NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 vs NVIDIA RTX A6000, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA RTX A6000 wins 9 of 9 benchmarks, averaging 126.3% 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 A6000 leads by 241% (2.94 vs 10.02 images/min); the closest fight is Qwen3 4B (81% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA RTX A6000 runs 9 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 A6000 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 102.04 | 184.34 | -45% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 65.36 | 124.87 | -48% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 35.52 | 68.51 | -48% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 0 | 32.18 | n/a |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 15.73 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 2.94 | 10.02 | -71% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 0 | 5.4 | n/a |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 0 | 2.164 | n/a |
| FLUX.1 Kontext dev images/min | 0 | 1.05 | 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 A6000 on 1.
| Workflow | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | NVIDIA RTX A6000 | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full codebase review | 28.2 min | 14.6 min | NVIDIA RTX A6000 1.93x faster | $0.016 vs $0.080 |
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 A6000 | $0.330 |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 is 9.71x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | NVIDIA RTX A6000 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 12GB | 48GB |
| Architecture | Ampere (GA106) | Ampere |
| Memory bandwidth | 360 GB/s | 768 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,777 MHz | 1,860 MHz |
| TDP | 170 W | 300 W |
| Launch MSRP | $329 | $4,650 |
| Release | 2021-02-25 | 2020-10-05 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 or NVIDIA RTX A6000?
- NVIDIA RTX A6000 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 9 of 9 benchmarks in our suite with an average 126.3% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 and NVIDIA RTX A6000?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 has 12GB VRAM and a 170W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX A6000 has 48GB VRAM and a 300W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 and NVIDIA RTX A6000?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA RTX A6000 fits 8 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 A6000?
- Stable Diffusion XL: NVIDIA RTX A6000 leads by roughly 241% (2.94 vs 10.02 images/min) in our testing.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 full review · NVIDIA RTX A6000 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings