If you’re deciding on a graphics card for 1080p or 1440p gaming in 2022, you’re probably comparing the 6700 XT vs 3060 Ti. These AMD and NVIDIA cards are two of the best-value GPUs for gaming at resolutions lower than 4K.
NVIDIA’s RTX 3060 Ti and AMD’s RX 6700 XT come with a price tag and performance offering that should seem appealing to most gamers. They both deliver close to high-end performance and yet are priced as midrange cards—albeit in an inflated GPU market thanks to the global chip shortage.
There are pros and cons to both the 3060 Ti and the 6700 XT because AMD and NVIDIA have made their midrange cards very competitive in the current GPU generation.
Whether you opt for the NVIDIA card or AMD card will depend on what you value in your gaming sessions and how cheap you can find them both retailing for. In this guide, we’ll take you through the most important things to consider while making your decision.
What is AMD’s Radeon RX 6700 XT?
The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is a midrange to high-end graphics card that was released in March 2021.
It’s designed first and foremost to be used as a GPU for gaming at 1080p and 1440p, because it performs very well at these resolutions. And while it’s not marketed as a 4K card, it can handle 4K gaming in some games on the right settings.
The 6700 XT competes with NVIDIA’s RTX 3060 Ti and RTX 3070, sitting somewhere between the two.
What is NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3060 Ti?
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, like the 6700 XT, is a midrange to high-end graphics card. It was released in December 2020, a few months before the 6700 XT.
Like the 6700 XT, the 3060 Ti is marketed first and foremost as a graphics card for 1080p and 1440p gaming. But it can even handle 4K gaming, especially when paired with NVIDIA’s DLSS technology to boost framerates.
The 3060 Ti competes with AMD’s RX 6700 XT and, if we’re a little generous to it, AMD’s RX 6600 XT.
Key Differences
Although they sit in a similar spot in the GPU market, the 3060 Ti and 6700 XT are two very different graphics cards.
For starters, the 3060 Ti is designed by NVIDIA and the 6700 XT is designed by AMD. This means the two GPUs are based on entirely different architectures: NVIDIA’s Ampere and AMD’s RDNA 2 architectures.
NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards are very competitive in this GPU generation, and neither is better just in virtue of being designed by one company or another. But certain technologies are different between the two brands.
For instance, NVIDIA cards have the hardware (Tensor Cores) to power DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling), while AMD cards don’t support this and can instead use AMD’s open-source FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution).
Because the 3060 Ti and 6700 XT are designed entirely differently, specification differences are difficult to judge. While one card might have many more shader cores, the other might make up for this in design differences and clock speeds.
Looking at their real-world game performance differences is the best way to judge the 6700 XT vs 3060 Ti. We can then compare this to their respective prices to decide which is best.
Price
At MSRP, NVIDIA’s RTX 3060 Ti costs $399 and AMD’s RX 6700 XT costs $479. This means that the 6700 XT costs $80, or 20%, more than the 3060 Ti at recommended pricing.
But prices are, in reality, still usually above their MSRP levels.
In practice, you might currently find 6700 XT GPUs retailing for $420-650, but most often around the $450 mark. You might find 3060 Ti GPUs retailing for $450-650, but most often for about $470. In other words, the two cards are often found at roughly the same price.
Outside the US, however, this varies. In the UK, for example, low stocks have made the 6700 XT much more expensive than the 3060 Ti at many online retail stores.
Cheaper Alternatives
If you can’t pick up an RTX 3060 Ti or an RX 6700 XT but you want something that performs about as well as these, you might look for a second-hand NVIDIA RTX 2080 Super.
The RTX 2080 Super performs only slightly worse than the 3060 Ti. So, if you’re on a budget and can find a 2080 Super going for much less than the 3060 Ti or 6700 XT, it might be worth opting for this previous-gen card.
Read More: How to Choose a Graphics Card: 5 Things to Consider
However, if the prices aren’t too dissimilar, it will be better to opt for one of the newer cards. Apart from the fact that a new card will have a warranty and more longevity, the 3060 Ti (if not the 6700 XT) has better ray tracing performance than the 2080 Super thanks to the 30-series’ architectural improvements over the 20-series.
Graphics Card Specs
| RTX 3060 Ti | RX 6700 XT | |
| GPU | GA104 | Navi 22 |
| CUDA Cores / Stream Processors | 4,864 | 2,560 |
| Tensor Cores | 152 | – |
| RT Cores / Ray Accelerators | 38 | 40 |
| Stream Multiprocessors / Compute Units | 38 | 40 |
| Memory | 8GB GDDR6 | 12GB GDDR6 |
| Memory speed | 14GT/s | 16GT/s |
| Memory bandwidth | 448GB/s | 384GB/s |
| Clock speed (base/boost) | 1.41GHz / 1.67GHz | 2.32GHz / 2.58GHz |
| Power connector (reference card) | 1x 12-pin | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin |
| TDP | 200W | 230W |
Many of the RTX 3060 Ti’s and RX 6700 XT’s specs shouldn’t be compared directly with each other to gauge their likely performances. For instance, while the 3060 Ti has almost double the 6700 XT’s number of shader cores, this doesn’t translate to a doubling in performance, because the two GPU designs are so different.
We can see that AMD’s RX 6700 XT opts for fewer Stream Processors but higher core and boost clock speeds. NVIDIA, on the other hand, opts for lower clock speeds, more CUDA Cores, and some Tensor Cores for AI legwork like DLSS calculations.
The two cards’ memory configurations, however, are more directly comparable.
The RX 6700 XT has 50% more GDDR6 memory capacity but has a narrower memory bandwidth thanks to its 192-bit memory bus vs the 3060 Ti’s 256-bit bus. Its higher memory clock allows for more GTs (giga-transfers) per second, but the card’s memory is bottlenecked by its narrow bandwidth compared to the NVIDIA card.
Also Read: How to Choose A Power Supply: 5 Things to Know Before Buying A PSU
The final major difference is that the 6700 XT has a 30W higher TDP rating. Because of this, for the 6700 XT AMD recommends a 650W power supply, while for the 3060 Ti NVIDIA recommends a 600W power supply.
Gaming Performance
Both the RTX 3060 Ti and the RX 6700 XT are great for 1080p and 1440p gaming. At these resolutions, both cards should be able to push high framerates even on max settings in any game.
But there are differences between the two depending on which resolution you game at, especially when we consider 4K.
Also Read: 1080p vs. 1440p vs. 4K: Which Resolution Is Best for Gaming?
We can look at benchmark results taken from a range of sites like TechRadar, PCGamer, and Techspot, and average them out to get a general picture of their game performance differences.
1080p Resolution
Both the 3060 Ti and 6700 XT are fantastic cards for 1080p gaming. At this resolution, both cards should give you high frame rates in almost any game even when you crank your settings up to max. Both should get you above 100fps in most games on max settings, and above 60fps in the most demanding ones.
Averaging out benchmarks from different sites, we can see that the RX 6700 XT has about 5% higher average framerates than the RTX 3060 Ti across all tested games.
This is very game-dependent, however, because in some games the AMD GPU performs worse than the NVIDIA one. If you game at 1080p and are deciding between these two cards, you should compare benchmarks for the specific games that you’ll likely be playing.
1440p Resolution
While the 6700 XT and 3060 Ti perform exceptionally well at 1080p resolution, they certainly don’t slack at 1440p resolution, either. At 1440p, both cards should see you above 60fps in most games on max settings, only falling below this in the most graphically intensive games. For 60Hz monitors, either should be enough.
Also Read: Is 1440P Worth it for Gaming?
Looking at different benchmarks, we see that the 6700 XT performs about 3-4% better than the 3060 Ti on average across tested games.
Again, though, this is very game-dependent. This is the case even more at 1440p than at 1080p, because the 6700 XT ties with, or falls behind, the 3060 Ti in more games at this resolution. As always, you should check benchmarks for those games that you’ll be playing.
4K Resolution
Neither NVIDIA’s 3060 Ti nor AMD’s 6700 XT are great for 4K gaming—at least, not compared to some of the best graphics cards of this GPU generation for 4K gaming like the RTX 3080.
Also Read: Is 4K Worth it for Gaming? Why Most Gamers Don’t Need a 4K Monitor.
Both cards will run many demanding games at below 60fps when settings are on max. If you’re willing to drop your settings down to high or medium, however, most games should be playable at this resolution.
While at 1080p and 1440p the 6700 XT only gave framerates a few percent higher than the 3060 Ti on average, at 4K this slight benefit to the 6700 XT is lost. At 4K the two cards perform roughly the same, with the 6700 XT performing about 1% worse than the 3060 Ti on average.
Ray Tracing and Upscaling
Just like for 4K gaming, for ray tracing and image scaling, the RX 6700 XT loses its advantage.
This is especially the case for ray tracing because the 6700 XT ray traces significantly slower than the 3060 Ti. The 6700 XT performs about as well as the previous-gen RTX 2080 Super, while the RTX 3060 Ti ray traces significantly better than this thanks to the Ampere card’s architectural improvements.
Also, the RTX 3060 Ti can use NVIDIA’s DLSS technology to upscale your resolution, often completely offsetting ray tracing’s performance hit. The RX 6700 XT can’t use DLSS, but it can use FSR 2.0 on those games that support it. But FSR arguably doesn’t yet give you the same level of performance and quality as DLSS does.
Advantages of an RTX 3060 Ti
There are several advantages to a GeForce RTX 3060 Ti over a Radeon RX 6700 XT:
- Better ray tracing performance
- DLSS resolution upscaling technology
- Faster memory (and its 8GB will likely be enough capacity for the foreseeable future)
- Slightly better performance at 4K, especially with DLSS
- Smaller form factor
- Requires less power
- Often cheaper than the RX 6700 XT outside of the US
Advantages of an AMD RX 6700 XT
While there are many advantages to an RTX 3060 Ti, there are some advantages to an RX 6700 XT:
- Better average performance at 1080p
- Slightly better average performance at 1440p
- More GDDR6 memory capacity, which is good for longevity
- Often found for the same price as the 3060 Ti in the US
Verdict: 6700 XT vs 3060 Ti for Gaming
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT are arguably two of the best cards on the market right now for 1080p gaming. Both can run games on max settings at 1080p at frame rates high enough for high refresh rate monitors.
Both can game comfortably at 1440p, even allowing for high refresh rate gaming if you lower settings slightly in some games.
At these resolutions, the 6700 XT pulls ahead of the 3060 Ti on average, although this is very game dependent. At 4K, however, the 3060 Ti beats the 6700 XT by a slim margin on average.
But raw rasterization performance might not be all that you want to consider. The RTX 3060 Ti is a smaller card, requires less power, is much better at ray tracing, and allows you to use DLSS in games that support it.
If you’re gaming at 1080p or 1440p and care only about raw performance, excluding ray tracing, DLSS, and power draw (and therefore heat output), and if both cards cost roughly the same, then it might be worth opting for a 6700 XT over a 3060 Ti.
But if you care about any of these things, or if you want to game at 4K, then a 3060 Ti is probably a better buy. And given that more and more games are implementing DLSS very well, the 3060 Ti might be a better option for this reason alone.
These are only ideal factors, however. Given that next-gen cards are just around the corner and that current GPU prices are still hit-and-miss, it’s probably best to opt for whatever you find a great deal for. Unless you want the best ray tracing performance, both cards should serve you very well at 1080p and 1440p, and moderately so at 4K.
