GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104 vs Radeon R5 M230

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking1087not rated
Place by popularitynot in top-10051
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code nameJetGA104
Market segmentLaptopDesktop
Release date7 January 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 cores3203584
Compute units5no data
Core clock speed825 MHz1320 MHz
Boost clock speed855 MHz1777 MHz
Number of transistors690 million17,400 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)unknown170 Watt
Texture fill rate17.10199.0
Floating-point processing power0.5472 TFLOPS12.74 TFLOPS
ROPs848
TMUs20112
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 supportPCIe 3.0 x8no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x8PCIe 4.0 x16
Lengthno data242 mm
Widthno data2-slot
Supplementary power connectorsno data1x 12-pin

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 typeDDR3GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount4 GB12 GB
Memory bus width64 Bit192 Bit
Memory clock speed1000 MHz1875 MHz
Memory bandwidth16 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 ConnectorsNo outputs1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
Eyefinity+-
HDMI-+

Supported technologies

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

AppAcceleration+-
HD3D+-
PowerTune+-
DualGraphics+-
ZeroCore+-
Switchable graphics+-

API compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX® 1112 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model5.16.6
OpenGL4.44.6
OpenCLNot Listed3.0
Vulkan-1.3
Mantle+-
CUDA-8.6

Pros & cons summary


Recency 7 January 2014 1 September 2021
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 12 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 8 nm

RTX 3060 12 GB GA104 has an age advantage of 7 years, a 200% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 250% more advanced lithography process.

We couldn't decide between Radeon R5 M230 and GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104. We've got no test results to judge.

Be aware that Radeon R5 M230 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.

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


AMD Radeon R5 M230
Radeon R5 M230
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104
GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


2.9 172 votes

Rate Radeon R5 M230 on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
4.2 1615 votes

Rate GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104 on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.