NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 vs GeForce RTX 4060, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 wins 8 of 12 benchmarks, averaging 161.4% faster.
Both cards were measured first-party on our bench, same suite, same test rig.
What the numbers say
The gap is widest in Llama 3.1 8B, where NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 leads by 177% (144.9 vs 52.4 tok/s); the closest fight is Qwen3 4B (139% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 runs 8 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 3, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 | GeForce RTX 4060 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 206.67 | 86.38 | +139% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 144.9 | 52.4 | +177% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 78.79 | 0 | n/a |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 37.95 | 0 | n/a |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 7.46 | 2.78 | +168% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 3.825 | 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 | 2.17 | 0 | n/a |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.22 | 0 | n/a |
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 | GeForce RTX 4060 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 24GB | 8GB |
| Transistors | 28,300M | 18,900M |
| Die size | 628.4 mm² | 158.7 mm² |
| Transistor density | 45 M/mm² | 119.1 M/mm² |
| Architecture | Ampere (GA102) | Ada Lovelace |
| Memory bandwidth | 936.2 GB/s | 272 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,695 MHz | 2,475 MHz |
| TDP | 350 W | 115 W |
| Launch MSRP | $1,499 | $299 |
| Release | 2020-09-24 | 2023-05-24 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 or GeForce RTX 4060?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 8 of 12 benchmarks in our suite with an average 161.4% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 and GeForce RTX 4060?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 has 24GB VRAM and a 350W TDP, while GeForce RTX 4060 has 8GB VRAM and a 115W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 and GeForce RTX 4060?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 fits 5 more of our 12 workloads than GeForce RTX 4060. 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 3090 and GeForce RTX 4060?
- Llama 3.1 8B: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 leads by roughly 177% (144.9 vs 52.4 tok/s) in our testing.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 full review · GeForce RTX 4060 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings