Friends who are familiar with graphics cards and Lao Huang know that Lao Huang likes to play a trick very much, that is, deliberately giving two graphics cards with very different performance a similar name, so that ordinary users are extremely difficult to distinguish.
For example, GeForce RTX 4080 16GB and GeForce RTX 4080 12GB (the latter has been renamed), in the eyes of ordinary users, it is easy to mistakenly think that the two graphics cards only have different memory capacity, this understanding is very wrong, the performance of these two graphics cards is very far behind.
Therefore, even if there are only a few parameters in the NVIDIA graphics card, such as the memory capacity, whether there is a "Ti" in the suffix, etc., the performance difference may be very large. The protagonists of this article are the GeForce RTX 3060 and GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, comparing how different they are (especially the actual performance in the end).
First, parameter comparison
GeForce RTX 3060 was released on January 12, 2021, using GA106 GPU, based on Ampere architecture, Samsung 8nm process, with 3584 CUDA cores, 112 texture units, 48 raster units, 28 ray tracing units, 28 multi-unit stream processors, 112 tensor cores, and 3MB L2 level cache.
The standard operating frequency is 1320MHz, the maximum operating frequency is 1777 MHz, it is equipped with 12GB GDDR6 memory, memory speed is 15Gbps, memory bit width is 192 bit, memory bandwidth is 360 GB/s, FP32 performance is 12.7 TFLOPS, power consumption is 170W, and the MSRP is $299.
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti was released on December 1, 2020, using GA104 GPU, based on Ampere architecture, Samsung 8nm process, with 4864 CUDA cores, 152 texture units, 80 raster units, 38 ray tracing units, 38 multi-unit stream processors, 152 tensor cores, and 4MB of L2 level cache.
The standard operating frequency is 1410 MHz, the maximum operating frequency is 1665 MHz, it is equipped with 8GB GDDR6 memory, memory speed is 14 Gbps, memory bit width is 256 bits, memory bandwidth is 448 GB/s, FP32 performance is 16.20 TFLOPS, power consumption is 200W, and the MSRP is $399.
It can be seen from the parameters that GeForce RTX 3060 is lagging behind in all other parameters except for a larger amount of memory and a little higher memory speed, and the shrinkage is very serious, so these two graphics cards are not only the difference between the suffix without "Ti" and the memory capacity, and the GPU chips they are equipped with are very different.
2. Test platform configuration
The main hardware configurations are as follows:
The processor is Intel Core i9-10900K, the motherboard is MSI MPG Z490 GAMING PLUS, and the memory is 32GB DDR4 3600 MHz.
3. Game measurement
Below are nine games tested, with the GeForce RTX 3060 on the left and the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti on the right.
The first game was Assassin's Creed: Valhalla.
The GeForce RTX 3060 platform has an average frame rate of 60 FPS, a minimum instantaneous frame rate of 46 FPS, a CPU usage of 10%, a power consumption of 62W and a temperature of 46 degrees, a GPU utilization of 97%, and a power consumption of 145W with a temperature of 50 degrees.
The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti platform has an average frame rate of 72 FPS, a minimum instantaneous frame rate of 43 FPS, a CPU usage of 21%, a power consumption of 68W and a temperature of 49 degrees, a GPU utilization of 97%, and a power consumption of 163W with a temperature of 52 degrees.
In this game, the GPU usage of both graphics cards is the same, but the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti's GPU power consumption is 18W higher, the frame time is 3.1ms lower, and the CPU usage of the platform is doubled, which shows that the GeForce RTX 3060 has a bottleneck in comparison and cannot use more CPU performance.
At average frame rate, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is about 20% ahead of the GeForce RTX 3060.
The second game is Control.
The GeForce RTX 3060 platform has an average frame rate of 56 FPS, a minimum instantaneous frame rate of 50 FPS, a CPU usage of 15%, a power consumption of 51W and a temperature of 46 degrees, a GPU utilization of 99%, and a power consumption of 170W with a temperature of 52 degrees.
The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti platform has an average frame rate of 67 FPS, a minimum instantaneous frame rate of 60 FPS, a CPU usage of 14%, a power consumption of 56W and a temperature of 49 degrees, a GPU utilization of 99%, a power consumption of 212W, and a temperature of 56 degrees.
In this game, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti platform has 1% lower CPU usage, the same GPU usage, and 1.8ms lower frame time, but the GPU power consumption is significantly higher than that of the competition, which indicates that it is more powerful.
At average frame rate, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is about 19.6% ahead of the GeForce RTX 3060.
The third game is Cyberpunk 2077.
The GeForce RTX 3060 platform has an average frame rate of 37 FPS, a minimum instantaneous frame rate of 26 FPS, a CPU usage of 34%, a power consumption of 84W and a temperature of 60 degrees, a GPU usage of 99%, and a power consumption of 158W and a temperature of 53 degrees.
The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti platform has an average frame rate of 44 FPS, a minimum instantaneous frame rate of 35 FPS, a CPU usage of 37%, a power consumption of 88W, a temperature of 62 degrees, a GPU utilization of 99%, a power consumption of 189W, and a temperature of 56 degrees.
In this game, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti platform has 4% higher CPU usage, GPU usage is still equal, frame time is 4.8ms lower, and GPU power consumption is 31W higher, which shows more performance.
At average frame rate, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is about 35.1% ahead of the GeForce RTX 3060.
The fourth game is Battlefield 5.
The GeForce RTX 3060 platform has an average frame rate of 64 FPS, a minimum instantaneous frame rate of 49 FPS, a CPU usage of 29%, a power consumption of 87W and a temperature of 56 degrees, a GPU utilization of 98%, a power consumption of 148W, and a temperature of 50 degrees.
The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti platform has an average frame rate of 76 FPS, a minimum instantaneous frame rate of 26 FPS, a CPU usage of 28%, a power consumption of 95W and a temperature of 62 degrees, a GPU utilization of 98%, a power consumption of 173W, and a temperature of 52 degrees.
In this game, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti platform also has 1% lower CPU usage, GPU usage is still equal, frame time is 2.5ms lower, and GPU power consumption is 25W higher.
At average frame rate, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is about 18.8% ahead of the GeForce RTX 3060.
The fifth game is Forza Horizon 4.
The GeForce RTX 3060 platform has an average frame rate of 115 FPS, a minimum instantaneous frame rate of 80 FPS, a CPU usage of 24%, a power consumption of 75W and a temperature of 57 degrees, a GPU utilization of 98%, and a power consumption of 131W and a temperature of 51 degrees.
The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti platform has an average frame rate of 138 FPS, a minimum instantaneous frame rate of 115 FPS, a CPU usage of 20%, a power consumption of 84W and a temperature of 54 degrees, a GPU utilization of 98%, a power consumption of 159W, and a temperature of 53 degrees.
In this game, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti platform has 4% lower CPU usage, equal GPU usage, 1.9ms lower frame time, and 28W higher GPU power consumption.
At average frame rate, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is about 20% ahead of the GeForce RTX 3060.
The sixth game is Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
The GeForce RTX 3060 platform has an average frame rate of 47 FPS, a minimum instantaneous frame rate of 40 FPS, a CPU usage of 17%, a power consumption of 49W and a temperature of 39 degrees, a GPU usage of 99%, and a power consumption of 151W with a temperature of 52 degrees.
The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti platform has an average frame rate of 57 FPS, a minimum instantaneous frame rate of 48 FPS, a CPU usage of 16%, a power consumption of 58W and a temperature of 42 degrees, a GPU usage of 99%, and a power consumption of 191W with a temperature of 56 degrees.
In this game, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti platform has 1% lower CPU usage, equal GPU usage, 3.8ms lower frame time, and 40W higher GPU power consumption.
At average frame rate, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is about 21.3% ahead of the GeForce RTX 3060.
The seventh game is Red Dead Redemption 2.
The GeForce RTX 3060 platform has an average frame rate of 60 FPS, a minimum instantaneous frame rate of 28 FPS, a CPU usage of 20%, a power consumption of 55W and a temperature of 41 degrees, a GPU utilization of 97%, and a power consumption of 169W and a temperature of 52 degrees.
The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti platform has an average frame rate of 72 FPS, a minimum instantaneous frame rate of 34 FPS, a CPU usage of 23%, a power consumption of 62W and a temperature of 43 degrees, a GPU usage of 97%, a power consumption of 197W and a temperature of 54 degrees.
In this game, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti platform has 3% higher CPU usage, equal GPU usage, 3.2ms lower frame time, and 28W higher GPU power consumption.
At average frame rate, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is about 20% ahead of the GeForce RTX 3060.
The eighth game is Horizon Zero Dawn.
The GeForce RTX 3060 platform has an average frame rate of 65 FPS, a minimum instantaneous frame rate of 60 FPS, a CPU usage of 39%, a power consumption of 65W and a temperature of 47 degrees, a GPU utilization of 98%, a power consumption of 159W and a temperature of 53 degrees.
The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti platform has an average frame rate of 78 FPS, a minimum instantaneous frame rate of 46 FPS, a CPU usage of 30%, a power consumption of 72W and a temperature of 51 degrees, a GPU utilization of 98%, and a power consumption of 190W with a temperature of 54 degrees.
In this game, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti platform has 9% lower CPU usage, equal GPU usage, 2.1ms lower frame time, and 31W higher GPU power consumption.
At average frame rate, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is about 20% ahead of the GeForce RTX 3060.
The ninth game is Microsoft Flight Simulator.
The GeForce RTX 3060 platform has an average frame rate of 37 FPS, a minimum instantaneous frame rate of 34 FPS, a CPU usage of 12%, a power consumption of 47W and a temperature of 43 degrees, a GPU utilization of 99%, a power consumption of 170W, and a temperature of 55 degrees.
The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti platform has an average frame rate of 44 FPS, a minimum instantaneous frame rate of 37 FPS, a CPU usage of 15%, a power consumption of 59W and a temperature of 50 degrees, a GPU utilization of 99%, a power consumption of 216W, and a temperature of 57 degrees.
In this game, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti platform has 3% higher CPU usage, equal GPU usage, 3.6ms lower frame time, and 46W higher GPU power consumption.
At average frame rate, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is about 18.9% ahead of the GeForce RTX 3060.
Fourth, comparative conclusions
According to the above data combined average calculation, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is about 21.5% ahead of the GeForce RTX 3060 overall, which shows that the number of CUDA cores and texture units, memory width and other parameters are far more important than memory capacity.
It can be seen that the performance of these two graphics cards is very different, GeForce RTX 3060 shrinkage is very serious, in addition, even GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, its performance is castrated reserved, because in theory it supports 16GB of video memory, and Lao Huang only equipped it with 8GB of video memory.