Let's be clear about this: Nvidia's most current RTX 4060 Ti graphics card isn't among the greatest ones available right now. It is in no way even close.
Even so, it is this generation's second most affordable graphics card, and for Nvidia, it is by far the most affordable. As a result, you could be tempted to purchase it in order to incorporate it into a PC design that is focused on saving money. The RTX 4060 Ti is probably not a good choice, but there are a number of other GPUs that are more valuable investments.
A lukewarm welcome
The RTX 3060 and RTX 3060 Ti from Nvidia are among the most well-liked GPUs of their generation. According to Steam's Hardware Survey, the RTX 3060 is presently the third most popular graphics card among gamers. Unlike the GTX 1650 and GTX 1060, which are currently above it, it is continuing its gradual ascent to the top.
You'd assume that the RTX 4060 Ti would be ready to achieve a similar level of success as the ideal entry point for high-end gaming at a more affordable price. But that's just not the case. The card has only received middling reviews thus far, and it's difficult to envision that it will improve considerably over time until the upcoming GPUs show to be even more impressive.
Although describing it as a failure would be a bit excessive, indications from numerous sources indicate that it isn't doing well at all. Reviews of the GPU have received a bit of a mixed reception, with some publications calling it a failure and others complimenting it for its performance. What is the reality?
Far from perfect
Even the games that will be launched in the upcoming years will be too demanding for the RTX 4060 Ti to handle in 2023. Although it's not a horrible GPU per se, the $400 price tag and several odd design decisions make it a rather bad value choice.
To begin with, the RTX 4060 Ti has 4352 CUDA cores as opposed to 4,864 in its predecessor. That alone is not a problem because Nvidia compensated for it by greatly increasing the cache. The memory bus, specifically VRAM, is the problem.
The same 8GB of VRAM is present, which, as we are now learning, is not actually adequate to run contemporary games. The RTX 4060 Ti is only able to operate on a meagre 128-bit bus, which significantly reduces memory bandwidth, in contrast to the RTX 3060 Ti, which has a larger 256-bit bus. This has the potential to significantly slow down some games.
Something like this could have been acceptable if the RTX 4060 Ti were $100 less expensive. The RTX 4060 Ti is constrained by its own specifications, despite Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang's defence of the dubious decisions the chipmaker made when building this model. However, if you only consider the pricing, the RTX 4060 Ti is still a midrange card. Most of us anticipate receiving better for $400.
In several contemporary games, like Returnal, we've compared the RTX 4060 Ti to its predecessor and discovered that the change in frame rates is frequently insignificant. The GPU does outperform the RTX 3060 Ti, but the advantage isn't significant enough to justify the price.
Keep in mind that performance varies across a wide range of tests; read our evaluation to learn more. The RTX 4060 Ti performed a fine job of keeping up with our standard test suite, but it starts to suffer in more recent titles and at higher resolutions. As time goes on and games demand more and more performance from the graphics card, this struggle will only become worse.
Of course, the RTX 4060 Ti has an advantage over its forerunners because it makes DLSS 3 available from Nvidia. But is that sufficient to market it as a valuable graphics card? I disagree, and many others also hold the same view.
Despite being the least expensive model of a notoriously costly generation of GPUs, it still falls short in terms of value. Even if the price will be lower, it's still difficult to state with certainty that it's worth the $400 asking price.
So what can you do if you're wanting to update your current setup or construct a new PC? Buy a GPU, but omit the RTX 4060 Ti if possible.
There are plenty of options
The RTX 4060 Ti is now the cheapest, but that does not necessarily imply that it is a good bargain. Soon, Nvidia will offer an RTX 4060 Ti with 16GB VRAM for only $100 extra. It's difficult to predict how much better it will be without having seen it, but it will address the fundamental problem of the 8GB version, and that alone might be worth $100 to some. In the upcoming months, a $300 RTX 4060 will also be released.
If you decide against taking a chance with the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB, there are still a lot of other options that will provide you performance that is comparable to the 8GB version without having to deal with a VRAM shortage. Nvidia itself and AMD both have cards that simply make more sense right now.
RTX 4070
Commence with the RTX 4070. It is available for about $600, which is what it was initially priced at, and provides a significant upgrade over the RTX 4060 Ti. It operates more smoothly at higher resolutions, is quicker, and has more VRAM. Simply put, it's a better option for the future.
The negative? You'll pay close to $600 for it, which is $200 more than the Founders Edition RTX 4060 Ti. While offering greater value than the 4060 Ti, it's the most basic upgrade that still enables DLSS 3, enhanced ray tracing, and all the other Nvidia goodies. And if you buy a GPU produced by one of Nvidia's board partners, it's not even that much more expensive, as those go for up to $460.
RX 6700 XT
You might as well buy an AMD card from the previous generation if all you care about is smooth game performance rather than many bells and whistles. These GPUs are currently a relatively excellent bargain due to major price reductions since their introduction. In actuality, last-gen alternatives often provide significantly higher performance per money, though this varies by brand and model.
The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT actually outperformed the RTX 4060 Ti in several of the games we tested, and even when it wasn't, it was still competitive with Nvidia. The RTX 4060 Ti can be purchased for roughly $360, so there is no need to choose it over this model unless you are concerned about ray tracing, where Nvidia continues to have a significant advantage.
RTX 3070
Some last-gen solutions are still excellent if you want to continue with Nvidia. The RTX 3070 costs more than the 4060 Ti, but if you have a little additional money to spend on a GPU, it's a good choice. It has a bigger bus (256 bits) and significantly more cores. Even though it only has 8GB of VRAM, it will probably perform better with newer, bandwidth-hungry games than the RTX 3060 Ti.
Even yet, the price is still more than the 4060 Ti. On Amazon, you can purchase it for about $490. If you prefer to buy Nvidia, this is a nice option to consider if you don't want to go all the way up to the $600 RTX 4070 but are prepared to spend more than the $400 for the RTX 4060 Ti.
RX 6800 XT
There is a lot of untapped potential at this pricing point for those who aren't afraid to purchase AMD GPUs. You could upgrade to the RX 6800 XT for about $520 and enter a completely different level of graphics performance. Although the RTX 4060 Ti is advertised as a 1080p graphics card, AMD's RX 6800 XT is more than capable of handling 1440p and even 4K. This is not to imply that the RTX 4060 Ti cannot be used for 1440p, but as I already explained, it does not scale similarly.
This GPU has 16GB of VRAM on a 256-bit memory bus, which is twice as much as the RTX 4060 Ti's. Additionally, the bandwidth almost doubles. While you forfeit $120 and lose access to Nvidia's Frame Generation, you do receive a GPU that is more likely to hold up to upcoming titles.
RX 7600
You might be thinking that it's strange to propose the RX 7600 as an alternative to the RTX 4060 Ti. But I still stand by it. Instead of spending $400 on the RTX 4060 Ti, you might as well just purchase the RX 7600 for $270 if you're looking for a GPU that can handle 1080p gameplay without ray tracing.
In full transparency, the AMD RX 7600 is incomparably slower than the Nvidia card. With this GPU, you won't experience the same level of performance. The RX 7600, not the RTX 4060 Ti, is the real bargain pick here, though, given how suspect Nvidia's pricing has been this year. If your money is more important to you than obtaining higher frame rates in AAA games, this is the course to take.
