Is the RTX 3070 better than the RTX 3060 for gaming even though it has less vram?

Vecna · February 22, 2023

I had asked this question but didnt exactly get a clear answer. If the price was not an equation, which one would be better for gaming? I had read somewhere that the memory speed of 3060 is lower than that of 3070, but, i doubt that i would be able to notice any difference as i have been using Intel hd 2000 till now. Is the 3070 faster than the 3060? If so, does the lower amount of vram matter? I won't be upgrading in a long time so i would like a solution which is future proof.

jaslion · February 22, 2023

The 3070 is a good bit faster than the 3060 but before you do anything what are your current specs and what is the budget?

Is this to add to your old system or for a entire rebuild?

If it's a longevity card look at amds alternatives the 8gb of vram is already maxing out on the 3070. So whilst raw performance wise it's a great card the limited vram is starting to hurt it. A 6700xt is cheaper and has more vram. Potentially even a rx 6800 can be bought in budget

Vecna · February 22, 2023

1 minute ago, jaslion said:

The 3070 is a good bit faster than the 3060 but before you do anything what are your current specs and what is the budget?

Is this to add to your old system or for a entire rebuild?

If it's a longevity card look at amds alternatives the 8gb of vram is already maxing out on the 3070. So whilst raw performance wise it's a great card the limited vram is starting to hurt it. A 6700xt is cheaper and has more vram. Potentially even a rx 6800 can be bought in budget

This is for an entirely new build with an i5 13600k. Im really not interested in buying a Radeon GPU as i have seen people having a bad time with amd drivers.

porina · February 22, 2023

The 3070 is faster except when it is not. Ok, I know that isn't too useful. We're talking about two aspects of performance. In raw horsepower, 3070 wins. But we're seeing games at higher settings start to use more than 8GB now. In those specific cases, the 3070 may drop at times below 3060. You could remedy it by dropping settings that use more vram, such as textures. It is a tough balancing act. I got a 3070 from new. I haven't yet encountered those situations in the games I play, but if I do, then it will be a trip to the settings menu, or look at what 40 series offerings are out at that time.

jaslion · February 22, 2023

4 minutes ago, Augustine PS said:

This is for an entirely new build with an i5 13600k. Im really not interested in buying a Radeon GPU as i have seen people having a bad time with amd drivers.

Drivers been fixed for a long time by now. They are rock solid.

The 3070 is a poor choice for longevity due to lacking vram and the 3060 12gb is a poor choice due to being a lower end card.

johnno23 · February 22, 2023

I think both cards are ok but at this moment in time I really lean towards waiting to get as good a deal as possible. Too many retailers are asking prices that simply do not compute in my mind when compared to this last cycle of GPU releases and in a few weeks we should see a new round of Cards from Nvidea.

I know for a fact that in y location plenty of 3080s etc still on the shelves and if the next round of GPU's come in at decent price points those 3080s are never going to sell unless a drastic reduction in price is offered.

TCatTheLynx · February 22, 2023

3070 can be modified to have 16G of VRam in the future,I’m figuring this out.Technically possible.I’ve already done 2080ti 22G and 3080 20G,the 3070 16G is coming soon with a mod-fee at around 50$ by yourself in home.

just for reference,not a common solution.

jaslion · February 22, 2023

11 minutes ago, TCatTheLynx said:

3070 can be modified to have 16G of VRam in the future,I’m figuring this out.Technically possible.I’ve already done 2080ti 22G and 3080 20G,the 3070 16G is coming soon with a mod-fee at around 50$ by yourself in home.

just for reference,not a common solution.

No?

It's an 8gb card thats all it is and will ever be.

TCatTheLynx · February 22, 2023

1 hour ago, jaslion said:

No?

It's an 8gb card thats all it is and will ever be.

By changing the memory chip fro 8Gbit x8 to 16Gbit x8 gives it a decent 16GiB total vram.I've already done that in 3060Laptop and 3080Desktop and 2080Tidesktop.the appearance of 3070-16GB just a issue of time.

jaslion · February 22, 2023

2 hours ago, TCatTheLynx said:

By changing the memory chip fro 8Gbit x8 to 16Gbit x8 gives it a decent 16GiB total vram.I've already done that in 3060Laptop and 3080Desktop and 2080Tidesktop.the appearance of 3070-16GB just a issue of time.

Every single mod you said had claims it could be done but at best a prototype where the memory works but can't go past the limit of the normal card.

Shocker.

This is bad advice and not applicable for op.