NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data splits these two Ampere GPUs into very different roles. The desktop NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 wins 9 of the 10 head-to-head tests, and it wins them by substantial margins in almost every category. The single exception is Geekbench Vulkan, where the Mobile version posts a score of 86,768 versus 21,022 for the desktop card, a massive 312.7% advantage. That one result is the entire basis for the Mobile card's win count, and it is worth treating with caution. Every other recorded workload, from DX12 to compute to legacy DX9, favors the desktop part.

The desktop RTX 3070's wins span the full range of the test suite. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 it scores 3,162 against 2,380, a 24.7% lead. In Passmark G3D it reaches 22,214 versus 15,309, a 31.1% gap. The largest desktop advantage is in Passmark GPU Compute at 39%, and the smallest is in Passmark DirectX 11 at 24.2%. Even 2D performance favors the desktop card: Passmark G2D shows 1,001 versus 641, a 36% difference. The pattern is consistent: the desktop card delivers roughly a quarter to nearly two-fifths more performance across the board, except for that Vulkan anomaly.

The Mobile card's single Vulkan win is not a sign of general superiority. It is an isolated result in one API test, and it does not carry over into OpenCL, where the desktop card leads by 17.6%. For a builder choosing between these two, the practical takeaway is that the desktop RTX 3070 is the stronger performer in almost every measurable scenario, especially for modern DX12 titles, compute workloads, and even basic 2D desktop responsiveness. The Mobile card's Vulkan score suggests it may have a specific strength in that API, but the rest of the data points firmly toward the desktop card for general use.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous for most users. If you are building a desktop system and can accommodate a dual-slot, 220 W card with a 12-pin power connector and a 550 W suggested PSU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is the clear choice. It wins 9 of 10 benchmarks, leads by at least 17.6% in every non-Vulkan test, and reaches an average benchmark score of 17,208. Its percentile ranking among all GPUs is 61, which puts it slightly below the Mobile card's 65th percentile, but that ranking is dragged down by the anomalous Vulkan result. The desktop card's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT at 0.7% behind and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 at 1% behind, which shows it sits in a competitive but solid position for its class.

The Mobile RTX 3070 is the pick only for a very specific scenario. If you need a laptop GPU and cannot use a desktop card, it offers 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, the same 256-bit bus and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth as the desktop card, and a far lower 115 W TDP. Its average benchmark score of 20,534 is actually higher than the desktop card's average, entirely because of the 312.7% Vulkan lead. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc B570 at 0.1% behind and the Intel Arc A750 at 0.2% behind, which places it in a tight pack near the top of its mobile segment. For users who specifically target Vulkan workloads, the Mobile card is the one to choose. For everyone else, the desktop card's consistent wins in DX12, compute, and legacy APIs make it the better buy, assuming a desktop form factor is acceptable.

The launch MSRP for the desktop RTX 3070 is 499 USD. The Mobile card has no launch MSRP recorded, so price comparison is not possible from the data. The desktop card is end-of-life, as is the Mobile card, so both are legacy parts now. The desktop card's successor is the GeForce 40 series, while the Mobile card has no recorded successor. Neither card should be chosen for future-proofing; both are at the end of their production life.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The biggest desktop win is in Passmark GPU Compute. The RTX 3070 scores 11,195 against 6,827, a 39% lead. This is the largest margin in the entire comparison and indicates a major advantage in general-purpose compute tasks such as rendering, physics simulation, or any workload that offloads math to the GPU. The Mobile card's compute score of 6,827 is respectable for a laptop part, but it is clearly not in the same class.

The second-largest desktop win is in Passmark G2D, where the desktop card scores 1,001 versus 641, a 36% lead. This is notable because 2D performance is often ignored in GPU comparisons, but it affects desktop responsiveness, window compositing, and basic display output. The desktop card also wins Passmark DirectX 9 by 35.2%, scoring 247 against 160. Legacy API performance matters for older games and applications, and the desktop card handles them with ease.

In modern workloads, the desktop card leads 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 by 24.7%, scoring 3,162 versus 2,380. Passmark DirectX 12 shows a matching 24.7% lead, with 85 versus 64. Passmark DirectX 11 is nearly identical at 24.2%, with 182 versus 138. Passmark DirectX 10 also comes in at 24.7%, with 150 versus 113. These consistent margins across DX10, DX11, and DX12 suggest the desktop card's advantage is structural, not workload-specific. The desktop card also wins Geekbench OpenCL by 17.6%, scoring 112,821 versus 92,939.

The single Mobile win is Geekbench Vulkan, where it scores 86,768 versus 21,022. The 312.7% delta is the largest in the entire comparison by a wide margin. This result is unusual enough that it may reflect driver-level differences or benchmark-specific behavior rather than a fundamental architectural advantage. The Mobile card's Vulkan score is more than four times the desktop card's, but this does not appear anywhere else in the test suite. No other benchmark shows the Mobile card ahead, including compute-heavy tests where one might expect a similar pattern. Treat this result as a curiosity unless your specific workload is Vulkan-heavy.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins more benchmarks?

A: The desktop NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 wins 9 of 10 head-to-head benchmarks. The Mobile version wins only Geekbench Vulkan.

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

A: The largest gap is in Passmark GPU Compute, where the desktop card leads by 39%, scoring 11,195 versus 6,827. The largest Mobile lead is in Geekbench Vulkan at 312.7%, but that is the only test it wins.

Q: How do the average benchmark scores compare?

A: The Mobile card has a higher average benchmark score at 20,534, while the desktop card averages 17,208. This is driven entirely by the Mobile card's extreme Vulkan result. Excluding that test, the desktop card leads in every other workload.

Q: Do both cards use the same memory configuration?

A: Yes. Both have 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth and 14 Gbps effective memory speed.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The Mobile card has a 115 W TDP and requires no power connectors. The desktop card has a 220 W TDP, uses a single 12-pin connector, and has a suggested PSU of 550 W.

Q: Are these cards still in production?

A: No. Both are marked end-of-life. The desktop card's successor is the GeForce 40 series, while the Mobile card has no recorded successor.

Architecture Differences

Both GPUs use the same GA104 chip on Samsung's 8 nm process, with 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die and a transistor density of 44.4 million per mm². The architecture is Ampere for both, and both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The PCIe interface is PCIe 4.0 x16 on both. This is a comparison of the same underlying silicon in two different power envelopes, not a generational or architectural difference.

The desktop card has more of every compute resource. It packs 5,888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, 96 ROPs, 46 ray tracing cores, and 184 tensor cores. The Mobile card has 5,120 shading units, 160 TMUs, 80 ROPs, 40 RT cores, and 160 tensor cores. The desktop card's advantage in raw hardware is roughly 13 to 15% more of each unit type, which explains its consistent lead in most benchmarks. The clock speeds reinforce this: the desktop card runs at a 1,500 MHz base and 1,725 MHz boost, while the Mobile card runs at 1,110 MHz base and 1,560 MHz boost.

The Mobile card's lower clocks and fewer units cut its peak throughput significantly. Its FP32 performance is 15.97 TFLOPS, and its FP16 performance is the same at 15.97 TFLOPS. The desktop card reaches 20.31 TFLOPS in both FP32 and FP16. Pixel rate is 124.8 GPixel/s for the Mobile card versus 165.6 GPixel/s for the desktop card. Texture rate is 249.6 GTexel/s versus 317.4 GTexel/s. These are direct consequences of the lower clock speeds and reduced unit counts, and they show up in the benchmark deltas.

The Mobile card's only structural advantage is its power efficiency in a portable form factor. Its 115 W TDP is less than half the desktop card's 220 W, and it requires no power connectors because it is designed to draw power through the laptop's motherboard. The desktop card needs a 12-pin connector and a 550 W PSU. This is not a performance advantage, but it is a meaningful difference for anyone choosing between a laptop and a desktop system.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in clocks, compute resources, power, physical design, and display outputs. The desktop RTX 3070 has a base clock of 1,500 MHz and a boost clock of 1,725 MHz. The Mobile card has a base clock of 1,110 MHz and a boost clock of 1,560 MHz. Memory clocks are identical at 1,750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective speed, and both use 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth.

The desktop card has 5,888 shading units, 184 TMUs, 96 ROPs, 46 RT cores, and 184 tensor cores. The Mobile card has 5,120 shading units, 160 TMUs, 80 ROPs, 40 RT cores, and 160 tensor cores. Pixel rate is 165.6 GPixel/s on the desktop versus 124.8 GPixel/s on the Mobile. Texture rate is 317.4 GTexel/s versus 249.6 GTexel/s. FP32 and FP16 are both 20.31 TFLOPS on the desktop and 15.97 TFLOPS on the Mobile.

Power and physical design differ substantially. The desktop card has a 220 W TDP, a dual-slot cooler, a single 12-pin power connector, and a suggested PSU of 550 W. It measures 242 mm long and 112 mm tall. The Mobile card has a 115 W TDP, no power connectors, and no recorded dimensions because it is a portable device dependent part. Display outputs on the desktop are 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the Mobile card's outputs are listed simply as portable device dependent.

Release timing and lineage also differ. The desktop card was released on 2020-08-31 and belongs to the GeForce 30 generation. Its predecessor is the GeForce 20 series, and its successor is the GeForce 40 series. The Mobile card was released on 2021-01-11 and belongs to the GeForce 30 Mobile generation. Its predecessor is the GeForce 20 Mobile series, and it has no recorded successor. Both use the same GA104 chip, 8 nm Samsung process, and 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die, so the specification differences are entirely in clocks, enabled units, power envelope, and physical design.