Nvidia’s RTX 4060 could be something of a disappointment, at least compared to the next-gen Lovelace graphics cards further up the range, or that’s the contention from one of the regular hardware leakers on Twitter.
Kopite7kimi has tweeted a “typical” Time Spy Extreme score – these pre-release approximations are something the leaker has been doing a lot of lately for Lovelace cards – for AD106, which is the GPU that’s believed to power the RTX 4060.
AD106 is not very strong. The typical TSE score is < 7000. And both AD106 and AD107 are using PCIE x8.September 10, 2022
As you can see, the estimated score for the GPU is just under 7,000, which if in the right ballpark – and remember, load up a wheelbarrow full of salt here – has been met with some disappointment on Twitter.
Kopite7kimi also notes that AD106 and AD107 (the latter being the chip for the card under the 4060, presumably the RTX 4050) will employ 8 PCIe lanes, rather than 16 as with the graphics cards higher up the range. That means the RTX 4060 (and the cards lower down) will have less bandwidth to benefit from.
Analysis: Putting things into perspective
We don’t know if it’s fair to label this leak – or rough prediction of performance – as disappointing. That Time Spy Extreme result theoretically puts the RTX 4060 at the same performance level as the RTX 3070, or thereabouts, which is hardly a crying shame. Indeed, it’s a solid generational leap, and one akin to the advance made by the RTX 3060, which roughly equated to the RTX 2070.
If you were hoping for something better than the improvement we witnessed with the current generation of Nvidia graphics cards, then yes, it’s a bit disappointing. And maybe the problem is that some leaks have suggested some major gains for the RTX 4070 – and of course we’ve been hearing about getting over double the performance, generation-on-generation, with the flagship RTX 4090 – hence gamers may have been setting expectations higher for the RTX 4060 as a result.
Really, though, the leaked performance indicated here is not surprising. What is perhaps surprising is the cut to 8 PCIe lanes – remember, the RTX 3060 supported 16 – which if true will mean the GPU will likely lose some performance on older PCs (which don’t have a PCIe 4.0 motherboard). Even on PCIe 3.0 systems, though, any frame rate drop due to constrained bandwidth is likely to be relatively modest (albeit still annoying to those users, no doubt).
Don’t forget that another unknown here is the price tag – might that cut in PCIe lanes be a hint that Nvidia could be shaping to have the RTX 4060 launch at a (slightly) relatively more affordable level than the RTX 3060? Well, we really wouldn’t bank on it, but it’s an interesting thought, as well as a reminder that it’s not all about raw performance with GPUs – that price/performance ratio is the crucial piece of the puzzle.
Via Tom’s Hardware (opens in new tab)
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