NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile vs NVIDIA T400 4 GB Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile and the NVIDIA T400 4 GB occupy very different positions in the GPU landscape, despite sharing the same manufacturer and a 1425 MHz boost clock. The RTX 3060 Mobile is a high-end Ampere-based mobile part aimed at gaming and content creation, while the T400 is a low-profile Turing-based workstation card designed for basic display and light compute tasks. Benchmark data shows a massive performance gulf between them, with the RTX 3060 Mobile delivering roughly 3.5 to 4 times the raw compute throughput in the two tests where both have results. This analysis breaks down those numbers, the architectural chasm, and what each card is actually suited for.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The direct comparison between these two GPUs is limited to two benchmark tests, but the results are unambiguous. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 3060 Mobile scores 79,483 points against the T400’s 17,320 points. This translates to a delta of 358.9%, meaning the RTX 3060 Mobile is roughly 4.6 times faster in this compute-oriented workload. The margin is even steeper in Geekbench Vulkan: the RTX 3060 Mobile posts 80,344 points versus the T400’s 16,263 points, a 394% advantage, or about 4.9 times the performance. These are not close contests; the RTX 3060 Mobile wins both head-to-head matchups decisively.

To put the RTX 3060 Mobile’s scores in context, its average benchmark score across all tests is 18,159, which places it at the 62nd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database are the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (average score 18,189, a -0.2% delta from the RTX 3060 Mobile), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER (18,093, +0.4%), the AMD Radeon RX 460 (18,373, -1.2%), and the Intel Arc A770M (18,383, -1.2%). This indicates that the RTX 3060 Mobile sits in a competitive mid-to-high tier, trading blows with desktop cards from previous generations.

The T400, by contrast, has an average benchmark score of 16,792, placing it at the 60th percentile — surprisingly close to the RTX 3060 Mobile in percentile terms, even though its raw scores are far lower. This is because the T400’s nearest rivals are a different class of hardware: the AMD Radeon RX 7600S (average score 16,696, +0.6% delta), the NVIDIA Tesla M4 (16,932, -0.8%), the AMD Radeon HD 7970M (17,019, -1.3%), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (17,037, -1.4%). The T400 is effectively competing with older or lower-tier discrete GPUs, not modern high-performance parts. The percentile ranking is a reminder that raw position alone does not tell the whole story; the RTX 3060 Mobile’s 62nd percentile reflects a much higher absolute performance ceiling.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the RTX 3060 Mobile than the T400 in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The RTX 3060 Mobile scores 79,483 versus the T400’s 17,320, which is a 358.9% improvement in favor of the RTX 3060 Mobile.

Q: Does the T400 win any benchmark comparisons?

A: No. In the two head-to-head tests available (Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan), the RTX 3060 Mobile wins both. The wins tally is 2 for the RTX 3060 Mobile and 0 for the T400.

Q: What is the T400’s average benchmark score compared to the RTX 3060 Mobile?

A: The T400’s average benchmark score is 16,792, while the RTX 3060 Mobile’s is 18,159. Despite the large gap in individual test scores, the average difference is smaller because the T400 only has two recorded benchmarks, both of which are compute-focused.

Q: Which GPU has a higher percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The RTX 3060 Mobile ranks at the 62nd percentile, while the T400 ranks at the 60th percentile. This suggests that despite its lower raw scores, the T400 is not far behind in overall standing because it competes against a weaker field of rivals.

Q: Are the RTX 3060 Mobile and T400 from the same architecture?

A: No. The RTX 3060 Mobile uses the Ampere architecture (chip GA106), while the T400 uses the older Turing architecture (chip TU117). This difference is fundamental to their performance disparity.

Q: What is the T400’s closest rival in the database?

A: Based on average benchmark score, the AMD Radeon RX 7600S is closest, with a score of 16,696 and a delta of +0.6% relative to the T400. This indicates the T400 is slightly ahead of the RX 7600S in the database’s aggregate scoring.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on different architectures, which explains much of their performance gap. The RTX 3060 Mobile uses the Ampere architecture, built on an 8 nm process at Samsung, while the T400 uses the older Turing architecture on a 12 nm process at TSMC. This process difference alone gives the RTX 3060 Mobile a significant transistor density advantage: 43.5 million transistors per square millimeter versus the T400’s 23.5 million. The RTX 3060 Mobile packs 12,000 million transistors on a 276 mm² die, while the T400 has just 4,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die. That is roughly 2.5 times the transistor count for only 1.38 times the die area.

The functional blocks diverge even more sharply. The RTX 3060 Mobile features 3840 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. It also includes 30 ray tracing cores and 120 tensor cores, making it a fully featured modern GPU for real-time ray tracing and AI-accelerated workloads. The T400, by contrast, has only 384 shading units, 24 TMUs, and 16 ROPs — exactly one-tenth of the RTX 3060 Mobile’s shader count. It has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores at all. This means the T400 cannot accelerate ray tracing or tensor-based operations in hardware, whereas the RTX 3060 Mobile is designed for both.

The memory architecture is also fundamentally different. The RTX 3060 Mobile uses 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. The T400 uses 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus, giving it just 80.00 GB/s of bandwidth — less than a quarter of the RTX 3060 Mobile’s. The RTX 3060 Mobile also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the T400 only supports DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4, but the T400’s older feature set is visible in its API limitations.

Specification Differences

The specification sheets reveal a wide gulf in nearly every measurable category. The RTX 3060 Mobile has a base clock of 900 MHz, while the T400’s base clock is just 420 MHz. Both share a 1425 MHz boost clock, but the RTX 3060 Mobile’s higher base clock means it maintains a higher minimum performance level. Memory speeds differ as well: the RTX 3060 Mobile runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective), while the T400 runs at 1250 MHz (10 Gbps effective). The RTX 3060 Mobile’s FP32 compute is 10.94 TFLOPS, versus the T400’s 1,094.4 GFLOPS — exactly a 10x difference. The T400’s FP16 performance is 2.189 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio), while the RTX 3060 Mobile achieves 10.94 TFLOPS FP16 (1:1 ratio), meaning the RTX 3060 Mobile offers the same throughput in both precisions.

Power consumption is another stark divider. The RTX 3060 Mobile has a TDP of 80 W, while the T400 is rated at just 30 W. The T400 is a single-slot card with three mini-DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, whereas the RTX 3060 Mobile’s display outputs are listed as “Portable Device Dependent,” reflecting its mobile nature. The T400 uses a PCIe 3.0 x16 interface, while the RTX 3060 Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x16, offering double the bandwidth potential. The T400 lists a suggested PSU of 200 W, but the RTX 3060 Mobile has no such recommendation, as it is not a standalone card. Both have no power connectors and are end-of-life products, but the RTX 3060 Mobile was released on 2021-01-11, while the T400 came later on 2021-05-05.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3060 Mobile wins in every compute benchmark where both are tested. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 79,483 is more than four times the T400’s 17,320, and its Vulkan score of 80,344 dwarfs the T400’s 16,263. This makes it the clear choice for any workload that relies on raw GPU compute, such as 3D rendering, video encoding, or machine learning inference. Its 6 GB memory capacity and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth also give it a substantial advantage in memory-heavy tasks. The presence of ray tracing and tensor cores further extends its lead in modern gaming and AI applications, even though those features are not directly measured in the available benchmarks.

The T400, on the other hand, has no benchmark wins to its name in this comparison. However, its strengths lie elsewhere. Its 30 W TDP and single-slot design make it a low-power, space-efficient option for workstation environments where a basic display output or light 2D acceleration is sufficient. Its three mini-DisplayPort 1.4a outputs allow for multi-monitor setups, and its 4 GB of GDDR6 memory is adequate for simple desktop tasks. The T400’s 60th percentile ranking, despite its low raw scores, indicates that it holds its own against a specific class of older or lower-end GPUs, such as the AMD Radeon HD 7970M or the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690. For users who need a quiet, cool, and compact GPU for office work or legacy application support, the T400 is a functional option — but it is not a performer.

The Verdict

The data is unequivocal: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile is in a completely different performance class than the NVIDIA T400 4 GB. In the two head-to-head benchmarks, the RTX 3060 Mobile leads by 358.9% and 394%, respectively, and it wins both of the available tests. Its larger memory bus, higher bandwidth, more shading units, and additional ray tracing and tensor cores make it the superior choice for any demanding application. Users who need to run modern games, render 3D scenes, or process large datasets should opt for the RTX 3060 Mobile without hesitation.

The T400 is not without a purpose, but that purpose is narrow. Its 30 W power draw, single-slot footprint, and lack of power connectors make it ideal for compact, low-power workstations where space and heat are at a premium. Its 60th percentile standing, while close to the RTX 3060 Mobile’s 62nd, is achieved against much weaker competition — the RTX 3060 Mobile’s nearest rivals are desktop cards like the GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER, while the T400’s are older mobile or enterprise parts. If the task is basic display output, office productivity, or running legacy software, the T400 suffices. But for any compute-heavy workload, the RTX 3060 Mobile is the only rational choice, delivering roughly four to five times the performance in the benchmarks where both are measured. The verdict is simple: pick the RTX 3060 Mobile for performance, and the T400 only if the physical and power constraints demand it.