GeForce GTX 960M vs GeForce RTX 3060

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce RTX 3060, which uses a 8 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core speed at 1320 MHz. The GDDR6 RAM works at a frequency of 1875 MHz on this specific card. It features 3584 SPUs as well as 112 TAUs and 48 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 960M		65 Watts
GeForce RTX 3060		170 Watts
	Difference: 105 Watts (162%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce RTX 3060 should in theory be much better than the GeForce GTX 960M overall. (explain)

GeForce RTX 3060		368640 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 960M		64000 MB/sec
	Difference: 304640 (476%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce RTX 3060 should be much (more or less 237%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 960M. (explain)

GeForce RTX 3060		147840 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 960M		43840 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 104000 (237%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce RTX 3060 is superior to the GeForce GTX 960M, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce RTX 3060		63360 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 960M		17536 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 45824 (261%)

Please note that the above 'benchmarks' are all just theoretical - the results were calculated based on the card's specifications, and real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the max amount of information (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.