GeForce RTX 3060 vs RTX 3050

We compared two discrete desktop gaming GPUs: the GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB with 28 pipelines and 3584 shaders against the 1 year and 1 month newer RTX RTX 3050 8 GB that utilizes 20 pipelines and 2560 shaders. Here you will find complete details about specs, efficiency, performance tests, and more.

Review

General comparison of performance in games, applications, power efficiency, and other metrics
Gaming
Performance in DirectX, OpenCL, and Vulkan games
Workstation
Perf. in 3D modeling, video editing and rendering apps
AI/ML
Capabilities for machine learning and AI-related tasks
Energy Efficiency
Power consumption efficiency in different scenarios
DeviceFacts Final Score
Overall video card score

Value for money (Beta)

We use average GPU prices from all manufacturers by default. Enter the current price of a specific card for better accuracy.
Currency
12 GB GDDR6
VS
8 GB GDDR6
49.1
(Average)
Value Index
47.6
(Average)

Key differences

Key distinctions and advantages of RTX 3050 over RTX 3060
Reasons to consider the GeForce RTX 3060
  • Performs significantly better (up to 42%) in 3DMark Steel Nomad Lite
  • Shows 43% higher average frame rate in modern games at QHD resolution – 60 vs 42 FPS
  • 40% higher maximum theoretical performance (12.7 vs 9.1 TFLOPS)
  • Includes 4 GB more video memory
  • Has 61% higher memory bandwidth: 360 vs 224 GB/s
  • Features 32 more tensor cores for effective ML and AI workloads
  • Achieves 37% more points in the GeekBench 6 Compute test (91K vs 67K)
  • Has 40% more shading units (3584 vs 2560)

Gaming Performance

Frame rate comparison across popular AAA titles at different resolutions

Games

FPS Table
Forza Horizon 5
112
68
60
39
92
53
43
26
The Witcher 3
122
100
74
39
90
70
49
24
Counter-Strike 2
181
137
99
48
139
101
72
31
Far Cry 6
95
85
67
37
76
66
49
25
Hogwarts Legacy
65
57
40
18
49
38
30
13
CoD: Modern Warfare III
80
74
53
31
59
49
35
22
Ghost of Tsushima
62
50
37
20
46
35
28
15
Cyberpunk 2077
68
64
38
16
48
45
26
11
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
109
98
70
36
80
73
49
25
Average FPS by Resolution
1080p High 99 75
1080p Ultra 81 59
1440p Ultra 60 42
4K Ultra 32 21
Margin of Error Low Low

Benchmarks

Graphics cards’ performance in recent benchmarking apps

3D Mark

Multiplatform graphics benchmark suite that directly correlates with performance in modern games
Steel Nomad Lite Score
RTX 3060 +42%
9001
6348
Time Spy 8754 6235
Solar Bay 41158 30191
Port Royal 5145 3546
Fire Strike 22304 15967
Wild Life Extreme 17728 12795
Night Raid 97159 74854
Sources: 3DMark [1], [2]

GeekBench 6 OpenCL

GPU test for computational tasks (image processing, photography, computer vision, and ML)
GB6 Compute Score
RTX 3060 +37%
91603
67028
Background Blur 149.6 img/sec 110.4 img/sec
Face Detection 91 img/sec 64.4 img/sec
Horizon Detection 4.07 Gpixels/sec 2.87 Gpixels/sec
Edge Detection 5.58 Gpixels/sec 3.76 Gpixels/sec
Gaussian Blur 3.92 Gpixels/sec 2.89 Gpixels/sec
Feature Matching 1.01 Gpixels/sec 0.81 Gpixels/sec
Stereo Matching 372.9 Gpixels/sec 270.9 Gpixels/sec
Particle Physics 12226.3 FPS 9339.7 FPS
API OpenCL OpenCL
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]

Cinebench 2024 GPU

Hardware benchmark using Maxon's Cinema 4D rendering engine
Cinebench 2024 GPU
RTX 3060 +68%
7952
4722

Passmark Graphics

Videocard test that focuses on compute shaders, multi-texturing, tessellation, and other features
G3D Mark Score
RTX 3060 +34%
16710
12471
G2D Mark 965 916
DirectX 11 127 FPS 90 FPS
DirectX 12 68 FPS 59 FPS
GPU Compute 8231 Ops/s 6415 Ops/s
Sources: PassMark [5], [6] – 46248 & 9379 samples

Blender

Rendering performance test for 3D modeling
Blender GPU
RTX 3060 +56%
2288.28
1462.18
Sources: Blender [9], [10] – 6537 & 1092 samples

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
GeForce RTX 3060
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2025-12-07 (tach)Cinebench 20247952
GeForce RTX 3050
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-04-21 -> DmitryDmitryCinebench 20244722
📘 2026-04-21 -> DmitryDmitrySteel Nomad Light6237

Artificial Intelligence Tests

Performance in machine learning and artificial intelligence tasks

GeekBench 6 ML

Tests throughput of AI operations in single, half, and quantized precision
GB6 ML Single Precision
RTX 3060 +28%
15123
11848
GB6 ML Half Precision
RTX 3060 +21%
25942
21368
GB6 ML Quantized
RTX 3060 +31%
10356
7905
Image Classification (SP) 6645 4958
Image Segmentation (HP) 15338 12747
Image Super Resolution (Q) 14283 9816
Face Detection (HP) 28862 22467
Pose Estimation (Q) 61313 41362
Text Classification (SP) 2463 2563
Machine Translation (HP) 3793 3721
Object Detection (SP) 7712 5929
Depth Estimation (Q) 25461 18361
Style Transfer (SP) 123233 84665
Framework ONNX ONNX
Backend DirectML DirectML
Sources: Geekbench [9], [10]

Specifications

Technical specifications of GeForce RTX 3060 and RTX 3050

General

Vendor Nvidia Nvidia
Build Discrete Discrete
Released January 12, 2021 January 27, 2022
Launch price (MSRP) $329 $249
Case Desktop Desktop
Purpose Gaming Gaming
Segment Mid-range Entry-level
Architecture Ampere Ampere
GPU Codename GA106 GA106
Rival Equivalent - Radeon RX 6700 XT -
Successor - GeForce RTX 5060 -
Recommended CPU - Intel Core i5 12600K or above - Intel Core i5 12400 or above
Desktop GPU rating (58th and 71st place)

Graphics Processing Unit

Base Clock 1320 MHz 1552 MHz
Boost Clock 1777 MHz 1777 MHz
Shading Units 3584 2560
Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) 112 80
Render Output Units (ROPs) 48 32
Compute Units (Pipelines) 28 20
Tensor Cores 112 80
Ray-tracing Cores 28 20
L1 Cache 128KB per cluster 128KB per cluster
L2 Cache 3MB shared 2MB shared
Instructions Per Cycle 2 IPC 2 IPC

Raw Performance

Pixel Fill Rate 85 GPixel/s 57 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate 199 GTexel/s 142 GTexel/s
FLOPS (FP32)
RTX 3060 +40%
12.7 TFLOPS
9.1 TFLOPS

Physical

Interface PCIe 4.0 x16 PCIe 4.0 x8
TGP 170 W 130 W
Manufacturing Samsung Samsung
Fabrication Process 8 nm 8 nm
Die Size 276 mm² 276 mm²
Transistor Count 12 billion 12 billion
Transistor Density 43.48 MTr/mm² 43.48 MTr/mm²

Memory

Memory Type GDDR6 GDDR6
Memory Size 12 GB 8 GB
Memory Clock 1875 MHz 1750 MHz
Effective Memory Speed 15000 Mbps 14000 Mbps
Bus 192-bit 128-bit
ECC No No
Memory Bandwidth
RTX 3060 +61%
360 GB/s
224 GB/s

API

DirectX 12 12
Vulkan 1.3 1.3
OpenGL 4.6 4.6
OpenCL 3.0 3.0
CUDA 8.6 8.6
Ray Tracing Yes Yes
DLSS DLSS 2 DLSS 2
DisplayPort 1.4a 1.4a

Cast your vote

Choose between two graphics cards
110 (80.3%)
27 (19.7%)
Total votes: 137

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