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Is the RTX 4060 good for gaming

Gaming is an important backbone to PC building and many are concerned with Nvidia's RTX 4060 specs
Last Updated on June 29, 2023
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The upcoming Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card has undoubtedly stirred up the conversation in the gaming community. Nvidia’s mid-range GPU that would be released in June is marketed as a GPU for budget gaming PC builds, but is it enough? In this article, we’ll delve into the gaming performance benchmarks of the RTX 4060 Founders Edition, examining its specifications, capabilities, and how it stacks up against its predecessor and competitors.

Gamers around the world are wondering if the Nvidia RTX 4060 is good for gaming. In short, the RTX 4060 offers decent FPS performance for 1080p gaming, particularly if you’re keen on leveraging the benefits of DLSS, frame generation, and ray tracing 3.0. However, for more demanding resolutions and in the absence of these advanced features, the GPU doesn’t seem to impress the gaming community as much as one might expect.

RTX 4060 specs are enough for gaming?

The RTX 4060 is based on Nvidia’s AD106 Ada Lovelace architecture and is equipped with 3072 Cuda cores, 120 texture units, and 30 ray-tracing cores, and operates with a base clock of 1830 MHz that can be boosted up to 2535 MHz. It has 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM, a 128-bit memory bandwidth, and power consumption of 115 W.

The key issue here lies in the memory. With 8GB of GDDR6, the RTX 4060 lacks the capacity to effectively support gaming at higher resolutions such as 1440p, let alone 4K. The hardware struggles to process the sheer amount of data required for these more demanding settings, making the frame rate tank.

In an attempt to upgrade performance while keeping costs down, Nvidia opted for a larger L2 cache memory (24 MB). However, this is not a new approach. AMD has already successfully implemented a similar strategy with their Infinity Cache memory, a technology that has repeatedly demonstrated its effectiveness as seen in AMD’s Radeon RX 6800 XT and other AMD 6000 GPUs.

Final thoughts

Nvidia’s RTX 4060 stands as a respectable GPU option for those focused on 1080p gaming, particularly when utilizing the advanced features of DLSS and ray tracing 3.0. However, its shortcomings in terms of memory capacity and subsequent performance at higher resolutions indicate that this card may not be the top choice for enthusiasts seeking to push the limits of their gaming experience.

While it does offer improvements over its predecessor, the RTX 3060, the RTX 4060 still struggles to assert itself as a dominant force in the GPU market, particularly when compared to the offerings of competitors such as AMD.

FAQs

Is the RTX 4060 better than the 3060?

The RTX 4060 does offer improved performance over the RTX 3060. This is due in part to enhancements in DLSS and ray tracing capabilities as seen on RTX 40-series graphics cards, along with a higher clock speed. These improvements enable the RTX 4060 to deliver a superior gaming experience at launch, particularly when these features are utilized.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that the advantages of the RTX 4060 are more noticeable in 1080p gaming and may not significantly impact performance at higher resolutions or at max settings.

Camilo is a contributor for PC Guide. He's been into tech since he was a teen, surfing through the web and local stores trying to find the cheapest way to play the latest Half-Life on his old Windows