NVIDIA
GeForce RTX 4060Budget-friendly Ada Lovelace GPU with 8GB GDDR6 and DLSS 3. Excellent 1080p gaming performance with low power consumption.
NVIDIA
GeForce RTX 3090Ampere flagship with 24GB GDDR6X and 936 GB/s memory bandwidth. 10,496 CUDA cores, still relevant for memory-intensive AI and creative workloads at a fraction of its launch price.
How They Compare
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is priced at $299.99 in the GPUs category. It stands out with tdp, dlss, boost clock advantages over the competition. It's designed with gaming and budget in mind.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 is priced at $749.99 in the GPUs category. It stands out with vram, cuda cores, memory bandwidth advantages over the competition.
Key Differences
What this means: TDP indicates the thermal output and power draw. Higher TDP means you need a beefier power supply and better case airflow. Lower TDP cards run cooler and quieter, making them easier to fit into compact builds without thermal throttling.
What this means: This dlss spec directly impacts rendering performance and VRAM capacity for graphics cards. The product with the higher value here will have an advantage in scenarios where this specification is the limiting factor. Consider whether this specific spec matters for your workload - not every spec difference affects every use case equally.
What this means: More VRAM lets you run higher-resolution textures and handle complex scenes without stuttering. Critical for 4K gaming and content creation. Cards with 12GB+ handle modern AAA titles at 4K comfortably; 8GB may struggle with ultra textures in the latest games.
What this means: Display outputs determine monitor compatibility, but layouts often vary by board partner. Treat HDMI, DisplayPort, and USB-C support as connectivity requirements rather than a universal GPU performance advantage.
What this means: Newer VRAM types (GDDR7, GDDR6X) offer significantly faster bandwidth than GDDR6, improving frame rates in memory-heavy workloads like 4K textures and ray tracing. This directly impacts how quickly the GPU can push high-res assets to the display.
What this means: More CUDA cores usually means more parallel shader and compute capacity within NVIDIA GPUs from the same architecture. Real-world performance still depends on clocks, memory bandwidth, cache, drivers, and workload.
What this means: Boost clock is the card's advertised peak GPU frequency under favorable power and thermal conditions. It is useful when comparing closely related GPU designs, but a smaller GPU with a higher clock can still be much slower than a larger GPU with more compute units, cache, VRAM, and bandwidth.
What this means: The GPU architecture determines ray tracing performance, AI upscaling support (DLSS on NVIDIA, FSR on AMD), and power efficiency. Newer architectures like Blackwell and RDNA 4 deliver significantly more performance per watt than previous generations.
Spec Breakdown
Geekbench 6 Benchmark Scores
Full Specification Comparison
14 specs| Specification | GeForce RTX 4060 | GeForce RTX 3090 |
|---|---|---|
| TDP | 115W | 350W |
| Dlss | DLSS 3 | DLSS 2 |
| VRAM | 8GB | 24GB |
| Outputs | 3x DP 1.4a, 1x HDMI 2.1a | 3x DP 1.4a, 1x HDMI 2.1 |
| VRAM Type | GDDR6 | GDDR6X |
| CUDA Cores | 3,072 | 10,496 |
| Boost Clock | 2,460 MHz | 1,695 MHz |
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Ampere |
| Memory Bandwidth | 272 GB/s | 936 GB/s |
| PSU Recommendation | 550W | 750W |
| Slots | - | 3 |
| Length | - | 336mm |
| Base Clock | - | 1,395 MHz |
| PCIe Interface | - | PCIe 4.0 x16 |
The Bottom Line
At $299.99, the GeForce RTX 4060 is the most affordable option. It takes the lead in tdp and dlss. Tagged as Best Benchmark Value and Most Efficient.
- Lower power draw (115W)
- Better dlss (DLSS 3)
- Higher boost clock (2,460 MHz) within comparable designs
- Lower PSU requirement (550W)
- Less vram (8GB)
- Fewer CUDA cores (3,072) within similar NVIDIA architectures
- Less memory bandwidth (272 GB/s)
- You want a cooler, more power-efficient build
- You want the stronger dlss
- Budget is your top priority
- You want the best benchmark score per dollar
- You need more than 8GB of VRAM
- You need better cuda cores
At $749.99, the GeForce RTX 3090 is the premium option. It takes the lead in vram and cuda cores. Tagged as Best Performance and Most Capacity.
- More vram (24GB)
- More CUDA cores (10,496) within similar NVIDIA architectures
- More memory bandwidth (936 GB/s)
- Higher power draw (350W)
- Lower dlss (DLSS 2)
- Lower boost clock (1,695 MHz); compare clocks only within similar designs
- You need 24GB of VRAM for high-res textures
- You are comparing similar architectures and want more shader compute capacity
- You want lower power draw than 350W
- You need better dlss