NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 and RTX 3060 Ti are two closely related Ampere-generation graphics cards, both built on the GA104 chip. While they share the same architectural foundation and memory configuration, the benchmark data reveals a consistent performance hierarchy, with the RTX 3070 winning the vast majority of tests, but with one notable exception where the RTX 3060 Ti takes a surprising lead.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The RTX 3070 establishes its dominance in the most demanding modern workloads. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, it scores 3162 against the RTX 3060 Ti's 2626, a commanding 20.4% advantage. This is the largest margin of victory in the entire head-to-head set, indicating that the RTX 3070's additional compute resources translate directly into better raw performance in next-generation rendering scenarios.

The Geekbench OpenCL benchmark shows an even more decisive gap. The RTX 3070 posts a score of 112821, which is a massive 42.9% higher than the RTX 3060 Ti's 78927. This substantial lead in a general-purpose compute test suggests the RTX 3070 is significantly better suited for tasks that leverage the GPU's parallel processing capabilities beyond pure gaming, such as content creation or scientific workloads.

Across the Passmark suite, the RTX 3070 maintains a steady but smaller advantage. In the DirectX 11 test, it scores 182 versus 163, an 11.7% lead. The DirectX 10 and DirectX 12 tests show similar patterns, with the RTX 3070 winning by 13.6% (150 vs 132) and 9% (85 vs 78), respectively. The DirectX 9 result is the closest of the DirectX tests, with the RTX 3070's 247 score edging out the RTX 3060 Ti's 234 by just 5.6%. The overall Passmark G3D score gives the RTX 3070 a 9.2% win (22214 vs 20349), and the GPU Compute test shows an 11.9% advantage (11195 vs 10006). Even the 2D test shows a narrow 1.2% win for the RTX 3070 (1001 vs 989).

The single exception to the RTX 3070's sweep comes in the Geekbench Vulkan test. Here, the RTX 3060 Ti scores 47784, which is a staggering 56% higher than the RTX 3070's 21022. This is an enormous inversion of the expected performance order and is the RTX 3060 Ti's only victory across the ten benchmarks, giving it a 1-9 record in the head-to-head comparison. This result is particularly striking because it is not a close call but a blowout in favor of the lower-tier card, suggesting a potential driver-level or test-specific optimization that heavily favors the RTX 3060 Ti in this particular API.

Architecture Differences

Both cards are built on the same fundamental architecture, which makes their performance differences purely a matter of configuration. They share the GA104 chip, the Ampere architecture, and are fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. Both have the identical transistor count of 17,400 million and the same die size of 392 mm², resulting in a transistor density of 44.4M per mm². This means the silicon is essentially the same, but the RTX 3070 is a more fully-featured implementation of that chip.

The core differences are in the number of active execution units. The RTX 3070 has 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs. The RTX 3060 Ti is cut down, with 4864 shading units, 152 TMUs, and 80 ROPs. This represents a 21% reduction in shading units and TMUs, and a 17% reduction in ROPs. This directly explains the RTX 3070's lead in most synthetic benchmarks, as it has more hardware to work with.

The ray tracing and tensor core counts follow the same pattern. The RTX 3070 features 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores, while the RTX 3060 Ti has 38 RT cores and 152 tensor cores. This means the RTX 3070 has more dedicated hardware for ray-traced lighting effects and AI-accelerated features like DLSS, which could give it an edge in games that utilize these technologies.

The memory subsystem is identical. Both cards use 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, with the same 1750 MHz memory clock and 14 Gbps effective speed, yielding a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. This means memory capacity and speed are not differentiating factors between these two cards.

Clock speeds show a modest difference. The RTX 3070 has a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz, while the RTX 3060 Ti runs at 1410 MHz base and 1665 MHz boost. This gives the RTX 3070 a 90 MHz advantage at base and a 60 MHz advantage at boost, contributing to its higher peak performance. The resulting pixel rate is 165.6 GPixel/s for the RTX 3070 versus 133.2 GPixel/s for the RTX 3060 Ti, and the texture rate is 317.4 GTexel/s versus 253.1 GTexel/s. The FP32 compute throughput is 20.31 TFLOPS for the RTX 3070 and 16.20 TFLOPS for the RTX 3060 Ti, a 25.4% difference that mirrors the shading unit count.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 has a higher average benchmark score of 17208, compared to 16129 for the RTX 3060 Ti.

Q: Is the RTX 3070 always faster than the RTX 3060 Ti?

A: No. While the RTX 3070 wins 9 out of 10 head-to-head tests, the RTX 3060 Ti wins the Geekbench Vulkan test by a significant 56% margin.

Q: How does the memory configuration compare between the two cards?

A: The memory configuration is identical. Both cards feature 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: What is the difference in power consumption?

A: The RTX 3070 has a TDP of 220 W, while the RTX 3060 Ti has a lower TDP of 200 W. Both require a 550 W power supply and use a single 12-pin power connector.

Q: Are these cards based on the same physical chip?

A: Yes, both are based on the GA104 chip using the Ampere architecture, fabricated on Samsung's 8 nm process with 17,400 million transistors.

Q: Which card has more ray tracing cores?

A: The RTX 3070 has 46 RT cores, while the RTX 3060 Ti has 38 RT cores.

Specification Differences

• Shading Units: The RTX 3070 has 5888, while the RTX 3060 Ti has 4864.
• TMUs: The RTX 3070 has 184, while the RTX 3060 Ti has 152.
• ROPs: The RTX 3070 has 96, while the RTX 3060 Ti has 80.
• RT Cores: The RTX 3070 has 46, while the RTX 3060 Ti has 38.
• Tensor Cores: The RTX 3070 has 184, while the RTX 3060 Ti has 152.
• Base Clock: The RTX 3070 is 1500 MHz, the RTX 3060 Ti is 1410 MHz.
• Boost Clock: The RTX 3070 is 1725 MHz, the RTX 3060 Ti is 1665 MHz.
• Pixel Rate: The RTX 3070 is 165.6 GPixel/s, the RTX 3060 Ti is 133.2 GPixel/s.
• Texture Rate: The RTX 3070 is 317.4 GTexel/s, the RTX 3060 Ti is 253.1 GTexel/s.
• FP32 Performance: The RTX 3070 is 20.31 TFLOPS, the RTX 3060 Ti is 16.20 TFLOPS.
• TDP: The RTX 3070 is 220 W, the RTX 3060 Ti is 200 W.
• Release Date: The RTX 3070 was released on 2020-08-31, the RTX 3060 Ti on 2020-11-30.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3070 is the clear winner for raw performance and is the better choice for users who want maximum frame rates in the most demanding games, especially those that utilize DX12 features. Its 20.4% lead in 3DMark Steel Nomad and 9.2% lead in Passmark G3D indicate it is the more capable card for high-resolution or high-refresh-rate gaming. Its substantial 42.9% advantage in Geekbench OpenCL also makes it the better option for GPU-accelerated compute tasks outside of gaming, such as video rendering or machine learning workloads. The higher number of RT and tensor cores also suggests it will handle ray-traced titles and DLSS-enabled games with more headroom.

The RTX 3060 Ti's only victory is in the Geekbench Vulkan test, where it beats the RTX 3070 by a massive 56%. This suggests that for applications or games that are heavily optimized for the Vulkan API, the RTX 3060 Ti could deliver unexpectedly superior performance. However, this is the sole exception in the data. For everything else, the RTX 3070 is the stronger performer.

The RTX 3060 Ti also has a lower TDP of 200 W versus 220 W, making it a slightly more power-efficient card. Its launch MSRP was 399 USD, compared to 499 USD for the RTX 3070. In terms of overall percentile ranking, the RTX 3070 sits in the 61st percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX 3060 Ti is in the 59th percentile. The RTX 3070's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (0.7% faster) and the NVIDIA Tesla K40c (1.5% faster), while the RTX 3060 Ti sits close to the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (0.7% faster) and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (1.4% slower). In summary, the RTX 3070 is the definitive performance pick, with the RTX 3060 Ti serving as a more power-conscious alternative with a single but significant Vulkan-specific strength.