NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti sit at the same general performance tier according to the database, with average benchmark scores of 17639 and 16129 respectively, yet they split their ten recorded head-to-head tests exactly five wins apiece. Both cards carry 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and both have reached end-of-life status, but they represent two very different architectural philosophies: the Ada Lovelace-based RTX 4060 (AD107 chip, 5 nm TSMC process) versus the Ampere-based RTX 3060 Ti (GA104 chip, 8 nm Samsung process). The recorded data shows a nuanced contest in which the newer card dominates compute-oriented workloads while the older card retains an edge in several gaming benchmarks.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The split is dead even at five wins each, but the margins tell a clearer story than the tally.

The RTX 4060's biggest win comes in Geekbench OpenCL, where it scores 95057 against the 3060 Ti's 78927, a 20.4 percent advantage. That is by far the widest gap in the entire dataset and reflects the 4060's strong raw compute throughput at its much higher clocks. Its Geekbench Vulkan lead is far narrower: 48643 versus 47784, a 1.8 percent margin. Elsewhere the 4060 wins Passmark DirectX 11 by 7.4 percent (175 versus 163), Passmark DirectX 9 by 0.9 percent (236 versus 234), and Passmark G2D by 4.9 percent (1037 versus 989).

The 3060 Ti answers with its own decisive results. In 3DMark Steel Nomad (DirectX 12) it scores 2626 versus 2302, a 12.3 percent lead for the older card in a modern game-representative workload. It also wins Passmark DirectX 10 by a substantial 22 percent (132 versus 103), Passmark DirectX 12 by 2.6 percent (78 versus 76), Passmark G3D by 4 percent (20349 versus 19545), and Passmark GPU Compute by 7.9 percent (10006 versus 9213). The GPU Compute result is notable because it cuts against the OpenCL picture: the 4060's biggest strength in one compute test becomes a deficit in another.

Aggregating all recorded tests produces the database averages of 17639 for the 4060 and 16129 for the 3060 Ti, though the per-test deltas show that neither card sweeps the field. Against the full GPU database, the 4060 lands in the 61st percentile and the 3060 Ti in the 59th, a two-point gap that underscores how closely matched they are in the broader landscape.

Architecture Differences

The generational gap between these cards is written plainly in their silicon. The RTX 4060 uses the AD107 chip on TSMC's 5 nm node, packing 18,900 million transistors into a 159 mm² die for a density of 118.9M per mm². The RTX 3060 Ti uses the larger GA104 chip on Samsung's 8 nm node, with 17,400 million transistors spread across a 392 mm² die at just 44.4M per mm². The 4060's die is less than half the size yet carries more transistors, and that density advantage is the core of Ada Lovelace's efficiency story.

The 3060 Ti counters with raw hardware scale. It fields 4864 shading units, 152 TMUs, 80 ROPs, 38 RT cores, and 152 tensor cores, dwarfing the 4060's 3072 shading units, 96 TMUs, 48 ROPs, 24 RT cores, and 96 tensor cores. The 4060 compensates with clock speed: a 2460 MHz boost against the 3060 Ti's 1665 MHz, and a 1830 MHz base against 1410 MHz.

Memory is where the philosophical divide is sharpest. Both cards ship 8 GB of GDDR6, but the 3060 Ti uses a 256-bit bus delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth at 14 Gbps effective, while the 4060 uses a 128-bit bus delivering 272.0 GB/s at 17 Gbps effective. The 3060 Ti holds a massive bandwidth advantage, which helps explain its wins in bandwidth-hungry gaming tests like Steel Nomad. The 4060 also connects over PCIe 4.0 x8 rather than the 3060 Ti's full PCIe 4.0 x16.

On paper throughput, the two are close: the 3060 Ti posts 16.20 TFLOPS FP32 to the 4060's 15.11 TFLOPS, a 133.2 GPixel/s pixel rate versus 118.1 GPixel/s, and a 253.1 GTexel/s texture rate versus 236.2 GTexel/s. The 3060 Ti leads all four theoretical figures despite being the older design, purely through hardware count.

Power tells the opposite story. The 4060 is rated at 115 W TDP with a suggested 300 W PSU, while the 3060 Ti draws 200 W and asks for a 550 W PSU. Both use a single 12-pin connector, both are dual-slot cards of nearly identical footprint (240 mm versus 242 mm long, 111 mm versus 112 mm tall), and both offer the same output set of one HDMI 2.1 and three DisplayPort 1.4a connectors plus identical API support across DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Launch MSRP was 299 USD for the 4060 and 399 USD for the 3060 Ti.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3060 Ti's wins cluster around traditional graphics rendering. It leads every hardware-intensive gaming metric that scales with shader count and memory bandwidth: Steel Nomad by 12.3 percent, DirectX 10 by 22 percent, DirectX 12 by 2.6 percent, and the Passmark G3D composite by 4 percent. With 58 percent more shading units, double the memory bandwidth, and more RT and tensor cores, it is the stronger card for rasterized gaming at higher settings, particularly in titles that stress the framebuffer. Its Passmark GPU Compute win of 7.9 percent shows the big-die approach still pays off in general GPU compute tasks.

The RTX 4060's wins concentrate where clock speed and architectural efficiency matter. Its 20.4 percent OpenCL blowout demonstrates what the 5 nm node's frequency headroom delivers in compute kernels that favor throughput per scheduler. Its DirectX 11 and DirectX 9 wins (7.4 and 0.9 percent) show older API paths responding well to Ada's design, and its 4.9 percent G2D advantage covers 2D and desktop workloads. The 1.8 percent Vulkan edge suggests near-parity in modern low-overhead APIs despite the bandwidth deficit.

Context from the database reinforces the closeness. The 4060's nearest rivals by average score include the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (-0.2 percent), Radeon 780M (0.3 percent), Radeon Pro 560 (0.5 percent), and Radeon Pro 460 (0.7 percent), while the 3060 Ti's list includes the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (0.7 percent), Radeon Pro 5600M (-1.4 percent), Radeon RX 5700 XT (-1.4 percent), and Radeon R9 370X (1.7 percent). Both cards occupy essentially the same neighborhood of the performance distribution.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in gaming benchmarks?

A: The RTX 3060 Ti. It wins 3DMark Steel Nomad by 12.3 percent (2626 versus 2302), Passmark G3D by 4 percent (20349 versus 19545), Passmark DirectX 12 by 2.6 percent, and Passmark DirectX 10 by 22 percent.

Q: Which card is better for GPU compute workloads?

A: It depends on the API. The RTX 4060 wins Geekbench OpenCL by 20.4 percent (95057 versus 78927), but the RTX 3060 Ti wins Passmark GPU Compute by 7.9 percent (10006 versus 9213).

Q: How do their power requirements differ?

A: The RTX 4060 has a 115 W TDP and a suggested 300 W PSU, while the RTX 3060 Ti has a 200 W TDP and a suggested 550 W PSU, a significant difference for smaller builds.

Q: Do both cards have the same amount of memory?

A: Yes, both ship 8 GB of GDDR6, but the 3060 Ti uses a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth while the 4060 uses a 128-bit bus with 272.0 GB/s.

Q: Which architecture is more advanced?

A: The RTX 4060's Ada Lovelace design on 5 nm achieves 118.9M transistors per mm² versus 44.4M per mm² for the 3060 Ti's Ampere design on 8 nm, though the 3060 Ti still has more total execution hardware.

Q: How do they compare overall in the database?

A: The 4060 averages 17639 with a 61st percentile ranking; the 3060 Ti averages 16129 at the 59th percentile. Their head-to-head record is a five-all split.

The Verdict

The data supports a clear division. Gamers prioritizing rasterization performance should lean toward the RTX 3060 Ti: it wins the most game-representative tests, including a 12.3 percent Steel Nomad lead and a 4 percent G3D lead, backed by 4864 shading units and 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Users focused on efficiency should take the RTX 4060, which delivers competitive performance at a 115 W TDP versus 200 W, needing only a 300 W PSU.

The 4060 is also the pick for OpenCL compute, where its 20.4 percent advantage is the single largest margin in the dataset. Neither card is a runaway winner, and the five-all split confirms it: the 3060 Ti is the stronger traditional gaming part, the 4060 the more efficient and more modern one, and both sit within two percentile points of each other against the full database.