GeForce GTX 1660 Ti vs GeForce RTX 3060

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce RTX 3060, which features a clock frequency of 1320 MHz and a GDDR6 memory frequency of 1875 MHz. It also makes use of a 192-bit bus, and makes use of a 8 nm design. It features 3584 SPUs, 112 TAUs, and 48 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 1660 Ti		120 Watts
GeForce RTX 3060		170 Watts
	Difference: 50 Watts (42%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce RTX 3060 is 25% faster than the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti overall, because of its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce RTX 3060		368640 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 1660 Ti		294912 MB/sec
	Difference: 73728 (25%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce RTX 3060 should be a bit (more or less 3%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti. (explain)

GeForce RTX 3060		147840 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 1660 Ti		144000 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 3840 (3%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is a better choice, but it probably won't make a huge difference. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1660 Ti		72000 Mpixels/sec
GeForce RTX 3060		63360 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 8640 (14%)

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 largest amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in one second. It's worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

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