GTX 1070 vs RTX 3060
The complete head-to-head: full specs, real per-game FPS with 1% lows, ray tracing, a live CPU-bottleneck check, thermals, power and value, with a straight verdict.
GeForce GTX 1070
GeForce RTX 3060
avg, 1080p
The short answer
This is not a close race. The RTX 3060 is about 67% faster on average, adds real ray tracing and DLSS hardware the GTX 1070 simply doesn't have, and carries 4 GB more VRAM on newer, faster GDDR6. The GTX 1070 launched in 2016 as a genuine 1440p card and it earned that reputation, but five years and two full ray tracing generations separate these two. The only reason to still own a 1070 in 2026 is that you already have one, buy the 3060 if you are shopping new.
The GTX 1070 was one of Pascal's best-loved cards, a genuine 1440p performer at $379 back in 2016. The RTX 3060 arrived five years later as Ampere's mainstream 1080p card, and it brings something the 1070 was built before ray tracing even existed: dedicated RT cores, Tensor cores, and DLSS. This comparison mostly comes down to whether a cheap used legacy card can still hang with a modern budget one, and the honest answer is that the gap is bigger than most people expect.
You'll find the full spec sheet below, plus the 67% raster gap broken down game by game, how the 3060's ray tracing and DLSS actually run since the 1070 has neither, thermals, power, pricing over time, and a plain verdict on whether the older card is worth keeping.
At a glance
Seven dimensions, two cards. Bigger area is not automatically better, each card owns different corners.
Strengths radar
Each axis scored 0-100 relative to the pair
Performance vs price
Up and to the left is better value
Grey dots are neighbouring cards for context.
Which should you buy?
Pick your use case, the winner changes with what you actually do.
67% more frames on average and a far newer, more efficient architecture make this an easy call for a new build.
12 GB of faster GDDR6 and a much stronger core handle 1440p Ultra comfortably where the 1070 starts to struggle.
The 1070 has zero Tensor cores. For any local AI work the RTX 3060's 112 Tensor cores and 12 GB aren't a competition.
A full generation of NVENC improvement plus AV1 decode makes the 3060 the clearly better encoding and editing card.
150 W and a single 8-pin is easy on an older, smaller PSU, though the 3060 isn't far behind at 170 W.
360 GB/s of GDDR6 bandwidth beats the 1070's 256 GB/s of GDDR5 even with the narrower 192-bit bus.
Still running a GTX 1070? It's time.
Short answer: probably not
A 67% average performance gain is a real, felt upgrade, not a sidegrade, and it comes with ray tracing, DLSS, and Tensor-accelerated AI work the 1070 was built five years too early to include. If your 1070 is still soldiering on, this is one of the clearest 'yes, upgrade' verdicts on this site.
The RTX 3060 is the sensible landing spot if budget is a factor. If you can stretch further, an RTX 4060 or used RTX 3060 Ti pushes the gain even higher, but the 3060 alone already closes the entire ray tracing and DLSS gap the 1070 never had.
Full specification comparison
Every spec side by side. The highlighted figure wins each row.
| Specification | GTX 1070 | RTX 3060 |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | ||
| GPU / architecture | GP104 · Pascal | GA106 · Ampere |
| Process node | TSMC 16 nm FinFET+ | Samsung 8 nm ▲ |
| Release date | Jun 10, 2016 | Feb 25, 2021 |
| Launch MSRP | $379 (FE) | $329 ▲ |
| Compute | ||
| CUDA cores | 1,920 | 3,584 ▲ |
| RT cores | None (pre-RTX) | 28 · 2nd gen ▲ |
| Tensor cores | None (pre-RTX) | 112 · 3rd gen ▲ |
| Base / boost clock | 1506 / 1683 MHz | 1320 / 1777 MHz ▲ |
| L2 cache | 2 MB | 3 MB ▲ |
| Memory | ||
| VRAM | 8 GB GDDR5 | 12 GB GDDR6 ▲ |
| Memory bus | 256-bit ▲ | 192-bit |
| Bandwidth | 256 GB/s | 360 GB/s ▲ |
| Power & form factor | ||
| TDP | 150 W ▲ | 170 W |
| Power connector | 1× 8-pin | 1× 8-pin |
| Suggested PSU | 500 W ▲ | 550 W |
| PCIe interface | 3.0 ×16 | 4.0 ×16 ▲ |
| Features | ||
| Upscaling | None (pre-DLSS) | DLSS 2 / Super Res ▲ |
| AV1 decode / encode | No / No | Yes / No ▲ |
| Display outputs | 3×DP1.4 · HDMI 2.0b · DVI-D | 3×DP1.4a · HDMI 2.1 |
Average FPS by game
Switch resolution, metric, ray tracing and upscaling, the bars update live. Hover a bar for the avg / 1% / 0.1% breakdown.
Average FPS · 1080p · Rasterization. Representative data, hover a bar for avg / 1% / 0.1%. Note the RTX 3060's 1% lows fall off at 1440p and up from its 8 GB VRAM.
Smoothness & frametimes
Average FPS hides stutter. This is one run plotted as frametime, a flat line is smooth, spikes are hitches. Watch what the RTX 3060's 8 GB VRAM does in a texture-heavy game.
Frametime: Hogwarts Legacy, 1440p Ultra
Lower and flatter is better · 16.7 ms = 60 fps
Counterintuitive but real: the slower GTX 1070 delivers a smoother line here because 12 GB holds the texture pool the 8 GB RTX 3060 keeps evicting, those spikes are VRAM stutter, not raw speed.
Lab scores
Clean apples-to-apples tests, useful, but weaker at predicting real games than the FPS above.
Ray tracing & upscaling
Ray tracing tanks both cards at native resolution. What makes it playable is upscaling, and here the RTX 3060 has a real edge.
Is frame generation "real" performance?
Neither card supports frame generation. DLSS 3 Frame Generation is exclusive to the RTX 40 series and newer, so the RTX 3060 is limited to DLSS 2 Super Resolution upscaling, which raises frame rate by rendering at a lower internal resolution. The GTX 1070 predates DLSS entirely and has no upscaling technology of its own at all.
The 1070 can run AMD's FSR 1 or FSR 2 in supported games since FSR isn't hardware-locked, and that's genuinely useful for stretching its remaining life. It's a rougher image than DLSS, but it's the only upscaling option the 1070 has access to.
Will your CPU bottleneck these cards?
A faster GPU only helps if your CPU keeps up. Pick your CPU and resolution to see expected FPS and bottleneck for each card.
CPU + GPU pairing check
The willitbottleneck engine, built right into the comparison.
Estimated from a 43-CPU model across 1440p. A weak CPU mostly bites at 1080p; at higher resolutions the GPU becomes the limiter and the bottleneck shrinks.
Thermals & noise
The efficiency gap shows up here: the newer card runs cooler and quieter, day in and day out.
Real draw, efficiency & PSU
TDP is the rated figure; what matters is real gaming draw and how many frames you get per watt.
Both use a single 8-pin connector. If your PSU already ran the GTX 1070, it will run the RTX 3060 easily. Leave about 30% headroom for spikes.
Will it fit, and what to pair it with?
Size to scale
Card length matters for small cases
What monitor to pair
GTX 1070: comfortable at 1080p 100-144 Hz, and it can still hold 1440p 60 Hz in plenty of games if you're willing to drop a few settings. RTX 3060: 1080p 144 Hz, or 1440p 60-100 Hz with real headroom left over. Neither is a 4K card.
Running an older PCIe 3.0 board?
The GTX 1070 runs a full PCIe 3.0 ×16 link, so it's unaffected on the older motherboards it typically ships alongside. The RTX 3060 runs PCIe 4.0 ×16, more bandwidth than either card actually saturates, and on a PCIe 3.0 board it simply drops to 3.0 ×16 with no measurable loss since it keeps the full 16 lanes.
Price history & dollars-per-frame
Raw price is only half the story. Cost per frame is the number that decides it, and it keeps moving as prices fall.
New price over time
Street price of new cards (USD)
The 8 GB vs 12 GB question
GTX 1070 · 8 GB
- 8 GB was generous for 2016 and still covers most 1080p titles at medium-to-high settings today.
- The wide 256-bit bus gave Pascal strong bandwidth for its era, still respectable in bandwidth-bound emulation workloads.
- GDDR5 is far slower per pin than GDDR6, so effective bandwidth (256 GB/s) already trails the 3060 despite the wider bus.
- No RT or Tensor cores at all, so ray tracing and local AI work aren't just slower, they're effectively unusable.
RTX 3060 · 12 GB
- 12 GB and 360 GB/s of GDDR6 bandwidth give real headroom at 1440p and in heavy texture packs.
- 112 3rd-gen Tensor cores and 28 RT cores make local AI and ray tracing genuinely usable, something the 1070 cannot offer at any setting.
- Modern GDDR6 and a newer memory controller make the narrower 192-bit bus a non-issue in practice, it still out-bandwidths the 1070.
- Still an entry-tier Ampere die, so 12 GB doesn't turn it into a 4K or heavy-RT card.
Emulation & memory bandwidth
The narrower bus is a real downgrade for emulation
The GTX 1070's 256-bit bus was a genuine emulation strength in its day, but the RTX 3060's 360 GB/s of GDDR6 bandwidth beats it outright despite the narrower 192-bit bus, and the 3060's much larger shader count pushes upscaled Switch and RPCS3 cores noticeably higher. For emulation as much as native gaming, the 3060 is simply the stronger card now.
Creator, AI & streaming
The newer card is quicker per task, but the older card's extra VRAM unlocks larger jobs it can't fit at all.
Streaming: the AV1 encoder is the differentiator
The GTX 1070 uses Pascal's 6th-generation NVENC, which handles H.264 competently but has no HEVC B-frame support and no AV1 in either direction. The RTX 3060 adds AV1 decode and a newer NVENC generation with better H.264/HEVC quality at the same bitrate. Neither card has an AV1 encoder, that arrived with the RTX 40 series, but the 3060 is still the clearly better streaming and editing card of the two.
Overclocking & undervolting
Pascal has a well-earned reputation for overclocking headroom, and a GTX 1070 can often pick up a real 10-15% with a simple core and memory bump. The RTX 3060 has far less room left; undervolting is the better move there, trading a little clock speed for lower heat and noise.
Pros & cons
GTX 1070
- Cheapest entry point in this comparison, often under $100 used
- Wide 256-bit bus gives decent bandwidth for its age, useful for emulation
- Still handles 1080p high settings in plenty of games a decade on
- About 67% slower on average, the largest gap on this page
- No RT cores, no Tensor cores, no DLSS, and no AV1 support of any kind
RTX 3060
- 67% faster on average with real ray tracing and DLSS hardware
- 12 GB of modern GDDR6 with more bandwidth despite the narrower bus
- AV1 decode and a full generation newer NVENC encoder
- Costs meaningfully more, new or used, than a legacy GTX 1070
- Still no DLSS 3 Frame Generation, that needs Ada or newer
Buying pitfalls
Buying a used GTX 1070? Check its history
The GTX 1070 was one of the most mined cards of the 2017-2018 crypto boom. Ask about usage history, check for excessive fan wear or coil noise, and buy from a seller offering a return window rather than an unverified bulk listing.
Which RTX 3060 are you buying?
Most RTX 3060 cards carry 12 GB on a 192-bit bus, but a later 8 GB, 128-bit version also exists and is meaningfully slower, a cut memory bus, not just less capacity. Confirm the box or spec sheet says 12 GB / 192-bit before you buy.
GTX 1070 vs RTX 3060: your questions answered
Yes, clearly. It's about 67% faster on average, adds real ray tracing and DLSS hardware the 1070 was built before either existed, and carries 4 GB more, faster VRAM. This isn't a close comparison the way most same-era matchups on this site are.
If you're buying new, the RTX 3060. The only reason to choose a GTX 1070 today is if you already own one and are deciding whether to keep it, or you need the absolute cheapest possible working GPU.
It's usable, 1080p on medium-to-high settings is comfortable in most games, and 1440p works if you're willing to trim settings. It has no ray tracing or DLSS at all, so modern titles that lean on those features will feel noticeably rougher than on a current budget card.
Yes, if your 1070 is still your main card. A 67% average gain plus ray tracing, DLSS, and Tensor-accelerated AI work is a real, felt upgrade, one of the clearest 'worth it' verdicts on this site.
The RTX 3060, by a wide margin. The GTX 1070 has zero Tensor cores and no CUDA-accelerated AI ecosystem support to speak of; the 3060's 112 Tensor cores and 12 GB make it usable for real local AI and rendering work, something the 1070 simply can't offer.
The RTX 3060. It adds AV1 decode and a newer NVENC generation with cleaner H.264/HEVC output at the same bitrate. The GTX 1070's 6th-gen NVENC is noticeably behind, and it has no AV1 support in either direction.
No. It launched years before RTX and has no dedicated RT hardware. Ray tracing on a 1070 would run entirely in software and is not a realistic option in any modern game.
The RTX 3060 supports DLSS 2 Super Resolution upscaling, but not DLSS 3 Frame Generation, that's exclusive to the RTX 40 series and newer. The GTX 1070 has no DLSS support at all, though it can use AMD's FSR since that isn't hardware-locked.
At 1080p a weak CPU can limit the RTX 3060 more than the slower GTX 1070. Use the pairing checker on this page, a Ryzen 5 3600 or Core i5-10400F and up keeps the 1070 fed, and a Ryzen 5 5600 or Core i5-12400F and up is a better match for the 3060.
The GTX 1070 draws slightly less at 150 W against the RTX 3060's 170 W, but that gap is small next to the 67% performance difference, so the 3060 is the far more efficient card per frame. Both idle quietly, though only newer 3060 partner cards commonly support true fan-stop.
A quality 500 W unit covers the GTX 1070, and 550 W covers the RTX 3060, each on a single 8-pin connector. A 550-600 W supply is a safe, flexible choice for either card.
GTX 1070 Founders Edition cards run around 267 mm, and RTX 3060 cards around 242 mm, check your case's maximum GPU length either way. Both run a full ×16 link, so a PCIe 3.0 motherboard costs neither card any real bandwidth.
Yes, both. A laptop GTX 1070 or RTX 3060 is a different, lower-power chip than its desktop namesake, and the performance gap between them doesn't match this page. If you're comparing laptops, use the mobile version of this comparison instead.
Not comfortably. Both are 1080p-to-1440p cards; the RTX 3060 can stretch to occasional 4K in lighter or older titles with DLSS, the GTX 1070 has no upscaling of its own to help it get there.
The RTX 3060 is still sold new for people who want a warranty. A used GTX 1070 around $90 is the cheapest way into a working gaming PC, but buy from a seller with a return window and ask about mining history before committing.
The RTX 3060's Ampere architecture has years of Game Ready driver support ahead of it. The GTX 1070's Pascal architecture is far older and receiving only maintenance-level driver updates at this point, worth factoring in if long-term software support matters to you.