GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 — Specs & Performance Compared
Verdict: The GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB leads on 2 of 4 shared benchmarks (12% in 3DMark Fire Strike); the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 takes 2 (4% in 3DMark Time Spy). On llama3.1:8b, the GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB generates 64.5 tokens/s (per TYO Lab blog) against 52.4 for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (per LocalScore), best community run on file for each.
Side-by-side GPU comparison of the GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB and the 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.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070
*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
| Spec | GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 |
|---|---|---|
| vram gb | 12 | 8 |
| vram type | — | GDDR6 |
| tdp w | — | 175 |
| cuda cores | — | 2304 |
| 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, WCCFTech, TopCPU.net, UL Benchmarks, CpuTronic, Geekbench Browser and PassMark; 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.
| Benchmark | GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 |
|---|---|---|
| 3DMark Fire Strike (higher is better) Source: 3DMark |
21,653 points | 19,283 points |
| 3DMark Port Royal (higher is better) Source: Geeks3D, 3DMark, WCCFTech |
5,168 points | 5,069 points |
| 3DMark Speed Way (higher is better) Source: 3DMark, TopCPU.net |
2,294 points | — |
| 3DMark Steel Nomad (higher is better) Source: UL Benchmarks |
1,974 points | 2,094 points |
| 3DMark Time Spy (higher is better) Source: 3DMark, CpuTronic, TopCPU.net, WCCFTech |
8,718 points | 9,097 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 G3D Mark (higher is better) Source: PassMark |
— | 16,063 points |
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.
GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB
- llama3.2:1b: 211.9 tok/s (TYO Lab blog)
- llama3.2:1b: 211.9 tok/s (TyoLab)
- llama3.2:1b: 185.0 tok/s (LocalScore (Mozilla Builders))
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070
- llama3.2:1b: 190.0 tok/s (LocalScore)
- llama2:7b: 88.1 tok/s (knightli.com (citing llama.cpp GitHub discussions))
- llama2:7b: 88.1 tok/s (llama.cpp GitHub Discussion #15013)
Quick answers
Which is faster, the GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070?
The GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB leads on 2 of 4 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 GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB generates 64.5 tokens/s (per TYO Lab blog) against 52.4 for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (per LocalScore), best community run on file for each.
What did the GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 cost at launch?
The 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.
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