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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 — Specs & Performance Compared

Verdict: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB is ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 on all 7 shared benchmarks on file, by 7% to 124%, including 31% in 3DMark Time Spy (8,747 vs 6,657). On llama3.1:8b, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB generates 64.5 tokens/s (per tyolab.com) against 37.8 for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 (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 3050. Released 2021 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB), 2022 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050). MSRP range: $329 · $249. 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 RTX 3050
vram gb 128
vram type GDDR6GDDR6
tdp w 170130
cuda cores 35842560

Synthetic benchmarks

Each row says whether a higher or a lower number is better (ranks and times are lower-is-better). Scores come from Club386, Notebookcheck, 3DMark, GPU-Monkey, Legit Reviews, Wccftech, Trusted Reviews and Geekbench Browser; 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 3050
3DMark Fire Strike (higher is better)
Source: Club386, Notebookcheck, 3DMark		 21,653 points14,754 points
3DMark Fire Strike Extreme (Graphics score) (higher is better)
Source: GPU-Monkey		 —7,355 points
3DMark Port Royal (higher is better)
Source: Legit Reviews, GPU-Monkey, 3DMark, Wccftech		 5,074 points3,569 points
3DMark Speed Way (higher is better)
Source: Notebookcheck, 3DMark		 2,192 points980 points
3DMark Speed Way (Graphics score) (higher is better)
Source: GPU-Monkey		 —1,429 points
3DMark Steel Nomad (higher is better)
Source: 3DMark		 1,976 points1,337 points
3DMark Time Spy (higher is better)
Source: 3DMark, Notebookcheck		 8,747 points6,657 points
3DMark Time Spy (Graphics score) (higher is better)
Source: GPU-Monkey		 —6,077 points
3DMark Time Spy (overall score) (higher is better)
Source: Legit Reviews		 9,755 points—
3DMark Time Spy Extreme (higher is better)
Source: Trusted Reviews		 —2,991 points
3DMark Time Spy Extreme (Graphics score) (higher is better)
Source: GPU-Monkey		 —2,787 points
Geekbench 6 OpenCL (higher is better)
Source: Geekbench Browser		 82,071 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.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB

All NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB AI benchmarks →

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050

All NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 AI benchmarks →

Quick answers

Which is faster, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050?

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB is ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 on all 7 shared benchmarks on file, by 7% to 124%, including 31% in 3DMark Time Spy (8,747 vs 6,657).

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 37.8 for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 (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 3050 cost at launch?

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB launched at a $329 MSRP and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 at $249. Street prices drift from launch pricing; the Where to buy section links current listings.

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