NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 wins 3 of 11 benchmarks, averaging 44% faster.
Both cards were measured first-party on our bench, same suite, same test rig.
What the numbers say
The gap is widest in Qwen3 4B, where NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 leads by 47% (102.04 vs 149.68 tok/s); the closest fight is Llama 3.1 8B (43% apart).
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 102.04 | 149.68 | -32% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 65.36 | 93.16 | -30% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 35.52 | 50.74 | -30% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 0 | 0 | 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 | 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. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 is faster on 0 of 1; NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 on 1.
| Workflow | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full codebase review | 28.2 min | 19.7 min | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 1.43x faster | $0.016 vs $0.025 |
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 |
|---|---|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | $0.034 |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 | $0.076 |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 is 2.24x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 12GB | 12GB |
| Transistors | 12,000M | 35,800M |
| Die size | 276 mm² | 294.5 mm² |
| Transistor density | 43.5 M/mm² | 121.6 M/mm² |
| Architecture | Ampere (GA106) | Ada Lovelace |
| Memory bandwidth | 360 GB/s | 504 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,777 MHz | 2,475 MHz |
| TDP | 170 W | 200 W |
| Launch MSRP | $329 | $599 |
| Release | 2021-02-25 | 2023-04-13 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 3 of 11 benchmarks in our suite with an average 44% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 has 12GB VRAM and a 170W TDP, while NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 has 12GB VRAM and a 200W TDP.
- Where is the biggest performance difference between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070?
- Qwen3 4B: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 leads by roughly 47% (102.04 vs 149.68 tok/s) in our testing.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 full review · NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings