Nvidia RTX 5060 vs RTX 3060: Which Is the Better GPU?

The RTX 5060 is a successor of the RTX 3060, although the former has less memory, which confuses users. Find out which is the better GPU here.

Picture of ASUS RTX 5060 vs MSI RTX 3060 — ASUS RTX 5060 vs MSI RTX 3060 (Image via MSI)

Table of Contents

The Nvidia RTX 5060 and 3060 are two budget GPUs designed for the 1080p gaming market. The former is the newer GPU, which was released earlier in 2025, while the latter was launched back in 2021. Therefore, you would assume the RTX 5060 is the better GPU, but it has less VRAM than the RTX 3060.

Many games released in the last two to three years struggle on 8GB GPUs. The RTX 5060 has 8GB VRAM, which makes it seem like a bad choice. This begs the question: Which is the better GPU, and which one should you buy? That’s exactly what we plan to answer in this article with a detailed comparison of RTX 5060 and RTX 3060. Read on to learn more.

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Nvidia RTX 5060 vs RTX 3060: Detailed Comparison

The Nvidia RTX 5060 is designed on the latest Blackwell architecture, while the RTX 3060 is based on the older Ampere architecture. The former is two generations newer than the latter. Therefore, it will be interesting to see how the two graphics cards perform in games. However, before we begin, let’s take a look at their specs first.

Specs Comparison

Picture of ASUS Dual RTX 5060 OC Edition — ASUS Dual RTX 5060 OC Edition (Image via ASUS)

Here are the specs of the Nvidia RTX 5060 and RTX 3060:

Specifications	Nvidia RTX 5060	Nvidia RTX 3060
Architecture	Blackwell	Ampere
Shader cores	3840	3584
RT cores	30	28
TMUs	120	112
ROPs	48	48
Base core clock speeds	2280 MHz	1320 MHz
Boost core clock speeds	2497 MHz	1777 MHz
Memory capacity	8GB GDDR7	12GB GDDR6
Memory bus width	128-bit	192-bit
Memory bandwidth	448 GB/s	360 GB/s
Manufacturing node	5nm	8nm
Thermal design power (TDPs)	145W	170W

As per the specs table, there’s a minimal difference between the two RTX models. The major differences lie in architecture, RT core generation, memory capacity, memory bandwidth, and power consumption. Despite RTX 5060 not having many hardware improvements over the RTX 3060, the architectural differences alone should give the former a huge boost.

Performance Comparison

Here’s how the Nvidia RTX 5060 and RTX 3060 GPUs perform in some actual games released in the last five years:

Games	Nvidia RTX 5060	Nvidia RTX 3060
Monster Hunter Wilds (Medium)	55 FPS	39 FPS
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (Medium)	94 FPS	67 FPS
TES IV: Oblivion	43 FPS	37 FPS
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 (Medium)	125 FPS	80 FPS
Assassin’s Creed Shadows (Medium)	150 FPS	135 FPS
Clair Obscur Expedition 33	45 FPS	33 FPS
Doom The Dark Ages	69 FPS	45 FPS
FFVII Rebirth	82 FPS	56 FPS

Note: The two GPUs tested here were evaluated at a 1080p resolution with High/Ultra Settings, unless otherwise specified. All the FPS numbers were sourced from the Daniel Owen channel on YouTube. For the tests, the two graphics cards were paired with a Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU.

On average, the Nvidia RTX 5060 delivered 34% higher FPS than the RTX 3060, which is a decent uplift. However, we expected a higher performance jump given that the former is two generations newer. Also, you may have noticed that many of the games were running with Medium settings only. That’s because the RTX 5060 either crashes or experiences performance drops due to VRAM spillover. This is why we usually advise users not to buy 8GB VRAM GPUs.

Even though the RTX 5060 is a capable graphics card at 1080p, half of the games cannot be played at High or Ultra settings, just because it has lower VRAM.

Price Comparison

Picture of MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ventus 2X — MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ventus 2X (Image via MSI)

The Nvidia RTX 5060 currently costs around $299.99 on Amazon. On the other hand, the RTX 3060 is still selling for $299.99 on Amazon, even though it is older and slower.

Final Verdict on Nvidia RTX 5060 vs RTX 3060

The Nvidia RTX 5060 delivers around 34% more performance than the RTX 3060, despite sporting the same price tag. However, whether we can recommend the new GPU is a bit complicated. The RTX 5060 is clearly faster, but its limited 8GB VRAM makes it a bad choice. In fact, four out of eight games cannot be played at High or Ultra settings in 2025 itself. Things will only get worse with future games, which will require more and more VRAM.

If you only want to play competitive and esports titles, the choice is easy. Go with the RTX 5060. However, if you want to play other games as well, such as Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, TES IV: Oblivion, or the new Doom The Dark Ages, then we cannot recommend the RTX 5060. The RTX 3060 isn’t really a better choice either due to its higher price and lower performance. But it’s the only option out of the two that we believe will be better in the long run. You can increase its performance in games using DLSS.

However, the good thing is that other GPUs do exist. The Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB model costs around $60 more but delivers significantly higher performance and memory. In fact, it is as fast as the RTX 5060 Ti. Therefore, this is the GPU we actually recommend for budget gamers.

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Nvidia RTX 5060 vs RTX 3060: Which Is the Better GPU?