GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104 vs GTX 470

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Primary details

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

Place in the ranking515not rated
Place by popularitynot in top-10051
Cost-effectiveness evaluation1.28no data
Power efficiency2.61no data
ArchitectureFermi (2010−2014)Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code nameGF100GA104
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date26 March 2010 (14 years ago)1 September 2021 (3 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$349 $329

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores4483584
Core clock speed607 MHz1320 MHz
Boost clock speedno data1777 MHz
Number of transistors3,100 million17,400 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)215 Watt170 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature105 °Cno data
Texture fill rate34.05199.0
Floating-point processing power1.089 TFLOPS12.74 TFLOPS
ROPs4048
TMUs56112
Tensor Coresno data112
Ray Tracing Coresno data28

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).

Bus support16x PCI-E 2.0no data
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x16
Length241 mm242 mm
Height4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pin1x 12-pin
SLI options+-

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 typeGDDR5GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount1280 MB12 GB
Memory bus width320 Bit192 Bit
Memory clock speed1674 MHz (3348 data rate)1875 MHz
Memory bandwidth133.9 GB/s360.0 GB/s
Shared memory--

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 ConnectorsTwo Dual Link DVIMini HDMI1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
Multi monitor support+no data
HDMI++
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
Audio input for HDMIInternalno data

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX12 (11_0)12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model5.16.6
OpenGL4.24.6
OpenCL1.13.0
VulkanN/A1.3
CUDA+8.6

Pros & cons summary


Recency 26 March 2010 1 September 2021
Maximum RAM amount 1280 MB 12 GB
Chip lithography 40 nm 8 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 215 Watt 170 Watt

RTX 3060 12 GB GA104 has an age advantage of 11 years, a 860% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 400% more advanced lithography process, and 26.5% lower power consumption.

We couldn't decide between GeForce GTX 470 and GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104. 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 470
GeForce GTX 470
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104
GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104

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Community ratings

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