GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104 vs GTX 970M SLI
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 227 | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | 51 |
| Power efficiency | 10.49 | no data |
| Architecture | Maxwell (2014−2017) | Ampere (2020−2024) |
| GPU code name | no data | GA104 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Desktop |
| Release date | 7 October 2014 (10 years ago) | 1 September 2021 (3 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | no data | $329 |
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 | 2560 | 3584 |
| Core clock speed | 924 MHz | 1320 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 1038 MHz | 1777 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 2x 5200 Million | 17,400 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 28 nm | 8 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 162 Watt | 170 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | no data | 199.0 |
| Floating-point processing power | no data | 12.74 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | no data | 48 |
| TMUs | no data | 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 |
| Interface | no data | PCIe 4.0 x16 |
| Length | no data | 242 mm |
| Width | no data | 2-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | no data | 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 | 2x 6 GB | 12 GB |
| Memory bus width | 2x 192 Bit | 192 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 5000 MHz | 1875 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | no data | 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 | no data | 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a |
| HDMI | - | + |
Supported technologies
Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.
| Optimus | + | - |
API compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12_1 | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |
| Shader Model | no data | 6.6 |
| OpenGL | no data | 4.6 |
| OpenCL | no data | 3.0 |
| Vulkan | - | 1.3 |
| CUDA | + | 8.6 |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 7 October 2014 | 1 September 2021 |
| Chip lithography | 28 nm | 8 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 162 Watt | 170 Watt |
GTX 970M SLI has 4.9% lower power consumption.
RTX 3060 12 GB GA104, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 6 years, and a 250% more advanced lithography process.
We couldn't decide between GeForce GTX 970M SLI and GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104. We've got no test results to judge.
Be aware that GeForce GTX 970M SLI is a notebook card while GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104 is a desktop one.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Comparisons with similar GPUs
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
