The RTX 4060 Ti 16GB tests a little slower than the 8GB version

The launch of the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB has come and gone—apparently. Dave called it "a truly cynical graphics card, an almost petulant one" and I don't disagree. A quick check at Newegg reveals listings for several models, with all six being out of stock. It's not all that cynical to suggest it's being withheld to avoid negative press. The RTX 4060 Ti 8GB was already the recipient of a frosty reception, and with a 25% higher asking price, the 16GB model faces an uphill battle. To put it mildly.

You might have expected one or two reviewers to get hold of a card through back channels, or snag one from a distributor, but it just hasn't happened. That tells you a lot about the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB. It's a card Nvidia, its AIB partners, and—at $500—consumers have little enthusiasm for.

But the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB does exist. MSI took an RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Slim 16G and compared it to its 8G sibling via a livestream, which has since been set to private. That's another curiosity. It suggests that someone from the upper floor came over the top with a directive to take it down.

But before it was taken down, @momomo_us (via TechPowerUp) grabbed the money screenshot, and the results are much as expected, with both cards performing mostly within a margin of error of one another. However, in five of the the six tests, The 8GB card came out slightly ahead. Even in Hogwarts: Legacy, a notorious VRAM hog, the 16GB card failed to provide a tangible benefit.

So, what gives? You'd expect the 8GB and 16GB cards to trade blows with one another across a sufficient number of tests given their otherwise identical core configuration and clock speeds. There could be any number of reasons for the 8GB's narrow lead. These include natural silicon variations, power limitations, 8GB vs 16GB memory latency or Windows doing some unknown random thing in the background that pulls excessive CPU cycles. 

The RTX 4060 Ti 16GB has a 5W higher power budget, at 165W vs the 160W of the 8GB version. It is possible the 16GB version runs into power limitations under demanding circumstances moreso than the 8GB card, but in less VRAM-demanding scenarios, that 5W should help the 16GB card clock a few MHz higher to give it enough to win its fair share of tests.

In the end, it really doesn't matter. 0.5% to 1% here or there isn't going to be noticed by anyone. What you will notice is the effect the cost of the extra 8GB has on your bank balance. Nvidia's asking price for the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB is ludicrous. If it was released in place of the 8GB card and priced at $399 it would have received a much better reception, obviously. 

Of course, a hypothetical RTX 4060 Ti 12GB with a 192-bit bus at $399 (or less) would have been even better, or heck, just call it the RTX 4060! But I digress, it is what it is.

For now, the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB is a phantom. Even if you could buy one, there is no reason to buy one over the 8GB version. That might change in the future as VRAM intensive games come to market. In time, the price difference might shrink, or the 16GB card ends up replacing the 8GB one. 

The RTX 4060 Ti has a long life ahead of it, and the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB will surely be part of any future rebalancing of the RTX 40-series lineup.