NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB
Side-by-side benchmark comparison, specs, pricing, and value analysis.
Benchmark Comparison
Gaming figures are average frames per second, measured by Tom's Hardware GPU hierarchy. Geometric mean of 15 games, ultra settings, no upscaling. Ray tracing figures are DXR-enabled at 1440p. A dash means the card was not tested at that resolution. Productivity and Steel Nomad are synthetic scores on their own scales and are not comparable to the fps columns.
Specifications
| Spec | GeForce RTX 3090 | GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 24GB GDDR6X | 16GB GDDR7 |
| Memory Bandwidth | 936.2 GB/s | 448 GB/s |
| Shaders | 10496 | 3840 |
| Boost Clock | 1695 MHz | 2497 MHz |
| TDP | 350W | 180W |
| Architecture | Ampere | Blackwell 2.0 |
| 3DMark Steel Nomad | 5,117 | 3,573 |
| Best Price | $1,499 | $279 |
| Value Score | 18/100 | 100/100 |
Verdict
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 is faster but costs more. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB offers better value for money. Your choice depends on budget vs. performance priority.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB: Which Should You Buy?
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 is 13% faster at 1440p ultra (106 fps against 93.4 fps). That is roughly one settings notch — enough to matter if you are chasing a specific refresh rate, not enough to rescue a bad price.
You pay a 437% premium for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 ($1,499 against $279) to get 13% more frames. The extra frames do not keep up with the extra cost — the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB is the better value here.
Two things beyond raw speed: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 carries 24GB against 16GB — the deciding factor at 1440p and above with ray tracing or texture packs, and the reason 16GB cards age badly; and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB draws 170W less (180W versus 350W), which can mean a smaller PSU and a quieter case; and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB is 5 years newer (2025 versus 2020), so it gets longer driver support and newer upscaling and frame generation features.