The Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs can provide the most powerful gaming computers on the market today. Whether you are building your own system or buying one from a manufacturer, you will want a computer with an RTX 30 series card. (Unless you decide to go with AMD, but it’s a different story.) The only problem – except actually to find a map in stock somewhere – is to know which one to choose.
At the time of writing, there are five Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs, ranging from $ 329 to $ 1,499. This is a fairly wide range. As you can imagine, these cards can provide everything from a comfortable 1080p gaming machine to a 4K graphic design workhorse. Knowing which RTX 30 Series GPU to buy can be challenging, especially if you want it to play nicely with all the other parts in your prospective or existing machine.
At the moment, Tom’s Guide does not have the hardware or laboratory space to compare all these GPUs. However, we can provide all their applicable specifications and recommend the ideal use cases for each model. This way, if you are willing to spend time on inventory tracking, you can at least focus on the graphics card that fits your machine.
Read on as Tom’s Guide compares the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, 3060 Ti, 3070, 3080, and 3090 GPUs.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs at a Glance
The easiest way to see how the Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 series cards compare is to compare them all in one big chart. Some of this information is coming directly from Nvidia; some of them come from retail sources; some of it comes from our own experiences with the cards. Here is the information that our everyday consumers will find most useful:
| Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti | Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 | |
| Nvidia CUDA Core | 3 584 | 4,864 | 5 888 | 8,704 | 10 496 |
| Rise clock (GHz) | 1.78 | 1.67 | 1.73 | 1.71 | 1.70 |
| Memory Size | 12 GB | 8 GB | 8 GB | 10 GB | 24 GB |
| Memory type | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | GDDR6X | GDDR6X |
| Dimensions | 9.5 x 4.4 inches | 9.5 x 4.4 inches | 9.5 x 4.4 inches | 11.2 x 4.4 inches | 12.3 x 5.4 inches |
| Power drawing | 170W | 200W | 220W | 320W | 350W |
| Price | $ 330 | $ 400 | $ 500 | $ 700 | $ 1,500 |
To help you understand some of the obscure terms above:
Nvidia CUDA Core refers to parallel data processing units within a GPU. It works similarly to how a CPU works on your computer. In general, the more CUDA Cores a GPU has, the more complex data it can quickly work through.
Boost Clock refers to the maximum speed that a GPU can achieve when it is available and cool enough. There is also a base clock status, but Nvidia GPUs will use extra resources during the game, assuming you have a powerful system that would not otherwise be used. A higher Boost Clock speed usually means better performance, but it depends on many other factors, including the hardware of your computer.
Memory type is a subtle distinction. In a nutshell, GDDR6X has more bandwidth than GDDR6 memory, and therefore has (theoretically) the ability to run more demanding games with higher settings.
Finally, Power drawing refers to how much power the GPU can draw on itself while operating under a full graphics load. Nvidia also has recommendations for the amount of power you need for a computer with each card installed, but we have not included the data here, as choosing a power source is a separate topic.
The good news is that the five Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 series GPUs have an abundance of features in common for all their differences. They all support the second generation beam tracking; they all use the Nvidia Ampere architecture; everyone uses Nvidia DLSS (a kind of AI upscaler for games).
Nvidia FreeStyle, ShadowPlay, Highlights, G-Sync and GPU boost work on all 30 series cards. They are all VR ready, and HDMI 2.1-compatible. And in theory, they can all support screen resolutions up to 8K. (What you will be able to do in 8K will undoubtedly differ significantly, for example the 3060 and the 3090, but the potential is there.) Finally, they all support up to four monitors if you really like productivity. use.
In other words: Although the horsepower varies considerably between the Nvidia 3060, 3060 Ti, 3070, 3080 and 3090, they have a number of core features in common. Which one you should get usually depends on how hard you plan to print your computer and with what programs.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 Series GPU Recommendations
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090
While the RTX is 3090 often easier to find less than the cheaper cards, $ 1,500 is still a huge amount of money. For the price, you could very well build an entire machine with one of the bottom cards and still have enough left over for games and peripherals. Furthermore, the 3090 is likely to be more focused on productivity users, with creative suite drivers and far more memory than most games require. This is an amazing map and possibly very future. But unless you’re working in animation, it’s probably not worth the cost of subscribing.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080
If you can afford it, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 is a very easy recommendation for high-end gaming systems in general. The GDDR6X memory gives it a significant range of lower-end cards, as does its nearly 9,000 CUDA cores. It is a very large card and draws a considerable amount of power, so you need to be sure that your suitcase and your power supply can support it. You also need a fairly high processor and a lot of RAM to make the most of it. But if you have to spend $ 2,000 or more on a gaming computer, an RTX 3080 can be an integral part of it.
Now, the harder part: the comparison of the 3070, the 3060 Ti and the 3060. Of course, the 3070 is the most powerful; the 3060 is the least powerful; the 3060 Ti is somewhere in the middle. But since we have not yet had the chance to compare these cards head-to-head, it is difficult to say exactly where their strengths and weaknesses lie. We’re going to test it, so stay tuned.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070
I can say from personal experience that I used the Tom’s Guide test drill with a Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070, and I’m very pleased with the way it executes games with QHD resolutions. I doubt it would be a 4K power station, but I imagine it would easily remove 30 fps in most games. At $ 500, it’s an expensive component, but much less than the 3080 or the 3090.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
As mentioned above, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti offers 4,864 Nvidia CUDA cores and 8 GB of GDDR6 memory. This distinguishes it from both the RTX 3070 (5,888 CUDA cores, 8 GB GDDR6 memory) and the RTX 3060 (3,584 CUDA cores, 12 GB GDDR6 memory). While the 3060 has more memory, it is still not as powerful as the 3060 Ti. This card seems like a reasonable choice for lower-end machines that still want decent QHD performance, but we need to see in our own tests how the card handles both FHD and QHD resolutions.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060
As the latest powerful card among the RTX 30 series, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 looks like a safe bet for users who want 1080p resolution and decent frame rates. We’ll have to see how it performs with QHD screens for ourselves, but we will not count on high 4K performance.
The 3060 also has a slight – even if it is temporary – advantage over other GPUs, in that it supports Nvidia’s changeable BAR technology. It allows for faster frame rates without much extra processing power. But because the other 30-series GPUs will get this technology by the end of the month, the gap between the 3060 and its more expensive counterparts will soon widen again.
For now, it may be smart to choose between the 3070, 3060 Ti and 3060, mainly based on the price, and understand that the more you pay, the better your performance will be.
Stay tuned as Tom’s Guide will be testing these cards first hand over the next few weeks. We will then update this story with additional results.