NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 4060 makes 1080p Gaming Even More Affordable!

MicroCenterOfficial · June 2023

Written by Sean Mekinda

The brand-new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is out now! The RTX 4060 is designed for 1080p gaming and comes jam-packed with all the improvements and upgrades you've come to expect from the NVIDIA 40 Series, like DLSS 3 and Frame-Generation Technology!

The GeForce RTX 4060 is launching for less than its past generation counterpart, the RTX 3060, without sacrificing any power. In fact, thanks to the improvements in 40 Series capabilities, the biggest reduction is in power draw, making the 4060 more powerful and more efficient. The addition of DLSS 3 doubles the frame rate of the RTX 3060 in select games, like Portal with RTX, when DLSS and RT is factored in. And, of course, you've got the new 3rd gen Ray Tracing Cores, 4th gen Tensor Cores, NVIDIA Reflex, AV1 Encoding support, and everything else that makes the 40 Series cards so powerful. Keep reading to learn exactly why all those upgrades are so exciting!

GeForce RTX 4060 Specs at a Glance

RAM: 8GB GDDR6X
CUDA Cores: 3072
PCIe support: 4.0
Architecture: Ada Lovelace
Base Clock Speed: 1.83GHz
Boost Clock Speed: 2.46GHz
Ray Tracing Cores: 3rd Generation
Tensor Cores: 4th Generation

What's new with the NVIDIA 40 Series?

If you've missed the past few launch breakdowns, you may be wondering what exactly is new with NVIDIA's 40 Series graphics cards and the answer is, in short, a lot. From a brand-new architecture to advancements in video upscaling, there's a ton to cover.

NIVIDIA Ada Lovelace Architecture

The brand-new Ada Lovelace architecture brings with it improvements on basically every front. NVIDIA Tensor Cores are crucial for a range of AI technologies, but most recognizably enable NVIDIA's DLSS (see below for more on DLSS!). The Ada Lovelace architecture introduces the fourth generation of Tensor Cores which offer up to 5x the throughput of previous generations and make DLSS 3 the frame-multiplying powerhouse it is. Without Tensor Cores, you might still be running Cyberpunk 2077 at 22FPS - well under what's considered playable!

Also new to Ada Lovelace is third-gen RT, or ray tracing, Cores. These updated RT Cores represent another giant leap forward for ray tracing, doubling the efficiency of many ray tracing tasks, including ray-triangle inspection throughput. There's also a new Opacity Micromap Engine and Displaced Micro-Mesh engine - both of which are huge for ray tracing - but really boil down to improved lighting effect in games. All of this is in service of making it look natural when sun shines through tree leaves in Cyberpunk's Night City and accurately catching light reflections in Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

Whether you're a streamer or someone who just spends a lot of time on video calls, the new AV1 encoders included in Ada Lovelace architecture will greatly increase your video quality. NVIDIA reports a 40% increase in efficiency over H.264, meaning if you regularly stream at 1080p, you'll be able to bump up to 1440p without sacrificing bit rate or quality.

DLSS 3

DLSS, or Deep Learning Super Sampling, is an AI upscaling program. It takes lower resolution frames, analyzes them, and upscales them to native-quality levels, reducing the strain on your GPU. What that means for you is that games that ran at 1080p without DLSS will see increased FPS at higher settings when DLSS is enabled. You might even be able to push the game to higher resolutions with a minimal hit to your frame rate. And all this is done without putting extra strain on your GPU, as it is all done. DLSS 3 takes this even further with the introduction of AI Frame Generation.

NVIDIA's AI Frame Generation technology - officially called Optical Multi Frame Generation - is the next step in what made the original DLSS so powerful. While the first DLSS analyzed frames and added pixels in order to upscale the images to the best fidelity it could, DLSS 3's Frame Generation technology does exactly what it says: it makes brand-new frames. This allows for smoother, more seamless gameplay without the need for the absolute top-of-the-line graphics card.

And more!

While the new Ada Lovelace architecture and DLSS 3 will be useful for basically anyone looking to pick up a 40 Series GPU, there are a ton of other features that have a bit more niche use.

NVIDIA Reflex - NVIDIA Reflex improves response times and reduces latency to give competitive gamers even more of an edge over their competition.
NVIDIA Studio - NVIDIA Studio is a platform designed for creative users to make the most out of their applications, whether it's 3D animation, video editing, photography, graphic design, architecture, or broadcasting.
NVIDIA Broadcast - Get your stream or video calls looking and sounding the best they can with a range of helpful, AI-powered tools like echo removal and virtual background.
NVIDIA Omniverse - Upgrade your 3D workflow with Omniverse, allowing you to create by yourself or work with cloud-based collaborators.
NVIDIA Canvas - Canvas takes simple brushstrokes and, using AI, turns them into realistic images.