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Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 review: the least underwhelming 1080p graphics cardOnce again, DLSS and efficiency hoist a so-so Nvidia GPU
Once again, DLSS and efficiency hoist a so-so Nvidia GPU
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun
For all the big-budget GeForcegraphics cards, it’s the firmly mainstream XX60 models that must surely keep the lights on at Nvidia HQ. A glimpse at thecurrent Steam hardware surveyreveals that theRTX 3060,RTX 2060, andGTX 1060are all within the top four most-used GPUs – with the RTX 3060’s laptop version at number five. These are important cards, and messing up the next one would be a disaster.
The RTX 4060 is not a disaster. Ultimately, it a very capable 1080p graphics card, a technical upgrade on the RTX 3060, and (unlike several other RTX 40 series GPUs) arrives at a reasonable price. But it probably doesn’t deserve the apparent immortality of its predecessors, with only modest gen-on-gen performance gains and a heavy reliance onDLSS(includingDLSS 3) to expand that difference.
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It can feel as it it’s coasting its way to sub-£300 desirability, especially since the broadly similarAMD Radeon RX 7600does so little to seriously compete. And that’s not even when it’s actively taking steps backward: there’s been a 12GB RTX 3060 for yonks. Why is the RTX 4060 limited to 8GB?
At least it doesn’t pull anRTX 4080and jack up the price. One of the stronger points in the RTX 4060’s favour is that it’s barely more expensive than the two-year-old RTX 3060; a cheap version, like the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ventus 2X Black we’re looking at here, is £290 / $299. That’s actually less than what the RTX 3060 launched for, and a lack of major price drops means both it and even theRTX 3060 Tiare hovering at similar prices today. If you can’t quite budget for anRTX 4060 Ti, its little brother already looks like a deal.
Even so, it’s missing a certain sense of awe that the previous XX60 cards had, the kind that made you feel like you’d quietly nabbed the best-valueGPUin the whole Nvidia stack. The RTX 4060 is alright, but rarely more than that.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 review: 1440p performance
In its defence, I don’t agree with the sentiment that this GPU should have been the RTX 4050. For one thing, it carries on the grand old XX60 card tradition of being mostly okay at 1440p, just not to the point of hitting 60fps with max quality in every single game.
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun
To repeat myself from the RX 7600 review, the RTX 4060 is generally the better mid-range GPU of the two, should you be in the market for a cheapish engine for your Quad HDgaming monitor. While they’re often next-and-neck, the RTX 4060 pulls far enough ahead inForza Horizon 5andHitman 3that average performance lands in Nvidia’s favour.
It’s better than the RX 7600 for ray tracing, too. InCyberpunk 2077, adding Psycho RT effects to the Ultra preset sank the RX 7600 from 53fps to just 5fps; the same settings had the RTX 4060 falling from 47fps to 20fps, which still isn’t playable, but does demonstrate how its Ada Lovelace architecture and dedicated RT cores make a difference.
In fact, of these two GPUs, Psycho-quality Cyberpunk 2077 isonlyplayable on the RTX 4060 when maintaining a sharp-looking 1440p. That’s because the RX 7600 can only call onFSR 2.1upscaling, which nudged it up to a still-unviable 24fps on Quality mode. Conversely, the RTX 4060 has access to DLSS, which not only looks nicer on its own Quality mode, but bumped that 20fps up to a just-about-tolerable 36fps. Then, it can call upon DLSS 3 and its AI frame generation, which delivered a final, almost comically superior average of 57fps.
There’s no Founders' Edition for the RTX 4060, so it’s partner cards all the way. This MSI model is among the cheapest available. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun
Outputs include DisplayPort 1.4a and HDMI 2.1 ports. Still no DisplayPort 2.1, but these are fine for 1440p and below. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun
At least at this resolution, the RTX 4060 also stakes the weakest of claims as a cheaper RTX 4060 Ti alternative. Outside of a surprisingly close call in Hitman 3, and maybe Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, the Ti version sits well ahead.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 review: 1080p performance
Down on the RTX 4060’s home turf, 1080p, it instantly becomes more appealing. The gap between it and the RTX 4060 Ti narrows to the point where, with I suspect a touch of bottlenecking, it catches up entirely inFinal Fantasy XV. It generally scores bigger, better leads over the Arc A750 than at 1440p, too.
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun
The fact that most of the RTX 4060’s results end up above 100fps shows that, all complaining aside, it is clearly a good option for Full HD. And that’s with DLSS playing more of a bit part than it would at higher resolutions, as upscaling to 1920x1080 tends to be more ugly than it’s worth.
DLSS is still preferable to FSR, mind, and we’ve started to see games – likeRemnant IIandRedfall– that, intentionally or otherwise, need upscaling to run effectively. The RTX 4060’s advantage in this arena therefore can’t be discounted entirely. Particularly when it still allows for DLSS 3’s frame generation to run without any upscaling at all, adding performance while maintaining the crispness of native-res rendering.
The Ventus 2X Black is compact enough, though single-fan versions are available too. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun
Case in point, I could run Cyberpunk 2077 with Ultra quality and a full set of Psycho ray tracing effects at a comfortable 55fps with frame generation switched on. This was a hefty improvement on the 32fps these settings produced without it, so the RTX 4060 evidently has value to those who don’t need the highest monitor resolutions butdowant to dabble with ultra-luxe quality settings.
As at 1440p, the RTX 4060 also trounces the RX 7600 for ray tracing in general. In Metro Exodus, adding Ultra-quality RT effects to the Ultra preset forced the RTX 4060 down from 77fps to 60fps – an easier ride than the RX 7600’s, which dropped from 79fps to 53fps. Cyberpunk 2077 also tanked a far less severe performance hit on RTX hardware, next to the RX 7600:
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun
Despite being cheaper at launch, then, you couldn’t call the RTX 4060 an especially smart upgrade for RTX 3060 owners. For someone currently on an RTX 2060 orRTX 3050, sure, though don’t expect the usual dose of XX60 magic. Not when the best single reason to buy one is a souped-up upscaler.
That said, the RTX 4060 does have one more quality going for it, and it’s one that’s gained new importance since 2023 electricity bills went the way of 2021 graphics cards. This GPU is fantastically efficient, with maximum rated power draw down from 170W on the RTX 3060 to just 115W. Outside of a one-off peak of 126W during my in-game testing, the RTX 4060 would indeed stay between 111W and 113W, making its performance-per-watt far more standout than its simple FPS averages. This represents another win over the RX 7600, too: I recorded AMD’s card using between 161W and 163W while running games. This MSI-designed RTX 4060 also ran a few degrees cooler, varying between 69°c and 74°c under load; the RX 7600 reference card I tested stayed steady at 76°c.
No custom power adapter needed either, unlike the beefier 40 series GPUs. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun
I, for one, would still recommend this GPU to most prospective builders of mid-range PCs, provided they’re sticking to 1080p and/or don’t already have a good 30-series card lying around. But it would be a grudging endorsement, delivered due to to a lack of credible alternatives as much as the RTX 4060’s own merits.
