GeForce RTX 3060 vs GTX 550 Ti

Place in the ranking	693	81
Place by popularity	73	4
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.79	71.26
Power efficiency	2.42	18.17
Architecture	Fermi 2.0 (2010−2014)	Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code name	GF116	GA106
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	15 March 2011 (13 years ago)	12 January 2021 (3 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$149	$329

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RTX 3060 has 8920% better value for money than GTX 550 Ti.

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 cores	192	3584
Core clock speed	900 MHz	1320 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	1777 MHz
Number of transistors	1,170 million	12,000 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	116 Watt	170 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature	100 °C	no data
Texture fill rate	28.80	199.0
Floating-point processing power	0.6912 TFLOPS	12.74 TFLOPS
ROPs	24	48
TMUs	32	112
Tensor Cores	no data	112
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	28

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).

Bus support	16x PCI-E 2.0	no data
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16
Length	210 mm	242 mm
Height	4.376" (11.1 cm)	no data
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin	1x 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 type	GDDR5	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	12 GB
Memory bus width	192 Bit	192 Bit
Memory clock speed	4.1 GB/s	1875 MHz
Memory bandwidth	98.4 GB/s	360.0 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 Connectors	Two Dual Link DVI-IMini HDMI	1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
Multi monitor support	+	no data
HDMI	+	+
Maximum VGA resolution	2048x1536	no data
Audio input for HDMI	Internal	no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (11_0)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	5.1	6.7
OpenGL	4.2	4.6
OpenCL	1.1	3.0
Vulkan	N/A	1.3
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 550 Ti 4.03

RTX 3060 44.29
+999%

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 550 Ti 1553

RTX 3060 17085
+1000%

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

GTX 550 Ti 2272

RTX 3060 28375
+1149%

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

GTX 550 Ti 10229

RTX 3060 79706
+679%

GeekBench 5 OpenCL

Geekbench 5 is a widespread graphics card benchmark combined from 11 different test scenarios. All these scenarios rely on direct usage of GPU's processing power, no 3D rendering is involved. This variation uses OpenCL API by Khronos Group.

GTX 550 Ti 5767

RTX 3060 88251
+1430%

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:

900p	38 −953%	400−450 +953%
Full HD	38 −226%	124 +226%
1440p	7−8 −1057%	81 +1057%
4K	4−5 −1200%	52 +1200%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	3.92	2.65
1440p	21.29	4.06
4K	37.25	6.33

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

7−8

−1029%

79
+1029%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−12 −745%	90−95 +745%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	3−4 −3300%	102 +3300%
Battlefield 5	9−10 −1478%	140−150 +1478%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	9−10 −889%	85−90 +889%
Cyberpunk 2077	7−8 −1014%	78 +1014%
Far Cry 5	8−9 −1063%	90−95 +1063%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−12 −882%	100−110 +882%
Forza Horizon 4	24−27 −746%	200−210 +746%
Hitman 3	9−10 −1233%	120 +1233%
Horizon Zero Dawn	27−30 −563%	170−180 +563%
Metro Exodus	8−9 −1600%	130−140 +1600%
Red Dead Redemption 2	10−11 −890%	95−100 +890%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	14−16 −1007%	160−170 +1007%
Watch Dogs: Legion	40−45 −214%	130−140 +214%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−12 −745%	90−95 +745%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	3−4 −2733%	85 +2733%
Battlefield 5	9−10 −1478%	140−150 +1478%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	9−10 −889%	85−90 +889%
Cyberpunk 2077	7−8 −971%	75 +971%
Far Cry 5	8−9 −1063%	90−95 +1063%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−12 −882%	100−110 +882%
Forza Horizon 4	24−27 −746%	200−210 +746%
Hitman 3	9−10 −1189%	116 +1189%
Horizon Zero Dawn	27−30 −563%	170−180 +563%
Metro Exodus	8−9 −1600%	130−140 +1600%
Red Dead Redemption 2	10−11 −890%	95−100 +890%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	14−16 −1100%	180 +1100%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	16−18 −469%	90−95 +469%
Watch Dogs: Legion	40−45 −214%	130−140 +214%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−12 −745%	90−95 +745%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	3−4 −2400%	75 +2400%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	9−10 −889%	85−90 +889%
Cyberpunk 2077	7−8 −814%	64 +814%
Far Cry 5	8−9 −1063%	90−95 +1063%
Forza Horizon 4	24−27 −746%	200−210 +746%
Hitman 3	9−10 −1022%	101 +1022%
Horizon Zero Dawn	27−30 −426%	142 +426%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	14−16 −927%	154 +927%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	16−18 −356%	73 +356%
Watch Dogs: Legion	40−45 −37.2%	59 +37.2%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

10−11

−890%

95−100
+890%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	7−8 −1143%	85−90 +1143%
Far Cry New Dawn	6−7 −1033%	65−70 +1033%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	4−5 −1125%	45−50 +1125%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	3−4 −1633%	50−55 +1633%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 −1850%	39 +1850%
Far Cry 5	5−6 −920%	50−55 +920%
Forza Horizon 4	5−6 −4720%	240−250 +4720%
Hitman 3	8−9 −750%	68 +750%
Horizon Zero Dawn	9−10 −1078%	106 +1078%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	3−4 −2133%	65−70 +2133%
Watch Dogs: Legion	24−27 −720%	200−210 +720%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

8−9

−850%

75−80
+850%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	2−3 −2150%	45−50 +2150%
Far Cry New Dawn	3−4 −1167%	35−40 +1167%
Hitman 3	0−1	45
Metro Exodus	0−1	55−60

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	3−4 −933%	30−35 +933%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 −1800%	38 +1800%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	1−2 −2800%	27−30 +2800%
Cyberpunk 2077	0−1	18
Far Cry 5	2−3 −1250%	27−30 +1250%
Forza Horizon 4	2−3 −3050%	60−65 +3050%
Watch Dogs: Legion	1−2 −2600%	27 +2600%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

5−6

−700%

40−45
+700%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	60 +0%	60 +0%
Metro Exodus	89 +0%	89 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	115 +0%	115 +0%

4K
High Preset

Horizon Zero Dawn	190−200 +0%	190−200 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	63 +0%	63 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

+0%

This is how GTX 550 Ti and RTX 3060 compete in popular games:

RTX 3060 is 953% faster in 900p
RTX 3060 is 226% faster in 1080p
RTX 3060 is 1057% faster in 1440p
RTX 3060 is 1200% faster in 4K

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

in Forza Horizon 4, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RTX 3060 is 4720% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

RTX 3060 is ahead in 63 tests (91%)
there's a draw in 6 tests (9%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	4.03	44.29
Recency	15 March 2011	12 January 2021
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	12 GB
Chip lithography	40 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	116 Watt	170 Watt

GTX 550 Ti has 46.6% lower power consumption.

RTX 3060, on the other hand, has a 999% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 9 years, a 500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 400% more advanced lithography process.

The GeForce RTX 3060 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 550 Ti in performance tests.

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