GeForce GTX 1080 Ti vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 wins 7 of 18 benchmarks, averaging 36.7% faster.
Both cards' numbers are anchored estimates calibrated against our measured cards, pending first-party measurement. Treat small gaps as ties.
What the numbers say
The gap is widest in Stable Diffusion XL, where NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 leads by 75% (1.68 vs 2.94 images/min); the closest fight is Llama-3.1-8B (29% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: GeForce GTX 1080 Ti runs 34 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 7, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | GeForce GTX 1080 Ti | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3-4B tok/s | 78.25 | 102.04 | -23% |
| Llama-3.1-8B tok/s | 50.52 | 65.36 | -23% |
| Qwen3 8B tok/s | 49.08 | 63.84 | -23% |
| Gemma 4 12B tok/s | 31.19 | 41.02 | -24% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder-14B tok/s | 27.36 | 35.52 | -23% |
| Qwen3 14B tok/s | 27.84 | 36.45 | -24% |
| Gemma 4 26B A4B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Qwen3 30B A3B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Gemma 4 31B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 1.68 | 2.94 | -43% |
| FLUX.1 Kontext dev images/min | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Qwen-Image-Edit images/min | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| LTX-Video (distilled) frames/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is faster on 0 of 1; NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 on 1.
| Workflow | GeForce GTX 1080 Ti | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full codebase review | 36.6 min | 28.2 min | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 1.30x faster | $0.040 vs $0.026 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 finishes 1 of 1 cheaper. The quicker card is not automatically the cheaper way to get the work done.
Cost to rent
| Card | Per hour |
|---|---|
| GeForce GTX 1080 Ti | $0.065 |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | $0.056 |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 is 1.16x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| GeForce GTX 1080 Ti | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 11GB | 12GB |
| Transistors | 12,000M | 12,000M |
| Die size | 471 mm² | 276 mm² |
| Process node | 16 nm | 8 nm |
| Transistor density | 25.5 M/mm² | 43.5 M/mm² |
| Architecture | Pascal (GP102) | Ampere (GA106) |
| Memory bandwidth | 484 GB/s | 360 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,582 MHz | 1,777 MHz |
| TDP | 250 W | 170 W |
| Launch MSRP | $699 | $329 |
| Release | 2017-03-10 | 2021-02-25 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: GeForce GTX 1080 Ti or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 7 of 18 benchmarks in our suite with an average 36.7% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between GeForce GTX 1080 Ti and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060?
- GeForce GTX 1080 Ti has 11GB VRAM and a 250W TDP, while NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 has 12GB VRAM and a 170W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between GeForce GTX 1080 Ti and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060?
- For AI, yes, GeForce GTX 1080 Ti fits 3 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060. A model that exceeds VRAM doesn't run slower, it doesn't run at all, so the card that fits the model wins that workload outright.
- Where is the biggest performance difference between GeForce GTX 1080 Ti and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060?
- Stable Diffusion XL: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 leads by roughly 75% (1.68 vs 2.94 images/min) in our testing.
GeForce GTX 1080 Ti full review · NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings