The rumour mill is kicking into high gear for the next next-gen graphics card from Nvidia, but somewhat bizarrely that's not the RTX 4070. Instead, following on from the RTX 4070 Ti released at the start of January, you'd maybe expect the noise out in the twittersphere to be all about the next card launching on the same GPU.
But no, what we've actually got is regular Twitter snooper @kopite7kimi with their own rolling 'leaks' about the inevitable RTX 4060 Ti graphics card launching… well, some time later this year.
Some folks have spoken about a Computex reveal, which feels like a good frame to me, but that sure feels a long way off in a cold January.
Following on from an initial leak in mid December last year—stating the card would be based on an AD106 GPU, with 4,352 cores, 8GB GDDR6 memory, 32MB of L2 cache, and a 220W TGP—they have revised down those power demands. The figure now being bandied around is 160W, which makes it around 80% of the total graphics power of the 200W RTX 3060 Ti and the RTX 3070 cards of the last generation.
We've spoken about our fears for the previous specs before, mostly around the fact the GPU itself looks so much weaker in raw shader terms compared with the RTX 3060 Ti. The fact that it would still likely outperform it is almost a given seeing the frame rates on offer with the previous RTX 40-series cards, but there is a feeling Nvidia has cut this GPU to the bone.
Still, outperforming the RTX 3060 Ti with a 160W TGP highlights the efficiency of the Ada architecture. Now, @kopite7kimi is claiming that the RTX 4060 Ti is going to match the RTX 3070 of the last generation in terms of performance, which seems… fine.
=RTX 3070January 19, 2023
Best CPU for gaming: The top chips from Intel and AMD
Best gaming motherboard: The right boards
Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits
Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game ahead of the rest
That's surely the minimum target for a new GPU; performing at least at the same level as the card one tier above. It makes the RTX 4060 Ti minimally effective, if largely unexciting. The fear, however, is going to be just how much Nvidia is willing to price the mid-range card at.
The RTX 3060 Ti was a $399 card at launch, and you'd hope the RTX 4060 Ti would match it. That's the logical view. The pessimistic realist in my though can't help but worry over the likelihood of the mainstream Ada card getting itself a $500 sticker price.
After all, the RTX 4070 Ti is sitting at $799, you wouldn't be surprised to see the RTX 4070 coming in at $650, and that makes a $499 RTX 4060 Ti depressingly possible. But that would be crazy, surely: the same price as an RTX 3070 and the same price?
Just what does 2023 have to offer?
