NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 vs NVIDIA Quadro K6000 Comparison

The NVIDIA Quadro K6000 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 represent two distinct eras of GPU design, separated by a decade of architectural evolution. The K6000 was a professional-grade Kepler part from 2013, while the RTX 4060 is a mainstream Ada Lovelace card from 2023. The benchmark data shows a decisive shift in performance, but the comparison reveals more than just raw speed differences.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head results are lopsided, with the RTX 4060 winning both available comparisons. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the RTX 4060 scores 95,057 against the K6000’s 23,749, a staggering 75% advantage. This is not a marginal improvement; it is a generational leap. The K6000’s Kepler architecture, with its 2,880 shading units, simply cannot keep pace with the Ada Lovelace design’s efficiency in compute-heavy workloads.

The Vulkan results tell a similar story, though with a smaller margin. The RTX 4060 posts 48,643 points, while the K6000 manages 25,409. That is a 47.8% lead for the newer card. Vulkan is a modern API, and the K6000’s support for version 1.2.175 (versus the RTX 4060’s 1.4) likely contributes to this gap. The older card was not designed for the multi-threaded, low-overhead nature of Vulkan, and the data reflects that handicap.

Looking at the broader benchmark averages, the picture becomes more nuanced. The K6000’s average score across all tests is 19,030, placing it in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs. The RTX 4060’s average is 17,639, which lands in the 61st percentile. Despite losing the head-to-head tests, the K6000 actually holds a slight edge in the aggregate average—about 7.9% higher. This discrepancy is explained by the benchmark suites. The K6000 was tested on Geekbench Metal, OpenCL, and Vulkan, while the RTX 4060’s average includes a broader range of tests, including PassMark DirectX 9, 10, 11, and 12 scores, many of which are lower. The PassMark DirectX 9 score of 236 and DirectX 12 score of 76 drag down the RTX 4060’s average, even though its OpenCL and Vulkan results are far superior.

The nearest rivals for each card highlight their respective competitive landscapes. The K6000’s closest competitor is the AMD Radeon RX 6600, with a delta of just 0% (19,036 vs. 19,030). The RTX 4060’s nearest rival is the AMD Radeon HD 7790, a much older card, with a delta of -0.2% (17,666 vs. 17,639). This suggests the RTX 4060’s average score is being pulled down by legacy tests, while the K6000’s score benefits from a more modern test selection. In practical terms, the RTX 4060 is the clear winner in contemporary workloads, as evidenced by its 4x score in OpenCL and nearly 2x score in Vulkan.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro K6000 has a higher average benchmark score of 19,030, compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060’s 17,639. The K6000 also sits in a higher percentile rank at 63%, versus the RTX 4060’s 61%.

Q: Does the RTX 4060 win in all head-to-head comparisons?

A: Yes, the RTX 4060 wins both head-to-head tests. It leads by 75% in Geekbench OpenCL and by 47.8% in Geekbench Vulkan. The K6000 does not win a single head-to-head benchmark.

Q: What is the difference in memory bandwidth?

A: The K6000 has a memory bandwidth of 288.4 GB/s, while the RTX 4060 has 272.0 GB/s. Despite having a narrower 128-bit bus, the RTX 4060’s GDDR6 memory at 17 Gbps effective nearly matches the K6000’s 384-bit GDDR5 at 6 Gbps effective.

Q: How do their transistor densities compare?

A: The RTX 4060 has a transistor density of 118.9M per mm², which is nearly 10 times higher than the K6000’s 12.6M per mm². This is a direct result of the process node difference: 5 nm for Ada Lovelace versus 28 nm for Kepler.

Q: Which card supports ray tracing?

A: Only the RTX 4060 supports ray tracing, featuring 24 RT cores. The K6000 has no RT cores listed, as Kepler predates hardware-accelerated ray tracing.

Q: What is the TDP difference?

A: The RTX 4060 has a TDP of 115 W, which is less than half of the K6000’s 225 W. This makes the newer card far more power-efficient, requiring a 300 W PSU versus the K6000’s 550 W recommendation.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on radically different architectures. The K6000 uses the Kepler design with the GK110B chip, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 7,080 million transistors onto a massive 561 mm² die, resulting in a low transistor density of 12.6M per mm². The RTX 4060, in contrast, uses the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD107 chip, built on a 5 nm process, also at TSMC. It crams 18,900 million transistors into a much smaller 159 mm² die, achieving a density of 118.9M per mm². This density difference is the single largest architectural gap, enabling the RTX 4060 to deliver far more compute per watt.

The memory subsystems also diverge significantly. The K6000 has 12 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, yielding 288.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 4060 has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, but its faster 17 Gbps effective memory speed brings bandwidth to 272.0 GB/s. The newer card sacrifices capacity and bus width but compensates with higher clocked memory. The K6000’s larger frame buffer was designed for professional workloads, while the RTX 4060’s smaller pool is typical for consumer gaming.

Compute capabilities are starkly different. The K6000 has 2,880 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, with a peak FP32 performance of 5.196 TFLOPS. The RTX 4060 has 3,072 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, but its FP32 performance is 15.11 TFLOPS—nearly three times higher. The RTX 4060 also supports FP16 at a 1:1 ratio (15.11 TFLOPS), while the K6000 has no listed FP16 capability. The RTX 4060 adds 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores, which are absent on the K6000, enabling features like ray tracing and DLSS that the older card cannot handle.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear verdict for different use cases. The RTX 4060 is the superior choice for anyone running modern APIs or compute workloads. Its OpenCL score is 4x higher, and its Vulkan score is nearly double. The 5 nm process, higher clock speeds (1,830 MHz base vs. 797 MHz), and dedicated RT/tensor cores make it the only viable option for contemporary gaming or AI-adjacent tasks. The 75% lead in OpenCL and 47.8% lead in Vulkan are not marginal—they are decisive.

The K6000, however, retains relevance in specific legacy scenarios. Its higher average benchmark score (19,030 vs. 17,639) and larger 12 GB frame buffer could appeal to users running older professional applications that favor memory capacity over raw compute. Its 63rd percentile ranking, compared to the RTX 4060’s 61st, suggests it still holds its own in a broader benchmark suite. But the K6000 is end-of-life, with a launch MSRP of 5,265 USD, and its DirectX 12 (11_1) support is outdated.

For most buyers, the RTX 4060 is the obvious pick. It delivers more than double the FP32 performance (15.11 vs. 5.196 TFLOPS), supports modern APIs like DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, and does so at a fraction of the power draw (115 W vs. 225 W). The K6000’s only advantages are its memory capacity and marginally higher average score, which are unlikely to outweigh the RTX 4060’s transformative performance gains in any current workload.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every specification. The process node is the most fundamental: 28 nm for the K6000 versus 5 nm for the RTX 4060. This drives the transistor count (7,080 million vs. 18,900 million) and die size (561 mm² vs. 159 mm²). The RTX 4060’s base clock is 1,830 MHz, more than double the K6000’s 797 MHz, and its boost clock reaches 2,460 MHz versus 902 MHz.

Memory configurations differ in size (12 GB vs. 8 GB), type (GDDR5 vs. GDDR6), and bus width (384-bit vs. 128-bit). The K6000 has a slight bandwidth edge (288.4 GB/s vs. 272.0 GB/s) but uses older memory technology. Shading units are close (2,880 vs. 3,072), but the RTX 4060 has far fewer TMUs (96 vs. 240) while maintaining the same 48 ROPs. The RTX 4060’s FP32 performance is 15.11 TFLOPS, nearly triple the K6000’s 5.196 TFLOPS, and it adds FP16 support at 15.11 TFLOPS.

Power requirements are dramatically different: the K6000 draws 225 W and needs a 550 W PSU with two 6-pin connectors, while the RTX 4060 draws 115 W and needs a 300 W PSU with a single 12-pin connector. The bus interface also differs (PCIe 3.0 x16 vs. PCIe 4.0 x8), as do display outputs (2x DVI and 2x DisplayPort 1.2 vs. 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a). The RTX 4060 is shorter at 240 mm versus the K6000’s 267 mm, though both are dual-slot and 111 mm in height.