GeForce RTX 3060 8 GB vs GTX 870M

Place in the ranking	485	105
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	6.19	16.24
Architecture	Kepler (2012−2018)	Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code name	GK104	GA106
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	12 March 2014 (10 years ago)	12 October 2022 (2 years ago)

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	1344	3584
Core clock speed	941 MHz	1320 MHz
Boost clock speed	967 MHz	1777 MHz
Number of transistors	3,540 million	12,000 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	170 Watt
Texture fill rate	108.3	199.0
Floating-point processing power	2.599 TFLOPS	12.74 TFLOPS
ROPs	24	48
TMUs	112	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).

Laptop size	large	no data
Bus support	PCI Express 2.0, PCI Express 3.0	no data
Interface	MXM-B (3.0)	PCIe 4.0 x16
Length	no data	242 mm
Width	no data	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	None	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	3 GB	8 GB
Standard memory configuration	GDDR5	no data
Memory bus width	192 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	Up to 2500 MHz	1875 MHz
Memory bandwidth	120.0 GB/s	240.0 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	No outputs	1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
eDP 1.2 signal support	Up to 3840x2160	no data
LVDS signal support	Up to 1920x1200	no data
VGA аnalog display support	Up to 2048x1536	no data
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support	Up to 3840x2160	no data
HDMI	+	+
HDCP content protection	+	-
7.1 channel HD audio on HDMI	+	-
TrueHD and DTS-HD audio bitstreaming	+	-

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder	+	-
Optimus	+	-

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	4.5	4.6
OpenCL	1.1	3.0
Vulkan	1.1.126	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 870M 8.94

RTX 3060 8 GB 39.89
+346%

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 870M 3449

RTX 3060 8 GB 15388
+346%

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 HD	45 −344%	200−210 +344%
4K	19 −321%	80−85 +321%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

14−16

−329%

60−65
+329%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	21−24 −332%	95−100 +332%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	12−14 −323%	55−60 +323%
Battlefield 5	27−30 −344%	120−130 +344%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	18−20 −344%	80−85 +344%
Cyberpunk 2077	14−16 −329%	60−65 +329%
Far Cry 5	20−22 −325%	85−90 +325%
Far Cry New Dawn	24−27 −340%	110−120 +340%
Forza Horizon 4	60−65 −333%	260−270 +333%
Hitman 3	16−18 −341%	75−80 +341%
Horizon Zero Dawn	50−55 −340%	220−230 +340%
Metro Exodus	27−30 −329%	120−130 +329%
Red Dead Redemption 2	24−27 −340%	110−120 +340%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	27−30 −314%	120−130 +314%
Watch Dogs: Legion	60−65 −333%	260−270 +333%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	21−24 −332%	95−100 +332%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	12−14 −323%	55−60 +323%
Battlefield 5	27−30 −344%	120−130 +344%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	18−20 −344%	80−85 +344%
Cyberpunk 2077	14−16 −329%	60−65 +329%
Far Cry 5	20−22 −325%	85−90 +325%
Far Cry New Dawn	24−27 −340%	110−120 +340%
Forza Horizon 4	60−65 −333%	260−270 +333%
Hitman 3	16−18 −341%	75−80 +341%
Horizon Zero Dawn	50−55 −340%	220−230 +340%
Metro Exodus	27−30 −329%	120−130 +329%
Red Dead Redemption 2	24−27 −340%	110−120 +340%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	27−30 −314%	120−130 +314%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	88 −298%	350−400 +298%
Watch Dogs: Legion	60−65 −333%	260−270 +333%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	21−24 −332%	95−100 +332%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	12−14 −323%	55−60 +323%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	18−20 −344%	80−85 +344%
Cyberpunk 2077	14−16 −329%	60−65 +329%
Far Cry 5	20−22 −325%	85−90 +325%
Forza Horizon 4	60−65 −333%	260−270 +333%
Hitman 3	16−18 −341%	75−80 +341%
Horizon Zero Dawn	50−55 −340%	220−230 +340%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	27−30 −314%	120−130 +314%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	15 −333%	65−70 +333%
Watch Dogs: Legion	60−65 −333%	260−270 +333%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

24−27
−340%

110−120

+340%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	16−18 −341%	75−80 +341%
Far Cry New Dawn	14−16 −329%	60−65 +329%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	9−10 −344%	40−45 +344%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	5−6 −320%	21−24 +320%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	9−10 −344%	40−45 +344%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 −300%	16−18 +300%
Far Cry 5	10−11 −300%	40−45 +300%
Forza Horizon 4	35−40 −332%	160−170 +332%
Hitman 3	12−14 −317%	50−55 +317%
Horizon Zero Dawn	18−20 −321%	80−85 +321%
Metro Exodus	12−14 −317%	50−55 +317%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−11 −300%	40−45 +300%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	8−9 −338%	35−40 +338%
Watch Dogs: Legion	55−60 −339%	250−260 +339%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

14−16

−333%

65−70
+333%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	8−9 −338%	35−40 +338%
Far Cry New Dawn	6−7 −300%	24−27 +300%
Hitman 3	5−6 −320%	21−24 +320%
Horizon Zero Dawn	35−40 −344%	160−170 +344%
Metro Exodus	7−8 −329%	30−33 +329%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	6−7 −300%	24−27 +300%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 −320%	21−24 +320%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	4−5 −300%	16−18 +300%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 −300%	16−18 +300%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 −300%	4−5 +300%
Far Cry 5	5−6 −320%	21−24 +320%
Forza Horizon 4	10−12 −309%	45−50 +309%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	5−6 −320%	21−24 +320%
Watch Dogs: Legion	3−4 −300%	12−14 +300%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

9−10
−344%

40−45

+344%

This is how GTX 870M and RTX 3060 8 GB compete in popular games:

RTX 3060 8 GB is 344% faster in 1080p
RTX 3060 8 GB is 321% faster in 4K

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	8.94	39.89
Recency	12 March 2014	12 October 2022
Maximum RAM amount	3 GB	8 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	170 Watt

GTX 870M has 70% lower power consumption.

RTX 3060 8 GB, on the other hand, has a 346.2% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 8 years, a 166.7% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 250% more advanced lithography process.

The GeForce RTX 3060 8 GB is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 870M in performance tests.

Be aware that GeForce GTX 870M is a notebook card while GeForce RTX 3060 8 GB is a desktop one.

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