity significantly diminish the already limited performance headroom.

The RTX 4070 is a more logical choice if:

You have a 1440p monitor and want to play on high settings without the hassle of tweaking options;
Ray tracing is important, and DLSS Frame Generation is seen not as a "crutch" but as a means to get the most out of story-driven games;
You stream or frequently record videos - the AV1 encoder provides objectively better quality;
You want a quiet, cool system with headroom for several years ahead. While the card is not ideal for 4K, it can provide acceptable comfort in many projects with DLSS.

Conclusion

The main takeaway is that having the same 12 GB should not mislead you. The RTX 3060 remains a practical budget card for 1080p, while the RTX 4070 represents a genuine leap to a different level of comfort, especially in 1440p. Choosing between them is not a matter of "old versus new" but a conscious decision about what level of performance you truly need.

Advantages

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070

Higher Boost Clock: 2475MHz (1777MHz vs 2475MHz)
Higher Bandwidth: 504.2 GB/s (360.0 GB/s vs 504.2 GB/s)
More Shading Units: 5888 (3584 vs 5888)
Newer Launch Date: April 2023 (January 2021 vs April 2023)

Basic

NVIDIA

Label Name

NVIDIA

January 2021

Launch Date

April 2023

Desktop

Platform

Desktop

GeForce RTX 3060

Model Name

GeForce RTX 4070

GeForce 30

Generation

GeForce 40

1320MHz

Base Clock

1920MHz

1777MHz

Boost Clock

2475MHz

PCIe 4.0 x16

Bus Interface

PCIe 4.0 x16

12,000 million

Transistors

35,800 million

RT Cores

112

Tensor Cores

Tensor Cores are specialized processing units designed specifically for deep learning, providing higher training and inference performance compared to FP32 training. They enable rapid computations in areas such as computer vision, natural language processing, speech recognition, text-to-speech conversion, and personalized recommendations. The two most notable applications of Tensor Cores are DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) and AI Denoiser for noise reduction.

184

112

TMUs

Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) serve as components of the GPU, which are capable of rotating, scaling, and distorting binary images, and then placing them as textures onto any plane of a given 3D model. This process is called texture mapping.

184

Samsung

Foundry

TSMC

8 nm

Process Size

5 nm

Ampere

Architecture

Ada Lovelace

Memory Specifications

12GB

Memory Size

12GB

GDDR6

Memory Type

GDDR6X

192bit

Memory Bus

The memory bus width refers to the number of bits of data that the video memory can transfer within a single clock cycle. The larger the bus width, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted instantaneously, making it one of the crucial parameters of video memory. The memory bandwidth is calculated as: Memory Bandwidth = Memory Frequency x Memory Bus Width / 8. Therefore, when the memory frequencies are similar, the memory bus width will determine the size of the memory bandwidth.

192bit

1875MHz

Memory Clock

1313MHz

360.0 GB/s

Bandwidth

Memory bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate between the graphics chip and the video memory. It is measured in bytes per second, and the formula to calculate it is: memory bandwidth = working frequency × memory bus width / 8 bits.

504.2 GB/s

Display and Media

1x HDMI 2.1
3x DisplayPort 1.4a

Outputs

1x HDMI 2.1
3x DisplayPort 1.4a

Theoretical Performance

85.30 GPixel/s

Pixel Rate

Pixel fill rate refers to the number of pixels a graphics processing unit (GPU) can render per second, measured in MPixels/s (million pixels per second) or GPixels/s (billion pixels per second). It is the most commonly used metric to evaluate the pixel processing performance of a graphics card.

158.4 GPixel/s

199.0 GTexel/s

Texture Rate

Texture fill rate refers to the number of texture map elements (texels) that a GPU can map to pixels in a single second.

455.4 GTexel/s

12.74 TFLOPS

FP16 (half)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy.

29.15 TFLOPS

199.0 GFLOPS

FP64 (double)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy, while single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

455.4 GFLOPS

12.995 TFLOPS

FP32 (float)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

29.733 TFLOPS

Miscellaneous

SM Count

Multiple Streaming Processors (SPs), along with other resources, form a Streaming Multiprocessor (SM), which is also referred to as a GPU's major core. These additional resources include components such as warp schedulers, registers, and shared memory. The SM can be considered the heart of the GPU, similar to a CPU core, with registers and shared memory being scarce resources within the SM.

3584

Shading Units

The most fundamental processing unit is the Streaming Processor (SP), where specific instructions and tasks are executed. GPUs perform parallel computing, which means multiple SPs work simultaneously to process tasks.

5888

128 KB (per SM)

L1 Cache

128 KB (per SM)

3MB

L2 Cache

36MB

170W

TDP

200W

1.3

Vulkan Version

Vulkan is a cross-platform graphics and compute API by Khronos Group, offering high performance and low CPU overhead. It lets developers control the GPU directly, reduces rendering overhead, and supports multi-threading and multi-core processors.

1.3

3.0

OpenCL Version

3.0

4.6

OpenGL

4.6

8.6

CUDA

8.9

12 Ultimate (12_2)

DirectX

12 Ultimate (12_2)

1x 12-pin

Power Connectors

1x 16-pin

ROPs

The Raster Operations Pipeline (ROPs) is primarily responsible for handling lighting and reflection calculations in games, as well as managing effects like anti-aliasing (AA), high resolution, smoke, and fire. The more demanding the anti-aliasing and lighting effects in a game, the higher the performance requirements for the ROPs; otherwise, it may result in a sharp drop in frame rate.

6.6

Shader Model

6.7

450W

Suggested PSU

550W