AMD Radeon RX 7700 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 represent two very different generations of graphics hardware. The RTX 3060 Mobile is an end-of-life Ampere part aimed at laptops, while the RX 7700 is an active desktop RDNA 3.0 card. In the recorded database, the AMD card wins all nine head-to-head benchmark comparisons, but the two GPUs have distinct profiles that make them suitable for different tasks.

Where Each One Wins

The data paints a clear picture of a one-sided contest. The AMD Radeon RX 7700 wins every single benchmark in the head-to-head comparison, taking all nine victories. Its dominance is most pronounced in legacy DirectX 9 workloads, where it beats the RTX 3060 Mobile by 44.1%. The NVIDIA card has no benchmark wins in the database, meaning there is no recorded test where it outperforms the RX 7700.

Despite the clean sweep, the use-case split is still meaningful. The RX 7700 is the obvious choice for modern gaming, compute, and graphics workloads that stress raw throughput. Its victory in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 indicates strong performance in contemporary DirectX 12 titles. The card also excels in general compute, as shown by its 47.8% lead in Passmark GPU Compute. The RTX 3060 Mobile, on the other hand, is a mobile part with a much lower power envelope, which makes it relevant for thin-and-light gaming laptops where power draw matters more than absolute performance.

The RX 7700 also wins the 2D graphics test by a massive 51.2%, which suggests it has significantly faster desktop and windowing operations. This is relevant for productivity work, multi-monitor setups, and any task that involves heavy 2D rendering. The RTX 3060 Mobile, being a portable device dependent part, is not designed for these kinds of desktop-oriented workloads.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is generational. The RTX 3060 Mobile uses the GA106 chip built on Ampere architecture, fabricated on Samsung's 8 nm process. It contains 12,000 million transistors on a 276 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 43.5M per mm². The RX 7700 uses the Navi 32 chip on RDNA 3.0 architecture, built on TSMC's 5 nm process. It packs 28,100 million transistors into a 346 mm² die, achieving a density of 81.2M per mm², nearly double the density of the NVIDIA part.

The memory subsystems are also very different. The RTX 3060 Mobile has 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, delivering 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 7700 has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 624.1 GB/s, nearly double the bandwidth. This memory advantage is critical for high-resolution textures and compute workloads that are bandwidth sensitive.

Shader resources differ significantly. The RTX 3060 Mobile has 3840 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The RX 7700 has fewer shading units at 2560, but more TMUs (160) and more ROPs (96). The RX 7700 also has 40 ray accelerators, while the RTX 3060 Mobile has 30 RT cores and 120 tensor cores. The AMD card's FP32 throughput is 25.18 TFLOPS, more than double the RTX 3060 Mobile's 10.94 TFLOPS. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Clocks are much higher on the AMD card. The RX 7700 has a base clock of 1900 MHz and a boost of 2459 MHz, with a game clock of 2041 MHz. The RTX 3060 Mobile runs at a base of 900 MHz and a boost of 1425 MHz. Memory speed also favors AMD: 19.5 Gbps effective versus 14 Gbps effective.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark results are consistently in favor of the RX 7700, but the margins vary widely by workload. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the RX 7700 scores 2865 against the RTX 3060 Mobile's 1821, a 36.4% lead. This is a strong indicator of modern DX12 gaming performance, and the AMD card's advantage is substantial.

The Geekbench OpenCL test shows the RX 7700 scoring 106028 versus 79483, a 25% lead. This is a more moderate margin, suggesting that general compute workloads see a smaller but still significant gap. The Passmark DirectX 11 test shows a 40.9% lead for the AMD card (186 vs 110), while the DirectX 12 test shows a 39.6% lead (96 vs 58). These results indicate that the RX 7700 is consistently faster across different API versions.

The DirectX 9 test is the biggest win for the AMD card, with a 44.1% lead (261 vs 146). Legacy titles and older game engines that rely on DX9 will see a massive performance uplift on the RX 7700. The Passmark G2D test shows a 51.2% lead (1206 vs 588), which is the largest margin in the entire comparison. This suggests the RX 7700 has dramatically better 2D performance.

The Passmark G3D test, a general 3D graphics benchmark, shows the RX 7700 scoring 20974 against 13230, a 36.9% lead. The Passmark GPU Compute test shows the largest compute gap: the RX 7700 scores 10963 versus 5718, a 47.8% lead. The smallest margin is in Passmark DirectX 10, where the RX 7700 leads by only 2.2% (92 vs 90). This near-tie suggests that DX10 workloads are much closer between the two cards.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher raw compute performance?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7700 has 25.18 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile has 10.94 TFLOPS. The RX 7700 leads by 47.8% in the Passmark GPU Compute benchmark.

Q: How much memory does each card have?

A: The RTX 3060 Mobile has 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus. The RX 7700 has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, which gives it 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth versus 336.0 GB/s for the NVIDIA card.

Q: Which card is better for DirectX 9 legacy games?

A: The RX 7700 wins the Passmark DirectX 9 test by 44.1%, scoring 261 versus 146. This indicates a decisive advantage for older DirectX 9 titles.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The RTX 3060 Mobile has a TDP of 80 W and requires no external power connectors. The RX 7700 has a TDP of 200 W and requires 2x 8-pin power connectors, with a suggested PSU of 550 W.

Q: Which card has better 2D performance?

A: The RX 7700 wins the Passmark G2D test by 51.2%, scoring 1206 versus 588. This is the largest margin in the head-to-head comparison.

Q: Is the RTX 3060 Mobile still in production?

A: No, the RTX 3060 Mobile is end-of-life, while the RX 7700 is an active product. The RX 7700 was released on 2025-09-17, while the RTX 3060 Mobile was released on 2021-01-11.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every major specification category. The RTX 3060 Mobile uses the GA106 chip on Ampere architecture with an 8 nm Samsung process, while the RX 7700 uses the Navi 32 chip on RDNA 3.0 architecture with a 5 nm TSMC process. Transistor count is 12,000 million for NVIDIA versus 28,100 million for AMD, with die sizes of 276 mm² and 346 mm² respectively.

Clocks are significantly different. The RTX 3060 Mobile has a base clock of 900 MHz and a boost of 1425 MHz. The RX 7700 has a base of 1900 MHz, a boost of 2459 MHz, and a game clock of 2041 MHz. Memory clocks are 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) for NVIDIA versus 2438 MHz (19.5 Gbps effective) for AMD.

The memory configuration differs substantially: 6 GB versus 16 GB, 192-bit versus 256-bit bus, and 336.0 GB/s versus 624.1 GB/s bandwidth. Core counts also differ: NVIDIA has 3840 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, while AMD has 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The RTX 3060 Mobile has 30 RT cores and 120 tensor cores, while the RX 7700 has 40 ray accelerators and no tensor cores.

Pixel and texture rates are much higher on the AMD card: 236.1 GPixel/s versus 68.40 GPixel/s, and 393.4 GTexel/s versus 171.0 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 25.18 TFLOPS versus 10.94 TFLOPS. Power consumption is 80 W versus 200 W. The RX 7700 is a dual-slot card measuring 267 mm in length, 135 mm in height, and 50 mm in width, while the RTX 3060 Mobile has no specified dimensions. The RX 7700 has display outputs of 1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, and 1x USB Type-C, while the RTX 3060 Mobile is portable device dependent.