GeForce RTX 3060 GA104 vs GTX 960

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Primary details

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

Place in the ranking342not rated
Place by popularity51not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation8.89no data
ArchitectureMaxwell (2014−2018)Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code nameGM206GA104
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date22 January 2015 (9 years ago)1 September 2021 (3 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$199 $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 cores10243584
CUDA cores1024no data
Core clock speed1127 MHzno data
Boost clock speed1178 MHz1777 MHz
Number of transistors2,940 million17,400 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)120 Watt170 Watt
Texture fill rate75.39199.0
Floating-point processing power2.413 gflops12.74 gflops
ROPs3248
TMUs64112

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
Length241 mm242 mm
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot2-slot
Recommended system power (PSU)400 Wattno data
Supplementary power connectors1x 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 amount4 GB12 GB
Memory bus width128 Bit192 Bit
Memory clock speed7.0 GB/s15 GB/s
Memory bandwidth112 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 ConnectorsDual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.21x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
Multi monitor support4 displaysno data
HDMI++
HDCP+-
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
G-SYNC support+-
Audio input for HDMIInternalno data

Supported technologies

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

GameStream+-
GeForce ShadowPlay+-
GPU Boost2.0no data
GameWorks+-

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (12_1)12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model6.46.6
OpenGL4.44.6
OpenCL1.23.0
Vulkan+1.2
CUDA+8.6

Pros & cons summary


Recency 22 January 2015 1 September 2021
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 12 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 8 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 120 Watt 170 Watt

GTX 960 has 41.7% lower power consumption.

RTX 3060 GA104, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 6 years, a 200% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 250% more advanced lithography process.

We couldn't decide between GeForce GTX 960 and GeForce RTX 3060 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 960
GeForce GTX 960
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 GA104
GeForce RTX 3060 GA104

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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Community ratings

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4 3654 votes

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4.6 56 votes

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Questions & comments

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