NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti (Desktop) vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16G

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti (Desktop)

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is a powerful, mid-tier, Turing-based, desktop GPU. The GTX 1660 Ti relies on the TU116 chip with 1536 shader units, 48 ROPs, 96 TMUs and a 192-bit-wide memory bus (clocked at 6 GHz, effectively 12 GHz, bandwidth: up to 288 GB/s). The notebook version of the GTX 1660 Ti  is 10 to 20 % slower due to a lower TDP.

The TU116 chip and other Turing-based GPUs are produced using the 12-nm manufacturing process. However, the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti does not offer the latest features such as DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) and Real Time Ray Tracing. Nevertheless, there are some architectural improvements when it comes to floating point and integer performance. These operations can now be carried out simultaneously. Other notable features include Adaptive Shading, unified cache, DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0b, HDR, Simultaneous Multi-Projection (SMP) as well as H.265 encoding and decoding (PlayReady 3.0).

At Full HD resolution, the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti performs somewhat worse than the GeForce GTX 1070, but significantly better than the GeForce GTX 1060. Therefore, it is best-suited for Full HD gaming. However, it can run less demanding titles in 1440p.

The energy consumption of the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti amounts to 120 watts. The older GeForce GTX 1060 also has a TDP of 120 watts.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 is a high-end desktop graphics card based on the AD104 chip using the Ada Lovelace architecture. The 4070 offers 5,888 cores and 12 GB GDDR6X graphics memory with a 192 bit memory bus and clocked at 21 Gbits. The card offers a good raytracing performance thanks to the 46 dedicated raytracing cores. For AI calculations (and DLSS 3 in games), the RTX 4070 has 184 Tensor cores.

The gaming performance is well suited for 2k/QHD gaming in most demanding games, and should be able to handle 4k gaming for lesser demanding games (or with reduced settings / DLSS activated). The raw gaming performance is comparable to an older RTX 3080 or a AMD Radeon 6800 XT. Compared to the similar named mobile GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, the desktop variant is much faster.

The AD104 chip is manufactured in the modern 5nm process at TSMC (4N with EUV) and specified with a TGP (Total Graphics Power) of 200 Watt (compared to the 450 Watt of the RTX 4090).

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16G

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB is a mid-range desktop GPU and is manufactured using the 5 nm process at TSMC. In addition to the 8 GB model, there is now also a 16 GB model, which is primarily intended to offer noticeable added value for performance-hungry games. With the two GeForce RTX 4060 models, Nvidia is rounding off its current Ada-Lovelace line-up towards the mid-range. The chip used here is the AD106. This combines 4,352 memory units and 16 GB GDDR6 are available here. The memory interface is 128 bits, resulting in a memory bandwidth of 288 GB/s.

Features

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB is not deprived of the features already introduced with the high-end models of the Ada-Lovelace generation, such as DLSS 3.0 with frame generation. This clearly sets the new mid-range model apart from the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and can gain a clear advantage in games that offer these features.

Performance

Without DLSS, the performance is comparable to that of an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB. Compared to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB can deliver around 10 percent more performance. Compared to AMD, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB is slightly ahead of the Radeon RX 7600. The 16 GB VRAM is noticeable in some games. Sometimes we see significantly better frame rates in games where 8 GB VRAM is not enough. Nvidia has succeeded in its goal of creating a good gaming GPU for 1080p gaming and with 16 GB of RAM, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti is the more interesting of the two RTX 4060 Ti models. Unfortunately, Nvidia charges a hefty premium for the larger VRAM. This does not necessarily make it easier for the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB to position itself on the market.

Power consumption

The power consumption of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB is specified by the manufacturer as 165 watts (TDP). This is 5 watts more than the 8 GB model. In order not to have to supply the graphics chip with less energy, an increase in power consumption was unavoidable. Compared to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, however, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB is still significantly more economical.