Which is better GTX 1060 or RTX 3060?

The GTX 1070 might be the mid-range flagship of the latest Pascal set of graphics cards, but their prices keep them out of the reach of most entry-level PC gamers. On the other hand, the GTX 1060 6GB is closer to being reasonably affordable at a price tag of $ 254. NVIDIA ’s xx60 cards have always been defined by entry-level prices with performance that knocks on the door of mid-range graphics cards – especially when overclocked. After taking the time to fully test the Pascal graphics card inside the GTX 1060 6GB, we can say without a doubt that it continues the trend.

The GTX 1060 6GB is much more expensive than the GTX 960 as it costs a whopping $ 254. Compare this to the GTX 960, which came originally at a price of $ 199. Meanwhile, the AMD closest equivalent card is the RX 580 which costs $ 229. Spec for spec, this GTX 1060 6GB leapfrogs its direct predecessor, the GTX 960, by boasting 2 % more fps.

The GTX 1060 6GB has 6 GB RAM compared to the GTX 960 's 2 GB video memory. In our synthetic benchmarks, the GTX 1060 6GB blows past the GTX 960 and, amazingly, even the GTX 970 as well.

Fortunately, gaming performance was quite impressive. The GTX 1060 6GB consistently delivers great frame rate increases over the GTX 960 and it really justifies an upgrade. For 1080p Full HD, we were able to play Hitman 2, Apex Legends, F1 2019, Overwatch 2, World War Z at 61 fps to 68 fps and kept frame rates hovering around 65 fps.

For 1440p Quad HD, we were able to play Valorant at 105 fps to 105 fps and kept frame rates hovering around 105 fps. For 2160p 4K, we were able to play Valorant at 91 fps to 91 fps and kept frame rates hovering around 91 fps.

The RTX 3070 might be the mid-range flagship of the latest Ampere set of graphics cards, but their prices keep them out of the reach of most entry-level PC gamers. On the other hand, the RTX 3060 is closer to being reasonably affordable at a price tag of $ 329. The good news is, with the release of the RTX 3060 Ti, the RTX 3060 's price is getting more discount.

NVIDIA ’s xx60 cards have always been defined by entry-level prices with performance that knocks on the door of mid-range graphics cards – especially when overclocked. After taking the time to fully test the Ampere graphics card inside the RTX 3060, we can say without a doubt that it continues the trend. The RTX 3060 has 8 GB RAM compared to the RTX 2060 's 6 GB video memory.

In our synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 3060 blows past the RTX 2060, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER and, amazingly, even the RTX 2070 as well. Unfortunately, gaming performance was not quite as impressive. Even if the RTX 3060 consistently delivers frame rate increases over the RTX 2060, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER, the gain is not much to justify an upgrade.

Whether it is a justifiable upgrade depends on what graphics card you are upgrading from. Users with a RTX 2060, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER will not see a remarkable increase in frame rates after paying more for this RTX 3060. Similarly, those holding onto RX 5700 's RX Vega 56 graphics cards will not have a reason to jump teams yet. For 1080p Full HD, we were able to play Assassin's Creed Odyssey, God of War, Metro Exodus, Forza Horizon 5, Elden Ring at 68 fps to 73 fps and kept frame rates hovering around 70 fps.

For 1440p Quad HD, we were able to play Battlefield 2042, Anthem, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Gears of War 5, Need For Speed: Heat at 65 fps to 73 fps and kept frame rates hovering around 71 fps. For 2160p 4K, we were able to play Strange Brigade, Fallout 76, Call of Duty Modern Warfare, Forza Horizon 4, Overwatch 2 at 61 fps to 83 fps and kept frame rates hovering around 69 fps.

The new Nvidia RTX 3060 graphics card has arrived, but how does it stack up against the RTX 2060 from last generation, or even the popular GTX 1060? To demonstrate the differences, I Have compared 8 games at 1080p resolution.

Both the 1060 and the 2060 contain 6GB of RAM, however the 2060’s is faster. The 3060 has a memory capacity of 12GB, which is double that of the 2060, as well as faster memory.

RTX 3060 has more CUDA cores than the others, but less RT cores than the previous 2060, though the 3060s are 2nd gen, so we’ll see whether this makes a difference when we test some ray tracing games.

GTX 1060 was released about five years ago, but it’s now simpler to find a used one.

PERFORMANCE: RTX 3060 vs RTX 2060 vs GTX 1060

I have Tested 8 games at 1080p resolution.

The game’s benchmark was used to test Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. The 2060’s 1 percent lows were once again higher than the 1060’s average FPS. At 1080p, the 3060 is 18% faster than the 2060.

The Sydney landing challenge put Microsoft Flight Simulator to the test. At 1080p, the 3060 and 2060 were the only options that could produce more than 60 FPS, however you could run with lower settings if you wanted a smoother experience.

Ray tracing was used to test Horizon Zero Dawn. I’ve found this game to be GPU-intensive, which is especially true given that I’m testing at maximum settings. The 2060 and 3060 were both significantly faster than the 1060 in this area. At 1080p, the 3060 had a 51 percent better average FPS than the 1060, but just a 22 percent advantage over the 2060.

Hitman 3 was also put through its paces using the game’s benchmark. All of the graphics cards were delivering at least 60 frames per second.

The life path of a homeless youngster in Cyberpunk 2077 was tested in Little China. The differences between the 2060 and the 3060 were considerably fewer this time. At 1080p, the 3060 was 22% faster than the 2060.

Let’s take a look at the esports titles to see if there are any significant changes. The replay feature was utilised to evaluate PUBG, and the exact same replay was used for all three graphics cards. This was another instance when the 3060’s 1% lows may outperform the 2060’s average FPS. When compared to the 1060, the 3060 was able to provide a greater than twofold increase in average frame rate.

The game’s benchmark was used to test Days Gone. In any case, the gap between the 2060 and the 3060 was much smaller here, and both were far better than the 1060.

The game benchmark was used to evaluate Red Dead Redemption 2. We can tell right once that both the 2060 and 3060 offer significant improvements over the older 1060, but the difference between the two is smaller. The 3060 had a 22 percent higher average FPS than the 2060 at 1080p high settings, while the 3060 had a whopping 55 percent advantage over the 1060.

VERDICT: RTX 3060 vs RTX 2060 vs GTX 1060

The 3060 is not just less expensive than the 2060, but it also performs better. It’s not worth upgrading to the 3060 if you already have a 2060. In most situations, the performance gains were minor, but if you’re still using a 1060, upgrading to a 3060 would be a significant upgrade.

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