GeForce RTX 3060 vs GTX 690

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 690 and GeForce RTX 3060, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

GTX 690
2012
4 GB (4 GB per GPU) GDDR5 GDDR5, 300 Watt
12.21

RTX 3060 outperforms GTX 690 by a whopping 213% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking38190
Place by popularitynot in top-1004
Cost-effectiveness evaluation1.2667.85
Power efficiency3.2217.78
ArchitectureKepler (2012−2018)Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code nameGK104GA106
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date3 May 2012 (12 years ago)12 January 2021 (4 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$999 $329

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.

RTX 3060 has 5285% better value for money than GTX 690.

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 cores3072 ×23584
Core clock speed915 MHz1320 MHz
Boost clock speed1019 MHz1777 MHz
Number of transistors3,540 million12,000 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)300 Watt170 Watt
Texture fill rate130.4 ×2199.0
Floating-point processing power3.13 TFLOPS ×212.74 TFLOPS
ROPs32 ×248
TMUs128 ×2112
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 supportPCI Express 3.0no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x16
Length279 mm242 mm
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 8-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 amount4 GB (4 GB per GPU) GDDR5 ×212 GB
Memory bus width512-bit (256-bit per GPU) ×2192 Bit
Memory clock speed1502 MHz1875 MHz
Memory bandwidth384 GB/s ×2360.0 GB/s
Shared memory--
Resizable BAR-+

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 DVI-I. One Dual link DVI-D. One Mini-Displayport 1.21x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
Multi monitor support4 displaysno data
HDMIYes (via dongle)+
HDCP+-
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
Audio input for HDMIInternalno data

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

3D Blu-Ray+-
3D Gaming+-
3D Vision Live+-

API and SDK compatibility

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

DirectX12 (11_0)12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model5.16.7
OpenGL4.24.6
OpenCL1.23.0
Vulkan1.1.1261.3
CUDA+8.6
DLSS-+

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score.

GTX 690 12.21
RTX 3060 38.23
+213%

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

GTX 690 5457
RTX 3060 17085
+213%

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

GTX 690 13160
RTX 3060 21379
+62.5%

GeekBench 5 OpenCL

Geekbench 5 is a widespread graphics card benchmark combined from 11 different test scenarios. All these scenarios rely on direct usage of GPU's processing power, no 3D rendering is involved. This variation uses OpenCL API by Khronos Group.

GTX 690 18201
RTX 3060 88251
+385%

GeekBench 5 Vulkan

Geekbench 5 is a widespread graphics card benchmark combined from 11 different test scenarios. All these scenarios rely on direct usage of GPU's processing power, no 3D rendering is involved. This variation uses Vulkan API by AMD & Khronos Group.

GTX 690 14979
RTX 3060 89918
+500%

GeekBench 5 CUDA

Geekbench 5 is a widespread graphics card benchmark combined from 11 different test scenarios. All these scenarios rely on direct usage of GPU's processing power, no 3D rendering is involved. This variation uses CUDA API by NVIDIA.

GTX 690 12263
RTX 3060 98715
+705%

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:

Full HD35−40
−229%
115
+229%
1440p21−24
−219%
67
+219%
4K12−14
−258%
43
+258%

Cost per frame, $

1080p28.54
−898%
2.86
+898%
1440p47.57
−869%
4.91
+869%
4K83.25
−988%
7.65
+988%
  • RTX 3060 has 898% lower cost per frame in 1080p
  • RTX 3060 has 869% lower cost per frame in 1440p
  • RTX 3060 has 988% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Atomic Heart 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 230−240
+0%
230−240
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 79
+0%
79
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Atomic Heart 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Battlefield 5 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 230−240
+0%
230−240
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 78
+0%
78
+0%
Far Cry 5 146
+0%
146
+0%
Fortnite 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 124
+0%
124
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%
Valorant 230−240
+0%
230−240
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Atomic Heart 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Battlefield 5 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 230−240
+0%
230−240
+0%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 270−280
+0%
270−280
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 75
+0%
75
+0%
Dota 2 156
+0%
156
+0%
Far Cry 5 135
+0%
135
+0%
Fortnite 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 110
+0%
110
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 141
+0%
141
+0%
Metro Exodus 81
+0%
81
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 179
+0%
179
+0%
Valorant 230−240
+0%
230−240
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 64
+0%
64
+0%
Dota 2 147
+0%
147
+0%
Far Cry 5 127
+0%
127
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 87
+0%
87
+0%
Valorant 230−240
+0%
230−240
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Fortnite 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 280−290
+0%
280−290
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 81
+0%
81
+0%
Metro Exodus 50
+0%
50
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%
Valorant 260−270
+0%
260−270
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 39
+0%
39
+0%
Far Cry 5 94
+0%
94
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 72
+0%
72
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Fortnite 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%

4K
High Preset

Atomic Heart 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 82
+0%
82
+0%
Metro Exodus 32
+0%
32
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 65
+0%
65
+0%
Valorant 240−250
+0%
240−250
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 18
+0%
18
+0%
Dota 2 115
+0%
115
+0%
Far Cry 5 48
+0%
48
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Fortnite 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%

This is how GTX 690 and RTX 3060 compete in popular games:

  • RTX 3060 is 229% faster in 1080p
  • RTX 3060 is 219% faster in 1440p
  • RTX 3060 is 258% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 63 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 12.21 38.23
Recency 3 May 2012 12 January 2021
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB (4 GB per GPU) GDDR5 12 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 8 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 300 Watt 170 Watt

RTX 3060 has a 213.1% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 8 years, a 200% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 250% more advanced lithography process, and 76.5% lower power consumption.

The GeForce RTX 3060 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 690 in performance tests.

Vote for your favorite

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690
GeForce GTX 690
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
GeForce RTX 3060

Other comparisons

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.


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