RTX 4060 Ti 16GB Roughly 40% Faster Than 8GB at Higher Resolutions

Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti
(Image credit: Nvidia)

The RTX 4060 Ti 16GB might be one of the least attractive GPUs due to its $500 price point, but according to a review by Daniel Owen, the GPU is substantially quicker than the $100 cheaper 8GB model in several modern games. In his review, Owen compared the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB to the 8GB model to see how much of a performance difference the extra VRAM capacity would provide. He found the RTX 4060 16GB provides roughly 40% extra performance in several modern 2023 titles at 1080p and 1440p resolutions. At 4K resolution, the additional VRAM is even more beneficial, giving the 16GB card twice the performance of the 8GB model (on average).

It's worth mentioning that the 4060 Ti 16GB's capacity is only advantageous in games that spill over 8GB of memory capacity. Nonetheless, Owen's review found that quite a few 2023 titles will take advantage of more than 8GB of memory.

The tech YouTuber compared the 16GB version of the RTX 4060 Ti to the 8GB version in seven modern AAA 2023 titles, including Rachet and Clank: Rift Apart, Jedi Survivor, Forespoken, Cyberpunk 2077, Resident Evil 4, Remnant 2 and The Last of Us Part 1. Testing was also conducted at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions with various game settings (including RT settings) to see how the GPUs behave in different scenarios.

Rachet and Clank: Rift Apart is one of the most sensitive applications to the 4060 Ti 16GB's extra memory capacity. At 1080p Very High with RT enabled, the 16GB was 34% faster than the 8GB model. At 1440p, this lead was boosted to 43% and at 4K, the 4060 Ti 16GB was 85% quicker. With RT disabled, the 4060 Ti 16GB lost a bit of its lead but was still more than 30% faster at 1080p and 1440p, and over 50% quicker at 4K.

Lowering graphics quality settings to High (with no RT) made the 16GB card a whopping 50% quicker than the 8GB model at 1080p. We're not sure how this is possible, but we suspect this might be a bug with the game. So take this result with a grain of salt.

Another VRAM-sensitive title is Resident Evil 4 (2023), where the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB was 12% faster at 1080p, 9% faster at 1440p, and 24% quicker at 4K — with the game running at its maximum settings with RT effects. Tho interestingly, the 1% lows in this game are particularly sensitive to the 8GB limitation on the lower-end 4060 Ti, revealing a 77% to 113% performance advantage in 1% lows for the 16GB card at 1080P, 1440P, and 4K.

However, not all of the latest 2023 releases need more than 8GB of memory to perform well. Owen found that the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB saw no noteworthy performance improvements with Remant 2 and Jedi: Survivor at 1080P or 1440P — even with both games running in their highest graphical settings (with RT enabled on Survivor). The only exception is at 4K resolution, where the 16GB card was 7% faster in Remant 2 and 14% more performant in Jedi: Survivor compared to the 8GB model.

For a full breakdown of the rest of the games Daniel Owen tested, check out his full review on his YouTube channel.

As far as VRAM utilization is concerned, all of the games that performed better on the 16GB card did not use the whole 16GB. The most demanding title was Resident Evil 4, utilizing just 12.1GB of memory at the game's maximum settings at 4K resolution. The rest of the games (and tested resolutions) sat below 12GB, with most hovering in the 9GB to 11GB range. This is great to see and means the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB will have the additional memory capacity to spare as it ages.

(Image credit: YouTube - Daniel Owen)

Turns Out, DLSS 3 Frame Gen Consumes Extra VRAM

(Image credit: YouTube - Daniel Owen)

Daniel Owen also tested VRAM utilization with resolution upscaling to see how that might benefit the RTX 4060 Ti 8GB. Interestingly Owen found that DLSS 3 frame generation negatively affects VRAM consumption and consumes more video memory than standard DLSS upscaling with frame generation disabled.

In testing with Cyberpunk 2077, he found that the game will consume 8426MB of VRAM at 1440P RT Ultra settings on the 16GB 4060 Ti. With DLSS Quality, memory usage drops by over a full Gigabyte down to just 7249MB, but with Frame Generation enabled, VRAM usage goes back up to 8GB (or 8000MB) roughly.

The RTX 4060 Ti 8GB suffers from the same problem, but less so since the game is approaching the hardware's 8GB limit. The 8GB memory is still a bottleneck, providing less FPS than the 16GB card, even with DLSS enabled. (To clarify, DLSS quality mode saw the closest performance gap between the two cards.)

Overall, Owen found that the more expensive RTX 4060 Ti 16GB can be substantially faster in some games, particularly at 4K resolutions, than its 8GB counterpart, proving that 8GB can be a bottleneck even on a mid-range GPU like the 4060 Ti. However, Owen's results also demonstrate that the 16GB's additional capacity is not-beneficial in all games, at least for now. It'll be interesting to see how games evolve down the road and if we'll see more of a performance gap between the two cards if games utilize more than 8GB of memory.

Aaron Klotz
Contributing Writer

Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.

  • ezst036
    Not really a big shocker. 8 additional GB is quite a jump, it adds a lot of future-proofing. A new review similar to this one a year from now, but with games (more on the heavy side) that are coming soon should also be very useful.
    Reply
  • Sleepy_Hollowed
    It’s almost like a lot of people here but nvidia apologists mentioned this.

    It’s pathetic that a card comes with only 8 GB of RAM in 2023.
    Reply
  • TomaszTP
    The thing is that NVIDIA xx60 bracket is not exactly for the 4k resolution and hardly for 1440p cause realisticaly is the xx50 bracket GPU's
    Reply
  • ilukey77
    ezst036 said:
    Not really a big shocker. 8 additional GB is quite a jump, it adds a lot of future-proofing. A new review similar to this one a year from now, but with games (more on the heavy side) that are coming soon should also be very useful.
    still nerfed by the bus speed .. personally anyone looking for a lower tier card should keep a look out for the 7800xt and see what price and performance ..
    I have a feeling the 7800xt is going to be a far better card than the 4060 16gb !!
    And could also ( fingers crossed ) be cheaper or match the price of the 4060 16gb !!
    Reply
  • hotaru251
    Turns Out, DLSS 3 Frame Gen Consumes Extra VRAM

    ah yes lets focus on lowering the bus speed of a "mid" (more like entry in reality) gaming gpu, refuse to give it proper vram (on 8), and make dlss 3 frame gen a "recommended"feature but also it uses up some of that precious vram.

    more ppl dig into 4060 tier the more i think nvidia has lost their minds.
    Reply
  • ilukey77
    hotaru251 said:
    ah yes lets focus on lowering the bus speed of a "mid" (more like entry in reality) gaming gpu, refuse to give it proper vram (on 8), and make dlss 3 frame gen a "recommended"feature but also it uses up some of that precious vram.

    more ppl dig into 4060 tier the more i think nvidia has lost their minds.
    Nvidia hasnt lost their minds their doing what Nvidia does BEST screw their customers over by selling junk forcing people to upgrade to better GPU's to make them more and more money ..

    All the while riding off the GOOD WILL of ( i personally think idiots ) fanboys and the market share they have gained over the generations !!

    AMD has done some not so consumer friendly stuff as well so ( while i like AMD stuff ) im not totally blind to their BS either ..
    but AMD are gaining consumer trust ( even if they sometimes take 1 step forward 2 steps back at times )

    Intel are up and coming in the GPU sector and i believe with there level of support shown with the ARC GPU's they are in it to win..
    Reply
  • thisisaname
    ilukey77 said:
    Nvidia hasnt lost their minds their doing what Nvidia does BEST screw their customers over by selling junk forcing people to upgrade to better GPU's to make them more and more money ..

    All the while riding off the GOOD WILL of ( i personally think idiots ) fanboys and the market share they have gained over the generations !!

    AMD has done some not so consumer friendly stuff as well so ( while i like AMD stuff ) im not totally blind to their BS either ..
    but AMD are gaining consumer trust ( even if they sometimes take 1 step forward 2 steps back at times )

    Intel are up and coming in the GPU sector and i believe with there level of support shown with the ARC GPU's they are in it to win..
    Sadly AMD are learning all the wrong things from Nvidia, I hope I am wrong but it is looking that way to me.
    Reply
  • ilukey77
    thisisaname said:
    Sadly AMD are learning all the wrong things from Nvidia, I hope I am wrong but it is looking that way to me.
    I think they are doing better but the market dictates what happens ..
    7900xt was over priced at release BUT it was always leveled at the 4070ti /4080 12gb till Nvidia backed out of that due to massive hate ..
    AMD used that to upsell their 7900xtx so yeah a bit shifty ..

    As for pricing of the cards yeah in a perfect world AMD would have charged $200 usd less on all there cards BUT that has a positive and negative effect.. positive cheaper/ negative cheaper so whats wrong with them they need to price match with the competition !!

    the 7600 like anything 8gb is just plain disgusting for a GPU in 2023 ..

    But lets look at the positives the 7900xtx is cheaper and better ( excluding rt ) than the 4080
    the 7900xt is a better and NOW cheaper than the 4070ti

    the 7800xt should be aimed at the 4060 16gb.. if the price point is good then we have a 4060 16gb beater ..

    personally i believe the 4070 was released only to sell more 4070ti's

    The lower 4060s were released to upsell the 4060 16gb

    where as ( apart once again the 7600 ) the AMD line up has been on point ( AMD could have dropped the 7900xt price as soon as the 4070 ti released ) but they have matched / beat Nvidia at every turn ..

    they did NEED a 4090 competitor at release which cost them !!

    what AMD do in the cpu market is on them when Intel are behind in almost every sector ( AMD owns consoles , server soon to be apu's with strix point, handhelds are gaining market share ) when you have that clout AMD can do what they want like Nvidia does with there GPU market !!

    I liken it to Sony VS Xbox
    Sony have the better selling console better / more exclusives they will try to protect that lead at all costs by doing somewhat less than consumer friendly stuff !!
    Reply
  • Alvar "Miles" Udell
    Now maybe TomsHardware should run a comparison test with the 16GB version against the results of the original 8GB version review instead of just writing what a Youtube person said.
    Reply
  • sitehostplus
    Sleepy_Hollowed said:
    It’s almost like a lot of people here but nvidia apologists mentioned this.

    It’s pathetic that a card comes with only 8 GB of RAM in 2023.
    Look, a $500 card with tons of vram will not perform nearly as well as a $800 card with the same amount of vram.

    Vram is nice, but you do need the gpu horsepower to go along with it or it's a waste IMHO.
    Reply