In the ever-evolving realm of GPUs, every new model brings a wave of excitement to the market, especially if it’s from Nvidia and AMD. Last month, Nvidia announced their latest generation GPU family that includes; the RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB and 16 GB variants and an RTX 4060. The latter two would be launched somewhere in July. But the RTX 4060 Ti (8 GB variant) was released on May 24th.
Whenever a new model is released, we all start to ponder how it is better than its predecessor, right? Well, in this article, I’m going to address this very question. So stick with me and unravel what’s different in the new RTX 4060 Ti.
Before we talk about real-time performance, I want you to get familiar with the on-paper differences between these two mid-range GPUs. So I’ve shared a specs sheet below which covers all of the major disparities.
Critical specifications comparison
| Features | RTX 4060 Ti | RTX 3060 Ti |
|---|---|---|
| GPU | AD106 | GA104 |
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Ampere |
| Manufacturing process | TSMC 4N NVIDIA Custom Process | 8 nm Samsung |
| Transistor count | 22.9 billion | 17.4 billion |
| CUDA cores | 4352 | 4864 |
| Tensor cores | 136 (4th Gen) | 152 (3rd Gen) |
| RT cores | 34 (3rd Gen) | 38 (2nd Gen) |
| ROPS | 48 | 80 |
| Texture units | 136 | 152 |
| Total VRAM | 8 GB GDDR 6 / 16 GB GDDR6 | 8GB GDDR6 |
| Total Memory Bandwidth | 288 GB/s (554 GB/s effective) | 448 GBps |
| Memory interface | 128-bit | 256-bit |
| L2 cache size | 32,768 KB | 4 MB |
| TGP (total graphics power) | 160 Watts | 200W |
| Minimum power supply | 550 Watts | 600W |
| Boost clock | 2535 MHz | 1665 MHz |
| Memory clock | 9000 MHz | 7000 MHz |
| Release date | May 2023 | Dec. 2020 |
| Launch price | $399 – 8GB$499 – 16GB | $399 |
What’s new in the RTX 4060 Ti?
The RTX 4060 ti packs some exclusive features, specific to only those GPUs that feature the latest Ada Lovelace architecture. As RTX 4060 Ti is built on Ada Lovelace architecture, thankfully it has those features.
For starters, it has the latest DLSS 3 AI Frame generation. The older RTX 3060 Ti lacks this feature is kind of a setback for it.
Another amazing feature is the latest NVIDIA encoder with AV 1 support. If you’re a streamer then you’re gold as the AV1 has much better video quality and is also more efficient than H.264.
RTX 4060 Ti vs RTX 3060 Ti: price comparison
Back in December 2020, RTX 3060 Ti had a launch price of 399$. But because of the hyper demand and low supply, its price bumped up slightly from the original price. And currently, it’s sold for around 420$.
However, in the case of RTX 4060 Ti, you’ll get two options. The 8 GB variant is marketed at 399$ while the 16 GB model has an expected launch price of 499$. There isn’t much difference in price if we compare it with the RTX 3060 Ti. So I don’t think you’d wanna go for an older GPU when you can get a GPU with faster clock speed and the latest architecture at a similar price.
Performance benchmarks
Coming down to the real question, how well does the RTX 4060 Ti perform? How does it compare with the RTX 3060 Ti in performance benchmarks? It’s time to uncover the truth here!
Now before I moved on to the gaming benchmarks, I tested these GPUs in some synthetic benchmarks, and here are the results.
3DMark benchmark suite (higher is better)
| Benchmarks | RTX 4060 Ti | RTX 3060 Ti |
|---|---|---|
| Fire Strike (DX11) | 33658 | 29578 |
| Fire Strike Extreme (DX11) | 15907 | 14473 |
| Fire Strike Ultra (DX11) | 7302 | 7219 |
| Time Spy (DX12) | 13301 | 11740 |
| Time Spy Extreme (DX12) | 6187 | 5698 |
| Port Royal (RT) | 8022 | 7047 |
| Speed Way | 3137 | 2992 |
As you’ve seen, RTX 4060 Ti proved to be faster than RTX 3060 Ti in every test. However, at highly demanding scenarios like Time Spy (which uses Ray tracing), the lead wasn’t a lot but these were just the start-offs. Now let’s move on to the real gaming grounds to see the actual battle.
Gaming benchmarks
I wanted to be sure of the results so I tested 14 games with different graphic requirements. Most of them were traditional rasterization benchmarks and only two games needed ray tracing enabled; Guardians of the Galaxy and Forza Horizon.
| Games | RTX 4060 Ti average FPS | RTX 3060 Ti average FPS |
|---|---|---|
| Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (ultra-high settings) (1080p) | 114 | 104 |
| Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (1440p) | 84 | 78 |
| A Plague Tale: Requiem (ultra graphics preset) (1080p) | 64 | 59 |
| A Plague Tale: Requiem (1440p) | 45 | 43 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 (ultra graphics) (1080p) | 97 | 91 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p) | 60 | 57 |
| Call of Duty MW ll(extreme graphics) (1080 p) | 115 | 94 |
| Call of Duty MW ll(1440p) | 67 | 64 |
| Guardians of the Galaxy (ultra graphics, RT + DLSS) (1080p) | 131 | 118 |
| Guardians of the Galaxy (1440p) | 94 | 87 |
| Deus Ex Mankind Divided(highest graphics) (1080p) | 134 | 125 |
| Deus Ex Mankind Divided (1440p) | 93 | 87 |
| Watch Dogs Legion(ultra graphics) (1080p) | 95 | 90 |
| Watch Dogs Legion(1440p) | 67 | 65 |
| The Witcher 3 next Gen (ultra+ graphics preset) (1080p) | 72 | 68 |
| The Witcher 3 next Gen(1440p) | 47 | 45 |
| Forza Horizon 5 (extreme preset with RT high) (1080p) | 115 | 98 |
| Forza Horizon 5 (1440p) | 97 | 83 |
| Horizon Zero Dawn (ultimate quality) (1080p) | 139 | 133 |
| Horizon Zero Dawn (1440p) | 107 | 105 |
| Red Dead Redemption 2(highest graphics) (1080p) | 101 | 92 |
| Red Dead Redemption 2(1440p) | 77 | 72 |
No doubt, RTX 4060 Ti outperformed the 3060 Ti in every title but you might’ve noticed it was only a few percent better. Moreover, what really bummed me was that it couldn’t beat its predecessor in the Hunter World.
I think one of the main reasons for this enhanced performance was the larger L2 cache. But the thing that could’ve held it back was that the other specs weren’t as improved as one would expect in a generational upgrade.
Gaming benchmark results
There! You’ve seen all the results for yourself. To sum it up, RTX 4060 Ti was only 10% faster than the RTX 3060 Ti based on the average of these 14 games. Quite good but we all expected more, didn’t we? And when we crank it up to a higher resolution, say 1440p, the performance gap becomes even narrower and comes down to only 6%. And to be frank, it was hard to tell the difference while playing the game.
I don’t think I need to say much as the results speak for themselves. RTX 4060 Ti didn’t perform well in games without the DLSS 3. I haven’t added the DLSS 3 titles because this feature is exclusive to the RTX 40 series GPUs. But I don’t think DLSS 3 AI frame generation increases the frame rates. It only produces “fake” frames that enhance the smoothness of the graphics.
Final thoughts
So, which one would give better value? Well, RTX 4060 Ti, and here’s why!
No doubt, after three years of wait we all expected a lot more from this NVIDIA. But it seems like NVIDIA didn’t focus much on upgrading the specs and tried to market the additional features like DLSS 3 and novel NVNC with AV 1 support. Still, I believe it’s a much better choice than the RTX 3060 Ti as they’re priced around the same.
Another important feature that couldn’t get mentioned in the charts above was the power efficiency of the RTX 4060 Ti. It certainly uses a lot less power than its predecessor, drawing only 145 watts of energy during all the tests. I know it wouldn’t be very exciting for a gamer but who wouldn’t love a low energy bill?
So if you’re looking for a GPU that can smoothly handle 1440p graphics and is capable of running ray tracing games then I’d recommend you go for the RTX 4060 Ti.
Muhammad Allayhan, a gaming and PC hardware virtuoso, breathes life into pixelated worlds. A legendary overclocker, he unlocks hidden power in gaming rigs. Navigating from 8-bit realms to today’s masterpieces, Muhammad’s words immerse readers in an ever-evolving digital odyssey. Join him as he reveals the secrets of gaming’s cutting edge.
