RTX 4060 Ti vs RTX 4060, Battle of Nvidia’s mid-range

The RTX 4060 Ti 8GB version is here, with the RTX 4060 coming up next, followed by the 16GB 4060 Ti in July - but which is best?

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Let’s compare both of Nvidia’s latest SKUs RTX 4060 Ti vs RTX 4060. They aim to offer the gaming world an affordable upgrade for the mid-range. Prior to the release of the 4060 Ti 8GB release date, Nvidia showed off all sorts of performance graphs which gave us a good idea of what to expect. both cards offer a fairly-decent boost in performance over the previous gen, although not enough to justify the upgrade. The graphs used feature benchmark data with DLSS on only. Since then though, the RTX 4060 Ti has been widely available, so we can check out all sorts of benchmarks to see how much the hardware itself has improved as well.

We have already looked at how the RTX 4060 Ti vs the 3060 Ti compare, but what can the more affordable RTX 4060 offer? The RTX 4060 promises to be the cheapest Nvidia GeForce RTX 40 series card and will certainly be catching the eyes of many budget gaming enthusiasts that are still on 20-series, RX 5000 series, or older GPUs.

ZOTAC GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB Twin Edge

Pros

Small form factor that can fit into small builds like mini-ITX

Cons

Low cooling capacity limits overclocking ability

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ASUS Dual RTX 4060 OC

Pros

Overclocked model that performs well against other models

Price is still good and close to MSRP even as an OC model

Cons

An expensive low entry card for the 8GB available on it

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Nvidia Ada Lovelace architecture

The new Ada Lovelace architecture improves the overall efficiency and performance once more, with a big improvement for 3D graphics. The architecture has been designed to increase performance in ray tracing, AI-based graphics, and just general performance elevation. The main element to focus on for gaming is DLSS 3. Nvidia’s Tensor Cores accelerate this type of AI tech and can massively boost performance when gaming in higher resolutions or when using ray tracing.

Talking ray tracing, Nvidia made this happen with RT cores, which essentially dedicate processing cores to tackle the intensive nature of ray tracing. Ada Lovelace brings in the third generation of these cores, which have twice the ray-triangle intersection throughput, delivering 2x performance for RT-TFLOP.

• Up to 2x performance and power efficiency
• Up to 4x performance with DLSS 3
• Up to 2x ray tracing performance

RTX 4060 Ti vs 4060 specifications

The spec differences between the two RTX 4060 Ti SKUs and the RTX 4060 are incremental, offering a wider range of price points but until all three release, it is hard to gauge what sort of price to performance we are getting. With around a 15% jump on the previous generation, many happy with the RTX 30 series variants may not jump at an upgrade, however, those on older cards will find these quite attractive.

Specification	RTX 4060 Ti	RTX 4060
GPU process	TSMC 5nm	TSMC 5nm
CUDA cores	4,352	3072
Base clock speed	2.54 GHz	2.46 GHz
Boost clock speed	2.31 GHz	1.83 GHz
VRAM	8/16GB GDDR6	8GB GDDR6
GPU length (FE)	244 mm	Varies by manufacturer
Memory interface	128-bit	128-bit
TGP	160/165W	115W
Required System Power	550W	550W

The subtle upgrades are going to make all the difference for specific gamers. At the top end, the RTX 4060 Ti will be better suited for those looking to get a cheap 1440p GPU, whereas the RTX 4060 will be a strong contender for those building a solid 1080p PC.

RTX 4060 Ti vs RTX 4060 performance differences

Before the 8GB 4060 Ti was released, we could only go off pre release information provided by Nvidia themselves, however, we also saw a Geekbench leak too. Let’s start with the gist, it doesn’t look like a worthwhile upgrade for those running an RTX 3060 Ti and above, however, the RTX 4060 Ti could be a decent budget 1440p option, but perhaps not ideal in the long run. The RTX 4060 on the other hand, with its under $300 price tag, looks like a decent 1080p upgrade for those on old 20-series/ RX 5000 GPUs.

Nvidia’s benchmark data, which featured the i9-12900K and 32GB RAM is not enough to go off when making buying recommendations, however, we get some insight as to what we can expect. Most builders that will be looking to include these into their systems will probably be running Ryzen 5s/ 7s, i5s/ i7s, and 16GB RAM but the performance shouldn’t be too much different from what we are seeing below.

Another thing to note is that DLSS is on, along with RT on some games running in 1080p, with the highest in-game settings. The RTX 4060 also showcased around a 15% increase on the previous gen but it is important to remember the improvements around RT and DLSS 3. This tells us that the RTX 4060 is going to be a solid choice for 1080p gamers going forward, with the 8GB 4060 Ti offering a slight boost, and the 16GB 4060 Ti looking more viable for 1440p gaming.

Now we can actually move on to benchmarks for both the RTX 4060 Ti 8GB and RTX 4060 to compare how they perform. In terms of the 16GB model, well we have to still wait as even though it supposedly came out it’s been a paper release with no reviews available and for its performance, you have to wait a bit longer.

Techpowerup reviews a range of models, but the average gives us a good comparison between the GPUs. There at 1080p, we see the 4060 Ti 8GB achieve an average of 20 FPS higher. Then at 1440p, it performs 16FPS higher, then at 4K just 7 FPS, but neither is really at a playable framerate there.

What you do need to remember though is that the RTX 40 series makes a big difference when DLSS 3 is enabled, especially with the frame generation tech helping the card outperform the 30-series equivalent. The only downside here is increased input latency, but this isn’t a deal breaker for many games.

RTX 4060 Ti vs RTX 4060 price – What is the cost difference?

Nvidia announced the RTX 4060 Ti and RTX 4060 MSRP, giving us two very affordable SKUs. The 8GB 4060 Ti comes in at $399 (£389), with the 16GB model costing $499 (£479). The RTX 4060, however, comes in at $299 (£289), which will catch the eye of many on strict budgets. This difference in cost ties in with the incremental performance differences we are likely to see between the two.

Prior to the release of the RTX 4060 Ti, we could find many previous-gen equivalents still priced higher, but the cost has since come down in some cases to make way for the newest 40-series cards. We expect to see something similar once the RTX 4060 arrives too.

Should you buy the RTX 4060 Ti or RTX 4060?

There is much to debate on this topic, but many reviews initially slated the RTX 4060 Ti 8GB version for not being enough of an upgrade to the 3060 Ti. Many commented on the lower memory bandwidth and 8GB RAM which can be seen as no longer suitable for a mid-range card. We don’t expect as much backlash against the 4060 Ti, especially as it will be priced lower and 8GB of RAM is to be expected.

Taking the specs and Nvidia’s performance graphs at face value, then we can see that the RTX 4060 Ti is a 1080p powerhouse, with the following benchmarks proving this. We would proceed with caution if you’re looking to pick the 8GB RTX 4060 Ti up for 1440p gaming, instead wait for the 16GB model. Either way, they’re all solid for 1080p.

If you instead want to save some cases for a 1080p build, go with the RTX 4060. It won’t offer quite as much power, but it looks to be a great option over the 8GB 4060 Ti at the very least. Whether or not you should upgrade your XX60 GPUs from the 30 series is debatable though, as around a 15% increase in performance doesn’t seem worth it.

RTX 4060 Ti vs RTX 4060 : Final word

Both of these Nvidia graphics cards are great mid-range options. Although the 8GB RTX 4060 Ti didn’t get a massive amount of praise on release, it’s still a good option if you’re upgrading from generations-old hardware. The predecessors can keep up for now, but a bigger gap between them could open up as more and more games support DLSS 3.

Overall though, we think the RTX 4060 is going to be a fantastic budget option with all the hardware acceleration for frame generation and ray tracing. The 8GB RTX 4060 Ti may be a pass for many, but the 16 GB version coming in July could rejuvenate some interest in this Ti option. AMD hasn’t offered too much recently to battle aside from the RX 7600, so Nvidia’s new GPUs are good competition.