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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 — Specs & Performance Compared

Verdict: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB on all 5 shared benchmarks on file, by 32% to 409%, including 334% in 3DMark Time Spy (37,979 vs 8,747). On qwen3:14b, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 generates 84.4 tokens/s (per Hardware Corner) against 33.4 for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB (per tyolab.com), 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 4090. Released 2021 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB), 2022 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090). MSRP range: $329 · $1,599. 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 4090
vram gb 1224
vram type GDDR6GDDR6X
tdp w 170450
cuda cores 358416384

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, HWBOT, Legit Reviews, Overclock3D, Wccftech, HWCooling.net, The FPS Review, Club386, [H]ard|Forum RTX 4090 Time Spy Thread and TechPowerUp; 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 4090
3DMark Fire Strike (higher is better)
Source: 3DMark		 21,653 points—
3DMark Port Royal (higher is better)
Source: HWBOT, Legit Reviews, 3DMark, Overclock3D, Wccftech, HWCooling.net		 5,074 points25,820 points
3DMark Speed Way (higher is better)
Source: 3DMark		 2,192 points10,527 points
3DMark Steel Nomad (higher is better)
Source: The FPS Review, 3DMark		 1,976 points27,805 points
3DMark Steel Nomad (DX12) (higher is better)
Source: Club386		 —93 fps
3DMark Steel Nomad (DX12) Graphics Score (higher is better)
Source: 3DMark		 1,978 points—
3DMark Steel Nomad (Vulkan) (higher is better)
Source: Club386		 —103 fps
3DMark Steel Nomad Light (higher is better)
Source: The FPS Review		 —11,287 points
3DMark Time Spy (higher is better)
Source: [H]ard|Forum RTX 4090 Time Spy Thread, 3DMark		 8,747 points37,979 points
3DMark Time Spy (overall score) (higher is better)
Source: Legit Reviews		 9,755 points—
3DMark Time Spy Extreme (higher is better)
Source: TechPowerUp, The FPS Review		 —29,321 pts
3DMark Time Spy Extreme (Graphics) (higher is better)
Source: TechPowerUp		 —19,000 pts

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 4090

All NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 AI benchmarks →

Quick answers

Which is faster, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090?

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB on all 5 shared benchmarks on file, by 32% to 409%, including 334% in 3DMark Time Spy (37,979 vs 8,747).

Which is better for running local LLMs?

On qwen3:14b, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 generates 84.4 tokens/s (per Hardware Corner) against 33.4 for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB (per tyolab.com), best community run on file for each.

What did the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 cost at launch?

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB launched at a $329 MSRP and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 at $1,599. Street prices drift from launch pricing; the Where to buy section links current listings.

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