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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 AD106

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 AD106: A Comprehensive Review

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 AD106 is a mid-range graphics card that promises to deliver impressive performance for gamers and professionals alike. In this article, we will delve into its architecture, features, memory specifications, gaming performance, professional applications, power consumption, comparisons with competitors, practical advice for users, and finally, its pros and cons.

1. Architecture and Key Features

Architecture Overview

The RTX 4060 is built on NVIDIA's Ada Lovelace architecture, a significant evolution over its predecessor, Ampere. This architecture utilizes a 4nm manufacturing process, allowing for greater efficiency, higher clock speeds, and improved performance per watt. The Ada Lovelace architecture introduces several key features that enhance gaming and professional workloads.

Unique Features

- Ray Tracing (RTX): The RTX 4060 supports real-time ray tracing, which simulates how light interacts with objects in a scene. This technology enhances realism in supported games, making shadows, reflections, and lighting more lifelike.

- Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS): DLSS is a game-changing feature that uses AI to upscale lower-resolution images, providing better performance without sacrificing visual quality. The RTX 4060 supports DLSS 3, which significantly boosts frame rates in compatible games.

- FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR): While primarily an AMD technology, the RTX 4060 also supports FSR, allowing gamers to take advantage of performance boosts in games optimized for this feature.

These technologies make the RTX 4060 a compelling choice for gamers looking for high-quality visuals and smooth performance.

2. Memory Specifications

Memory Type and Capacity

The RTX 4060 is equipped with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory. GDDR6 is known for its high bandwidth and efficiency, making it suitable for modern gaming and professional applications.

Memory Bandwidth and Performance

The memory bandwidth of the RTX 4060 is around 256 GB/s, allowing for quick data transfer between the GPU and memory. This high bandwidth is crucial for rendering complex scenes and textures in real-time, especially at higher resolutions.

The 8 GB of VRAM is generally sufficient for 1080p gaming, but as games become more demanding, users may find that 12 GB or more is preferable for 1440p and 4K gaming.

3. Gaming Performance

Real-World Examples

When it comes to gaming performance, the RTX 4060 shines in various titles. Here are some average FPS benchmarks across popular games at different resolutions:

- 1080p Gaming: In titles like "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II" and "Cyberpunk 2077", users can expect frame rates exceeding 60 FPS with high settings and ray tracing enabled.

- 1440p Gaming: At this resolution, the RTX 4060 holds its ground well, averaging around 50-60 FPS in demanding games. Titles such as "Elden Ring" and "Assassin's Creed Valhalla" run smoothly, especially with DLSS activated.

- 4K Gaming: While the RTX 4060 can handle some less demanding titles at 4K, it struggles with more graphically intensive games. Users might see frame rates drop below 30 FPS, making it less ideal for 4K gaming without aggressive settings adjustments.

Ray Tracing Impact

Ray tracing can have a significant impact on performance. In games that leverage this technology, users may notice a drop in frame rates. However, with DLSS, the RTX 4060 can maintain playable frame rates even with ray tracing enabled, making it a suitable choice for those who want to experience the latest visual enhancements.

4. Professional Applications

Video Editing and 3D Modeling

The RTX 4060 is not just for gamers; it also excels in professional tasks. With support for CUDA and OpenCL, it can accelerate rendering in software like Adobe Premiere Pro and Blender.

In video editing, users can expect faster render times and smoother playback when working with high-resolution footage. For 3D modeling, the RTX 4060 can handle complex scenes and simulations, making it suitable for artists and designers.

Scientific Calculations

For those involved in scientific computing or machine learning, the CUDA cores offer significant performance improvements. The RTX 4060 can assist in parallel processing tasks, making it a viable option for research applications.

5. Power Consumption and Thermal Management

TDP (Thermal Design Power)

The RTX 4060 has a TDP of approximately 115 watts, which is relatively low for a GPU with its capabilities. This allows it to run cooler and quieter compared to higher-end models.

Cooling Recommendations

To ensure optimal performance, it’s recommended to use a well-ventilated case with at least one or two case fans. The RTX 4060’s cooling solution is efficient, but good airflow is essential, especially during prolonged gaming sessions.

6. Comparison with Competitors

AMD and NVIDIA Alternatives

When comparing the RTX 4060 with competitors, it stands against models like the AMD Radeon RX 7600 and NVIDIA's own RTX 3050.

- AMD Radeon RX 7600: This card offers similar performance in rasterization but may fall short in ray tracing capabilities compared to the RTX 4060.

- NVIDIA RTX 3050: While the RTX 3050 is cheaper, it lags in performance and features like DLSS 3 and advanced ray tracing.

Overall, the RTX 4060 provides better value for users looking for a balanced performance in both gaming and professional tasks.

7. Practical Advice

Power Supply Unit (PSU)

For the RTX 4060, a PSU with at least 500 watts is recommended. Ensure it has the necessary 8-pin PCIe power connectors to support the GPU.

Compatibility with Platforms

The RTX 4060 is compatible with most modern motherboards featuring PCIe 4.0 slots. Ensure that your case has enough clearance for the card, as it may be larger than previous models.

Driver Considerations

Keeping drivers updated is crucial for optimal performance. NVIDIA frequently releases driver updates to enhance performance in new games and applications, so checking for updates regularly is advisable.

8. Pros and Cons of the RTX 4060

Pros

- Excellent Performance: Capable of handling 1080p and 1440p gaming with high settings.

- Ray Tracing Support: Enhanced visual fidelity through ray tracing technology.

- DLSS 3: Provides substantial performance boosts in compatible games.

- Good for Professionals: Suitable for video editing, 3D modeling, and scientific workloads.

Cons

- Limited 4K Gaming: Performance drops significantly at 4K resolution.

- 8 GB VRAM: May become a limitation in future titles as VRAM requirements increase.

- Price Point: While competitive, it may be considered expensive for budget-conscious gamers.

9. Final Verdict: Who Should Consider the RTX 4060?

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 AD106 is an excellent choice for gamers who primarily play at 1080p or 1440p and want to experience modern gaming technologies like ray tracing and DLSS. It also suits professionals who require a capable GPU for creative tasks, including video editing and 3D modeling.

If you're looking for a well-rounded GPU that balances performance and price, the RTX 4060 is worth considering. However, for those focused on 4K gaming or future-proofing their systems, exploring higher-end models may be necessary.

In conclusion, the RTX 4060 is a versatile graphics card that stands out in its class, making it a strong contender for both gamers and professionals alike.

Top Desktop GPU: 85

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Basic

Label Name

NVIDIA

Platform

Desktop

Launch Date

January 2023

Model Name

GeForce RTX 4060 AD106

Generation

GeForce 40

Base Clock

1830MHz

Boost Clock

2535MHz

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.

3840

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.

Transistors

22,900 million

RT Cores

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.

120

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.

120

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

200W

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

2250MHz

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.

288.0 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.

121.7 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.

304.2 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.

19.47 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.

304.2 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.

19.857 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.

Shader Model

6.7

Suggested PSU

550W