Nvidia’s new RTX 3070 and RTX 3060 Ti GPUs may be impossible to get right now, but if you’ve been thinking about upgrading your graphics card recently and aren’t sure which one to choose when they come back into existence, then you’re in right place. To help you decide which graphics card is best for you, I’ve put together some useful reference graphics to show you exactly how they stack up in all the best and best current PC games at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K.
To test the RTX 3070 and RTX 3060 Ti, I paired them with an Intel Core i5-10600K processor and 16GB of Corsair Vengeance RAM, and put them face to face on my set of graphics benchmarks, taking a frequency of average frames I have built-in reference tools or testing my own repeatable manual game tests. Games include a mix of blockbusters from the past two years: Shadow Of The Tomb Raider, Total War: Three Kingdoms, Final Fantasy XV, Monster Hunter: World, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, The Witcher 3, Metro Exodus and Cyberpunk 2077.
For this particular head-to-head, I used the Nvidia Founders Edition of the RTX 3060 Ti and the GeForce RTX 3070 Twin Edge from Zotac. These were the cards I used for my respective GPU reviews, and I ran both cards at their default clock speed as they entered the box. As a result, they should be fairly representative of what they are able to respect their card categories. I should also note that these figures are based on their gross performance on each of these games, with all ray tracking and DLSS options turned off. That’s how they started.
Nvidia RTX 3070 vs 3060 Ti: 1080p benchmarks
Starting with his 1920 × 1080 performance, you can see right away that both cards are more than capable of playing at maximum settings in this resolution, with a minimum of 70 fps (or out there) in the most demanding PC games of 2020, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Cyberpunk 2077, and well in excess of 100 fps in the big games of 2018 and 2019.
In many cases, the RTX 3070 offers an improvement of between 10 and 20 fps compared to the RTX 3060 Ti, although there are few cases where this gap is much smaller. For example, in Final Fantasy XV, both cards achieved an identical average of 103 fps, with all additional Nvidia settings disabled at this resolution. I have to note that the RTX 3070 regained its odd 10 fps advantage once I activated all the effects mentioned, with an average of 82 fps compared to the 73 fps of the RTX 3060 Ti, but when it comes to setting more high default game, both are a greatness. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is also very close, averaging only 3 fps between each card.
True, this is probably due to my choice of processor rather than a problem with the performance of the RTX 3070 itself. While my Intel Core i5-10600K is quite powerful compared to previous generations of Intel Core i5 chips, 1920 × 1080 is still a resolution in which your CPU can surprisingly differentiate the overall performance of your PC. Due to the large amount of power available on current RTX cards, games are much more likely to be bound by the limitations of your CPU at this resolution than your GPU. As such, you are likely to see better results from the RTX 3070 here with a faster CPU.
Still, however, if you don’t have a high refresh rate monitor, any difference between these two cards will be lost anyway. What’s more, I’m not sure I can even distinguish the difference between 100 fps and 110 fps without the help of a frame rate counter, for example, so those who play 1080p would probably be better off staying with the RTX 3060 Ti instead of spending extra on the RTX 3070.
Nvidia RTX 3070 vs 3060 Ti: 1440p
In fact, it’s only when we move on to 2560 × 1440 that the RTX 3070 is starting to become clearer. Again, both cards are more than capable of playing at maximum settings at this resolution, and in most cases, the RTX 3070 comes out on top with a similar 10 fps advantage to the RTX 3060 Ti.
There are still a couple of cases where the gap is narrowing, mostly in newer games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Cyberpunk 2077, but elsewhere RTX 3070’s leadership is much simpler. Again, you are unlikely to notice much difference between the two cards in the short term without the help of a high refresh rate monitor, as even the RTX 3060 Ti can achieve a smooth average of 60 fps up to and all in today’s most demanding games. and this includes Cyberpunk 2077 once you have activated Nvidia’s DLSS technology.
In the long run, however, the RTX 3070 will likely offer more future proof than the RTX 3060 Ti for Ultra Quality Demons, especially when it comes to staying firm above the 60 fps line. With games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Total War: Three Kingdoms already pushing the RTX 3060 Ti just below 60 fps in the maximum setup, those numbers are likely to drop even further as games become progressively more demanding. The extra power offered by the RTX 3070, on the other hand, will almost certainly allow you to continue playing at 60 fps with the maximum setting for a while longer, although it’s hard to say, as Valhalla still has its fair share. download rate below the 60 fps mark.
Of course, this does not mean that the RTX 3060 Ti will expire completely in a year or two. In fact, if you’re happy to lower the setting to High at 1440p, the RTX 3060 Ti should still be able to exceed 60 fps for a long time. With averages of 86 fps in Total War: Three Kingdoms on High, plus 68 fps in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and 81 fps in Metro Exodus, the RTX 3060 Ti still has enough power left to play at 1440p over the next few years. .
Nvidia RTX 3070 vs 3060 Ti: 4K benchmarks
However, if it comes to playing 3840 × 2160 this is more your bag, then the RTX 3070 is definitely the clear winner here. As you can see below, the RTX 3060 Ti has a pretty decent fight in 4K, with a speed of 60 fps on average settings in almost every major game today (except Cyberpunk 2077, of course). It’s great for a card of this level, especially if you consider that just a couple of years ago you would have had to pay more than double what the RTX 3060 Ti currently costs to get the same kind of performance.
However, if you only manage an average 60 fps performance now, it probably won’t be long before you’re forced to knock things down with the RTX 3060 Ti, and no one wants that, right? At this point, you can play 2560 × 1440 again with much nicer looking graphics.
The RTX 3070, on the other hand, is much better equipped to play 4K. Again, newer titles, such as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Cyberpunk 2077, still put a lot of pressure on this resolution (although Cyberpunk 2077 has at least DLSS support to help slightly increase frame rate), but older games are there. around 70 fps. Increase the quality setting to High and you are also looking for a speed of 60 fps in many games, or higher if you enable DLSS support.
The RTX 3060 Ti also benefits from DLSS, of course. In fact, in Shadow Of The Tomb Raider, you can achieve an impressive average of 64 fps at most at 4K with DLSS enabled, as well as a very nice 62 fps at High in Final Fantasy XV. Monster Hunter: DLSS global support allows the RTX 3060 Ti to go up to High, reaching an average of 73 fps. These are impressive figures, of course, but unless the number of DLSS games grows substantially over the next two years, you’re much more likely to be able to play at medium or low settings given their current performance capabilities in no DLSS support.
Nvidia RTX 3070 vs 3060 Ti: conclusion
All in all, I think unless you are determined to play at maximum settings all the time, the RTX 3060 Ti is definitely the card to follow here. At £ 369 / $ 399, it’s considerably cheaper than the £ 469 / $ 499 RTX 3070 (or at least it should be once prices and stock levels return to normal), and you’ll still get speeds of 60 fps + at 1080p and 1440p at virtually every major PC game today.
Also, unless you’re especially sensitive to frame rate speeds above 60 fps, I’m not sure you’ll really notice the difference between these two cards once you’ve reached 80-100 fps. I certainly can’t tell this kind of frame rate without the help of a frame rate counter, so you can also save yourself some cash in the process and put in the extra $ 100 / $ 100 for something else for your 1 TB SSD PC.
The RTX 3070 is worth considering if it will play 4K games, of course, and it would also be my main Nvidia recommendation for playing ultra-wide game monitors. However, for those with normal 1080p or 1440p monitors, the RTX 3060 Ti delivers more than enough performance and is likely to keep you at high frame rates for many years to come.
For more GPU comparisons, see: