GeForce RTX 3060 vs GTX 1660 Max-Q

Primary details

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

Place in performance rankingnot rated71
Place by popularitynot in top-1005
Cost-effectiveness evaluationno data42.67
ArchitectureTuring (2018−2021)Ampere (2020−2022)
GPU code nameTU116Ampere GA106
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release dateno data12 January 2021 (3 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$229 $329
Current price$1649 (7.2x MSRP)$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 speed1140 MHz1320 MHz
Boost clock speed1335 MHz1777 MHz
Number of transistors6,600 million13,250 million
Manufacturing process technology12 nm8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)no data170 Watt
Texture fill rateno data199.0

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).

InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x16
Length229 mm242 mm
Widthno data2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin1x 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 typeno dataGDDR6
Maximum RAM amountno data12 GB
Memory bus widthno data192 Bit
Memory clock speed8000 MHz15000 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data360.0 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 DVI, 1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
HDMI++

API compatibility

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

DirectX12.0 (12_1)12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Modelno data6.5
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCLno data2.0
Vulkanno data1.2
CUDAno data8.6

Pros & cons summary


Cost $229 $329
Chip lithography 12 nm 8 nm

We couldn't decide between GeForce GTX 1660 Max-Q 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.

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Max-Q
GeForce GTX 1660 Max-Q
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
GeForce RTX 3060

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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Community ratings

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3.9 15 votes

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4.1 24865 votes

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

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Questions & comments

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