NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 vs NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation), AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) wins 6 of 11 benchmarks, averaging 33.8% 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 RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) leads by 123% (2.94 vs 6.56 images/min); the closest fight is Llama 3.1 8B (2% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) runs 6 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 4000 (Ada Generation) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 102.04 | 110.18 | -7% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 65.36 | 66.59 | -2% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 35.52 | 36.34 | -2% |
| 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 | 6.56 | -55% |
| 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 | 2.06 | n/a |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0 | 0.18 | 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 RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) on 1.
| Workflow | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full codebase review | 28.2 min | 27.5 min | NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) 1.02x faster | $0.016 vs $0.092 |
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 4000 (Ada Generation) | $0.200 |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 is 5.88x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 12GB | 20GB |
| Architecture | Ampere (GA106) | Ada Lovelace |
| Memory bandwidth | 360 GB/s | 360 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,777 MHz | 2,175 MHz |
| TDP | 170 W | 130 W |
| Launch MSRP | $329 | $1,250 |
| Release | 2021-02-25 | 2023-08-09 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 or NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation)?
- NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 6 of 11 benchmarks in our suite with an average 33.8% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 and NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation)?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 has 12GB VRAM and a 170W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) has 20GB VRAM and a 130W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 and NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation)?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) 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 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 and NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation)?
- Stable Diffusion XL: NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) leads by roughly 123% (2.94 vs 6.56 images/min) in our testing.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 full review · NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings