Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 vs RTX 3060 review: higher frame-rates, less VRAM

RT/DLSS/FSR2/XeSS benchmarks: Cyberpunk 2077, Dying Light 2, Forza Horizon 5.

Review by Richard Leadbetter Technology Editor, Digital Foundry

Published on June 29, 2023

Raw ray tracing performance is one thing, but the truth is that RT is usually used in combination with image reconstruction technology for a better balance of visual features and performance. This page seeks to show how these GPUs compare with both technologies in play, with the same (or very close) base resolutions engaged. It's not factoring in image quality - where Nvidia enjoys a noticeable advantage against AMD - and neither are we considering overall support, where DLSS enjoys wider uptake amongst game developers. Here, we're just looking at raw performance - and that includes factoring in DLSS 3 frame generation on 40-class cards.

Once again, if you're jumping straight to this page without looking at prior results, we should stress that our benchmarking system offers a number of ways to get to the data you want, the presentation varying according to the device you're using. You'll get a basic overview of our findings on mobile, with metadata from the video capture of each GPU being translated into simple bar charts with average frame-rate and lowest one per cent measurements for easy comparisons.

On a desktop-class browser, you'll get the full-fat DF experience with embedded YouTube videos of each test scene and live performance metrics. Play the video, and you'll see exactly how each card handled the scene as it progresses. Below the real-time metrics is an interactive bar chart, which you can mouse over to see different measurements and click to switch between actual frame-rates and percentage differences. All the data here is derived from video captured directly from each GPU, ensuring an accurate replay of real performance.

Cyberpunk 2077

Like all the games on this page, Cyberpunk 2077 doesn't just support DLSS, it also features XeSS and FSR2 as well, which is the way we like it. There's also support for DLSS 3 frame generation on this game and every other on this page, and we've added results for 40-series cards. Just like the standard RT results, this is a game heavily optimised for Nvidia hardware - the RTX 4060 is 41 percent ahead of Arc, rising to a 112 percent boost with frame generation active, while the gap vs RX 7600 is vast.

Once again, there are strong gains up against the RTX 3060, another win against RTX 2070 Super, and a big 75 percentage point uplift when compared against the RTX 2060. Realistically, the RTX 4060 has no real competition in this benchmark whatsoever, not even from its 12GB-equipped predecessor.

Cyberpunk 2077, Ultra RT, DLSS/FSR2/XeSS Quality

Dying Light 2

Techland's support for all upscaling technologies (even DLSS 3) is to the game's credit and there is - once again - some nice results for the RTX 4060 here, which is within spitting distance of the RTX 3060 Ti's 1080p result. However, what you will note is that DLSS 3 frame generation only has very slight performance improvements at 1080p to the point where I'd suggest it's not worth it. The picture changes somewhat at 1440p, however.

Ada Lovelace's RT performance is impressive here, to the point where even AMD's RX 6700 XT using FSR2 can't match the RTX 4060 with DLSS enabled. Bearing in mind how demanding RT is in this one, there's no denying that Nvidia's new card can deliver some great results for its price-point.

Dying Light 2, Ultra RT, DLSS/FSR2 Quality

Forza Horizon 5

Here in Forza Horizon 5, we're set up at extreme settings with RT disabled, delivering a visual feature set in excess of Series X running in its 30fps quality mode - though image reconstruction technologices aren't really a match for native rendering with 4x MSAA, particularly on elements like power lines. To be honest, I'd be sticking to native resolution rendering on this one.

Forza absolutely loves the RTX 40 series' Ada Lovelace architecture, to the point where we're looking at RTX 3060 Ti-class performance here, an 18 percentage point lead over the RTX 3060, rising to a 21 point lead over the RTX 2070 Super. However, it's clear that there are issues with frame generation on this one - and it may well be down to the 8GB of framebuffer memory.