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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060: A Comprehensive Overview
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is one of the latest additions to NVIDIA's lineup of graphics processing units (GPUs) aimed primarily at gamers and professionals seeking high performance at a competitive price. In this article, we will explore the architecture, memory specifications, gaming performance, professional capabilities, energy consumption, comparisons with competitors, practical advice for users, and the pros and cons of the RTX 4060.
1. Architecture and Key Features
Ada Lovelace Architecture
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, which is known for its advanced capabilities in real-time ray tracing and AI-enhanced graphics. The Ada architecture utilizes TSMC's 4N process technology, which allows for improved efficiency and performance compared to previous generations.
Unique Features
One of the standout features of the RTX 4060 is its support for real-time ray tracing (RTX), which simulates the behavior of light in real-time, producing stunningly realistic graphics. Additionally, the GPU supports NVIDIA's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology, which uses AI to upscale lower-resolution images, resulting in higher frame rates without significant loss in visual quality. The RTX 4060 also supports AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR), providing users with more options for optimizing performance in supported games.
2. Memory Specifications
Memory Type and Capacity
The RTX 4060 comes equipped with 8GB of GDDR6 memory. GDDR6 offers high bandwidth and is optimized for gaming applications, allowing for smooth performance in demanding scenarios.
Bandwidth and Performance Influence
The effective memory bandwidth of the RTX 4060 reaches up to 288 GB/s, which plays a crucial role in its performance. High memory bandwidth minimizes bottlenecks, especially when dealing with high-resolution textures and complex scenes in modern games. The 8GB VRAM is generally sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but users should be mindful of VRAM usage in particularly demanding titles at higher resolutions.
3. Gaming Performance
Real-World Examples
In terms of gaming performance, the RTX 4060 has proven itself to be a capable contender. In popular titles like "Cyberpunk 2077," it can achieve an average of around 60 FPS at 1080p with ray tracing enabled, using DLSS for an extra performance boost. In "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II," users can expect around 120 FPS at 1440p with high settings, showcasing the GPU's ability to handle competitive gaming scenarios.
Resolution Support
The RTX 4060 excels in 1080p and 1440p gaming. While it can handle 4K gaming, performance may vary significantly depending on the title and settings used. For instance, users may experience around 30-40 FPS in demanding games at 4K resolution, making it less ideal for a smooth gaming experience at this level without adjusting graphics settings.
Ray Tracing Impact
The inclusion of ray tracing significantly enhances visual fidelity but can impact performance. The RTX 4060 manages to maintain playable frame rates in titles that support ray tracing, particularly when combined with DLSS. Players who prioritize visual quality will appreciate the RTX capabilities, while those focused solely on performance may opt to disable this feature in favor of higher frame rates.
4. Professional Tasks
Video Editing and 3D Modeling
Beyond gaming, the RTX 4060 is also well-suited for creative professionals. Its CUDA cores make it an excellent choice for video editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro, where rendering times can be significantly reduced. In 3D modeling applications such as Blender, the RTX 4060 can accelerate rendering tasks, allowing for smoother workflows and quicker iterations.
Scientific Computing
For scientific calculations and simulations, the RTX 4060 supports both CUDA and OpenCL, making it a viable option for researchers and engineers needing GPU acceleration. The memory capacity and architecture efficiency contribute to handling large datasets and complex computations effectively.
5. Power Consumption and Thermal Design
TDP and Cooling Recommendations
The RTX 4060 has a thermal design power (TDP) of around 115 watts, which is relatively efficient compared to many other GPUs in its class. This lower power consumption means it can be paired with a modest power supply, typically around 500 watts, making it accessible for a wide range of builds.
Cooling Solutions
For optimal performance, users should consider a case with good airflow to prevent thermal throttling. Custom cooling solutions, such as aftermarket GPU coolers or cases with multiple fans, can also enhance cooling performance, especially during prolonged gaming or rendering sessions.
6. Comparison with Competitors
AMD Alternatives
When comparing the RTX 4060 with AMD's Radeon RX 7600, the RTX 4060 often offers better ray tracing performance due to its dedicated hardware. The RX 7600, however, can provide superior performance in rasterized graphics in certain titles, particularly at lower resolutions.
NVIDIA Competitors
Within NVIDIA's lineup, the RTX 3060 presents a competitive alternative. While the RTX 4060 offers improved performance and efficiency, the RTX 3060 may still be a viable option for budget-conscious consumers.
7. Practical Tips
Power Supply Selection
When building a system with the RTX 4060, ensure that your power supply has the necessary 8-pin PCIe power connectors and sufficient wattage. A power supply rated between 500 and 600 watts is generally recommended for optimal performance and future upgrades.
Platform Compatibility
The RTX 4060 is compatible with PCIe 4.0 motherboards, but it will also work with older PCIe 3.0 systems. However, users may miss out on some performance improvements with older technology. Ensure your motherboard has adequate clearance for the GPU, as some models may have larger cooling designs.
Driver Nuances
To maximize performance, regularly updating your GPU drivers is crucial. NVIDIA frequently releases updates that improve performance in newly launched games and applications, so staying current can provide significant performance boosts.
8. Pros and Cons
Pros
- Excellent 1080p and 1440p Performance: The RTX 4060 excels in these resolutions, making it a great choice for gamers.
- Ray Tracing and DLSS Support: These technologies enhance visual fidelity and performance.
- Efficient Power Consumption: With a relatively low TDP, it’s easier to integrate into various builds.
- Versatile for Professional Use: Suitable for gaming, video editing, and 3D modeling tasks.
Cons
- Limited 4K Gaming Performance: While it can handle 4K gaming, performance may not meet the expectations of hardcore 4K gamers.
- Competitors May Offer Better Rasterized Performance: In certain scenarios, AMD’s offerings may outperform the RTX 4060 in traditional graphics.
- Price Point: Depending on the market, it could be challenging to find a good balance between price and availability.
9. Conclusion
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is a compelling option for gamers and professionals alike, offering a great balance of performance and efficiency. Its strengths lie in 1080p and 1440p gaming, with support for cutting-edge technologies like ray tracing and DLSS. Additionally, its capabilities extend beyond gaming, making it a versatile choice for content creators.
Ultimately, the RTX 4060 is best suited for those who prioritize high-performance gaming at 1080p or 1440p and need a capable GPU for creative workloads. If you're looking for a well-rounded graphics card that can handle both gaming and professional tasks, the RTX 4060 is certainly worth considering.
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Basic
Label Name
NVIDIA
Platform
Desktop
Launch Date
May 2023
Model Name
GeForce RTX 4060
Generation
GeForce 40
Base Clock
1830MHz
Boost Clock
2460MHz
Shading Units
?
The most fundamental processing unit is the Streaming Processor (SP), where specific instructions and tasks are executed. GPUs perform parallel computing, which means multiple SPs work simultaneously to process tasks.
3072
SM Count
?
Multiple Streaming Processors (SPs), along with other resources, form a Streaming Multiprocessor (SM), which is also referred to as a GPU's major core. These additional resources include components such as warp schedulers, registers, and shared memory. The SM can be considered the heart of the GPU, similar to a CPU core, with registers and shared memory being scarce resources within the SM.
24
Transistors
Unknown
RT Cores
24
Tensor Cores
?
Tensor Cores are specialized processing units designed specifically for deep learning, providing higher training and inference performance compared to FP32 training. They enable rapid computations in areas such as computer vision, natural language processing, speech recognition, text-to-speech conversion, and personalized recommendations. The two most notable applications of Tensor Cores are DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) and AI Denoiser for noise reduction.
96
TMUs
?
Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) serve as components of the GPU, which are capable of rotating, scaling, and distorting binary images, and then placing them as textures onto any plane of a given 3D model. This process is called texture mapping.
96
L1 Cache
128 KB (per SM)
L2 Cache
24MB
Bus Interface
PCIe 4.0 x8
Foundry
TSMC
Process Size
5 nm
Architecture
Ada Lovelace
TDP
115W
Memory Specifications
Memory Size
8GB
Memory Type
GDDR6
Memory Bus
?
The memory bus width refers to the number of bits of data that the video memory can transfer within a single clock cycle. The larger the bus width, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted instantaneously, making it one of the crucial parameters of video memory. The memory bandwidth is calculated as: Memory Bandwidth = Memory Frequency x Memory Bus Width / 8. Therefore, when the memory frequencies are similar, the memory bus width will determine the size of the memory bandwidth.
128bit
Memory Clock
2125MHz
Bandwidth
?
Memory bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate between the graphics chip and the video memory. It is measured in bytes per second, and the formula to calculate it is: memory bandwidth = working frequency × memory bus width / 8 bits.
272.0 GB/s
Theoretical Performance
Pixel Rate
?
Pixel fill rate refers to the number of pixels a graphics processing unit (GPU) can render per second, measured in MPixels/s (million pixels per second) or GPixels/s (billion pixels per second). It is the most commonly used metric to evaluate the pixel processing performance of a graphics card.
118.1 GPixel/s
Texture Rate
?
Texture fill rate refers to the number of texture map elements (texels) that a GPU can map to pixels in a single second.
236.2 GTexel/s
FP16 (half)
?
An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy.
15.11 TFLOPS
FP64 (double)
?
An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy, while single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.
236.2 GFLOPS
FP32 (float)
?
An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.
14.513
TFlops
Miscellaneous
Vulkan Version
?
Vulkan is a cross-platform graphics and compute API by Khronos Group, offering high performance and low CPU overhead. It lets developers control the GPU directly, reduces rendering overhead, and supports multi-threading and multi-core processors.
1.3
OpenCL Version
3.0
OpenGL
4.6
DirectX
12 Ultimate (12_2)
CUDA
8.9
Power Connectors
1x 12-pin
ROPs
?
The Raster Operations Pipeline (ROPs) is primarily responsible for handling lighting and reflection calculations in games, as well as managing effects like anti-aliasing (AA), high resolution, smoke, and fire. The more demanding the anti-aliasing and lighting effects in a game, the higher the performance requirements for the ROPs; otherwise, it may result in a sharp drop in frame rate.
48
Shader Model
6.7
Suggested PSU
300W
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 2160p
45
Fps
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 1440p
98
Fps
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 1080p
163
Fps
Cyberpunk 2077 2160p
18
Fps
Cyberpunk 2077 1440p
53
Fps
Cyberpunk 2077 1080p
84
Fps
GTA 5 2160p
92
Fps
GTA 5 1440p
86
Fps
GTA 5 1080p
182
Fps
FP32 (float)
14.513
TFlops
3DMark Time Spy
10777
Blender
3410
OctaneBench
347
Vulkan
93644
OpenCL
102044
Compared to Other GPU
26%
26%
79%
Better then 26% GPU over the past 3 years
Better then 79% GPU
SiliconCat Rating
104
Ranks 104 among Desktop GPU on our website
205
Ranks 205 among all GPU on our website
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 2160p
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 1440p
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 1080p
Cyberpunk 2077 2160p
Cyberpunk 2077 1440p
Cyberpunk 2077 1080p
GTA 5 2160p
GTA 5 1440p
GTA 5 1080p
FP32 (float)
3DMark Time Spy
Blender
OctaneBench
Vulkan
OpenCL
