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| Name | Nvidia RTX A2000 | Nvidia RTX 3060 |
| Release Date | 10 August 2021 | 12 February 2021 |
| Price | 664 USD | 352 USD |
| GPU Score | ||
| Brand | Nvidia | Nvidia |
| Series | RTX | GeForce RTX |
The RTX A2000 and RTX 3060 are exceptionally strong mid-range graphics cards. Both GPUs are designed essentially on the same platform, but both perform a different purpose. The RTX A2000 is a much more professionally refined graphics card, tailored specifically for AI workloads and highly optimized for handling large data sets.
The RTX 3060 on the other hand, is like any other mainstream gaming graphics card that comes with an outstanding core clock speed, a higher memory volume, and support for drivers that work well in the scope of gaming and content creation.
Anyhow, these GPUs have distinct characteristics despite being based on the same working principles.
The RTX 3060 and RTX A2000 are part of the same series and were launched only a few months apart. The chip inside both the cards is the same 8nm size with a total die size of 276mm2 and 12,000 million transistors.
During this time, Nvidia was experimenting with their Ampere Architecture and 3rd generation of Tensor cores with 2nd generation of raytracing cores, which are both present in these GPUs in different quantities. So aside from the total core count and various levels of cache capacities, the fundamental chip cheap and architecture design are equivalent.
| GPU Name | Nvidia RTX A2000 | Nvidia RTX 3060 |
| GPU Variant | GA106-850-A1 | GA106-300-A1 |
| Architecture | Ampere | Ampere |
| Manufacturing Size | 8nm | 8nm |
| Numbers of Transistors | 12,000 million | 12,000 million |
| Die Size | 276 mm² | 276 mm² |
The RTX 3060 knocks it out of the park with its robust core clock speeds and the A2000 has nominal, but not bad, speeds at best. The 3060 offers a wide range of 1320 MHz to 1777 MHz clocks, which work pretty well in its favor as it is fully capable of running most games with good quality graphics for 1080p resolution.
The A2000 doesn’t focus on sheer core clock capacity because of its different intended purpose and offers about 562 – 1200 MHz frequency. This speed range isn’t necessarily worse, but considering what modern games and applications require, these might not be enough.
Moving onto memory, the RTX 3060 again gains a point for its powerful 1875 MHz memory clock and the RTX A2000 falls behind significantly with only a 1500 MHz rating. By looking at these features, it is unmistakable that the 3060 is a clear winner.
| Base Clock | 562 MHz | 1320 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1200 MHz | 1777 MHz |
| Memory Clock | 1500 MHz, 12 Gbps effective | 1875 MHz, 15 Gbps effective |
Although both graphics cards use much standardized GDDR6-type memory, their capacities vary by half of each other. The RTX 3060 has 12 GB memory, whereas the RTX A2000 has to make do with only 6 Gigs VRAM. This also severely minimizes the efficacy of the A2000 in front of the 3060.
Besides that, both utilize a similar 192-bit bus. However, the RTX 3060 once again beats the A2000 to the finish line with its phenomenal mid-tier memory bandwidths of over 350 GB/sec.
| Memory Size | 6GB | 12GB |
| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR6 |
| Memory Bus | 192 bit | 192 bit |
| Bandwidth | 288.0 GB/s | 360.0 GB/s |
The overall physical structure of both GPUs is roughly identical with RTX 3060 coming with different variants, and the A2000 with a single blower-type variant. Nevertheless, A2000 and 3060 are approximately the same size with a 167mm length, and 69mm/112mm width, respectively.
Furthermore, the A2000 requires only 70 Watts of power, which it can harness from the motherboard directly, without the need for any complementary power connectors. Meanwhile, the 3060 requires a 12-pin connector and has a mediocre TDP of only 170 Watts.
The Display outputs on both cards are also totally distinct. The A2000 has 4x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a. While the 3060 is much more multipurpose and meets modern demands with HDMI and standard DisplayPort outputs.
| Number of Slots | Nvidia RTX 3090 | AMD RX 5700 XT |
| Lenght | 167 mm | 167 mm |
| Width | 69 mm | 112 mm |
| Height | - | - |
| TDP | 70W | 170W |
| Power Connectors | N/A | 1x 12-pin |
| Suggested PSU | 250W | 450W |
| Display Outputs | 4x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a | 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a |
In terms of graphics features, they are a perfect match as both support Direct X12, OpenGL 4.6, OpenCL 3.0, and Vulkan 1.3 and work on the same Shader Model 6.7.
Hence, with these features and similar to many other modern graphics cards, these two also allow you to program and optimize your user experience with easy access to develop graphical assets of your own.
| Direct X | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 4.6 |
| OpenCL | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Vulkan | 1.3 | 1.3 |
| Shader Model | 6.7 | 6.7 |
