NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
VS
GeForce RTX 3060 GA104
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
VS
GeForce RTX 3060 GA104

General info

The general info section in the graphics cards comparison list contains information about the date of release, type, overall rating and other useful data for identifying winner between NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970  vs  GeForce RTX 3060 GA104.

132
Place in performance rating
not rated
27.18
Value for money (0-100)
no data
Maxwell
Architecture
Ampere
GM204
Code name
no data
Desktop
Type
no data
19 September 2014 (7 years ago)
Release date
1 September 2021 (less than a year ago)
$329
Launch price (MSRP)
$329
$290 (0.9x MSRP)
Price now
no data
34.98
Value for money
no data
GM204
GPU code name
GA104
Desktop
Market segment
Desktop

Technical specs

Which GPU is better between NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970  vs  GeForce RTX 3060 GA104 in the fabrication process, power consumption, and also base and turbo frequency of the GPU is the most important part containing in the graphics cards hierarchy.

1664
Pipelines
no data
1050 MHz
Core clock speed
no data
1178 MHz
Boost Clock
no data
5,200 million
Transistor count
no data
28 nm
Manufacturing process technology
8 nm
148 Watt
Power consumption (TDP)
no data
109 billion/sec
Texture fill rate
199.0
3,920 gflops
Floating-point performance
no data
98 °C
Maximum GPU temperature
no data
1664
CUDA cores
no data
1664
Pipelines / CUDA cores
3584
1178 MHz
Boost clock speed
1777 MHz
5,200 million
Number of transistors
17,400 million
148 Watt
Thermal design power (TDP)
170 Watt

Compatibility, dimensions and requirements

Let’s discuss how graphics cards NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 and GeForce RTX 3060 GA104 come in different sizes (length), connector types and types of interfaces.

PCIe 3.0 x16
Interface
PCIe 4.0 x16
10.5" (26.7 cm)
Length
242 mm
2x 6-pins
Supplementary power connectors
1x 12-pin
+
SLI options
no data
500 Watt
Recommended system power (PSU)
no data
PCI Express 3.0
Bus support
no data
4.376" (11.1 cm)
Height
no data

Memory

Graphics cards memory plays important role both in gaming and in applications for graphics. The card will perform much quicker and better, if it has more memory capacity and right memory type. What is the difference between NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 vs GeForce RTX 3060 GA104.

GDDR5
Memory type
GDDR6
4 GB
Maximum RAM amount
12 GB
256 Bit
Memory bus width
192 Bit
7.0 GB/s
Memory clock speed
15 GB/s
224 GB/s
Memory bandwidth
360.0 GB/s
-
Shared memory
no data

Video outputs and ports

Let’s find out the difference in extra ports between two graphics cards. What's the difference between NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 vs GeForce RTX 3060 GA104.

Dual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2
Display Connectors
1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
+
G-SYNC support
no data
4 displays
Multi monitor support
no data
+
HDCP
no data
2048x1536
Maximum VGA resolution
no data
Internal
Audio input for HDMI
no data
+
HDMI
+

Technologies

Let’s have a look what is the difference. It is worthwhile to note that NVIDIA and AMD are using different technologies.

+
3D Vision
no data
2.0
GPU Boost
no data
+
CUDA
8.6
+
GeForce Experience
no data
+
Surround
no data
+
Adaptive Vertical Sync
no data
+
GameStream
no data
+
GeForce ShadowPlay
no data
+
GameWorks
no data

API support

The confrontation between the two contenders NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 and GeForce RTX 3060 GA104 is practically over. The hardware support (API) does not greatly affect the overall performance, it is not considered in synthetic benchmarks and other performance tests. 

12 (12_1)
DirectX
12 Ultimate (12_2)
4.4
OpenGL
4.6
1.1.126
Vulkan
1.2
6.4
Shader Model
6.6
1.2
OpenCL
3.0

Gaming performance

Select form the list the required name to identify gaming performance for NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 and GeForce RTX 3060 GA104 graphics cards. The result shows how fast the game will run and whether it can be run on this computer. The different monitor resolutions – from low to 4K – are used for testing. Find out is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or GeForce RTX 3060 GA104 good for gaming.


low
1280x720
med.
1920x1080
high
1920x1080
ultra
1920x1080
QHD
2560x1440
4K
3840x2160
Horizon Zero Dawn (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
GeForce RTX 3060 GA104
Death Stranding (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
GeForce RTX 3060 GA104
F1 2020 (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
GeForce RTX 3060 GA104
Gears Tactics (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
GeForce RTX 3060 GA104
Doom Eternal (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
GeForce RTX 3060 GA104
Legend
5 Stutters – This game is very likely to stutter and have poor frame rates. Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, average frame rates are expected to fall below 25fps
May Stutter – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, stutters and poor frame rates are expected.
30 Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40 Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60 Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 58fps
May Run Fluently – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, fluent frame rates are expected.
? Uncertain – This graphics card experienced unexpected performance issues during testing for this game. A slower card may be able to achieve better and more consistent frame rates than this particular GPU running the same benchmark scene.
Uncertain – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game and no reliable interpolation can be made based on the performances of surrounding cards of the same class or family.
The value in the fields displays the average frame rate of all values in the database. Move your cursor over the value to see individual results.

Advantages of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970

43.8% faster in synthetic tests

G-SYNC support

Advantages of GeForce RTX 3060 GA104

Finer manufacturing process technology (8 nm vs 28 nm)

More maximum RAM amount (12 GB vs 4 GB)

More memory bandwidth (360.0 GB/s vs 224 GB/s)

So, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or GeForce RTX 3060 GA104?

Judging by the results of synthetic and gaming tests, we recommend NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 .

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 versus GeForce RTX 3060 GA104 performance benchmarks comparison

Overall benchmark performance

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

Benchmark 3DMark Ice Storm GPU: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark Ice Storm GPU test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

Unigine Heaven 4.0

Benchmark Unigine Heaven 4.0: Graphic cards performance test result. Check Unigine Heaven 4.0 test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Benchmark 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

3DMark Fire Strike Score

Benchmark 3DMark Fire Strike Score: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark Fire Strike Score test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Benchmark 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

Benchmark 3DMark 11 Performance GPU: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark 11 Performance GPU test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

3DMark Vantage Performance

Benchmark 3DMark Vantage Performance: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark Vantage Performance test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

Octane Render OctaneBench

Benchmark Octane Render OctaneBench: Graphic cards performance test result. Check Octane Render OctaneBench test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

Passmark

Benchmark Passmark: Graphic cards performance test result. Check Passmark test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

User rating

4.2 Out of 402 Hitesti Score
4.5 Out of 10 Hitesti Score