NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 wins 8 of 12 benchmarks, averaging 118.8% faster.
Both cards were measured first-party on our bench, same suite, same test rig.
What the numbers say
The gap is widest in Z-Image Turbo, where NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 leads by 183% (3.825 vs 1.35 images/min); the closest fight is LTX-Video (distilled) (45% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 runs 8 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 6, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 206.67 | 96.29 | +115% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 144.9 | 57.09 | +154% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 78.79 | 31.12 | +153% |
| 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 | 4.58 | +63% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 3.825 | 1.35 | +183% |
| 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 | 1.5 | +45% |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.22 | 0 | n/a |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 is faster on 1 of 1; NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB on 0.
| Workflow | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full codebase review | 12.7 min | 32.1 min | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 2.53x faster |
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 24GB | 16GB |
| Transistors | 28,300M | 22,900M |
| Die size | 628.4 mm² | 187.8 mm² |
| Transistor density | 45 M/mm² | 121.9 M/mm² |
| Architecture | Ampere (GA102) | Ada Lovelace |
| Memory bandwidth | 936.2 GB/s | 288 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,695 MHz | 2,535 MHz |
| TDP | 350 W | 165 W |
| Launch MSRP | $1,499 | $499 |
| Release | 2020-09-24 | 2023-07-18 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 8 of 12 benchmarks in our suite with an average 118.8% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 has 24GB VRAM and a 350W TDP, while NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB has 16GB VRAM and a 165W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 fits 2 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB. 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 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB?
- Z-Image Turbo: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 leads by roughly 183% (3.825 vs 1.35 images/min) in our testing.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 full review · NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings