RTX 4060 vs RTX 4070: Which GPU is Best for 1080p and 1440p?

If you’re planning on gaming at 1080p or 1440p resolution, you’ve probably considered the RTX 4060 and RTX 4070. The former is one of the best value modern 1080p GPUs on the market, and the latter is great for 1440p gaming and ultra-high refresh rate 1080p gaming.

These two graphics cards do, admittedly, face some tough competition from AMD. Previous-gen GPUs like the RX 6700 XT and AMD’s recently released RX 7800 XT are great value, especially compared to the RTX 4070. But the NVIDIA GPUs still offer a little more outside of raw performance, such as power efficiency and DLSS.

Also Read: The 7 Best Budget Graphics Cards Right Now

Whatever the case, if you’re looking to game at 1080p or 1440p—which isn’t to say these two video cards can’t dabble in 4K, too—you’ll want to consider the RTX 4060 and RTX 4070.

In this guide, to help you compare the RTX 4060 vs RTX 4070, we’ve looked through several online benchmarks, reviews, and comparisons to contrast the two GPUs’ specs, features, and in-game performances. By the end, you should have a better idea of which graphics card is best for you.

Buying Options:

• Best RTX 4060 Graphics Cards
• Best RTX 4070 Graphics Cards

What is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060?

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is a current-gen mainstream graphics card that launched in June 2023. With an MSRP of $299, the 4060 is the first NVIDIA 40-series GPU to be on the cards for the average gamer.

It’s marketed as a 1080p card because it handles 1080p gaming with ease but struggles just a little at 1440p. Still, it has many of the ‘Ada Lovelace’ architecture’s benefits, such as DLSS 3 upscaling and great ray tracing performance.

What is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070?

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is a current-gen midrange/high-end graphics card that launched in April 2023. With an MSRP of $599, the 4070 is decidedly out of many gamers’ budgets, but still not in the outrageous high-end territory of the RTX 4080 or RX 7900 XT or RX 7900 XTX.

The RTX 4070 isn’t marketed solely at 1080p gaming or 1440p gaming, but most gamers will be drawn to it for its 1440p performance, because it’s one of the cheapest current-gen GPUs that can handle modern 1440p gaming at high refresh rates with ease.

Of course, just like the RTX 4060, it also benefits from other Ada Lovelace benefits, such as DLSS 3 and stellar ray tracing performance.

NVIDIA 40-Series New Features

NVIDA GeForce RTX 40-Series graphics cards offer several new features compared to 30-series (and older) GPUs:

• New RT and Tensor Cores
• Shader Execution Reordering (SER)
• DLSS 3 (soon DLSS 3.5)
• Dual AV1 encoding

DLSS 3 is the most exciting of the bunch. Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) was previously just an upscaling tech—where your GPU renders the game at a lower resolution and deep learning bumps it back up to native res, improving framerates with little loss in visual quality.

Now, however, with version 3 (and helped along with new Tensor Cores), DLSS can also use deep learning to generate frames between the ones your GPU renders, which can 2.5x your framerates with little impact to visual fidelity (although there may be a slight hit to input latency).

DLSS 3.5 should also launch near the end of 2023, and this iteration of the tech will use deep learning to improve ray tracing performance, doing for ray tracing what DLSS already did for pure rasterization.

40-series graphics cards like the RTX 4060 and RTX 4070 also have improved RT Cores, and Ada Lovelace has introduced SER to its repertoire, and these two things make for GPUs that are much more capable at ray tracing. When DLSS 3.5 enters the mix, ray tracing on a 40-series GPU should be a breeze.

Both the RTX 4060 and RTX 4070 also have dual AV1 encoders. This allows them to encode in AV1 format—a faster format than traditional ones—which will be useful for streamers and content creators.

RTX 4060 vs 4070: Price Comparison

At MSRP, the RTX 4070 is $300 (100%) more expensive than the RTX 4060—they aren’t even close to being in the same price range.

This price difference also maps onto real-world retail prices. Both the 4060 and 4070 tend to retail online for about the same as their respective MSRPs, although some AIBs can be picked up for about 10-15% cheaper.

Alternative GPUs

Between the RTX 4060 and RTX 4070, there are a few alternative GPUs you might consider. From NVIDIA’s and AMD’s current-gen lineups, there’s the RTX 4060 Ti and RX 7800 XT, and from their previous-gen lineups, there’s the RTX 3080, RX 6700 XT, and RX 6800 XT.

If you want a current-gen (NVIDIA 40-series or AMD 7000-series) graphics card, the RTX 4060 Ti and RX 7800 XT are great options. The 4060 Ti retails for $399 MSRP and performs about 20-25% better than the RTX 4060. The RX 7800 XT retails for $499 MSRP and performs slightly better than the RTX 4070 but lacks DLSS capabilities.

The RTX 3080, RX 6700 XT, and RX 6800 XT are all great previous-gen options.

The RTX 3080 currently costs about $599, and the 6800 XT costs about $519. Both GPUs compete closely with the RTX 4070 in raw rasterization performance—meaning they perform better than the RTX 4060 Ti—but lack current-gen features and efficiency.

You can pick up a 6700 XT for about $329 and this GPU performs about the same as an RTX 4060 Ti but, again, lacks current-gen features and efficiency.

If you want the best high-end bang for your buck for the price of an RTX 4070 or less, the RX 7800 XT will be your best bet. It performs about the same as the 4070, even edging in front of it slightly, for $100 less than the 4070’s MSRP, and less than its actual retail pricing even after the 4070’s recent price drops.

Also Read:

• RTX 4060 vs RTX 4060 Ti

Graphics Card Specs

Comparing the RTX 4060 vs 4070, we can see that the latter has almost double the number of CUDA Cores, Tensor Cores, and RT Cores. The 4070 achieves this, of course, in virtue of its AD104 GPU being much bigger at 294mm² compared to the 4060’s 159mm² AD107 GPU.

While base and boost clock speeds on both GPUs are roughly the same (give or take a few MHz), the RTX 4070 has a significantly better memory configuration than the RTX 4060. 4GB extra VRAM—this being faster GDDR6X memory, too—should come in handy considering more and more games are leaning heavily on the VRAM usage these days.

We shouldn’t get too excited, though, because 12GB memory for $599 still isn’t great, no matter how much NVIDIA claims its increased L2 cache should offset this. AMD’s recently released $499 Radeon RX 7800 XT has 16GB VRAM, which has really shown NVIDIA up on the memory front.

Dimensions

While the size of the RTX 4060 varies because there’s no reference RTX 4060 FE, it has much smaller AIB options than the RTX 4070. This makes sense because the 4060’s actual GPU chip is only about half the size of the 4070’s.

Most dual fan RTX 4060 GPUs are about 9 or 10 inches long, the same as the RTX 4070. But there are some RTX 4060s retailing that are much smaller than this, such as the Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 4060 Solo, which uses a single fan cooling setup and is a mere 6.4 inches long.

So, there are smaller options for the RTX 4060 than there are for the RTX 4070. Actual dimensions aren’t standardized, though—especially for the RTX 4060 which lacks a Founders Edition—so size differences will vary from AIB to AIB.

Power Draw and Thermal Performance

RTX 40-series GPUs are very power efficient. Even the RTX 4070 only requires 200W—the RTX 3070, for comparison, required 220W, and the 4070 is more powerful.

This being said, the RTX 4060 of course wins on the power consumption front. With a 115W TDP, NVIDIA recommends just a 550W PSU to power it, while it recommends a 650W PSU for the RTX 4070.

Also Read: The Best Power Supplies for 2023

Thermally, much will depend on the particular AIB model in question and its cooling solution. On average, though, judging by online temperature tests, both the 4060 and 4070 should stay pretty cool, averaging approximately 60c while gaming, which is well within safe temperature thresholds.

The RTX 4060 should stay a couple degrees cooler on average, but there’s so much temperature variance depending on the AIB model in question that comparing the 4060 vs 4070 becomes somewhat redundant. Some 4060 models will run hotter than some 4070 models, and some 4070 models will run hotter than some 4060 models.

RTX 4070 vs 4060: Gaming Performance

There’s no better way to compare the RTX 4070 vs RTX 4060 than to compare the real-world performance of the two GPUs. To this end, we’ve compiled benchmark data from several online benchmarks, such as those from TechSpot, TechPowerUp, and TomsHardware.

Also Read: 1080p vs. 1440p vs. 4K: Which Resolution Is Best for Gaming?

The graphs below show average framerates for both the RTX 4060 and RTX 4070 across each of the three mainstream resolutions (1080p, 1440p, and 4K). Below each graph, we’ve given you an average performance differential as a percentage.

The percentages should be slightly more representative than the graphed absolute framerates, because they better account for large framerate differences in games with exceptionally high framerates.

1080p Benchmarks

Framerates averaged from multiple online benchmarks.

On average, the RTX 4070 performs about 57% better than the RTX 4060 at 1080p.

Both the RTX 4060 and RTX 4070 are great cards for 1080p gaming. The RTX 4060 is a better value proposition for most 1080p gamers, but the RTX 4070 can guarantee smoother gameplay on high refresh rate monitors in some modern games.

Both GPUs can churn out 60fps in pretty much any game on max settings at 1080p, so if that’s your primary goal, you’d do well to save $300 and opt for the RTX 4060. If, however, you’re on a 120Hz or 144Hz monitor (or higher), an RTX 4070 will start being worth its salt in demanding titles—titles in which an RTX 4060 would remain closer to 60fps than 100fps.

An RTX 4070 can achieve close to 100fps on average even in the most demanding games on the market today, such as The Last of Us Part 1. And, in less demanding modern titles (say, Dying Light 2), it will guarantee framerates above 144fps to make the most of a 120Hz or 144Hz monitor, while the RTX 4060 will drag behind at approximately 80-100fps.

So, whether to opt for an RTX 4070 over an RTX 4060 for 1080p gaming will depend on whether you want to play demanding modern games on max settings at high refresh rates. If you do, then unfortunately an RTX 4060 won’t be enough and an RTX 4070 will be a better bet, even if it does cost twice as much.

Most gamers, however, in the small number of games that are so demanding, are happy lowering settings down from max or “settling” with 100fps instead of 150fps. In which case, an RTX 4060 is ideal.

1440p Benchmarks

Framerates averaged from multiple online benchmarks.

On average, the RTX 4070 performs about 65% better than the RTX 4060 at 1440p.

The RTX 4070 achieves for 1440p what the RTX 4060 achieves for 1080p: impressive performance for the vast majority of gamers who don’t need to max out all modern games at 120+fps. If you’re just looking for a smooth gaming experience, even at high refresh rates, in most games at 1440p, the RTX 4070 has you covered.

The RTX 4060, on the other hand, struggles at 1440p. We must remember that while the RTX 4060 is an upgrade over the previous-gen RTX 3060, it isn’t much of one—it still loses out to the RTX 3060 Ti, for example.

Also Read: Is 1440P Worth it for Gaming?

The end-result is that the 4060 can’t maintain 60fps in modern demanding titles (such as Hogwarts Legacy) at max settings at 1440p. Less demanding modern games should average over 60fps but below 100fps, making the 4060 a decent but not spectacular GPU choice for high refresh rate 1440p monitors.

The RTX 4070, on the other hand, is a spectacular GPU choice compared to the RTX 4060 (ignoring, for now, its closest competitors, the RTX 4060 Ti and RX 7800 XT). An RTX 4070 should average over 120fps in titles like Elden Ring, while an RTX 4060 will only average about 60-70fps. And it should average over 170fps in titles like Deathloop, while an RTX 4060 will probably only average about 80fps.

Also Read: Best 1440P 144Hz Monitors for 2022: (G-Sync & Freesync)

In other words, games that an RTX 4060 just about manages at 60fps are ones that an RTX 4070 handles with enough ease to allow for high refresh rate gameplay. And games that an RTX 4060 manages a little better, an RTX 4070 should handle so much better that even 144Hz or 165Hz monitors will be well-utilized.

If you’re only aiming for 60fps, or if you don’t mind lowering your settings and ignoring the most demanding modern games, an RTX 4060 should get by at 1440p. But if you want to play almost any modern title on max settings on a 120Hz or 144Hz monitor (or just the very few most demanding games on a 60Hz monitor), an RTX 4070 will be the way to go.

4K Benchmarks

Framerates averaged from multiple online benchmarks.

On average, the RTX 4070 performs about 72% better than the RTX 4060 at 4K.

The truth is, neither the RTX 4060 nor the RTX 4070 is targeted at 4K gaming in modern games. The RTX 4060 is targeted at 1080p, and the RTX 4070 is targeted primarily at 1440p but also at high refresh rate 1080p gaming.

This being said, both GPUs can handle gaming at 4K depending on the game in question. For instance, even the RTX 4060 should be able to play some very well optimized modern games, or some older ones, above 60fps. Unfortunately, however, most good-looking modern titles will run below 60fps with a 4060 at this resolution, and the most demanding games will be nigh-on unplayable.

Also Read: Is 4K Worth it for Gaming? Why Most Gamers Don’t Need a 4K Monitor

The RTX 4070 does fare better than the RTX 4060 in this regard. Games that play very choppy with the RTX 4060, averaging framerates of about 25-35fps (such as Dying Light 2 and Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla), are actually playable (at 50-60fps) with an RTX 4070. In other words, going from an RTX 4060 to RTX 4070 can be equivalent to going from unplayable to playable in some games.

The RTX 4070 also fares better with less demanding modern titles like Battlefield V if you’re wanting to game at 120Hz. These kinds of titles should average over 100fps with an RTX 4070, while they’ll struggle to hit 70fps with an RTX 4060. In other words, then, an RTX 4070 can make demanding games playable at 4K, and it can make playable games smooth enough for high refresh rates.

Neither GPU can work miracles, though. Demanding games won’t be as smooth as butter at 4K resolution with an RTX 4060 or RTX 4070. For that kind of performance, you’ll have to spend more and opt for something like an RTX 4080 or RX 7900 XTX.

Ray Tracing and Upscaling

Scores taken from TechPowerUp’s testing.

Based on TechPowerUp’s testing, at 1440p, the RTX 4070 does ray tracing about 75% better than the RTX 4060.

Another area where the RTX 4070 excels over the RTX 4060 is in ray tracing performance. A 75% lead here, however, isn’t so much of a win for the 4070 as it is a loss for the 4060. You see, the 4060 loses out in ray tracing performance even to previous-gen GPUs like the RTX 3060 Ti.

The RTX 4070, on the other hand, almost keeps up with the previous-gen flagship RTX 3090 and 3090 Ti, and it almost matches the $150-$300 more expensive current-gen RX 7900 XT. For ray tracing, there’s a much better argument for an RTX 4070 than an RTX 4060.

But while the RTX 4070 wins on the ray tracing front, both GPUs have access to NVIDIA’s silver bullet: DLSS 3. DLSS 3’s frame generation can 2.5x framerates with little loss in visual fidelity (game dependent), and this can make all the difference to the above benchmark results. (Not to mention, when DLSS 3.5 launches, ray tracing may become viable even with mainstream cards like the RTX 4060).

For instance, with DLSS 3 enabled, the RTX 4060 can become a stellar 1440p card, and the RTX 4070 can be pretty damn impressive at 4K. But not all games support 4K, and upscaled resolutions and AI-generated frames still aren’t quite indistinguishable from the real, GPU-rasterized deal. So take DLSS performance with a pinch of salt.

Game Performance Summary

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 performs about 57% better than the RTX 4060 at 1080p, about 65% better at 1440p, and about 72% better at 4K.

For 1080p gaming, an RTX 4060 will be perfect for most gamers, and the extra $300 on an RTX 4070 won’t be worth it. But if you want to play the most demanding titles smoothly on max settings at high refresh rates, an RTX 4070 might be worth it (ignoring alternative GPUs).

For 1440p gaming, an RTX 4070 will be a better choice for most gamers. An RTX 4060 should handle many modern games above 60fps, but only an RTX 4070 will play these games above 100fps, and only an RTX 4070 will mange 60fps in more demanding titles at this resolution.

For 4K gaming, neither the RTX 4060 nor RTX 4070 is a great option, but, of the two, an RTX 4070 is a much better choice. Going from an RTX 4060 to RTX 4070 at 4K means going from unplayable to playable in some games, and from playable to smooth as butter in others.

For ray tracing, the RTX 4070 performs about 75% better than the RTX 4060 and is a much better option. But both the 4060 and 4070 have access to DLSS 3 upscaling and frame generation, which can offset ray tracing’s cost and significantly boost framerates across the board in those games that support it.

Verdict: Should You Buy an RTX 4060 or 4070 for 1080p and 1440p Gaming?

In a sense, this question is simple to answer. An RTX 4060 is a better choice for most gamers looking to game at 1080p, and an RTX 4070 is a better choice for most gamers looking to game at 1440p.

There are some cases where this doesn’t hold true, though. If you want to play the most demanding games at 1080p at high refresh rates, an RTX 4070 might be worth it. And if you only want to play moderately demanding titles at 1440p, and you don’t mind lowering your settings (or if you’re only aiming for 60fps in the first place), an RTX 4060 might be fine for you.

Of course, if you’re planning on gaming at 4K at all, an RTX 4070 will almost certainly be a better bet. Ditto if you want to enable ray tracing.

But these two GPUs aren’t the only ones available. The most obvious alternative right now is the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT. For $100 less than the RTX 4070, the RX 7800 XT performs a little better than it and has 4GB more VRAM for longevity. It’s simply the best value GPU on the market for 1440p gaming right now.

And if you’re looking for something a little cheaper, the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT or RX 6800 XT look particularly appealing, depending on your budget and just how much performance you need.

And, finally, if you want the security of a current-gen GPU (longevity, current-gen features, etc.) then the RTX 4060 Ti might strike a veritable middle ground between the RTX 4060 and RTX 4070, satisfying both 1080p and 1440p gamers alike.