GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop vs Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)
VS
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop
GA106 (GN20-E3)
We performed a head-to-head comparison of the GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile 6 GB with 30 pipelines and 3840 shaders against the 2 years newer Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core) that utilizes 608 pipelines and 4864 shaders. Here you will find complete details about specs, efficiency, performance tests, and more.
Some GPUs come in different configurations. For greater precision, pick a specific config below
Review
Gaming
Performance in DirectX, OpenCL, and Vulkan games
Workstation
Perf. in 3D modeling, video editing and rendering apps
AI/ML
Capabilities for machine learning and AI-related tasks
Energy Efficiency
Power consumption efficiency in different scenarios
NanoReview Final Score
Overall video card score
Key differences
Reasons to consider the GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop
- Includes 6 GB of dedicated GDDR6 memory
- Supports Nvidia DLSS 2 technology
Reasons to consider the Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)
- Performs slightly better (up to 15%) in 3DMark Steel Nomad Lite
- Manufactured using a more efficient 5 nm process technology
- Has 22% higher memory bandwidth: 409.6 vs 336 GB/s
- Has 27% more shading units (4864 vs 3840)
Gaming Performance
Frame rate comparison across popular AAA titles at different resolutionsGames
| Forza Horizon 5 | 108 64 55 37 |
- |
| The Witcher 3 | 120 95 68 35 |
- |
| Counter-Strike 2 | 173 125 89 44 |
- |
| Far Cry 6 | 88 78 64 34 |
- |
| Hogwarts Legacy | 62 51 36 18 |
- |
| CoD: Modern Warfare III | 76 69 49 30 |
- |
| Ghost of Tsushima | 58 45 33 21 |
- |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 63 56 35 16 |
- |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 101 94 66 32 |
- |
| 1080p High | 94 | - |
| 1080p Ultra | 75 | - |
| 1440p Ultra | 55 | - |
| 4K Ultra | 30 | - |
| Margin of Error | Low | High |
Benchmarks
Graphics cards’ performance in recent benchmarking apps3D Mark
Steel Nomad Lite Score
| Time Spy | 8318 | - |
| Solar Bay | 36291 | 30368 |
| Port Royal | 4708 | - |
| Fire Strike | 20181 | - |
| Wild Life Extreme | 16477 | 24948 |
| Night Raid | 72311 | - |
GeekBench 6 OpenCL
GB6 Compute Score
| Background Blur | 153.5 img/sec | 149 img/sec |
| Face Detection | 90 img/sec | 98.1 img/sec |
| Horizon Detection | 4.1 Gpixels/sec | 3.8 Gpixels/sec |
| Edge Detection | 5.77 Gpixels/sec | 6.88 Gpixels/sec |
| Gaussian Blur | 4.35 Gpixels/sec | 4.44 Gpixels/sec |
| Feature Matching | 1.01 Gpixels/sec | 0.73 Gpixels/sec |
| Stereo Matching | 385.9 Gpixels/sec | 264.9 Gpixels/sec |
| Particle Physics | 12770 FPS | 11144.2 FPS |
| API | OpenCL | OpenCL |
Cinebench 2024 GPU
Cinebench 2024 GPU
Passmark Graphics
G3D Mark Score
| G2D Mark | 586 | - |
| DirectX 11 | 109 FPS | - |
| DirectX 12 | 58 FPS | - |
| GPU Compute | 5621 Ops/s | - |
Blender
Blender GPU
Recent User Tests
GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-04-17 (RaRagi-Bliss) | Geekbench 6 OpenCL | 95620 |
| 📘 2026-04-17 (RaRagi-Bliss) | Geekbench 6 OpenCL | 95620 |
Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)
No benchmark results yet
Artificial Intelligence Tests
Performance in machine learning and artificial intelligence tasksGeekBench 6 ML
GB6 ML Single Precision
GB6 ML Half Precision
GB6 ML Quantized
| Image Classification (SP) | 6257 | 6657 |
| Image Segmentation (HP) | 16583 | 13854 |
| Image Super Resolution (Q) | 12510 | 18642 |
| Face Detection (HP) | 29528 | 27965 |
| Pose Estimation (Q) | 51349 | 83144 |
| Text Classification (SP) | 2685 | 2377 |
| Machine Translation (HP) | 3939 | 2052 |
| Object Detection (SP) | 7206 | 6495 |
| Depth Estimation (Q) | 24343 | 31105 |
| Style Transfer (SP) | 113151 | 135686 |
| Framework | ONNX | Core ML |
| Backend | DirectML | GPU |
Results were compared using different ML frameworks
Specifications
Technical specifications of GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop and Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)General
| Vendor | Nvidia | Apple |
| Build | Discrete | Integrated |
| Released | January 12, 2021 | January 17, 2023 |
| Case | Laptop | Laptop |
| Purpose | Gaming | Professional |
| Segment | Mid-range | High-end |
| Architecture | Ampere | Apple M GPU |
| GPU Codename | GA106 (GN20-E3) | - |
| Rival Equivalent | - Radeon RX 6600M | - GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop |
| Successor | - GeForce RTX 5060 Laptop | - Apple M5 Max GPU (40-core) |
| Recommended CPU | - Intel Core i5 12500H or above | - |
| Used in CPUs | - | - Apple M2 Max |
Laptop GPU ranking (64th and 40th place)
Graphics Processing Unit
| Base Clock | 816-1387 MHz (configurable) | 450 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1283-1703 MHz (configurable) | 1398 MHz |
| Shading Units | 3840 | 4864 |
| Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) | 120 | 304 |
| Render Output Units (ROPs) | 48 | 152 |
| Compute Units (Pipelines) | 30 | 608 |
| Tensor Cores | 120 | - |
| Ray-tracing Cores | 30 | - |
| L1 Cache | 128KB per cluster | - |
| L2 Cache | 3MB shared | - |
| Instructions Per Cycle | 2 IPC | 2 IPC |
Raw Performance
| Pixel Fill Rate | 62-82 GPixel/s | 212 GPixel/s |
| Texture Fill Rate | 154-204 GTexel/s | 425 GTexel/s |
FLOPS (FP32)
Physical
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 x16 | Custom |
| TGP | 60-140 W (configurable) | 70 W |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | TSMC |
| Fabrication Process | 8 nm | 5 nm |
| Die Size | 300 mm² | - |
| Transistor Count | 13.25 billion | 52 billion |
| Transistor Density | 44.17 MTr/mm² | - |
| Max. Temperature | - | 94°C |
Memory
| Memory Type | GDDR6 | System Shared |
| Memory Size | 6 GB | - |
| Memory Clock | 1750 MHz | 6400 MHz |
| Effective Memory Speed | 12000-14000 Mbps | 12800 Mbps |
| Bus | 192-bit | 512-bit |
| ECC | No | No |
Memory Bandwidth
API
| DirectX | 12 | - |
| Vulkan | 1.2 | - |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | - |
| OpenCL | 2.0 | - |
| CUDA | 8.6 | - |
| Ray Tracing | Yes | No |
| DLSS | DLSS 2 | No |
| DisplayPort | 1.4a | - |
Cast your vote
Total votes: 3