NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 wins 8 of 12 benchmarks, averaging 124.9% faster.
Both cards were measured first-party on our bench, same suite, same test rig.
What the numbers say
The gap is widest in Stable Diffusion XL, where NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 leads by 154% (2.94 vs 7.46 images/min); the closest fight is Qwen3 4B (103% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 runs 8 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 4, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 102.04 | 206.67 | -51% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 65.36 | 144.9 | -55% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 35.52 | 78.79 | -55% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 0 | 37.95 | n/a |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 2.94 | 7.46 | -61% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 0 | 3.825 | n/a |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| FLUX.1 Kontext dev images/min | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Qwen-Image-Edit images/min | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| LTX-Video (distilled) frames/s | 0 | 2.17 | n/a |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0 | 0.22 | n/a |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 is faster on 0 of 1; NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 on 1.
| Workflow | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full codebase review | 28.2 min | 12.7 min | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 2.22x faster | $0.016 vs $0.015 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 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 |
|---|---|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | $0.034 |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 | $0.069 |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 is 2.03x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 12GB | 24GB |
| Transistors | 12,000M | 28,300M |
| Die size | 276 mm² | 628.4 mm² |
| Transistor density | 43.5 M/mm² | 45 M/mm² |
| Architecture | Ampere (GA106) | Ampere (GA102) |
| Memory bandwidth | 360 GB/s | 936.2 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,777 MHz | 1,695 MHz |
| TDP | 170 W | 350 W |
| Launch MSRP | $329 | $1,499 |
| Release | 2021-02-25 | 2020-09-24 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 8 of 12 benchmarks in our suite with an average 124.9% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 has 12GB VRAM and a 170W TDP, while NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 has 24GB VRAM and a 350W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 fits 4 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 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090?
- Stable Diffusion XL: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 leads by roughly 154% (2.94 vs 7.46 images/min) in our testing.
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