Nvidia RTX 4060 might be weaker than we thought – here's what to expect
Nvidia RTX 4060 might be weaker than we thought – here's what to expect
The latest RTX 4060 leaks point to a leaner GPU than early rumors suggested
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: RTX 4060 downgrade?
👩💻 Twitter leaker @kopite7kimi dropped possible RTX 4060 specs
🚿 If accurate, the RTX 4060 may have 3,072 CUDA cores and 8GB VRAM
🤑 Still no sign of pricing – but the RTX 3060 came out at $329 MSRP
🤞 Reviews will depend on balance of power and cost
📢 Nvidia has yet to confirm anything mentioned in the leaks
While we’re still waiting for the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti to make its debut, we’re starting to see rumors of the entry-level Nvidia RTX 4060. And just like the rumors about the Ti, it’s looking like it might be less impressive than anticipated.
The latest RTX 4060 rumor comes via known hardware leaker @kopite7kimi on Twitter, who states the yet-to-be-announced GPU will employ an AD107 GPU packed with 3,072 CUDA cores, 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM and a 115W TGP. But before you panic, there’s still a decent chance it will end up one of the best GPUs.
What will make or break the RTX 4060 won’t be its specs, but rather its performance in relation to its retail price. For the sake of comparison, the RTX 3060 launched on the GA106 GPU at $329 last October, complete with 12GB of VRAM and 3,584 CUDA cores. If this RTX 4060 leak is accurate – and it very well may not be – it’d mean the RTX 4060 would have fewer CUDA cores and less memory.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the RTX 4060 would be weaker; the Ada Lovelace architecture behind RTX 4000 graphics cards is way more efficient than Ampere was, as we saw with the RTX 4080 and RTX 4070 Ti. But, it’s important to note both of those graphics cards debuted with much higher price tags than their predecessors.
If Nvidia breaks the trend it’s set with the high-end Ada Lovelace graphics cards and prices the RTX 4060 competitively, it could still very well have a home in the best gaming PCs. Of course, this is all conjecture and we’ll have to wait for Team Green’s official announcement before drawing any conclusions.
A weird time for graphics cards
The Nvidia RTX 3060 was easily the best graphics card of its generation. Not because it was the fastest – far from it – but because it delivered a healthy balance of price and performance.
It was a $349 graphics card that absolutely dominated at 1080p when it came out, and I celebrated as much when I reviewed it back at TechRadar. However, with Nvidia raising prices on this graphics card generation, it remains to be seen how much an RTX 4060 would cost and whether or not it would be worth the expense.
I don’t mind a graphics card dropping with just 8GB of RAM if it’s affordable. After all, if you’re only using it for casual gaming, a heavy-hitting flagship like the RTX 4080 or 4090 is overkill.
While anything is on the table, I’d love to see Nvidia introduce the RTX 4060 at a modest price. At the end of the day, if it MSRPs at, say, $500 and it’s no better than at least an RTX 3070, it could evoke the disappointment I felt when the RTX 4080 released last December.
Here’s hoping.