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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 — Specs & Performance Compared

Verdict: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB is ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 on all 5 shared benchmarks on file, by 27% to 89%, including 58% in 3DMark Time Spy (8,747 vs 5,521). On llama3.1:8b, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB generates 64.5 tokens/s (per TyoLab) against 16.7 for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 (per DatabaseMart), best community run on file for each.

Side-by-side GPU comparison of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660. Released 2021 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB), 2019 (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660). MSRP range: $329 · $219. Specs, synthetic benchmarks, AI inference tok/s, and Amazon availability below; each column header links to that part's benchmark page.

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*Price sourced from Amazon.com. Price and availability subject to change.

Where to buy

A listing for each part; the current price and stock are on the retailer's page.

Specs side-by-side

SpecNVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GBNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660
vram gb 126
vram type GDDR6GDDR5
tdp w 170120
cuda cores 35841408

Synthetic benchmarks

Each row says whether a higher or a lower number is better (ranks and times are lower-is-better). Scores come from 3DMark, Legit Reviews, Wccftech, GPU-Monkey, Geekbench Browser, PassMark, AskGeek.io and Tom's Hardware; each row links its sources, and where they differ the cell shows their median. Empty cells mean we don't yet have that benchmark on file for the SKU.

BenchmarkNVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GBNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660
3DMark Fire Strike (higher is better)
Source: 3DMark		 21,653 points12,365 points
3DMark Port Royal (higher is better)
Source: Legit Reviews, 3DMark, Wccftech		 5,074 points—
3DMark Speed Way (higher is better)
Source: 3DMark		 2,192 points—
3DMark Steel Nomad (higher is better)
Source: 3DMark		 1,976 points1,047 points
3DMark Time Spy (higher is better)
Source: 3DMark, Legit Reviews		 8,747 points5,521 points
3DMark Time Spy (overall score) (higher is better)
Source: Legit Reviews		 9,755 points—
3DMark Time Spy Graphics (higher is better)
Source: GPU-Monkey		 —5,395 points
Geekbench 6 OpenCL (higher is better)
Source: Geekbench Browser		 82,071 points—
Geekbench 6 Vulkan (higher is better)
Source: Geekbench Browser		 91,383 points—
PassMark G2D Mark (higher is better)
Source: PassMark		 984 pts776 pts
PassMark G3D Mark (higher is better)
Source: PassMark, AskGeek.io		 16,969 pts11,618 pts
Tom's Hardware GPU Hierarchy (lower is better)
Source: Tom's Hardware		 12 rank—

AI inference (tokens/sec)

Top community-reported tokens-per-second results for popular LLMs whose weights fit the card's memory, each linked to its source. See the per-SKU benchmark page for the full set including quantization and prompt length.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB

All NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB AI benchmarks →

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660

All NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 AI benchmarks →

Quick answers

Which is faster, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB or the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660?

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB is ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 on all 5 shared benchmarks on file, by 27% to 89%, including 58% in 3DMark Time Spy (8,747 vs 5,521).

Which is better for running local LLMs?

On llama3.1:8b, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB generates 64.5 tokens/s (per TyoLab) against 16.7 for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 (per DatabaseMart), best community run on file for each.

What did the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 cost at launch?

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB launched at a $329 MSRP and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 at $219. Street prices drift from launch pricing; the Where to buy section links current listings.

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