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NVIDIA GTX 1070 vs. RTX 3060: Which One is Best for You?

While the GTX 1070 may be available at a lower price nowadays, the fact remains that the RTX 3060 offers better value for money.

With its superior performance across the board, the RTX 3060 is a great choice for gamers who want the best bang for their buck. Plus, with the latest games requiring more and more GPU juice, investing in the RTX 3060 could prove to be the wiser choice in the long run if it came down to choosing one between these two.

NVIDIA GTX 1070 vs. RTX 3060: Full Comparison and Specs FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) 

What is the main difference between the GTX 1070 and the RTX 3060?

The GTX 1070 is powered by the NVIDIA Pascal architecture, while the RTX 3060 is powered by the more powerful NVIDIA Ampere architecture. The NVIDIA Ampere architecture offers increased performance, improved efficiency, and additional features such as NVIDIA DLSS and NVIDIA Reflex.

Are any of them good for machine learning applications?

Yes, the 3060 packs 112 tensor cores on top of its 3,584 CUDA cores. Tensor cores are dedicated cores designed to accelerate machine learning workloads, such as deep learning and AI-based applications. The GTX 1070, on the other hand, does not have tensor cores.

Does any of them support ray-tracing?

Both of them actually support ray-tracing. Ray tracing is an advanced graphics technology that simulates realistic lighting, shadows, and reflections in games. The 3060 supports real-time ray-tracing, characteristic of the RTX series.

What is the power draw of these cards?

The GTX 1070 has a power draw of 150 Watts, while the RTX 3060 has a power draw of 170 Watts. The higher power draw of the RTX 3060 allows for better performance, but also requires a more powerful power supply.

What is the difference between GTX and RTX?

The main difference between GTX and RTX is that GTX was designed primarily for traditional gaming. The GTX series was introduced in 2008, while the RTX series was introduced in 2018. RTX introduced cutting-edge technology such as real-time ray-tracing and AI-powered features like DLSS.

GeForce GTX 1070 Compared — Asus, EVGA, Zotac, MSI, Gigabyte and More

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Home » PC Components » Graphics Card » GeForce GTX 1070 Compared – Asus, EVGA, Zotac, MSI, Gigabyte and More

October 14, 2020November 23, 2016 by Peter Paul

The new GeForce GTX 1070 could possibly be one of the most successful or popular graphics card released this year. It’s the successor of the popular GTX 970, however the GTX 1070 could be considered as a high end graphics card since its performance is already on par or even faster than the GTX 980ti and TITAN X. NVIDIA announced that its Founders Edition would retail for $449, while the non-reference cards will retail for $379. Unfortunately, at this point in time, it seems that prices are higher than expected. I have listed below all or most of the known GeForce GTX 1070 released on the market. The list will help you compare the different specs (specially the clock speeds) and find out which is the fastest or best GeForce GTX 1070 around. Admittedly, this list may not be complete as it lacks actual benchmark scores. I may be able to add more data soon once these cards get reviewed. Anyway, go ahead and check them below.

UPDATE: The newer and faster GeForce RTX 2070 graphics cards are now available. Check out our RTX 2070 Comparison here.

I will not be including the common specs of all the GeForce GTX 1070 on the table below. Usually these GTX 1070 variants from Asus, MSI, EVGA, Zotac, Gigabyte and other companies come with varying clock speeds; obviously the cooler shroud and design are different from one another; and some GTX 1070s may come with special features not present on other variants of GTX 1070. Some of these special features are dual BIOS, RGB lighting, special fan headers, fan control and more.

The GeForce GTX 1070 is based on the new 16nm FinFET process and features NVIDIA’s new Pascal architecture. It’s faster and significantly more power efficient compared to the previous Maxwell architecture. The GTX 1070 is also a trimmed down version of the GTX 1080; the die is the same with the GTX 1080 but with some cores disabled; and uses GDDR5 instead of GDDR5X.

The GeForce GTX 1070 has 1920 CUDA cores, 8GB of GDDR5 memory with 256 GB/s memory bandwidth and 256-bit of memory interface. It comes with output connectors such as DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0, and Dual-Link-DVI; supports multi-monitor display and HDCP 2.2. They also require at least a 500W power supply and a single 8-pin PCI power connector. However some GTX 1070 requires a 6+8 pin (or even an 8+8 pin), and power draw varies from one model to another.

All GTX 1070 graphics cards also features NVIDIA’s latest technology: Multi-projection, VR Ready, NVIDIA Ansel, NVIDIA SLI supporting SLI High Bandwidth Bridge, G-Sync, GameStream, GPU Boost 3. 0, DirectX 12 API with level 12_1, Vulkan API, OpenGL 4.5, and PCIe 3.0.

The GeForce GTX 1070 may be an overkill for 1080p gaming, but it’s definitely a sweet spot for 1440p gaming resolution. It can also handle games at 2160p (4K resolution), but you may want to adjust the graphics settings and lower them to achieve smoother and more frames per second.

Listed below are the different GeForce GTX 1070s available on the market. Initially the list is sorted according to the graphics card’s name, but you can sort it according to clock speeds (and etc).

Also, there are some GTX 1070 that comes with two clock speed modes. Like from Asus and MSI, they have a so-called gaming mode and OC mode. I will place the gaming mode first followed by the OC mode inside a parenthesis, since the gaming mode is usually their default setting and the speed you get right out of the box.

GeForce GTX 1070 Specs Compared

Note: If there’s a GTX 1070 not included in the comparison list above, hit the comment section below and we’ll add it.

Okay, based on the GTX 1070 comparison table above, the GTX 1070 with the highest clock speed right out of the box are the Palit GTX 1070 GameRock Premium and Gainward GTX 1070 Phoenix GLH (“Goes Like Hell”). Both cards are followed by the Zotac GTX 1070 AMP Extreme, however note that the Asus STRIX GTX 1070 has a higher clock speed when OC mode is enabled. We are just talking about presets here and not manual overclock. Manual OC is a different story and would depend on many factors.

My question now is does a GTX 1070 non-reference graphics card need a 6+8-pin or even 2x 8-pin power connector? Wouldn’t it be too much? Or does it mean that these cards have better overclocking potential compared to graphics card with only a single 8-pin power connector? Probably yes, probably no. We haven’t tested yet.

Update: Well, most of the GTX 1070 cards have similar performance in real world, and overclocks just the same. Some have a really high clock speeds out of the box, but that doesn’t translate into a “significant” performance difference between a GTX 1070 with a reference clock speeds. When it comes to overclocking, even the GTX 1070 Founders Edition with a single 8-pin power connector can achieve 2GHz+ overclock with GPU Boost 3.0. However, some graphics card may require additional power due to its cosmetics (LEDs, additional fans etc). My tip is, get the GTX 1070 based on price, aesthetics, warranty or aftermarket support and according to your preference. You also have to consider the chassis or case that you are using and the internal cooling it has. Probably your chassis is (too) small for this X model of GTX 1070, or you may want to consider a blower type if your chassis doesn’t have a good air flow/ventilation. Don’t worry about the performance because they perform similarly. By the way, here’s our review of the Zotac GTX 1070 AMP Extreme, the biggest GTX 1070 with a badass cooler. Not for everyone though.

So, are you planning to buy a GTX 1070 when it arrives at your local stores? Or going for GTX 1080/1080 Ti instead? Perhaps you’re waiting for AMD’s RX 480 and Vega 10?

Also, check out our GeForce GTX 1060 Graphics Cards Compared in case you want something more budget friendly for 1080p gaming.