NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 vs GeForce RTX 4060, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 wins 13 of 25 benchmarks, averaging 15.2% 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 1.5, where GeForce RTX 4060 leads by 27% (15.9 vs 20.21 images/min); the closest fight is Stable Diffusion XL (6% apart).
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | GeForce RTX 4060 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| MiniCPM5 2B tok/s | 167.64 | 148.29 | +13% |
| LFM2.5 2.6B tok/s | 154.94 | 135.21 | +15% |
| Nemotron 3 Nano 4B tok/s | 100.43 | 82.74 | +21% |
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 102.04 | 86.38 | +18% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 65.36 | 52.4 | +25% |
| Qwen3 8B tok/s | 63.84 | 51.31 | +24% |
| Ornith 1.5 9B tok/s | 56.51 | 45.62 | +24% |
| Gemma 4 12B tok/s | 41.02 | 33.27 | +23% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 35.52 | 0 | n/a |
| Qwen3 14B tok/s | 36.45 | 0 | n/a |
| 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 1.5 images/min | 15.9 | 20.21 | -21% |
| SDXL Turbo images/min | 216.61 | 182 | +19% |
| Sana 1.6B images/min | 7.4 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 2.94 | 2.78 | +6% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| 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 |
| LTX-Video (distilled) frames/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
Cost to rent
| Card | Per hour |
|---|---|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | $0.056 |
| GeForce RTX 4060 | $0.078 |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 is 1.39x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | GeForce RTX 4060 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 12GB | 8GB |
| Transistors | 12,000M | 18,900M |
| Die size | 276 mm² | 158.7 mm² |
| Process node | 8 nm | 4 nm |
| Transistor density | 43.5 M/mm² | 119.1 M/mm² |
| Architecture | Ampere (GA106) | Ada Lovelace |
| Memory bandwidth | 360 GB/s | 272 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,777 MHz | 2,475 MHz |
| TDP | 170 W | 115 W |
| Launch MSRP | $329 | $299 |
| Release | 2021-02-25 | 2023-05-24 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 or GeForce RTX 4060?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 13 of 25 benchmarks in our suite with an average 15.2% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 and GeForce RTX 4060?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 has 12GB VRAM and a 170W TDP, while GeForce RTX 4060 has 8GB VRAM and a 115W TDP.
- Where is the biggest performance difference between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 and GeForce RTX 4060?
- Stable Diffusion 1.5: GeForce RTX 4060 leads by roughly 27% (15.9 vs 20.21 images/min) in our testing.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 full review · GeForce RTX 4060 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings