Skip to main content

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 — Specs & Performance Compared

Verdict: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB leads on 3 of 5 shared benchmarks (12% in 3DMark Fire Strike); the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 takes 2 (4% in 3DMark Time Spy). On llama3.1:8b, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB generates 64.5 tokens/s (per tyolab.com) against 52.4 for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (per LocalScore (Mozilla Builders)), best community run on file for each.

Side-by-side GPU comparison of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070. Released 2021 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB), 2018 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070). MSRP range: $329 · $499. Specs, synthetic benchmarks, AI inference tok/s, and Amazon availability below; each column header links to that part's benchmark page.

vs

*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 RTX 2070
vram gb 128
vram type GDDR6GDDR6
tdp w 170175
cuda cores 35842304
rt cores —36
tensor cores —288
process nm —12

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, Geeks3D, Legit Reviews, Wccftech, Geekbench Browser, PassMark 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 RTX 2070
3DMark Fire Strike (higher is better)
Source: 3DMark		 21,653 points19,283 points
3DMark Port Royal (higher is better)
Source: Geeks3D, Legit Reviews, 3DMark, Wccftech		 5,074 points5,069 points
3DMark Speed Way (higher is better)
Source: 3DMark		 2,192 points—
3DMark Steel Nomad (higher is better)
Source: 3DMark		 1,976 points2,094 points
3DMark Time Spy (higher is better)
Source: 3DMark, Wccftech		 8,747 points9,097 points
3DMark Time Spy (overall score) (higher is better)
Source: Legit Reviews		 9,755 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 pts—
PassMark G3D Mark (higher is better)
Source: PassMark		 16,969 pts16,063 points
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 RTX 2070

All NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 AI benchmarks →

Quick answers

Which is faster, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070?

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB leads on 3 of 5 shared benchmarks (12% in 3DMark Fire Strike); the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 takes 2 (4% in 3DMark Time Spy).

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.com) against 52.4 for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (per LocalScore (Mozilla Builders)), best community run on file for each.

What did the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 cost at launch?

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB launched at a $329 MSRP and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 at $499. Street prices drift from launch pricing; the Where to buy section links current listings.

Keep exploring

More guides & deep dives from the SpecPicks archive

Browse all articles & guides →

More reviews from the SpecPicks archive

Browse all reviews →

More buying guides from SpecPicks

Browse all buying guides →

Hardware benchmark data on SpecPicks

All benchmarks →