The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 has the GM204-200-A1 graphics chip installed, which is based on the Maxwell 2.0 architecture.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 is based on the graphics chip GA106-300-A1, which comes from the Ampere architecture.
Memory
Memory
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
Memory Size
4 GB
12 GB
Memory Type
GDDR5
GDDR6
Memory Clock
1.753 GHz
1.875 GHz
Memory Speed
7.0 Gbps
15.0 Gbps
Memory bandwidth
224 GB/s
360 GB/s
Memory Interface
256 bit
192 bit
More information
The graphics memory of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 clocks at 1.753 GHz, which corresponds to a speed of 7.0 Gbps.
The graphics memory speed of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 is 15.0 Gbps and the clock speed is 1.875 GHz.
Clock Speeds
Clock Speeds
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
Base Clock
1.050 GHz
1.320 GHz
Boost Clock
1.178 GHz
1.777 GHz
Overclocking
Yes
Yes
More information
The clock frequency of a graphics card determines the speed in connection with the graphics architecture.
Thermal Design
Thermal Design
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
TDP
145 W
170 W
Tjunction max
98 °C
93 °C
PCIe-Power
2 x 6-Pin
1 x 8-Pin
More information
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 is powered by 2 x 6-Pin connectors. The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of the graphics card is 145 W.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 has 1 x 8-Pin PCIe power connectors that supply it with energy. The manufacturer specifies the TDP of the card as 170 W.
Cooler & Fans
Cooler & Fans
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
Fan-Type
Radial
Axial
Fan 1
1 x 65 mm
--
Cooler-Type
Air cooling
Air cooling
Noise (Idle)
0 dB
0 dB
More information
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 is equipped with a total of 1 Radial main fans.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 has 0 Axial main fans that cool the GPU and memory.
Connectivity
Connectivity
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
Max. Displays
4
4
HDCP
2.2
2.3
HDMI
1x HDMI 2.0
1x HDMI 2.1
DisplayPort
3x DP 1.2
3x DP 1.4a
DVI
1
--
More information
Up to 4 screens can be operated with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 supports the operation of a maximum of 4 monitors.
Featureset
Featureset
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
Max. resolution
4096x2160
7680x4320
DirectX
12_1
12_2 (Ultimate)
Raytracing
No
Yes
DLSS / FSR
No
Yes
LED
No LED lighting
No LED lighting
More information
With the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 it is possible to operate a screen with a maximum resolution of up to 4096x2160 pixels.
The maximum supported resolution of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 is 7680x4320 pixels.
Supported Video Codecs
Supported Video Codecs
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
h264
Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode
h265 / HEVC
No
Decode / Encode
VP8
Decode
Decode
VP9
No
Decode
AV1
No
Decode
More information
The support and acceleration of certain video codecs can have a positive impact on the lower energy consumption and less waste heat from the graphics card.
Dimensions
Dimensions
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
Length
267 mm
--
Height
111 mm
--
Width
40 mm
--
Width (Slots)
2 Slots
--
SFF-Ready
No
No
More information
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 is connected to the system via PCIe 3 x 16 lanes and requires 2 PCIe-Slots space in the housing.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 needs the space of -- in the case and has a PCIe 4.0 x 16 Lanes interface.
3DMark is a benchmark program that determines the performance of certain components of a computer and then reports the performance as a numerical value.
Cyberpunk 2077 was developed by CD Projekt Red and is based on the development studio's own REDengine 4. Ray tracing is switched off in our benchmarks.
The Last of Us Part One is a game released by Sony in June 2013 exclusively for the Playstation and released for the PC in early 2023. The benchmark values here were determined at high details.
Geekbench 6 is a cross-platform benchmark for main processors, which also carries out 3 different graphics benchmarks and outputs them in the form of a numerical value.
The theoretical computing power of the graphics card with single precision (32 bit) in TFLOPS indicates how many trillion FP32 floating point operations the graphics card (GPU) can perform per second.
Here you can rate the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.3 stars (12 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 3.9 stars (54 ratings). Rate now:
