GeForce RTX 3060 8 GB vs GTX 580M SLI

Place in the ranking	431	102
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	7.29	16.32
Architecture	Fermi (2010−2014)	Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code name	N12E-GTX2	GA106
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	6 January 2011 (13 years ago)	12 October 2022 (2 years ago)

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 cores	768	3584
Core clock speed	620 MHz	1320 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	1777 MHz
Number of transistors	no data	12,000 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	170 Watt
Texture fill rate	no data	199.0
Floating-point processing power	no data	12.74 TFLOPS
ROPs	no data	48
TMUs	no data	112
Tensor Cores	no data	112
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	28

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).

Laptop size	large	no data
Interface	no data	PCIe 4.0 x16
Length	no data	242 mm
Width	no data	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	no data	1x 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 type	GDDR5	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	no data	8 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	1500 MHz	1875 MHz
Memory bandwidth	no data	240.0 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 Connectors	no data	1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
HDMI	-	+

API compatibility

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

DirectX	11	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	no data	6.7
OpenGL	no data	4.6
OpenCL	no data	3.0
Vulkan	-	1.3
CUDA	-	8.6

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

900p	76 −268%	280−290 +268%
Full HD	89 −237%	300−350 +237%
1200p	81 −270%	300−350 +270%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

16−18

−275%

60−65
+275%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	24−27 −275%	90−95 +275%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	14−16 −267%	55−60 +267%
Battlefield 5	30−35 −255%	110−120 +255%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	20−22 −275%	75−80 +275%
Cyberpunk 2077	16−18 −275%	60−65 +275%
Far Cry 5	21−24 −270%	85−90 +270%
Far Cry New Dawn	27−30 −257%	100−105 +257%
Forza Horizon 4	65−70 −273%	250−260 +273%
Hitman 3	18−20 −268%	70−75 +268%
Horizon Zero Dawn	55−60 −264%	200−210 +264%
Metro Exodus	30−35 −275%	120−130 +275%
Red Dead Redemption 2	27−30 −257%	100−105 +257%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	30−35 −264%	120−130 +264%
Watch Dogs: Legion	60−65 −265%	230−240 +265%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	24−27 −275%	90−95 +275%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	14−16 −267%	55−60 +267%
Battlefield 5	30−35 −255%	110−120 +255%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	20−22 −275%	75−80 +275%
Cyberpunk 2077	16−18 −275%	60−65 +275%
Far Cry 5	21−24 −270%	85−90 +270%
Far Cry New Dawn	27−30 −257%	100−105 +257%
Forza Horizon 4	65−70 −273%	250−260 +273%
Hitman 3	18−20 −268%	70−75 +268%
Horizon Zero Dawn	55−60 −264%	200−210 +264%
Metro Exodus	30−35 −275%	120−130 +275%
Red Dead Redemption 2	27−30 −257%	100−105 +257%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	30−35 −264%	120−130 +264%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	27−30 −270%	100−105 +270%
Watch Dogs: Legion	60−65 −265%	230−240 +265%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	24−27 −275%	90−95 +275%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	14−16 −267%	55−60 +267%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	20−22 −275%	75−80 +275%
Cyberpunk 2077	16−18 −275%	60−65 +275%
Far Cry 5	21−24 −270%	85−90 +270%
Forza Horizon 4	65−70 −273%	250−260 +273%
Hitman 3	18−20 −268%	70−75 +268%
Horizon Zero Dawn	55−60 −264%	200−210 +264%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	30−35 −264%	120−130 +264%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	27−30 −270%	100−105 +270%
Watch Dogs: Legion	60−65 −265%	230−240 +265%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

27−30
−257%

100−105

+257%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	18−20 −268%	70−75 +268%
Far Cry New Dawn	14−16 −267%	55−60 +267%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−11 −250%	35−40 +250%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	6−7 −250%	21−24 +250%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10−11 −250%	35−40 +250%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 −260%	18−20 +260%
Far Cry 5	12−14 −275%	45−50 +275%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 −278%	170−180 +278%
Hitman 3	12−14 −246%	45−50 +246%
Horizon Zero Dawn	21−24 −257%	75−80 +257%
Metro Exodus	14−16 −267%	55−60 +267%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	12−14 −246%	45−50 +246%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−11 −250%	35−40 +250%
Watch Dogs: Legion	60−65 −265%	230−240 +265%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

16−18

−253%

60−65
+253%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	9−10 −233%	30−33 +233%
Far Cry New Dawn	7−8 −243%	24−27 +243%
Hitman 3	6−7 −250%	21−24 +250%
Horizon Zero Dawn	40−45 −272%	160−170 +272%
Metro Exodus	8−9 −275%	30−33 +275%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	7−8 −243%	24−27 +243%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	6−7 −250%	21−24 +250%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	4−5 −250%	14−16 +250%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	5−6 −260%	18−20 +260%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 −200%	3−4 +200%
Far Cry 5	5−6 −260%	18−20 +260%
Forza Horizon 4	12−14 −275%	45−50 +275%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	7−8 −243%	24−27 +243%
Watch Dogs: Legion	4−5 −250%	14−16 +250%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

9−10
−233%

30−33

+233%

This is how GTX 580M SLI and RTX 3060 8 GB compete in popular games:

RTX 3060 8 GB is 268% faster in 900p
RTX 3060 8 GB is 237% faster in 1080p
RTX 3060 8 GB is 270% faster in 1200p

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	10.48	39.90
Recency	6 January 2011	12 October 2022
Chip lithography	40 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	170 Watt

GTX 580M SLI has 70% lower power consumption.

RTX 3060 8 GB, on the other hand, has a 280.7% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 11 years, and a 400% more advanced lithography process.

The GeForce RTX 3060 8 GB is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 580M SLI in performance tests.

Be aware that GeForce GTX 580M SLI is a notebook card while GeForce RTX 3060 8 GB is a desktop one.

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