NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti vs NVIDIA T400 4 GB Comparison

The NVIDIA T400 4 GB and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti occupy opposite ends of the GPU spectrum, yet both carry the NVIDIA badge. The T400 is a 30 W, single-slot workstation card built for basic display and light compute duties, while the RTX 3060 Ti is a 200 W dual-slot gaming and creator card. The benchmark data shows a stark performance divide, with the RTX 3060 Ti dominating every shared test. However, the T400's lower specifications and power envelope give it a distinct role in specific workstation environments. The following analysis is based solely on the provided data.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The shared benchmark suite between these two cards is limited to two tests: Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan. In both, the RTX 3060 Ti delivers a decisive victory, but the margin is far larger in compute-heavy OpenCL workloads than in graphics-oriented Vulkan tests.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 3060 Ti scores 78,927 points against the T400's 17,320 points. This represents a 78.1% delta in favor of the RTX 3060 Ti, meaning the Ampere card is more than four times faster in raw compute throughput. The T400's score of 17,320 places it in the 60th percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX 3060 Ti's 78,927 puts it in the 59th percentile — a curious statistical quirk where the lower-scoring card actually ranks slightly higher relative to the broader GPU population. This suggests that the T400's modest compute capability is still above average for all GPUs, while the RTX 3060 Ti, despite its massive lead, sits just below the 60th percentile due to the presence of even faster cards above it.

The Geekbench Vulkan test shows a smaller but still commanding lead. The RTX 3060 Ti scores 47,784 versus the T400's 16,263, a 66% delta. Vulkan is a lower-level graphics API, and while the RTX 3060 Ti still wins by a wide margin, the T400's relative performance is not as far behind as in OpenCL. The T400's Vulkan score of 16,263 is close to its OpenCL score of 17,320, indicating that the Turing card's graphics and compute performance are roughly balanced. In contrast, the RTX 3060 Ti's OpenCL score (78,927) is significantly higher than its Vulkan score (47,784), showing that its compute architecture is much stronger than its graphics-API performance relative to its own capabilities.

Overall, the RTX 3060 Ti wins both head-to-head tests, giving it a 2-0 record. The T400 fails to claim a single benchmark victory. The average benchmark score for the T400 is 16,792, while the RTX 3060 Ti averages 16,129 — a notable inversion where the T400's average is actually higher than the RTX 3060 Ti's average, despite losing both individual tests. This occurs because the RTX 3060 Ti has many more benchmark results in its profile, including lower-scoring DirectX and 2D tests that drag its average down.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3060 Ti wins decisively in every measurable performance category. Its 16.20 TFLOPS FP32 throughput dwarfs the T400's 1,094.4 GFLOPS, a difference of over 14x. The texture rate tells a similar story: 253.1 GTexel/s versus 34.20 GTexel/s. Pixel fill rates are 133.2 GPixel/s against 22.80 GPixel/s. These are not incremental improvements; they represent entirely different performance classes.

The RTX 3060 Ti also brings hardware features the T400 lacks entirely. The Ampere card has 38 RT cores and 152 tensor cores, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI workloads like DLSS. The T400 has no RT cores and no tensor cores, meaning it cannot accelerate ray tracing or tensor-based operations. For any workload involving ray-traced graphics or AI inference, the RTX 3060 Ti is not just faster — it is the only one of the two that can perform these tasks in hardware.

However, the T400 wins in power efficiency and physical footprint. Its 30 W TDP is a fraction of the RTX 3060 Ti's 200 W, and it requires no power connectors, drawing all its power from the PCIe slot. The suggested PSU for the T400 is 200 W, compared to 550 W for the RTX 3060 Ti. The T400 is single-slot, while the RTX 3060 Ti is dual-slot. For a workstation with limited space or power budget, the T400's low-profile, low-power design is a clear advantage. The T400's 3x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a outputs also support multi-monitor setups without needing additional adapters, whereas the RTX 3060 Ti offers 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on different architectures, nodes, and chip designs. The T400 uses the TU117 chip based on Turing architecture, manufactured by TSMC on a 12 nm process. The RTX 3060 Ti uses the GA104 chip based on Ampere architecture, manufactured by Samsung on an 8 nm process. This process difference is significant: 12 nm versus 8 nm allows the RTX 3060 Ti to pack far more transistors into a similar die area.

The T400's TU117 chip contains 4,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 23.5M per mm². The RTX 3060 Ti's GA104 chip contains 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die, for a density of 44.4M per mm². The Ampere card nearly doubles the transistor density while also using a larger die, resulting in over 3.7 times the total transistor count.

Memory configurations are radically different. The T400 has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus, providing 80.00 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 3060 Ti has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s — 5.6 times the bandwidth. Memory clocks also differ: the T400 runs at 1250 MHz (10 Gbps effective), while the RTX 3060 Ti runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective).

The compute resources show the scale of the gap. The T400 has 384 shading units, 24 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. The RTX 3060 Ti has 4,864 shading units, 152 TMUs, and 80 ROPs. That is 12.7 times more shading units, 6.3 times more TMUs, and 5 times more ROPs. The RTX 3060 Ti's FP16 performance is 16.20 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio with FP32, while the T400 offers 2.189 TFLOPS FP16 at a 2:1 ratio — meaning the T400's FP16 is half-rate, while the RTX 3060 Ti's is full-rate.

Clock speeds also favor the RTX 3060 Ti. Its base clock is 1410 MHz with a boost of 1665 MHz, versus the T400's 420 MHz base and 1425 MHz boost. The T400's base clock is extremely low, likely for power conservation, but its boost clock is respectable given its 30 W TDP. The bus interface differs as well: the T400 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the RTX 3060 Ti uses PCIe 4.0 x16, offering double the bandwidth for data transfers.

API support also differs. The T400 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), while the RTX 3060 Ti supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), which includes features like ray tracing and mesh shaders. Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.

The Verdict

The data clearly shows that the RTX 3060 Ti is the superior performer in every benchmark and specification category that affects speed. For any workload involving 3D rendering, gaming, video editing, or compute, the RTX 3060 Ti is the obvious choice. Its 78.1% lead in OpenCL and 66% lead in Vulkan over the T400 are decisive. The RTX 3060 Ti's 16.20 TFLOPS FP32 versus the T400's 1,094.4 GFLOPS means the Ampere card can handle workloads that would be entirely impractical on the Turing card. Its RT and tensor cores open up hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI features that the T400 cannot access at all.

The T400, however, has a legitimate place in environments where the RTX 3060 Ti cannot fit or cannot be powered. The T400's 30 W TDP, single-slot design, and lack of power connectors make it suitable for compact workstations, low-profile chassis, or systems with limited power supplies. Its 4 GB of VRAM is sufficient for basic display output, office productivity, and light 2D workloads. The T400's 3x mini-DisplayPort outputs are ideal for multi-monitor setups in financial or administrative environments.

The RTX 3060 Ti was released on 2020-11-30, while the T400 came later on 2021-05-05. Both are end-of-life products. The RTX 3060 Ti had a launch MSRP of 399 USD. The T400 has no launch MSRP listed. The RTX 3060 Ti succeeds the GeForce 20 series and is succeeded by GeForce 40, while the T400 succeeds Quadro Volta and is succeeded by Workstation Ampere.

For most users, the RTX 3060 Ti is the only rational choice. Its performance advantages are so large that the T400 cannot compete in any meaningful way. The T400 should only be selected when its low power draw, single-slot form factor, or lack of external power connectors are absolute requirements. In those niche cases, the T400's 60th percentile ranking and 16,792 average benchmark score show it is still a capable card for its class, but it is not a general-purpose performer.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the RTX 3060 Ti in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The RTX 3060 Ti scores 78,927 versus the T400's 17,320, a 78.1% lead.

Q: Does the T400 support ray tracing?

A: No. The T400 has no RT cores. The RTX 3060 Ti has 38 RT cores.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The RTX 3060 Ti provides 448.0 GB/s, while the T400 provides 80.00 GB/s — a 5.6x difference.

Q: Which card has higher transistor density?

A: The RTX 3060 Ti has 44.4M transistors per mm², versus 23.5M per mm² for the T400.

Q: What is the TDP of each card?

A: The T400 has a 30 W TDP and requires no power connectors. The RTX 3060 Ti has a 200 W TDP and uses a 1x 12-pin connector.

Q: Which card has more shading units?

A: The RTX 3060 Ti has 4,864 shading units, compared to the T400's 384 shading units.