NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 vs NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 wins 3 of 11 benchmarks, averaging 32.5% faster.
Both cards were measured first-party on our bench, same suite, same test rig.
What the numbers say
The gap is widest in Qwen2.5-Coder 14B, where NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 leads by 52% (35.52 vs 23.35 tok/s); the closest fight is Stable Diffusion XL (22% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation runs 5 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 RTX 2000 Ada Generation | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 102.04 | 70.88 | +44% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 65.36 | 43.08 | +52% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 35.52 | 23.35 | +52% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 2.94 | 3.58 | -18% |
| 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 | 1.39 | 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 1 of 1; NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation on 0.
| Workflow | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full codebase review | 28.2 min | 42.8 min | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 1.52x faster | $0.016 vs $0.171 |
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 RTX 2000 Ada Generation | $0.240 |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 is 7.06x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 12GB | 16GB |
| Architecture | Ampere (GA106) | Ada Lovelace |
| Memory bandwidth | 360 GB/s | 224 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,777 MHz | 2,130 MHz |
| TDP | 170 W | 70 W |
| Launch MSRP | $329 | $625 |
| Release | 2021-02-25 | 2024-02-12 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 or NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 3 of 11 benchmarks in our suite with an average 32.5% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 and NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 has 12GB VRAM and a 170W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation has 16GB VRAM and a 70W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 and NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation fits 2 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 RTX 2000 Ada Generation?
- Qwen2.5-Coder 14B: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 leads by roughly 52% (35.52 vs 23.35 tok/s) in our testing.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 full review · NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings