Graphics cards/Comparison
13 specifications
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB vs AMD Radeon RX 470
On paper, the AMD Radeon RX 470 carries more memory (4 GB against 3 GB), the AMD Radeon RX 470 has more shading units, and the AMD Radeon RX 470 has a wider memory bus. Specifications describe what each card is designed to do; how much of that either one holds under continuous load is a separate question.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB
NVIDIA · GeForce GTX 10 · Desktop
AMD Radeon RX 470
AMD · Radeon RX 400 · Desktop
Compute
Memory
Power and platform
A check marks the higher figure only on rows where higher is unambiguously better. Rows without one are not ties; they are specifications where “better” has no meaning.
Reading the table
What the difference means.
Video memory
The RX 470 has 4 GB of video memory against 3 GB. Memory does not make a card faster until it runs out, and then the drop is sharp: textures spill into system memory and frame times stutter. High resolutions, high texture settings, heavy mods and running AI models locally are what fill it. 3 GB is already the limit in some recent games at high settings.
Memory bus
The RX 470 moves data over a 256-bit bus of GDDR5; the GTX 1060 3GB uses 192-bit GDDR5. The bus width and the memory type together set how fast the chip can reach its own memory, which shows at high resolutions where every frame moves more data. A narrow bus with fast memory can match a wide one with slow memory, so neither figure settles it alone.
Shading units
The counts differ, 2,048 against 1,152, but these are different designs from different makers, and a shading unit on one is not the same amount of work as on the other. The row cannot be used to rank this pair.
Board power
Both are rated at 120 W, so they ask the same of a case and a power supply.
Which to pick, on paper
- High resolutions, heavy textures, local AI
- RX 470
- 4 GB against 3 GB. Memory is the wall these workloads hit first.
What no table says
How much of its speed a graphics card keeps after the first minute depends on the cooling and the power limit of the machine it is in. If you own one of these, measure it: the test is free and runs in this browser.
Questions
- Is the GTX 1060 3GB better than the RX 470?
- By need, on the specifications: high resolutions, heavy textures, local ai: the RX 470. They are different designs, so the raw counts cannot rank them. Frame rates depend on the game and its settings, and how much speed either card keeps after ten minutes depends on its cooling, which is what a sustained test measures.
- Is 3 GB of video memory enough?
- For 1080p at sensible settings, only in older or lighter games. At 1440p and above, with high texture settings, or for running AI models, 4 GB gives real headroom. When memory runs out the symptom is stutter, not a lower average.
More comparisons
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 (GDDR6)
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
- AMD Radeon RX 470 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
- AMD Radeon RX 470 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
- AMD Radeon RX 470 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630
- AMD Radeon RX 470 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 (GDDR6)
- AMD Radeon RX 470 vs AMD Radeon RX 480
- AMD Radeon RX 470 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
Every figure on this table is a design target. None of it is a measurement.
Nothing above describes how a graphics card behaves twenty minutes into a sustained workload, which is where two chips with nearly identical specifications routinely diverge. A boost clock is a ceiling the vendor permits, not a rate the chip sustains, and whether it holds depends on the cooling, the case, the power profile and the room. None of those appear on a specification sheet.
We deliberately do not reduce these figures to a single score. A composite invented from specifications would look authoritative and measure nothing, and choosing the weights would be choosing the winner.