Nvidia’s new RTX 3070 and RTX 3060 Ti GPUs may still be impossible to obtain right now, but if you’ve been thinking about upgrading your video card recently and aren’t sure which one to use when they come back in stock, then you’re in place right. To help you decide which graphics card is right for you, I’ve put together some useful reference graphics to show you exactly how they compare to all the biggest and best PC games today in 1080p, 1440p and 4K.
To test the RTX 3070 and RTX 3060 Ti, I paired them with an Intel Core i5-10600K processor and 16 GB of Corsair Vengeance LED RAM and placed them face to face in my set of graphical benchmarks, taking an average frame rate of any of your own built-in benchmark tools or my own repeatable manual game tests. The games include a mix of box office hits from the past few 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 direct confrontation, 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 analysis, and I ran both cards at their standard clock speeds as they came in the box. As a result, they must be quite representative of what their respective card categories are capable of. I should also note that these numbers are based on their gross performance in each of these games, with all options for ray tracing and DLSS disabled. See how they got on.
Nvidia RTX 3070 vs 3060 Ti: 1080p benchmarks
Starting with the Performance 1920 × 1080, you can immediately see that both cards are more than capable of playing at maximum settings at this resolution, reaching at least 70 fps (or so) in the most demanding PC games of 2020, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Cyberpunk 2077, and well in excess of 100 fps in major games of 2018-2019.
In many cases, the RTX 3070 offers an improvement of around 10-20 fps over the RTX 3060 Ti, although there are a few cases where this gap is much narrower. In Final Fantasy XV, for example, both cards achieved an identical average of 103fps with all extra Nvidia settings turned off at this resolution. I should note that the RTX 3070 regained its odd 10 fps lead after I turned on all the effects mentioned above, averaging 82 fps versus 73 fps for the RTX 3060 Ti, but when it comes to the higher settings of the game, both are very somewhat. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is also very close, with an average of just 3fps between each card.
I recognize that this is probably due to my choice of processor rather than a problem with the performance of the RTX 3070 itself. Although my Intel Core i5-10600K is very powerful compared to previous generations of Intel Core i5 chips, 1920 × 1080 is still a resolution where your CPU can make a surprising difference to your PC’s overall performance. Due to the enormous amount of power available in today’s RTX cards, games are much more likely to be limited by the limitations of your CPU in this resolution than your GPU. As such, you will probably see better results from the RTX 3070 here with a faster CPU.
Likewise, however, if you don’t have a high refresh rate monitor, any difference between these two cards will be lost completely anyway. Besides, I’m not sure if I could discern the difference between 100fps and 110fps without the aid of a frame rate counter, for example, so those who play in 1080p would probably be better off with the RTX 3060 Ti instead of spend some extra on the RTX 3070.
Nvidia RTX 3070 vs 3060 Ti: 1440p benchmarks
In fact, it’s only when we move towards 2560 × 1440 that the RTX 3070 starts to make a clearer case for itself. Again, the two cards are more than capable of playing at maximum settings at this resolution, and in most cases, the RTX 3070 is ahead with a similar 10 fps lead on the RTX 3060 Ti.
There are still some cases where the gap narrows, especially in more recent games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Cyberpunk 2077, but elsewhere the leadership of the RTX 3070 is much clearer. 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 60fps even in the most demanding games. today – and that includes Cyberpunk 2077, once you enable Nvidia’s DLSS technology.
In the long run, however, the RTX 3070 is likely to offer more security than the RTX 3060 Ti for Ultra quality users, especially when it comes to staying firmly above the 60fps line. With games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Total War: Three Kingdoms already pushing the RTX 3060 Ti just below 60fps at maximum settings, those numbers tend to drop even further as the 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 games at 60fps at maximum settings for a little longer – although it is difficult to say how much longer, given that Valhalla still has its share of crashes below the 60 fps mark.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that the RTX 3060 Ti will be completely extinct in a year or two. In fact, if you are happy to lower the settings to High at 1440p, the RTX 3060 Ti should still be able to reach well over 60fps for a long time. With averages of 86fps in Total War: Three Kingdoms on High, as well as 68fps in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and 81fps in Metro Exodus, the RTX 3060 Ti still has more than enough power to play games at 1440p for several years.
Nvidia RTX 3070 vs 3060 Ti: 4K benchmarks
However, if you are playing at 3840 × 2160 that’s more of your bag, so the RTX 3070 is definitely the winner here. As you can see below, the RTX 3060 Ti offers good 4K resistance, reaching around 60fps in Medium settings in almost every major game today (except Cyberpunk 2077, of course). This is very good for a board of this caliber, especially when you consider that just a few years ago, you would have to pay more than double what the RTX 3060 Ti currently costs to achieve the same type of performance.
However, if it’s just about managing smooth 60fps in the Middle now, it probably won’t be long before you’re forced to cut things down with the RTX 3060 Ti, and nobody wants that, is it? At that point, you can also replay at 2560 × 1440 with much more beautiful-looking graphics.
The RTX 3070, on the other hand, is much better equipped for 4K gaming. Again, newer titles like 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 the frame rate), but the older games are right there in around the 70 fps mark. Increase the quality setting to High and you will have smooth 60fps in many games too – 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, he can achieve an impressive average of 64fps at maximum in 4K with DLSS on, as well as a very pleasant 62fps at High in Final Fantasy XV. Monster Hunter: The world’s DLSS support allows the RTX 3060 Ti to rise to High as well, reaching an average of 73 fps. They are impressive numbers, to be sure, but unless the number of DLSS games grows substantially in the next two years, you are much more likely to play in Medium or Low settings due to your current performance capabilities in games in DLSS unsupported.
Nvidia RTX 3070 vs 3060 Ti: conclusion
Overall, I think that unless you’re determined to play at maximum settings all the time, the RTX 3060 Ti is definitely the right card here. At £ 369 / $ 399, it’s a little cheaper than the £ 469 / $ 499 RTX 3070 (or at least it should be as soon as prices and stock levels return to normal), and you’re still getting 60fps + speeds in 1080p and 1440p in virtually every major PC game today.
Also, unless you are particularly sensitive to frame rate speeds above 60fps, I’m not sure if you will really notice the difference between these two cards when you’re in the 80-100fps realm. I certainly can’t distinguish between these types of frame rates without the help of a frame rate counter, so you can also save some money in the process and invest an extra £ 100 / $ 100 in something else for your PC, like a good 1 TB SSD.
The RTX 3070 is worth considering if you’re going to play in 4K, of course, and it would also be my main recommendation from Nvidia to play on ultra-wide game monitors. For those with regular 1080p or 1440p monitors, however, the RTX 3060 Ti offers more than enough performance here and will likely keep you at high frame rates for many years.
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