GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile vs Quadro NVS 290

Place in the ranking	1200	165
Place by popularity	not in top-100	90
Power efficiency	1.96	28.34
Architecture	Tesla (2006−2010)	Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code name	G86	GA106
Market segment	Workstation	Laptop
Release date	4 October 2007 (17 years ago)	12 January 2021 (3 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$149	no data

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 cores	16	3840
Core clock speed	459 MHz	900 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	1425 MHz
Number of transistors	210 million	13,250 million
Manufacturing process technology	80 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	21 Watt	80 Watt
Texture fill rate	3.672	171.0
Floating-point processing power	0.02938 TFLOPS	10.94 TFLOPS
ROPs	4	48
TMUs	8	120
Tensor Cores	no data	120
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	30

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	no data	large
Interface	PCIe 1.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16
Length	168 mm	no data
Width	1-slot	no data
Supplementary power connectors	None	no data

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	DDR2	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	256 MB	6 GB
Memory bus width	64 Bit	192 Bit
Memory clock speed	400 MHz	1750 MHz
Memory bandwidth	6.4 GB/s	336.0 GB/s
Shared memory	no data	-

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

1x DMS-59

No outputs

API compatibility

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

DirectX	11.1 (10_0)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	4.0	6.5
OpenGL	3.3	4.6
OpenCL	1.1	2.0
Vulkan	N/A	1.2
CUDA	1.1	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.

NVS 290 0.59

RTX 3060 Mobile 32.53
+5414%

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.

NVS 290 228

RTX 3060 Mobile 12550
+5404%

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	1−2 −9700%	98 +9700%
1440p	1−2 −6500%	66 +6500%
4K	0−1	42

Cost per frame, $

1080p	149.00	no data
1440p	149.00	no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

103

+0%

103

+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	76 +0%	76 +0%
Battlefield 5	100−110 +0%	100−110 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	65−70 +0%	65−70 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	86 +0%	86 +0%
Far Cry 5	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	80−85 +0%	80−85 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	170−180 +0%	170−180 +0%
Hitman 3	106 +0%	106 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	140−150 +0%	140−150 +0%
Metro Exodus	164 +0%	164 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	80−85 +0%	80−85 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	64 +0%	64 +0%
Battlefield 5	100−110 +0%	100−110 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	65−70 +0%	65−70 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	69 +0%	69 +0%
Far Cry 5	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	80−85 +0%	80−85 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	170−180 +0%	170−180 +0%
Hitman 3	108 +0%	108 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	189 +0%	189 +0%
Metro Exodus	129 +0%	129 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	102 +0%	102 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	158 +0%	158 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	65−70 +0%	65−70 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	158 +0%	158 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	56 +0%	56 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	65−70 +0%	65−70 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	62 +0%	62 +0%
Far Cry 5	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	170−180 +0%	170−180 +0%
Hitman 3	96 +0%	96 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	120 +0%	120 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	140 +0%	140 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	78 +0%	78 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	46 +0%	46 +0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	60−65 +0%	60−65 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	50−55 +0%	50−55 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	48 +0%	48 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	39 +0%	39 +0%
Far Cry 5	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	180−190 +0%	180−190 +0%
Hitman 3	64 +0%	64 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	85 +0%	85 +0%
Metro Exodus	85 +0%	85 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	101 +0%	101 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	116 +0%	116 +0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Hitman 3	41 +0%	41 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	160−170 +0%	160−170 +0%
Metro Exodus	60 +0%	60 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	55 +0%	55 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	11 +0%	11 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	20−22 +0%	20−22 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	15 +0%	15 +0%
Far Cry 5	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	60 +0%	60 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	19 +0%	19 +0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

+0%

This is how NVS 290 and RTX 3060 Mobile compete in popular games:

RTX 3060 Mobile is 9700% faster in 1080p
RTX 3060 Mobile is 6500% faster in 1440p

All in all, in popular games:

there's a draw in 72 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	0.59	32.53
Recency	4 October 2007	12 January 2021
Maximum RAM amount	256 MB	6 GB
Chip lithography	80 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	21 Watt	80 Watt

NVS 290 has 281% lower power consumption.

RTX 3060 Mobile, on the other hand, has a 5413.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 13 years, a 2300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 900% more advanced lithography process.

The GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile is our recommended choice as it beats the Quadro NVS 290 in performance tests.

Be aware that Quadro NVS 290 is a workstation card while GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile is a notebook one.

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