Let’s not beat about the bush – Nvidia’s current RTX 4060 Ti is not one of the best graphics cards at the moment. It doesn’t even come close.
Nevertheless, it is the second cheapest graphics card of this generation and by far the cheapest for Nvidia. Because of this, you might be tempted to buy it to fit into a budget-oriented PC build. Well, that’s my reason to tell you that you probably shouldn’t get the RTX 4060 Ti, but there are several other GPUs that are better value for your money.
A lukewarm welcome, Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
Nvidia’s RTX 3060 and RTX 3060 Ti are among the most popular GPUs of their generation. According to Steam’s Hardware Survey, the RTX 3060 is currently the third most popular graphics card among gamers, and unlike the two cards currently above it (GTX 1650 and GTX 1060), it continues its slow climb to the top.
One would think that the RTX 4060 Ti would be poised to be a similar hit; The perfect introduction to high-end gaming at a lower price. However, that is simply not the case. Response to the card has been very muted so far and it’s hard to imagine it getting significantly better over time unless the next few GPUs prove to be an even bigger flop than the RTX 4060 Ti.
Sure, calling it a flop would be a bit of an exaggeration, but according to reports from various sources, it just isn’t selling well. When it comes to GPU reviews, the reactions are quite mixed. Some media claim she’s a disaster, others praise her for her achievement. What is the truth?
Anything but perfect Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
The RTX 4060 Ti is ill-prepared for some of the most demanding games of 2023, let alone those to be released over the next few years. It’s not a bad GPU per se, but some odd design choices combined with the $400 price tag make it a pretty bad choice.
First off, the RTX 4060 Ti actually has fewer CUDA cores than its predecessor (4,352 vs. 4,864). That alone is not a problem, because Nvidia has given it a massively enlarged cache to compensate. The problem lies in the VRAM, more precisely in the memory bus.
It has the same 8GB of VRAM, which we’re now finding out isn’t really enough to run modern games. However, while the RTX 3060 Ti has a larger 256-bit bus, the RTX 4060 Ti is limited to a meager 128-bit, resulting in drastically lower memory bandwidth. This can cause serious bottlenecks in some games.
If the RTX 4060 Ti was $100 cheaper, that would have been excusable. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang defends the questionable choices the chipmaker made when developing this model, but no matter how you look at it, the RTX 4060 Ti is limited by its own specs and yet it’s still a mid-range card , if you only look at the price . For $400 most of us expect to get something better.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
We’ve compared the RTX 4060 Ti to its predecessor in some modern games like Returnal and found that the difference in frame rates is often negligible. While the GPU has a head start over the RTX 3060 Ti, it’s not massive enough to justify this price point.
Keep in mind that performance varies across many different tests. So read our review to find out more. The RTX 4060 Ti performed well with our usual test pack, but it starts to struggle with newer games and higher resolutions. This battle only gets worse over the years, and games require more and more performance from the graphics card.
Of course, the RTX 4060 Ti has one advantage over its predecessors — it unlocks Nvidia’s DLSS 3. But is that enough to sell it as a worthwhile graphics card? I don’t think so, and this opinion is shared by many.
Although it is the cheapest model of a notoriously overpriced GPU generation, it still cannot really convince in terms of price-performance ratio. Sure, it’ll cost you less, but it’s still hard to say it’s worth the $400 asking price.
So what can you do if you’re trying to build a new PC or upgrade your existing system? Buy a GPU, but maybe skip the RTX 4060 Ti.
There are many options Asus
Just because the RTX 4060 Ti is currently the cheapest doesn’t mean it’s also good value for money. Nvidia will soon be releasing an RTX 4060 Ti with 16GB of VRAM that will be just $100 more expensive. It’s hard to say how much better it will be without seeing it, but it will solve the main problem of the 8GB version, and that might just be worth $100 for some people. There will also be a $300 RTX 4060 in the next few months.
Assuming you don’t want to try your luck with the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB, there are still plenty of options that will get you similar performance to the 8GB version without running into limited VRAM issues. Both AMD and Nvidia themselves have cards that just make more sense right now.
RTX 4070 Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
Let’s start with the RTX 4070. It’s available for around $600, which is where it started, and it offers a huge improvement over the RTX 4060 Ti. It’s faster, has more VRAM, and comes at higher resolutions better cope. It’s simply the better choice for future-proofing.
The disadvantage? It costs around $600, which is $200 more than the Founders Edition version of the RTX 4060 Ti. However, it’s the most basic upgrade that still unlocks DLSS 3, improved ray tracing, and all of Nvidia’s other goodies and while offering more value than the 4060 Ti. And it’s not even that much more expensive if you buy a GPU from Nvidia’s board partners, as they sell for as much as $460.
RX 6700 XT Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
If you just want games that run well and don’t really care about various bells and whistles, you might as well go back to the previous generation and buy an AMD card. These GPUs currently offer pretty good value for money, having seen significant price drops since their inception. In fact, last generation options tend to offer much better performance per dollar, although this varies by make and model.
We compared the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT to the RTX 4060 Ti and lo and behold, the last-gen AMD offering is actually faster in some games, and even if it’s not, it still rivals Nvidia. Since you can get it for around $360, there’s no reason to pick the RTX 4060 Ti over this model unless you value ray tracing – as usual, Nvidia has a strong lead here.
RTX 3070
If you want to stick with Nvidia, some last-gen options are still solid. The RTX 3070 is more expensive than the 4060 Ti, but if you can add a bit more to your GPU budget, it’s a solid choice. It has significantly more cores and a wider bus (256-bit). It’s still only 8GB of VRAM, but much like the RTX 3060 Ti, it will most likely do a better job on newer, bandwidth-demanding titles.
That said, it’s still more expensive than the 4060 Ti. You can find it on Amazon for around $490. Let’s call it a mid-range choice; If you don’t want to upgrade to the $600 RTX 4070 but are willing to shell out over $400 for the RTX 4060 Ti, this is a good option to consider if you prefer to buy Nvidia would like.
RX 6800 XT
Those who are not afraid of buying AMD GPUs can find many hidden treasures around this price point. For around $520 you could snag the RX 6800 XT and step into a whole different league of graphics performance. While the RTX 4060 Ti is marketed as a 1080p graphics card, AMD’s RX 6800 XT can easily handle 1440p and even 4K. That’s not to say you can’t use the RTX 4060 Ti for 1440p, but as mentioned, it doesn’t scale as well.
This GPU has twice the VRAM of the RTX 4060 Ti, which is 16GB over a 256-bit memory bus. The bandwidth is also almost doubled. You’re giving up $120 and access to Nvidia’s Frame Generation, but you’re also getting a GPU that’s more likely to withstand future games.
RX 7600 Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
I know what you might be thinking – proposing the RX 7600 as a replacement for the RTX 4060 Ti is an odd choice. However, I’m sticking with it. If you’re looking for a GPU that offers decent value for money and can handle 1080p gaming without ray tracing, you might as well buy the RX 7600 for $270 instead of spending $400 on the RTX 4060 Ti .
Full Disclosure: AMD’s RX 7600 is slower than the Nvidia card, unarguably. You won’t get the same performance with this GPU. However, as Nvidia’s pricing has been more questionable this generation, the real budget choice here will always be the RX 7600 and not the RTX 4060 Ti. This is the way to go if budget is more important to you than winning a few extra framerates on AAA games.
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