The new Nvidia RTX 3060 graphics card has arrived, but how does it stack up against the RTX 2060 from last generation, or even the popular GTX 1060? To demonstrate the differences, I Have compared 8 games at 1080p resolution.
SPECS: RTX 3060 vs RTX 2060 vs GTX 1060
| GTX 1060 | RTX 2060 | RTX 3060 | |
| CUDA CORES | 1,280 | 1920 | 3,584 |
| RT CORES | N/A | 30 (1ST GEN) | 28 (2ND GEN) |
| BOOST CLOCK | 1,708MHZ | 1680MHZ | 1,777MHZ |
| TGP | 120W | 160W | 170W |
| MEMORY | 6GB GDDR5 | 6GB GDDR6 | 12GB GDDR6 |
| MEMORY SPEED | 8 GBPS | 14 GBPS | 15 GBPS |
| MEMORY INTERFACE | 192-BIT | 192-BIT | 192-BIT |
| MEMORY BANDWIDTH | 192 GB/S | 336 GB/S | 360 GB/S |
| ARCHITECTURE | PASCAL | TURING | AMPERE |
| RELEASED | JULY 2016 | JANUARY 2019 | FEBRUARY 2021 |
| MSRP | $250 | $350 | $330 |
Both the 1060 and the 2060 contain 6GB of RAM, however the 2060’s is faster. The 3060 has a memory capacity of 12GB, which is double that of the 2060, as well as faster memory.
RTX 3060 has more CUDA cores than the others, but less RT cores than the previous 2060, though the 3060s are 2nd gen, so we’ll see whether this makes a difference when we test some ray tracing games.
GTX 1060 was released about five years ago, but it’s now simpler to find a used one.
| TEST SYSTEM SPECS | |
|---|---|
| Ryzen 9 5900X | BUY NOW |
| ASUS ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Hero | BUY NOW |
| CPU Cooler – Dark Rock Pro 4 | BUY NOW |
| GeForce RTX 3060 12GB | BUY NOW |
| GeForce RTX 2060 6GB | BUY NOW |
| GeForce GTX 1060 6GB | BUY NOW |
| 32GB RAM DDR4 3800Mhz | BUY NOW |
| SSD – 2xSAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2 2280 1TB | BUY NOW |
| Power Supply CORSAIR RM850i 850W | BUY NOW |
PERFORMANCE: RTX 3060 vs RTX 2060 vs GTX 1060
I have Tested 8 games at 1080p resolution.
The game’s benchmark was used to test Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. The 2060’s 1 percent lows were once again higher than the 1060’s average FPS. At 1080p, the 3060 is 18% faster than the 2060.
The Sydney landing challenge put Microsoft Flight Simulator to the test. At 1080p, the 3060 and 2060 were the only options that could produce more than 60 FPS, however you could run with lower settings if you wanted a smoother experience.
Ray tracing was used to test Horizon Zero Dawn. I’ve found this game to be GPU-intensive, which is especially true given that I’m testing at maximum settings. The 2060 and 3060 were both significantly faster than the 1060 in this area. At 1080p, the 3060 had a 51 percent better average FPS than the 1060, but just a 22 percent advantage over the 2060.
Hitman 3 was also put through its paces using the game’s benchmark. All of the graphics cards were delivering at least 60 frames per second.
The life path of a homeless youngster in Cyberpunk 2077 was tested in Little China. The differences between the 2060 and the 3060 were considerably fewer this time. At 1080p, the 3060 was 22% faster than the 2060.
Let’s take a look at the esports titles to see if there are any significant changes. The replay feature was utilised to evaluate PUBG, and the exact same replay was used for all three graphics cards. This was another instance when the 3060’s 1% lows may outperform the 2060’s average FPS. When compared to the 1060, the 3060 was able to provide a greater than twofold increase in average frame rate.
The game’s benchmark was used to test Days Gone. In any case, the gap between the 2060 and the 3060 was much smaller here, and both were far better than the 1060.
The game benchmark was used to evaluate Red Dead Redemption 2. We can tell right once that both the 2060 and 3060 offer significant improvements over the older 1060, but the difference between the two is smaller. The 3060 had a 22 percent higher average FPS than the 2060 at 1080p high settings, while the 3060 had a whopping 55 percent advantage over the 1060.
VERDICT: RTX 3060 vs RTX 2060 vs GTX 1060
The 3060 is not just less expensive than the 2060, but it also performs better. It’s not worth upgrading to the 3060 if you already have a 2060. In most situations, the performance gains were minor, but if you’re still using a 1060, upgrading to a 3060 would be a significant upgrade.
