GeForce RTX 3060 vs Maxwell GPU Surface Book

Place in the ranking	711	81
Place by popularity	not in top-100	4
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	no data	71.30
Power efficiency	no data	18.16
Architecture	Maxwell (2014−2017)	Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code name	Surface Book	GA106
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	1 October 2015 (9 years ago)	12 January 2021 (3 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	no data	$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 cores	384	3584
Core clock speed	954 MHz	1320 MHz
Boost clock speed	993 MHz	1777 MHz
Number of transistors	no data	12,000 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 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	GDDR5	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	12 GB
Memory bus width	64 Bit	192 Bit
Memory clock speed	5012 MHz	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	-	+

Supported technologies

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

Optimus

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (FL 11_0)	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

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. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

Maxwell GPU Surface Book 3.69

RTX 3060 44.29
+1100%

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

Maxwell GPU Surface Book 2577

RTX 3060 28375
+1001%

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.

Maxwell GPU Surface Book 2076

RTX 3060 21379
+930%

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.

Maxwell GPU Surface Book 11380

RTX 3060 120745
+961%

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

Ice Storm Graphics is an obsolete benchmark, part of 3DMark suite. Ice Storm was used to measure entry level laptops and Windows-based tablets performance. It utilizes DirectX 11 feature level 9 to display a battle between two space fleets near a frozen planet in 1280x720 resolution. Discontinued in January 2020, it is now superseded by 3DMark Night Raid.

Maxwell GPU Surface Book 123411

RTX 3060 537787
+336%

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	24 −417%	124 +417%
1440p	6−7 −1250%	81 +1250%
4K	4−5 −1200%	52 +1200%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	no data	2.65
1440p	no data	4.06
4K	no data	6.33

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

7−8

−1029%

79
+1029%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−12 −745%	90−95 +745%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 −5000%	102 +5000%
Battlefield 5	8−9 −1675%	140−150 +1675%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	8−9 −1013%	85−90 +1013%
Cyberpunk 2077	7−8 −1014%	78 +1014%
Far Cry 5	7−8 −1229%	90−95 +1229%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−11 −980%	100−110 +980%
Forza Horizon 4	21−24 −867%	200−210 +867%
Hitman 3	9−10 −1233%	120 +1233%
Horizon Zero Dawn	24−27 −588%	170−180 +588%
Metro Exodus	6−7 −2167%	130−140 +2167%
Red Dead Redemption 2	9−10 −1000%	95−100 +1000%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	14−16 −1086%	160−170 +1086%
Watch Dogs: Legion	40−45 −221%	130−140 +221%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−12 −745%	90−95 +745%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 −4150%	85 +4150%
Battlefield 5	8−9 −1675%	140−150 +1675%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	8−9 −1013%	85−90 +1013%
Cyberpunk 2077	7−8 −971%	75 +971%
Far Cry 5	7−8 −1229%	90−95 +1229%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−11 −980%	100−110 +980%
Forza Horizon 4	21−24 −867%	200−210 +867%
Hitman 3	9−10 −1189%	116 +1189%
Horizon Zero Dawn	24−27 −588%	170−180 +588%
Metro Exodus	6−7 −2167%	130−140 +2167%
Red Dead Redemption 2	9−10 −1000%	95−100 +1000%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	14−16 −1186%	180 +1186%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 −507%	90−95 +507%
Watch Dogs: Legion	40−45 −221%	130−140 +221%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−12 −745%	90−95 +745%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 −3650%	75 +3650%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	8−9 −1013%	85−90 +1013%
Cyberpunk 2077	7−8 −814%	64 +814%
Far Cry 5	7−8 −1229%	90−95 +1229%
Forza Horizon 4	21−24 −867%	200−210 +867%
Hitman 3	9−10 −1022%	101 +1022%
Horizon Zero Dawn	24−27 −446%	142 +446%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	14−16 −1000%	154 +1000%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 −387%	73 +387%
Watch Dogs: Legion	40−45 −40.5%	59 +40.5%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

9−10

−1000%

95−100
+1000%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	6−7 −1350%	85−90 +1350%
Far Cry New Dawn	6−7 −1033%	65−70 +1033%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	3−4 −1533%	45−50 +1533%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	3−4 −1633%	50−55 +1633%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 −1850%	39 +1850%
Far Cry 5	4−5 −1175%	50−55 +1175%
Forza Horizon 4	2−3 −11950%	240−250 +11950%
Hitman 3	8−9 −750%	68 +750%
Horizon Zero Dawn	9−10 −1078%	106 +1078%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	3−4 −2133%	65−70 +2133%
Watch Dogs: Legion	21−24 −791%	200−210 +791%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

7−8

−986%

75−80
+986%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	2−3 −2150%	45−50 +2150%
Far Cry New Dawn	2−3 −1800%	35−40 +1800%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	2−3 −1450%	30−35 +1450%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 −1800%	38 +1800%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	1−2 −2800%	27−30 +2800%
Cyberpunk 2077	0−1	18
Far Cry 5	2−3 −1250%	27−30 +1250%
Forza Horizon 4	2−3 −3050%	60−65 +3050%
Watch Dogs: Legion	1−2 −2600%	27 +2600%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

4−5

−900%

40−45
+900%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	60 +0%	60 +0%
Metro Exodus	89 +0%	89 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	115 +0%	115 +0%

4K
High Preset

Hitman 3	45 +0%	45 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	190−200 +0%	190−200 +0%
Metro Exodus	55−60 +0%	55−60 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	63 +0%	63 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

+0%

This is how Maxwell GPU Surface Book and RTX 3060 compete in popular games:

RTX 3060 is 417% faster in 1080p
RTX 3060 is 1250% faster in 1440p
RTX 3060 is 1200% faster in 4K

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

in Forza Horizon 4, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RTX 3060 is 11950% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

RTX 3060 is ahead in 63 tests (89%)
there's a draw in 8 tests (11%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	3.69	44.29
Recency	1 October 2015	12 January 2021
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	12 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	8 nm

RTX 3060 has a 1100.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 5 years, a 1100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 250% more advanced lithography process.

The GeForce RTX 3060 is our recommended choice as it beats the Maxwell GPU Surface Book in performance tests.

Be aware that Maxwell GPU Surface Book is a notebook card while GeForce RTX 3060 is a desktop one.

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