GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104 vs GTX 590

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Primary details

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

Place in the ranking495not rated
Place by popularitynot in top-10051
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.78no data
Power efficiency1.65no data
ArchitectureFermi 2.0 (2010−2014)Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code nameGF110GA104
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date24 March 2011 (13 years ago)1 September 2021 (3 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$699 $329

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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 cores10243584
Core clock speed607 MHz1320 MHz
Boost clock speedno data1777 MHz
Number of transistors3,000 million17,400 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)365 Watt170 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature97 °Cno data
Texture fill rate38.91199.0
Floating-point processing power1.244 TFLOPS12.74 TFLOPS
ROPs4848
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).

Bus support16x PCI-E 2.0no data
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x16
Length279 mm242 mm
Height4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 8-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 typeGDDR5GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount3072 MB (1536 MB per GPU)12 GB
Memory bus width768-bit (384-bit per GPU)192 Bit
Memory clock speed1707 MHz1875 MHz
Memory bandwidth327.7 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 ConnectorsThree Dual Link DVI-IMini DisplayPort1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
Multi monitor support+no data
HDMI++
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
Audio input for HDMIInternalno data

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (11_0)12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model5.16.6
OpenGL4.24.6
OpenCL1.13.0
VulkanN/A1.3
CUDA+8.6

Pros & cons summary


Recency 24 March 2011 1 September 2021
Maximum RAM amount 3072 MB (1536 MB per GPU) 12 GB
Chip lithography 40 nm 8 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 365 Watt 170 Watt

RTX 3060 12 GB GA104 has an age advantage of 10 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 400% more advanced lithography process, and 114.7% lower power consumption.

We couldn't decide between GeForce GTX 590 and GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104. We've got no test results to judge.


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

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590
GeForce GTX 590
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104
GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104

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Community ratings

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3.8 49 votes

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4.2 1615 votes

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