GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104 vs GTX 950

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Primary details

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

Place in the ranking374not rated
Place by popularitynot in top-10051
Cost-effectiveness evaluation8.72no data
Power efficiency10.72no data
ArchitectureMaxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code nameGM206GA104
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date20 August 2015 (9 years ago)1 September 2021 (3 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$159 $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 cores7683584
Core clock speed1024 MHz1320 MHz
Boost clock speed1188 MHz1777 MHz
Number of transistors2,940 million17,400 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)90 Watt170 Watt
Texture fill rate57.02199.0
Floating-point processing power1.825 TFLOPS12.74 TFLOPS
ROPs3248
TMUs48112
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 supportPCI Express 3.0no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x16
Length202 mm242 mm
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot2-slot
Recommended system power (PSU)350 Wattno data
Supplementary power connectors1x 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 typeGDDR5GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount2 GB12 GB
Memory bus width128 Bit192 Bit
Memory clock speed6.6 GB/s1875 MHz
Memory bandwidth105.6 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 DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.21x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
Multi monitor support4 displaysno data
HDMI++
HDCP+-
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
G-SYNC support+-
Audio input for HDMIInternalno data

Supported technologies

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

GameStream+-
GeForce ShadowPlay+-
GPU Boost2.0no data
GameWorks+-

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (12_1)12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model6.46.6
OpenGL4.54.6
OpenCL1.23.0
Vulkan1.1.1261.3
CUDA+8.6

Pros & cons summary


Recency 20 August 2015 1 September 2021
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 12 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 8 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 90 Watt 170 Watt

GTX 950 has 88.9% lower power consumption.

RTX 3060 12 GB GA104, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 6 years, a 500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 250% more advanced lithography process.

We couldn't decide between GeForce GTX 950 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 950
GeForce GTX 950
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104
GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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Community ratings

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4 2098 votes

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4.2 1615 votes

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Questions & comments

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