AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile occupy opposite ends of the GPU spectrum, yet benchmark data reveals a surprisingly complex relationship. The desktop flagship, built on RDNA 3.0, and the laptop-oriented Ampere chip share only their DirectX 12 Ultimate API support and PCIe 4.0 x16 interface. Out of ten head-to-head comparisons, the AMD card wins nine, but the single NVIDIA victory is a striking anomaly that warrants investigation. This analysis dissects where each GPU excels, what the numbers imply about their architectural priorities, and which user should consider each based strictly on measured performance.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the clear victor in nearly every traditional graphics workload. Its most dominant performance comes in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, where it scores 6841 against the RTX 3060 Mobile’s 1821, a 275.7% advantage. This pattern repeats across the PassMark suite: the AMD card leads by 84.4% in DirectX 10, 223.6% in DirectX 11, 125.9% in DirectX 12, and 126% in DirectX 9. Even in 2D rendering (PassMark G2D), the desktop card posts 1267 versus 588, a 115.5% margin that highlights the massive bandwidth and fill-rate advantages baked into the Navi 31 chip.

The compute-focused PassMark GPU Compute test shows a 209.4% lead for AMD, with scores of 17689 against 5718. This aligns with the raw specifications: the RX 7900 XTX delivers 61.39 TFLOPS FP32 and 122.8 TFLOPS FP16, while the mobile chip manages only 10.94 TFLOPS for both precision formats. The 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus (960.0 GB/s bandwidth) dwarfs the 6 GB on a 192-bit bus (336.0 GB/s) of the RTX 3060 Mobile, explaining why the AMD card excels in memory-intensive scenarios like high-resolution textures and large compute buffers.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile’s single win is in Geekbench OpenCL, where it scores 79483 against AMD’s 50465, a 36.5% advantage. This is a substantial reversal given the AMD card’s overwhelming compute lead elsewhere. The winning margin suggests that Geekbench’s OpenCL workload favors the NVIDIA architecture’s scheduling or driver overhead characteristics, despite the RTX 3060 Mobile having only 3840 shading units versus 6144 on the AMD card. Notably, the NVIDIA chip also has 120 tensor cores and 30 RT cores, features absent from the AMD specification list, which may influence OpenCL’s heterogeneous workload distribution.

The Verdict

The data points to a straightforward conclusion for most use cases: the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the superior performer across the vast majority of benchmarks. Its 64th percentile ranking among all GPUs, compared to the RTX 3060 Mobile’s 62nd, reflects a higher average benchmark score of 19410 versus 18159. The desktop card’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA TITAN Xp (deltaPct 1.2%) and GTX 1060 3 GB (0.4%), indicating it competes with older high-end desktop hardware. The mobile chip, meanwhile, sits near the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (deltaPct -0.2%) and Intel Arc A770M (-1.2%), placing it in mid-range laptop territory.

For desktop gamers and content creators, the RX 7900 XTX is the only rational choice from this comparison. Its 136.1% lead in PassMark G3D (31238 vs 13230) translates to vastly higher frame rates in DirectX titles, and its 24 GB memory buffer future-proofs against VRAM-heavy workloads. The 355 W TDP and dual-slot cooler are acceptable for a desktop build, and the 2x 8-pin power connectors are standard for this class.

The RTX 3060 Mobile is a laptop-exclusive part with an 80 W TDP and no dedicated power connectors, making it unsuitable for desktop comparisons. Its single benchmark win in OpenCL suggests it may have niche compute advantages in specific applications, but the 36.5% margin in that one test does not offset losses exceeding 200% in DirectX 11 and compute workloads. The mobile chip’s 6 GB memory cap and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are limiting factors for modern AAA titles at high settings. Users constrained to a laptop form factor might consider this GPU, but the data shows it is fundamentally outclassed by the desktop flagship.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 result is the most lopsided comparison, with AMD winning 6841 to 1821 (275.7%). This test stresses ray tracing and mesh shaders, where the RX 7900 XTX’s 96 RT cores and 6144 shading units provide massive parallel throughput. The RTX 3060 Mobile’s 30 RT cores and 3840 shading units cannot compensate for the 5 nm process node versus 8 nm, nor the 57,700 million transistors versus 12,000 million.

PassMark DirectX 11 shows a 223.6% margin (356 vs 110), reflecting the AMD card’s superior texture rate of 959.2 GTexel/s against 171.0 GTexel/s. This test is traditionally fill-rate bound, and the 384 TMUs on the Navi 31 chip process textures nearly six times faster than the 120 TMUs on GA106. The DirectX 12 result (131 vs 58, 125.9%) is less extreme but still decisive, likely due to the AMD card’s 192 ROPs versus 48.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the AMD card wins by a narrower 6.6% (85612 vs 80344). This is the closest benchmark in the set, suggesting that Vulkan’s low-level API mitigates some of the architectural differences. The mobile chip’s higher base clock in this test? No—the data shows the RTX 3060 Mobile has a lower base clock (900 MHz vs 1929 MHz) and boost clock (1425 MHz vs 2498 MHz). The proximity of scores indicates that NVIDIA’s Ampere architecture scales efficiently in Vulkan workloads, particularly with its 120 tensor cores potentially accelerating certain compute paths.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins more benchmarks overall?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX wins 9 out of 10 head-to-head tests. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile wins only Geekbench OpenCL.

Q: What is the largest performance gap between the two?

A: The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test shows the biggest difference, with AMD scoring 6841 versus 1821, a 275.7% advantage.

Q: Does the NVIDIA card have any redeeming benchmark performance?

A: Yes, in Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 3060 Mobile scores 79483 against AMD’s 50465, a 36.5% lead. This is its only win.

Q: How do their average benchmark scores compare?

A: The AMD card has an average benchmark score of 19410, while the NVIDIA mobile chip averages 18159. This places them in the 64th and 62nd percentiles of all GPUs, respectively.

Q: Which card has higher memory bandwidth?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX has 960.0 GB/s bandwidth, compared to 336.0 GB/s for the RTX 3060 Mobile. The AMD card also has 24 GB of GDDR6 memory versus 6 GB.

Q: Are both GPUs end-of-life products?

A: Yes, both the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile have a production status of "End-of-life."

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX uses the Navi 31 chip built on RDNA 3.0 architecture, manufactured on TSMC’s 5 nm process. It contains 57,700 million transistors on a 529 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 109.1 million per mm². The chip has 6144 shading units, 384 TMUs, 192 ROPs, and 96 RT cores. Notably, the specification list shows no tensor cores, indicating AMD relies on general-purpose compute for AI tasks.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile uses the GA106 chip on Ampere architecture, fabricated on Samsung’s 8 nm process. It packs 12,000 million transistors on a 276 mm² die, with a density of 43.5 million per mm². The GPU has 3840 shading units, 120 TMUs, 48 ROPs, 30 RT cores, and 120 tensor cores. The presence of dedicated tensor cores is a key architectural difference, though the benchmark data shows this does not translate to broad performance wins.

The process node difference (5 nm vs 8 nm) explains the transistor density gap, with AMD packing over twice as many transistors per square millimeter. The clock speeds reflect this too: AMD’s base clock is 1929 MHz and boost is 2498 MHz, while NVIDIA’s are 900 MHz and 1425 MHz respectively. The AMD card’s memory clock is 2500 MHz (20 Gbps effective), compared to 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) for the mobile chip.

Specification Differences

The most obvious specification divergence is memory capacity: the AMD card offers 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, while the NVIDIA chip has 6 GB on a 192-bit bus. This drives the bandwidth difference (960.0 GB/s vs 336.0 GB/s) and the pixel rate (479.6 GPixel/s vs 68.40 GPixel/s). The texture rate also differs massively: 959.2 GTexel/s for AMD versus 171.0 GTexel/s for NVIDIA.

The FP32 compute output is 61.39 TFLOPS for AMD versus 10.94 TFLOPS for NVIDIA. The FP16 figures are 122.8 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio) for AMD and 10.94 TFLOPS (1:1) for NVIDIA, showing AMD’s dedicated FP16 throughput. The TDP values are 355 W for the desktop card and 80 W for the mobile chip, reflecting their different form factors. The AMD card requires 2x 8-pin power connectors and a 750 W suggested PSU, while the NVIDIA chip has no power connectors listed and no suggested PSU.

Physical dimensions differ as well: the AMD card measures 287 mm in length, 110 mm in height, and 51 mm in width, with a dual-slot design. The NVIDIA mobile chip has no listed dimensions or slot width. Display outputs are also distinct: AMD offers 1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, and 1x USB Type-C, while NVIDIA’s outputs are listed as "Portable Device Dependent." The release dates are 2022-11-02 for AMD and 2021-01-11 for NVIDIA, with only the AMD card having a listed launch MSRP of 999 USD.