[D] 2060 RTX vs. 3060 RTX: Tensor and Cuda Core Selection

Submitted by et_tu_brutits t3_xt7vcn in MachineLearning

Friends,

Would appreciate some insight/guidance in choosing the optimal GPU for general training purposes against some constraints I won't delve into at much detail.

I run a bare metal hypervisor on a Dell R820 and plan to perform GPU passthrough and have some constraints which restrict me to either a 3060 RTX or 2060 RTX. Cost isn't an issue

Card Memory Tensor Cores Cuda Cores Core Boost
2060 RTX 12GB 240 1920 1365mhz 1680mhz
3060 RTX 12GB 112 3584 1320mhz 1780mhz

Considerations:

  • 2060 has more tensor cores, however 3060 Ampere represents 50% faster per tensor core operations than Turing. For tensor cores, including clock speeds, I think the 2060 slightly has the edge or might be equivalent?

  • The 3060 clearly wins with CUDA cores

I'm likely turd polishing, however I am leaning towards the 3060 on account of longer term support for libraries. I also don't have experience with either card, so don't know if the additional 3060 CUDA cores will make a major difference in Tensorflow/PyTorch.

What's your recommendation to maximize value and future reuse for general purpose training? Thank you in advance and have a splendid weekend.

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Comments

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suflaj t1_iqou52g wrote

The tensor and cuda cores between these 2 are not comparable. I don't know what support for libraries mean, CUDA capability versions are rarely relevant for DL and the cards are not very relevant now, let alone 10 years from now when something for their generation might start to get deprecated. You must realize that even if you bought a 4090 on this very day, a product that is soon only coming out, it is going to be obsolete in 2-4 years.

The 3060 is comparable to the 2080. The 2060 is not even comparable to any last gen cards. Obviously the answer is 3060.

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et_tu_brutits OP t1_iqox8oj wrote

All relevant points and appreciate your input. I have other use cases for the GPU on the hypervisor such as VFIO gaming and media transcoding, so while IaaS/cloud TPUs does provide value against deprecation, in my use case it just isn't applicable. The DL capabilities are just one dimension of my assessment. Thanks again.

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Crazy-Space5384 t1_iqoozdm wrote

I’d take the 2060 only if I found a particularly good deal - otherwise it’s the 3060.

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lnunesAI t1_iqow65i wrote

I have a rtx 3060 and I think it is the best in terms of value for money. Another option would be a tesla P40 which has 24gb ram and cuda capability 6 which is minimal to handle python libraries like rapids.

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et_tu_brutits OP t1_iqp7qgf wrote

Thank you for your response; definitely leaning towards the 3060 once 4XXX are released. I enjoy finding the best value and using refurbished enterprise tech, so this is right up my alley. The Tesla series has crossed my mind a couple times for another project, but unfortunately for this project the 2U rack has some serious space limitations so I have to count that out. Thanks again!

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