GeForce RTX 3060 vs HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge)
Aggregate performance score
We've compared HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) with GeForce RTX 3060, including specs and performance data.
RTX 3060 outperforms HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) by a whopping 12974% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 1310 | 86 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | 5 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | no data | 69.83 |
| Power efficiency | no data | 17.93 |
| Architecture | Gen. 6 Sandy Bridge (2011) | Ampere (2020−2024) |
| GPU code name | Sandy Bridge | GA106 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Desktop |
| Release date | 1 May 2011 (13 years ago) | 12 January 2021 (4 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | no data | $329 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.
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 | 6 | 3584 |
| Core clock speed | 350 MHz | 1320 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 1100 MHz | 1777 MHz |
| Number of transistors | no data | 12,000 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 32 nm | 8 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | no data | 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).
| 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 | no data | GDDR6 |
| Maximum RAM amount | no data | 12 GB |
| Memory bus width | 64/128 Bit | 192 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | no data | 1875 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | no data | 360.0 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 and SDK compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 10.1 | 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 |
| 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.
3DMark Vantage Performance
3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.
3DMark Cloud Gate GPU
Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.
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 HD | 7
−1586%
| 118
+1586%
|
| 1440p | 0−1 | 68 |
| 4K | -0−1 | 47 |
Cost per frame, $
| 1080p | no data | 2.79 |
| 1440p | no data | 4.84 |
| 4K | no data | 7.00 |
FPS performance in popular games
Full HD
Low Preset
| Atomic Heart | 2−3
−6150%
|
120−130
+6150%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 7−8
−1271%
|
95−100
+1271%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 1−2
−7800%
|
79
+7800%
|
Full HD
Medium Preset
| Atomic Heart | 2−3
−6150%
|
120−130
+6150%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 7−8
−1286%
|
97
+1286%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 1−2
−7700%
|
78
+7700%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 3−4
−5167%
|
150−160
+5167%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 7−8
−2171%
|
150−160
+2171%
|
| Valorant | 24−27
−804%
|
230−240
+804%
|
Full HD
High Preset
| Atomic Heart | 2−3
−6150%
|
120−130
+6150%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 7−8
−1086%
|
83
+1086%
|
| Counter-Strike: Global Offensive | 10
−2680%
|
270−280
+2680%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 1−2
−7400%
|
75
+7400%
|
| Dota 2 | 10−11
−1460%
|
156
+1460%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 3−4
−5167%
|
150−160
+5167%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 7−8
−2171%
|
150−160
+2171%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 4−5
−4350%
|
178
+4350%
|
| Valorant | 24−27
−804%
|
230−240
+804%
|
Full HD
Ultra Preset
| Counter-Strike 2 | 7−8
−929%
|
72
+929%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 1−2
−6300%
|
64
+6300%
|
| Dota 2 | 10−11
−1370%
|
147
+1370%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 3−4
−5167%
|
150−160
+5167%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 7−8
−2171%
|
150−160
+2171%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 4−5
−1950%
|
82
+1950%
|
| Valorant | 24−27
−804%
|
230−240
+804%
|
1440p
High Preset
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 2−3
−8650%
|
170−180
+8650%
|
1440p
Ultra Preset
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 0−1 | 39 |
| Forza Horizon 4 | 1−2
−11800%
|
110−120
+11800%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 1−2
−7100%
|
72
+7100%
|
1440p
Epic Preset
| Fortnite | 0−1 | 110−120 |
4K
High Preset
| Grand Theft Auto V | 14−16
−447%
|
82
+447%
|
| Valorant | 2−3
−12350%
|
240−250
+12350%
|
4K
Ultra Preset
| Far Cry 5 | 1−2
−4700%
|
48
+4700%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 2−3
−2800%
|
55−60
+2800%
|
4K
Epic Preset
| Fortnite | 2−3
−2650%
|
55−60
+2650%
|
Full HD
Medium Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 130−140
+0%
|
130−140
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 146
+0%
|
146
+0%
|
| Fortnite | 170−180
+0%
|
170−180
+0%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 124
+0%
|
124
+0%
|
Full HD
High Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 130−140
+0%
|
130−140
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 135
+0%
|
135
+0%
|
| Fortnite | 170−180
+0%
|
170−180
+0%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 96
+0%
|
96
+0%
|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 141
+0%
|
141
+0%
|
| Metro Exodus | 81
+0%
|
81
+0%
|
Full HD
Ultra Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 130−140
+0%
|
130−140
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 127
+0%
|
127
+0%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 79
+0%
|
79
+0%
|
Full HD
Epic Preset
| Fortnite | 170−180
+0%
|
170−180
+0%
|
1440p
High Preset
| Counter-Strike 2 | 30−35
+0%
|
30−35
+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%
|
| Valorant | 260−270
+0%
|
260−270
+0%
|
1440p
Ultra Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 100−110
+0%
|
100−110
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 94
+0%
|
94
+0%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 62
+0%
|
62
+0%
|
4K
High Preset
| Atomic Heart | 30−35
+0%
|
30−35
+0%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 20−22
+0%
|
20−22
+0%
|
| Metro Exodus | 32
+0%
|
32
+0%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 64
+0%
|
64
+0%
|
4K
Ultra Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 65−70
+0%
|
65−70
+0%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 9
+0%
|
9
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 18
+0%
|
18
+0%
|
| Dota 2 | 115
+0%
|
115
+0%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 80−85
+0%
|
80−85
+0%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 36
+0%
|
36
+0%
|
This is how HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) and RTX 3060 compete in popular games:
- RTX 3060 is 1586% faster in 1080p
Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:
- in Valorant, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the RTX 3060 is 12350% faster.
All in all, in popular games:
- RTX 3060 is ahead in 33 tests (51%)
- there's a draw in 32 tests (49%)
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 0.34 | 44.45 |
| Recency | 1 May 2011 | 12 January 2021 |
| Chip lithography | 32 nm | 8 nm |
RTX 3060 has a 12973.5% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 9 years, and a 300% more advanced lithography process.
The GeForce RTX 3060 is our recommended choice as it beats the HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) in performance tests.
Be aware that HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) is a notebook card while GeForce RTX 3060 is a desktop one.
Other comparisons
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
