I'd be very excited for the performance of the RTX 4060 if I didn't fear Nvidia's pricing

We know Nvidia has an RTX 4060 GPU in the works. We already have an idea of the specifications. But exactly how fast will it be? According to some detailed leaked benchmarks, the answer is pretty much as fast as an RTX 3070 Ti.

A poster on the Chinese language forum Chiphell (via Hothardware) claims to have had access to an RTX 4060 board running the upcoming Nvidia AD106 GPU. The specs listed for the board are very much in line with our expectations for the RTX 4060. So here goes with the performance numbers.

In 3DMark Time Spy, the AD106 RTX 4060 board scores 14,111 points, precisely 2.85% faster than GA104 GPU, also known as the RTX 4070 Ti. The results include the full suite of 3DMark graphics benchmarks showing the AD106 chip running anywhere from 10.92% slower up to that 2.85% figure in Time Spy.

In Time Spy extreme, the RTX 4060 is 3.28% slower than the 3070 Ti, probably reflecting the fact that the 4060 is reported with over 40% less memory bandwidth due to a 128-bit bus versus the 3070 Ti's 256-bit bus.

The RTX 4060 is said to offer eight times the L2 cache memory of the 3070 Ti and also 40 percent higher boost clocks. So, that's how it makes up the performance deficit despite the fact that it makes do with 4,608 CUDA cores to the RTX 3070 Ti's 6,144 CUDA cores.

Oh, and the RTX 4060 is said to do all that while consuming roughly 25% less power. The benchmarks also include the TU104 chip, as found in the two-generation-old RTX 2080. The 4060 is anywhere between 16% and 45% faster than the RTX 2080 in various 3DMark tests.

The RTX 2080 launched over four years ago, so it's debatable just how impressive the gains are even from a '60 series GPU ostensibly a couple rungs down the product stack.

For the record, the benchmarks include a number of synthetic tests of pure processing and memory performance, if you get off on that kind of thing.

But the general gist is that it seems you can expect a gaming experience pretty much in line with an RTX 3070 Ti, plus the added benefits of DLSS 3 with frame generation. How that translates in terms of a value proposition will of course hinge on exactly how high Nvidia prices the RTX 4060. Watch this space.