We look back to an affordable AMD option, how does it compare to the fresh RTX 4060?
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It’s Nvidia vs AMD in our comparison of RTX 4060 vs RX 6600 XT to find out which mid-range graphics card comes out on top. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 is here, and RTX 4060 listings are live. If you’re interested in the newest Nvidia GPU, it’s worth comparing it versus some older hardware and seeing how it matches up. So, that’s why we’ve picked out the RX 6600 XT as a comparable choice for the lower mid-range region.
The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is part of AMD’s Radeon 6000 series. Even though they’ve moved on to the 7000 series, and have recently released the RX 7600, the 6600 XT is still worth checking out as a great budget option. As always, we can discuss the specs, price, performance, and other aspects which make up these rival GPUs. Let’s jump straight into the comparisons below.
High quality and well designed
Overclocked model provides better performance over factory models
Value of the 4060 worse than previous generations
High model cost over other AIBs not too great for value
Cooling overdesigned and large for the graphics power of the card
Comparing architectures gets a little more complicated when talking about rivalling companies. Nvidia and AMD of course use different architecture to build their graphics cards upon, and it’s Nvidia which often comes out ahead in this regard. There is also a generational difference here that gives the RTX 4060 the edge. The 4060 is using Nvidia’s Ada Lovelace, and the RX 6600 XT is on last-gen RDNA 2.0 from AMD.
In general, the RTX cards, as the name implies, perform better with ray tracing – and the architecture is a big reason for this. The 40-series in particular features Shader Execution Reordering that makes ray tracing more efficient and improves the performance. Ada Lovelace architecture also benefits from DLSS 3 frame generation and faster Tensor Cores alongside the greater power efficiency. As more games start to support DLSS 3, this technology will become more and more relevant.
RDNA 2 is not completely out of it though, as it added great ray tracing support of its own and saw a large increase in Compute Units which are home to more shader cores. RDNA 2 also introduced AMD Infinity Cache which improves top-end bandwidth levels to help out graphics card performance at higher resolutions like 1440p and 4K.
| RTX 4060 | RX 6600 XT | |
|---|---|---|
| GPU | AD107 | Navi 23 |
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | RDNA 2.0 |
| GPU process | TSMC 5nm | TSMC 7nm |
| Shading units | 3072 | 2048 |
| Base clock speed | 1830 MHz | 1968 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 2460 MHz | 2359 MHz |
| VRAM | 8GB | 8GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 272 GB/s | 256 GB/s |
| Memory bus | 128-bit | 128-bit |
| Memory clock | 2125 MHz / 17 Gbps effective | 2000 MHz / 16 Gbps effective |
| TDP | 115W | 160W |
These two GPUs form an incredibly close match-up based on the specs, but just how close exactly is it? Well, the RTX 4060 is just a step ahead in terms of clock speeds, shading units, and even memory (very slightly as the 8GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus is the same). This makes it slightly more powerful overall, but possibly by a negligible amount in some cases.
Those details only make up small improvements though, and the biggest winners for the 4060 are the smaller & more efficient GPU process and sizeable reduction in power usage. The 115W TDP is extremely low, and extremely power-efficient. That makes the RTX 4060 the clear winner for the specs.
When comparing graphics cards, most people want to know about performance. The RX 6600 XT has been hailed as a fantastic budget graphics card which delivers on performance, but maybe the RTX 4060 has come to replace it, if the RX 7600 doesn’t do it for you. Prior to release, Nvidia released some performance charts. They didn’t give an exact benchmark of raw performance, as they focus on DLSS 3 & ray tracing improvements. However, RTX 4060 benchmarks are now here – showing it closely matches the RX 6600 XT.
The RX 6600 XT is a great 1080p GPU, and the RTX 4060 sits at that level too. Especially as they both have 8GB of VRAM – which will struggle if you jump as high as 4K, though it’s more forgiving at 1440p. Some games which have better AMD GPU optimization actually allow the Radeon card to match even the 4060 Ti at 1080p. When dropping down to the RTX 4060, that means the performance is similar overall, likely to vary between just 10-20 FPS difference for raw performance at native resolutions. Based on TechSpot’s 15 game average test, the RTX 4060 averages 91 FPS compared to the RX 6600 XT’s 80 FPS at 1080p.
Like we’ve said though, the better architecture of the RTX 4060 will allow it to convincingly exceed the RX 6600 XT performance if using optimized DLSS 3 settings in supported games if you wish to, and the Nvidia card will have better ray tracing performance.
This is maybe one of the most important factors to consider when picking one of these graphics cards. Both of them are designed to be more budget-level cards, but not quite as entry-level as something like the RTX 3050. As such, the price is what many consumers will want to closely follow. Let’s start off by showing you the MSRP of these cards at launch.
As you can see from the launch prices, the RTX 4060 is competitive. You have to consider that the RX 6600 XT is now close to two years old, releasing back in August 2021. That means the 6600 XT has had some time to drop in price, especially since the GPU market was much inflated in previous years. It can now be found for under the $300 mark, but the RTX 4060 will be the better option at the same price.
The older Radeon GPU is becoming less available as newer cards release, though the second-hand market will allow you to grab a bargain for much cheaper if you wish. The newer RX 6650 XT is more readily available online, and can be found even under the $250 mark for budget cards.
Now for our verdict, which is better? RTX 4060 vs RX 6600 XT? Given the generational gap and massive efficiency improvements, we’ll have to give it to the RTX 4060. If you can find the RX 6600 XT for much cheaper though, it’s worth picking up over the RTX 4060 if you want great 1080p performance on a strict budget. Prices will always vary on region!
It’s obviously not worth upgrading to the RTX 4060 from the RX 6600 XT or equivalent GPU, as the performance increases will be slight. The biggest selling point for the RTX 4060 here is the much lower TDP, making it ideal for PC gamers with budget builds who want their system to stay as cool as possible without investing in high-end cooling solutions.
Core clock speed
1,830MHz base, 2535MHz boost
CUDA cores
3,072
Memory size
8GB GDDR6
Dimensions
227.2 x 123.24 x 49.6mm (2.5-slot)
PSU required
550W
TBP
115W
Core Clock Speed
2607 MHz Boost Clock
Stream Processors
2048
Memory Size
8GB GDDR6X
Dimensions
303 x 131 x 45 mm (2.25 slot)
PSU Required
500W
The MSRP of the RTX 4060 is indeed cheaper than that of the RX 6600 XT MSRP. However, since the RX 6600 XT has been out of a couple of years, you may find it priced lower these days.
We also recommend checking out the slightly more powerful and newer RX 6650 XT, as that is more readily available at the moment and also can be found under the RTX 4060 MSRP.
Both of these GPUs are designed for 1080p gaming, but they can reach 1440p without too much problem. Exact performance of course depends on the game and graphics settings.
Although they have similar memory specs, the RTX 4060 has better architecture, with DLSS 3 frame generation which will help boost your framerate or open up more advanced upscaling options.
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