GeForce RTX 3060 vs GTX 260

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 260 and GeForce RTX 3060, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

GTX 260
2008
896 MB GDDR3, 182 Watt
3.15

RTX 3060 outperforms GTX 260 by a whopping 1308% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking75183
Place by popularitynot in top-1004
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.1670.81
Power efficiency1.1917.88
ArchitectureTesla 2.0 (2007−2013)Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code nameGT200GA106
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date16 June 2008 (16 years ago)12 January 2021 (3 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$449 $329

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RTX 3060 has 44156% better value for money than GTX 260.

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores1923584
Core clock speed576 MHz1320 MHz
Boost clock speedno data1777 MHz
Number of transistors1,400 million12,000 million
Manufacturing process technology65 nm8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)182 Watt170 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature105 °Cno data
Texture fill rate36.86199.0
Floating-point processing power0.4769 TFLOPS12.74 TFLOPS
ROPs2848
TMUs64112
Tensor Coresno data112
Ray Tracing Coresno data28

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x16
Length267 mm242 mm
Height4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pin1x 12-pin
SLI options+-

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR3GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount896 MB12 GB
Memory bus width448 Bit192 Bit
Memory clock speed999 MHz1875 MHz
Memory bandwidth111.9 GB/s360.0 GB/s
Shared memory--

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display ConnectorsDual Link DVIHDTV1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
Multi monitor support+no data
HDMI++
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
Audio input for HDMIS/PDIFno data

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX11.1 (10_0)12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model4.06.7
OpenGL2.14.6
OpenCL1.13.0
VulkanN/A1.3
CUDA+8.6

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

GTX 260 3.15
RTX 3060 44.34
+1308%

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

GTX 260 1215
RTX 3060 17085
+1306%

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

Full HD8−9
−1463%
125
+1463%
1440p5−6
−1460%
78
+1460%
4K3−4
−1567%
50
+1567%

Cost per frame, $

1080p56.132.63
1440p89.804.22
4K149.676.58

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 79
+0%
79
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 90−95
+0%
90−95
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 102
+0%
102
+0%
Battlefield 5 140−150
+0%
140−150
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 85−90
+0%
85−90
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 78
+0%
78
+0%
Far Cry 5 90−95
+0%
90−95
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 200−210
+0%
200−210
+0%
Hitman 3 120
+0%
120
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%
Metro Exodus 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 95−100
+0%
95−100
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 160−170
+0%
160−170
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 90−95
+0%
90−95
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 85
+0%
85
+0%
Battlefield 5 140−150
+0%
140−150
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 85−90
+0%
85−90
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 75
+0%
75
+0%
Far Cry 5 90−95
+0%
90−95
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 200−210
+0%
200−210
+0%
Hitman 3 116
+0%
116
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%
Metro Exodus 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 95−100
+0%
95−100
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 180
+0%
180
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 90−95
+0%
90−95
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 90−95
+0%
90−95
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 75
+0%
75
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 85−90
+0%
85−90
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 64
+0%
64
+0%
Far Cry 5 90−95
+0%
90−95
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 200−210
+0%
200−210
+0%
Hitman 3 101
+0%
101
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 142
+0%
142
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 154
+0%
154
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 73
+0%
73
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 59
+0%
59
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 95−100
+0%
95−100
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 85−90
+0%
85−90
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 60
+0%
60
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 39
+0%
39
+0%
Far Cry 5 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 240−250
+0%
240−250
+0%
Hitman 3 68
+0%
68
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 106
+0%
106
+0%
Metro Exodus 89
+0%
89
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 115
+0%
115
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 200−210
+0%
200−210
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 75−80
+0%
75−80
+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Hitman 3 45
+0%
45
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 190−200
+0%
190−200
+0%
Metro Exodus 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 63
+0%
63
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 38
+0%
38
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 18
+0%
18
+0%
Far Cry 5 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 67
+0%
67
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 27
+0%
27
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%

This is how GTX 260 and RTX 3060 compete in popular games:

  • RTX 3060 is 1463% faster in 1080p
  • RTX 3060 is 1460% faster in 1440p
  • RTX 3060 is 1567% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 72 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 3.15 44.34
Recency 16 June 2008 12 January 2021
Maximum RAM amount 896 MB 12 GB
Chip lithography 65 nm 8 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 182 Watt 170 Watt

RTX 3060 has a 1307.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 12 years, a 1271.4% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 712.5% more advanced lithography process, and 7.1% lower power consumption.

The GeForce RTX 3060 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 260 in performance tests.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

Vote for your favorite

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260
GeForce GTX 260
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
GeForce RTX 3060

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


3.8 606 votes

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Questions & comments

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