GeForce RTX 3060 vs 256 DDR

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Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in performance rankingnot rated73
Place by popularitynot in top-1005
Cost-effectiveness evaluationno data42.63
ArchitectureCelsius (1999−2005)Ampere (2020−2022)
GPU code nameNV10 A3Ampere GA106
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date23 December 1999 (24 years ago)12 January 2021 (3 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)no data$329
Current price$157 $317 (1x MSRP)

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Detailed specifications

General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA coresno data3584
Core clock speed120 MHz1320 MHz
Boost clock speedno data1777 MHz
Number of transistors17 million13,250 million
Manufacturing process technology220 nm8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)no data170 Watt
Texture fill rate0.48199.0

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

InterfaceAGP 4xPCIe 4.0 x16
Lengthno data242 mm
Width1-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectorsNone1x 12-pin

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeDDRGDDR6
Maximum RAM amount32 MB12 GB
Memory bus width128 Bit192 Bit
Memory clock speed300 MHz15000 MHz
Memory bandwidth4.8 GB/s360.0 GB/s
Shared memoryno data-

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display Connectors1x VGA1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
HDMIno data+

API compatibility

List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX7.012 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Modelno data6.5
OpenGL1.24.6
OpenCLN/A2.0
VulkanN/A1.2
CUDAno data8.6

Pros & cons summary


Recency 23 December 1999 12 January 2021
Maximum RAM amount 32 MB 12 GB
Chip lithography 220 nm 8 nm

We couldn't decide between GeForce 256 DDR and GeForce RTX 3060. We've got no test results to judge.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

Vote for your favorite

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NVIDIA GeForce 256 DDR
GeForce 256 DDR
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
GeForce RTX 3060

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


3.4 153 votes

Rate GeForce 256 DDR on a scale of 1 to 5:

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4.1 24601 vote

Rate GeForce RTX 3060 on a scale of 1 to 5:

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Questions & comments

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