After yesterday’s test of the NVIDIA RTX 4060 Ti Founders Edition, today we’re going to take a look at a partner board. We’re going to take a look at MSI’s RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G. As a reminder, we found out that the RTX 4060 Ti will be available in 8 GB and 16 GB versions, as well as the forthcoming RTX 4060. For the 16 GB model and the RTX 4060, we’ll have to wait until July, while the 8 GB RTX 4060 Ti was officially launched on May 24. Please note that the two cards scheduled for July will not be available in Founders Edition.
In addition to our usual tests, we’ll be trying to answer the question of whether or not the 8 GB memory is sufficient, as well as the impact of the increased L2 cache. As for the price of this MSI RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G, we don’t yet know, but it’s already listed on several online sales sites. Finally, to conclude this introduction, this model is primarily intended for 1080p definition, although we should be in for some pleasant surprises.
We took advantage of this article to redo all our tests in 1080p and 1440p with the latest drivers available from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel. As you can see from our test protocol, all our graphics have just been updated!
Special thanks to MSI France for providing us with a sample of this MSI RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G.
[nextpage title=”MSI RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G:”]
Architecture:
As a reminder, the “Founders Edition” series cards are unique models offered by NVIDIA. The main advantage of these boards is that they are offered at a “locked-in” price, which will not change in the coming weeks or months unless the price is lowered. The NVIDIA RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB Founders Edition is priced at 439 euros on the NVIDIA website. NVIDIA partners will also be offering their own models, as is the case with our example of the day, the MSI RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G.
This MSI RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G features an AD106-350 GPU with 3452 CUDA cores, i.e. 2436 cores less than the RTX 4070, and is equipped with a TSMC 4 nm manufacturing process from TSMC, rather than the 8 nm by Samsung, which brings the TGP down to just 160 watts.
Memory: 8 GB of 128-bit GDDR6X memory, which translates into a bandwidth of 288 GB/s. This is a subject that caused quite a stir at the official launch, since the RTX 3060 Ti featured 8 GB of memory and a 256-bit bus (448 GB/s), and the RTX 2060 Super 8 GB with a 192-bit bus (448 GB/s). So we end up with a virtual RTX 4060 Ti offering lower bandwidth. But NVIDIA assures us that bandwidth actually reaches 554 GB/s, thanks to the increase in L2 cache to 32 MB.
For our part, we’ll only really be able to judge during our tests, since while there’s a formula for calculating the bandwidth of a graphics card, we don’t have one for this new scenario. We have therefore taken note of the data proposed by NVIDIA, and our tests will have the last word.
The Gaming X Trio bundle:
So what do we find in this box? It’s easy to identify the MSI color code, with black and backlit claws, the hallmark of the Gaming X Trio series. The box is quite large, but retains fairly standard dimensions. The box measures 415 x 280 x 115 mm. The box opens to reveal the RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G.
TOF
Once this has been removed, the graphics card is revealed, along with a support for the graphics card to prevent it from bending when inserted in your motherboard. The idea is to prevent the PCB from bending under the weight of the heat sink.
Cooling :
This MSI RTX 4070 Ti Gaming X Trio has dimensions of 338 x 141 x 52 mm and will occupy 2.5 slots on your motherboard. This model is part of the MSI “Gaming X Trio” series. In other words, the card already benefits from factory overclocking. Aesthetically, the card is less aggressive than the previous generation, while retaining its anthracite and dark gray fairing. This is a model that will match many motherboards. MSI also uses an efficient cooling system, as evidenced by its dimensions in relation to the PCB.
This is a custom board, i.e. with its own cooling system. The board is equipped with three 95 mm fans from the TORX FAN 5.0 series, housed in a plastic casing. Each fan has 9 blades. The main change is in the design of the fans, which have blades connected in threes at the top. This design allows air to be better redirected to the latest-generation Tri Frozr 3 cooling system.
The nine fan blades are slightly curved to optimize airflow. Our sample is equipped with ” 3D Active Fan ” technology to leave the fans idle if the GPU temperature doesn’t require them.
Heatsink:
The radiator is quite imposing and has been completely reworked by MSI. The idea is to reduce noise pollution by guiding the air where it will be most effective in cooling the card. Wave-curved 2.0 fins allow air to circulate smoothly, for quieter cooling.
The radiator is composed of three distinct parts. One to dissipate heat from the graphics and memory chips, and the other two for the power supply stages, while also making use of various thermal pads.
The heat sink is crossed by six 6 mm copper heat pipes. The part in contact with the GPU has been machined to ensure a sufficient contact surface to dissipate heat along the entire length of the heatsink. The PCB also features a fairing with a dual role. It not only stiffens the PCB, but also acts as a heat sink for the power supply stages. As for the backplate, it stiffens the PCB and prevents it from twisting under the weight of the board.
Yes, a little RGB:
The card features RGB backlighting, but without going overboard, which we appreciate. On the front panel, there are two pairs of three claws located at the top and bottom of the central fan. On the upper left, we find the MSI logo and lettering. You can set the backlighting of the graphics card and synchronize it with that of your other components, provided they are compatible. The various settings can be made via the MSI Mystic Light software. For other settings, you can use MSI Dragon Center.
Connectors :
To power the board, MSI has chosen to return to a traditional 8-pin connector, but placed in a central position. In fact, this is due to the size of the PCB, which is actually much shorter than the heat sink.
The board’s video outputs include three DisplayPort 1.4 and one HDMI 2.1 port.
[nextpage title=”Specifications and PCB:”]
Technical specifications:
In terms of frequency, the base frequency is announced at 2310 MHz, while the Boost peaks at 2670 MHz. The 8 GB of G-DDR6X memory run at 2250 MHz (288… 554 GB/s) on a 128-bit bus. As this is a partner card, it features factory overclocking, i.e. a boost frequency higher than that of the Founders Edition, which was 2535 MHz. This represents a significant gain of 135 MHz, which can be increased to 150 MHz via the MSI Center application.
Let’s run through GPU-Z to check that the information read is correct. The GPU frequency is 2310 MHz, and the Boost frequency is 2670 MHz. Don’t forget that the latter will be higher in benchmarks, depending on the quality of your chip and determined by GPU Boost 4.0. Memory has a frequency of 2250 MHz.
Let’s take the PCB apart:
As we hinted, we haven’t yet disassembled our MSI RTX 4060 Ti. The timing of the test publication didn’t allow us to do so in the best conditions, especially with the update of all our graphics.
[nextpage title=”New technological innovations: “]
A new generation automatically brings with it a host of technological innovations, and this RTX 4060 Ti, like its big sisters, the RTX 4090, 4080, 4070 Ti and 4070, is no exception. We’ll try to list the most important ones on this more theoretical page.
New Ada Lovelace architecture :
On September 21st at 5pm, NVIDIA unveiled part of its future range of graphics cards built around the “ADA Lovelace” architecture. Technically, this chip is out of the ordinary with its 76 billion transistors, its N4 engraving by TSMC, its Shader Execution Reordering, its 90 TFLOPS, its 200 RT TFLOPS, its 1400 Tensor TFLOPS and a maximum of 18432 CUDA Cores in a single GPU. That’s quite impressive compared to the previous generation Ampere.
The chip is organized into 12 Graphics Processing Clusters (GPCs) each containing 72 Texture Processing Clusters (TPCs) with 144 Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs). The Streaming Multiprocessors benefit from a new technology called Shader Execution Reordering (SER) which allows Ray Tracing operations to be multiplied by two. It is also worth noting that the RTX 4090 chip has been amputated, perhaps allowing for a future RTX 4090 Ti to be introduced.
The new RTXs also come with 4th generation Tensor Cores, which will be useful for DLSS and DLSS 3 AI, and 3rd generation RT Cores, which will double the performance of Ray Tracing. In addition to the generation evolution, the number of cores also increases compared to the previous generation depending on the model.
By the way, here is a comparison table to judge the differences between these cards.
DLSS 3 is coming and is already operational:
One of the announcements of NVIDIA during its conference is the arrival of DLSS 3. However, this is only compatible with the RTX 4000. Owners of a previous generation card will be happy with DLSS 2, which NVIDIA will continue to develop in the coming months.
As a reminder, until now, the principle of DLSS (Deep learning super sampling) was to allow a gain in terms of FPS by replacing the TAA antialiasing. The idea is to calculate the rendering in a lower definition than that chosen in the parameters and then to replay it in the said definition using an AI applied via the Tensor Core while keeping the most perfect image quality possible.
Today, with the arrival of DLSS 3, things are changing even though the fundamental principle of increasing FPS is still the main reason. What’s new is that DLSS 3 allows you to add whole intermediate frames instead of pixels. This increases the number of frames per second and consequently the fluidity. To achieve this, DLSS3 uses an optical flow accelerator integrated into the new RTX 4000 architecture. This is why previous generations that do not have this will not be able to benefit from DLSS 3. We will therefore have to be careful during our tests and compare what is comparable because yes, of course DLSS 3 will be more powerful but it is difficult to judge it on the Ampere generation which does not support it.
Even if the main function is to increase the number of FPS, NVIDIA also reminds us of the importance of latency. We had already dealt with this subject when we spoke to you about Reflex. To sum up simply, the principle is to reduce latency as much as possible in games, i.e. the time that elapses between the moment you click on your mouse button and its manifestation on the screen. In order to be able to carry out all the readings, a compatible mouse will be necessary.
NVIDIA’s latest developments could well turn the world of e-sports upside down as we could see 1440p 27″ displays replacing the current 1080p 25″ displays. Finally, NVIDIA has already announced over 35 games that are compatible and ready to use DLSS 3. We will of course be adding games that support DLSS 3 to our tests. Of course DLSS 3 games are backwards compatible with DLSS 2 technology.
AV1 hardware compression:
NVIDIA is now integrating its 8th generation NVENC encoder with AV1 which is 40% more efficient than H.264. The arrival of AV1 will be very useful especially for streaming.
[nextpage title=”Test configuration: “]
As we said in the introduction, we’re (once again) busy updating all our graphics with the latest drivers from NVIDIA, AMD and now, of course, INTEL. We’ve also taken the opportunity to slightly modify our test configuration. So here we go again, with a new series of tests and graphics on this slightly modified configuration:
- Motherboard: ROG Maximus Z690 APEX
- Processor: Intel Alder Lake i9-12900K
- Memory : 32 GB Corsair Vengeance 5200 CL38 DDR5
- Graphics card: MSI RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G
- Cooling system : Asus ROG Ryujin II 360
- SSD: Western Digital Black SN750 2 TB + EKWB radiator
- Power supply: Corsair AX1600i + 12VHPWR 600W adapter
- Operating system: Windows 11 64-bit
For this test, we used a high-end configuration featuring an i9-12900K processor and DDR5. The use of a 144 Hz 4K display is also a sine qua non. For our tests, we’re using the ROG PG27UQ.
As we said in the introduction to this article, all our tests have been redone over the last few days with all our cards and the latest drivers available!
The drivers used are the latest from each manufacturer, with NVIDIA 531.93, AMD’s Adrenalin-Edition-23.10.01.16 and Intel’s 31.0.101.4369 for the two ARC models.
Our test protocol :
All cards are tested at stock frequencies and without any optimization. For the various benchmarks, whether synthetics or games, we’ll opt for 1080p, 1440p and 2160p resolutions, depending on the card’s performance. Here, with this model, we’ll be using 1080p and 1440p for Rasterization and 1080p for Ray Tracing.
As you can see, we’re now running Windows 11, and we’ve activated the ” ReSize BAR ” in the BIOS, which can be seen in GPU-Z. Now that you know everything about our test configuration, it’s time to get started!
[nextpage title=”Synthetic benchmarks: “]
Our first series of tests will be dedicated to synthetic benchmarks. These are often used for overclocking competitions, but are also very interesting for comparing different GPUs. We’ll be focusing on benchmarks from the 3DMark series.
We’ll be testing the following benchmarks:
- Fire Strike (1080p)
- Fire Strike Ultra (2160p)
- Time Spy (1440p)
- Time Spy Extreme (2160p)
- 3DMark Speed Way
- DirectX Raytracing
- Intel XeSS
- Mesh Shader
- 3DMark DLSS Feature Test (2160p)
3DMark Fire Strike and Fire Strike Ultra:
Let’s start with 3DMark Fire Strike, one of today’s most widely used benchmarks. It consists of two graphics tests, a CPU test and a fourth test that combines GPU and CPU. Don’t forget to deactivate the demo, which makes no contribution to the final score and prolongs the benchmark’s duration (unnecessarily). The version used for these tests is, of course, the latest available.
This is the first benchmark we’ve carried out with this MSI RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G, and the least we can say is that it’s right where we expected it to be, behind the RTX 3070 and ahead of the RTX 3060 Ti. The score here is 32210 points.
Under Fire Strike Ultra, we encountered a “problem” in that our score is lower than that of the RTX 3060 Ti. Despite several series of tests, this score does not vary. We’re going to find out what the problem is, as we’ve also encountered it with the Founders Edition.
3DMark Time Spy and Time Spy Extreme:
The second test is 3DMark Time Spy. Although this one is performed in 1440p, its main feature is that it uses DirectX 12. It consists of two graphics tests and a CPU test. As with Fire Strike, don’t forget to disable the demo. These first two benchmarks are provided by UL Benchmark.
The performance obtained in Time Spy is often representative of what we’ll get in games. Here, our sample of the day is on a par with the RTX 3070, which should lead us to expect gaming performance close to that of the RTX 3070.
Under 3DMark Time Spy Extreme, we achieved an excellent score of 6630 points, representing a 10% performance gain over the RTX 3060 Ti FE.
3DMark Speed Way
Ulbenchmark’s latest benchmark, and it’s nice to be able to say that we’re going to have a good time on this Speed Way. It uses DirectX 12 and defaults to 1440p. We haven’t modified anything, so we’re using the original benchmark.
Here too, our MSI RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G scores 3245 points. When encoding our graphs, we realized that we were missing the results for the previous generation. We will update this graph in the coming hours.
3DMark DirectX Raytracing:
UL Benchmarks has added a new test to its series of benchmarks for measuring Ray Tracing performance. The idea is to use the 3DMark DirectX Ray Tracing test to compare the performance of Ray Tracing hardware dedicated to graphics cards from AMD and NVIDIA, and now also from Intel!
The 3DMark DirectX Ray Tracing test is designed to make Ray Tracing the limiting factor. Instead of relying on traditional rendering, the entire scene is traced and drawn in a single pass. The test result will depend entirely on Ray Tracing performance. This makes it easy to measure and compare the performance of different cards.
This benchmark has always been dominated by NVIDIA cards, and today’s sample is no exception, with a score of 38.8 FPS. It’s the addition of CUDA cores and higher frequencies that have a huge impact on the performance gain over the previous generation.
3DMark Intel XeSS
UL Benchmarks in collaboration with Intel will be adding this new benchmark to the 3DMark suite. We have been given early access to this new test for our tests. This Intel XeSS test is designed to evaluate and compare the performance and image quality of XeSS (Xe Super Sampling). There are four XeSS modes to choose from: Ultra Quality, Quality, Balanced and Performance. The 3DMark inspection tool helps you compare image quality with a side-by-side view of XeSS rendering and native resolution rendering. You need a graphics card that supports Intel XeSS to run this test.
So we’ll have two scores, a number of FPS with XeSS disabled and then, on the right, with XeSS enabled. The mode chosen is “Ultra Quality”, which is actually the benchmark’s default mode.
In this new benchmark, all graphics cards without exception benefit from XeSS, but it’s Intel that reaps the greatest gain. ARC models see a gain of 50%, while NVIDIA and AMD models see a gain of between 30% and 35%.
3DMark DLSS Feature Test:
We didn’t keep this benchmark because it only concerns DLSS-compatible cards and was therefore not useful for our comparative tests. Here, we’ve retested it, since it officially supports DLSS 3 since the end of the NDA on the RTX 4090.
So we’re going to run a 2160p benchmark first with DLSS disabled, then with DLSS 2 performance and finally with DLSS 3 performance.
Our MSI RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G achieves a score of 16.6 FPS without DLSS, then 47.5 FPS (+183%) with DLSS 2 enabled. DLSS 3 still delivers a 68% gain over DLSS 2, so we can see just how much the arrival of DLSS 3 has boosted gamingperformance.
Well, to conclude this first series of synthetic tests, we’re right in line with expected performance. We’re behind, but very close to, the RTX 3070, but with performance 8 to 11% higher than the RTX 3060 Ti. We should have excellent performance in 1080p and 1440p rasterization.
[nextpage title=”Gaming performance 1080p and 1440p: “]
We decided to select six games because we felt they were sufficiently representative. We opted for DirectX12 and Vulkan with the following games:
- The Division 2 (DirectX 12)
- Borderlands 3 (DirectX 12)
- Red Dead Redemption II (Vulkan)
- Far Cry 6 (DirectX 12)
- Watch Dogs: Legion (DirectX 12)
- Cyberpunk 2077 (DirectX12)
We’ve chosen to use the built-in benchmarks for these games.
Why do we do this? Quite simply to enable you to compare your results with ours if you also own a copy of one of these games. It’s a thought-provoking approach that will enable you to compare your results with ours.
As we mentioned on page 4 of this article, we have activated the Resizable Bar in the BIOS, which is now supported by all (recent) GPUs. Last but not least, we’ve opted for 1080p and 1440p resolution only, which is what you’d expect from these cards.
The Division 2:
The Division 2 will be tested under DirectX 12. The graphics parameters will be set to ” ultra ” mode, with vertical synchronization deactivated.
First game and the trend noted in the synthetic benchmarks is confirmed, as our MSI RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8Gi comes in well ahead of the RTX 3060 Ti and not far behind the RTX 3070. Note that this is one of the least power-hungry games in our panel. No difference in 1440p definition, where positions are still identical.
Borderlands 3:
For the second game, we switch to Borderlands 3. Graphics options are set to ” Brutal “. It’s worth noting that Borderlands 3 is quite greedy, and that this choice of settings has a fairly strong impact on FPS. It’s a game that’s often praised in announcements of new graphics cards, and precisely in this Brutal mode.
Performance here is excellent, with our MSI RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G virtually on a par with the RTX 3070 FE in both 1080p and 1440p.
Red Dead Redemption 2:
The third and by no means least important game, Red Dead Redemption II on PC. The advantage of this opus is the possibility of testing the integrated Vulkan benchmark. We opt for the ” ultra ” graphics options.
Third and by no means least, RDR2 offers the possibility of testing the integrated Vulkan benchmark. Once again, the increase in power is confirmed, with a very small difference in 1080p between the RTX 3070 FE and the RTX 3060 Ti. We’re talking about an 8 to 10% gain over the RTX 3060 Ti, depending on definition.
Far Cry 6:
The latest game we’re adding to this section is Far Cry 6, since it supports both DXR and SFR from AMD. You’ll find it on the next page. For our benchmarks, we’ve opted for ” ultra” graphics quality.
Although our report on this game showed an advantage for the RX 6000 cards, our sample of the day performs just as well. In 1080p, it’s a higher FPS than the RTX 3070, and in 1440p, our RTX 4060 Ti FE is between the two cards of the previous generation.
Watch Dogs Legion:
Last but not least, Watch Dogs Legion will also be used for our Ray Tracing tests. For our benchmarks, we’ve opted for ” very high” graphics quality.
In the Watch Dogs Legion benchmark, we’re forced to opt for very high graphics quality rather than ultra, as the benchmark then tells us that the 8 GB of memory isn’t enough. Our MSI RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G stands out especially in 1440p, where once again it’s on a par with the RTX 3070 FE.
Cyberpunk 2077:
Here’s a game we’ve been wanting to add for a while, and now we’ve done it, with an integrated benchmark. We’ll also be using this game for our Ray Tracing tests. For our benchmarks, we’ve opted for “ultra” graphics quality.
New and final benchmark for this panel of games. The 100 FPS mark is reached at 1080p, and 60 FPS at 1440p, with ultra-high graphics quality. As for the rest of the graphics, we’re perfectly consistent with our previous results.
Game average :
For the gaming average, the RTX 3060 is the reference card in 1080p, and the RTX 3070 in 1440p definition. Other cards score either higher or lower, depending on their performance against this model.
No real surprise from the figures we received from NVIDIA. Our MSI RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G performs 15% better overall than the previous generation, and only 2% better than the RTX 3070 FE in 1080p. The situation is almost identical in 1440p, although the RTX 3070 FE manages to create a slightly larger gap. Let’s move on to Ray Tracing.
[nextpage title=”Ray tracing and DLSS/FSR performance:”]
Let’s take a look at the seven games we’ve selected that support Ray Tracing as well as DLSS, and in some cases AMD’s FSR, as well as Intel’s new XeSS technology, which is supported by Shadow Tomb Raider and Hitman 3. As we’ve already reminded you, while DLSS remains the property of NVIDIA, FSR and XeSS can be used with all cards from AMD, Intel and even NVIDIA.
The seven DirectX 12 games we’ll be testing with Ray Tracing and DLSS, FSR or XeSS are :
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider (DLSS)
- Watch Dogs: Legion (DLSS)
- Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition (DLSS)
- Far Cry 6 (DLSS – FSR)
- Cyberpunk 2077 (DLSS 3 – FSR)
- Hitman 3 (DLSS 3 – XeSS)
- Forza Horizon 5 (DLSS 3)
No change for this new series of games, as we’re sticking with 1080p definition. Depending on the card, we’ll be using DLSS for NVIDIA and either FSR or XeSS for AMD models. If FSR is not available in a game, then we’ll give our AMD card the benefit of XeSS technology.
DLSS 3: watch out for our results!
As you know, NVIDIA unveiled DLSS 3 with the arrival of the RTX 4000 graphics cards, and in particular with the launch of the RTX 4090 version. So why the warning? Because NVIDIA now offers DLSS3 support on many games, but this is only supported by RTX 4000s. To put it simply, if we test a game that benefits from DLSS 3, our RTX 4060 Ti will take advantage of it, but an RTX 30xx will make do with DLSS 2, resulting in even greater discrepancies.
We currently have three games that support DLSS 3, and we’ll be increasing this number over the coming weeks. Updating all our graphics to 1080p and 1440p has taken us a long time. You can find the list of compatible games by following this link.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider:
First, which we’re adding to this comparison and which supports Ray Tracing and DLSS 2.0. Three levels of Ray Tracing are offered in the game (medium – high – ultra) and the four levels of DLSS (performance – quality – balanced – ultra performance).
For our benchmarks, we opted for ” very high ” graphics quality, ” ultra ” Ray Tracing and ” balanced ” DLSS.
With Ray Tracing activated in ultra, an average of 133 FPS is already achieved. The addition of DLSS 2.3 allowed our average to climb to 164 FPS, so there was no difficulty in enjoying 1080p with Ray Tracing enabled. In this first game, our RTX 4060 Ti outperformed the RTX 3070 FE!
As a side note, Shadow Of The Tomb Raider was equipped with XeSS, enabling AMD cards to benefit from this technology. You can still judge the difference in performance between the two technologies.
Watch Dogs Legion:
Second game, Watch Dogs Legion supports Ray Tracing and DLSS 2.0. It proves to be one of the most demanding games of the moment. The game features three Ray Tracing levels (medium – high – ultra) and four DLSS levels (performance – quality – balanced – ultra performance).
For our benchmarks, we opted for very high graphics quality, ” high ” Ray Tracing and ” balanced ” DLSS.
The Ray Tracing in Watch Dogs Legion is starting to take its toll on the cards, but our sample of the day fares rather well, achieving an average of 78 FPS. Activating DLSS 2 will boost FPS to an average of 101 frames per second. Once again, our sample of the day outperforms the RTX 3070 FE!
Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition:
Third game to support DLSS 2.0. The game offers three levels of Ray Tracing and four levels of DLSS (performance – quality – balanced – ultra performance).
For our benchmarks, we opted for ultra graphics quality, ” ultra ” Ray Tracing and DLSS in ” balanced ” mode.
Continuing with the greedy games, it’s only our RTX 4060 Ti that once again takes the lead over the RTX 3070, with an average of 73.5 FPS. DLSS in “balanced” mode delivers a gain of almost 52%.
Far Cry 6:
Far Cry 6 supports DXR and AMD’s FSR, but not DLSS.
For our benchmarks, we opted for Ultra graphics quality, activated both DRX options and FSR in ” balanced ” mode.
In Far Cry 6, FSR is the only choice available to boost FPS after enabling Ray Tracing. All our cards can benefit from this, regardless of manufacturer. Nothing really changes in the hierarchy, with the RTX 4060 Ti still on a par with the RTX 3070.
Cyberpunk 2077:
We’ve added a new game whose settings enable both DLSS and FSR. Note that this is the first game to enable DLSS3 for RTX 40xx graphics cards.
For our benchmarks, we opted for “high” graphics quality, “medium” Ray Tracing and ” balanced ” DLSS/FSR.
This is the most demanding game, where our cards have great difficulty keeping up. Here, an average of 57.3 FPS is achieved. DLSS 3, which we mentioned at the start of this page, offers a very significant gain, as you can see from our graph. DLSS2 gives the RTX 3070 a 67% gain, while DLSS3 gives our RTX 460 Ti a 156% gain!
Hitman 3:
Hitman 3 now supports DLSS, FSR and XeSS technology. Depending on the model of card tested, we opt for one of these three technologies.
For our benchmarks, we opted for “high” graphics quality, ” enabled ” Ray Tracing and ” balanced ” DLSS/Xess.
We found a situation already familiar from our RTX 4060 Ti at the level of the RTX 3070. Although it supports DLSS 3, we were unable to judge a greater discrepancy when using our RTX 4060 Ti, since the DLSS3 option remains grayed out, even though our game is perfectly up to date. Let’s find out what’s causing the problem.
Forza Horizon 5:
The latest game to be added to our panel, as it is now compatible with DLSS 3 technology. For our benchmarks, we opted for ” extreme ” graphics quality, ” extreme ” Ray Tracing and ” balanced ” DLSS/Xess.
This new game, which also supports DLSS 3, clearly shows its potential. With Ray Tracing enabled, our RTX 4060 Ti takes second place, but with DLSS 3 active, the clear advantage goes to our sample of the day, with a gain of 24% versus 6.7% for the RTX 3070.
So Ray Tracing with the MSI RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G :
In our seven games tested, our MSI RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G had no problems whatsoever, and apart from Cyberpunk 2077, the average was always over 60 FPS. The good news is that when we use Ray Tracing, the RTX 4060 Ti often performs as well as the RTX 3070. We were also able to judge the undeniable benefits of DLSS3. Once the hardware launches have calmed down a little, we’ll be back with more details on DLSS3, including comparative videos and photos.
[nextpage title=”Temperature, power consumption and noise: “]
Temperature :
To record temperatures, we opted for the Superposition stress test in Extreme mode. We opted for three 5-minute runs with 10-minute intervals between each test. We took advantage of this benchmark to record the graphics card’s power consumption for the table above.
To find out the Idle temperature, after completing the three stress test loops, we let the card rest for 20 minutes before taking the temperature reading. Bear in mind that most boards benefit from “0 dBa” technology, so the fans cut out below a certain temperature, often between 50 and 55°C. It therefore takes longer to dissipate heat after a period of stress testing or gaming. A card that does not benefit from this technology will be noisier than others at rest. A quick reminder: our temperature readings are taken in Open-Air. In a closed case, the cards will inevitably be warmer.
As we expected, temperatures are excellent, thanks to the proven cooling system. This cooling system should enable us to take advantage of the system’s overclocking potential, but also considerably reduce noise pollution. The fans on our MSI RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G remain idle when temperatures are cool.
Power consumption (entire configuration) :
We use a wattmeter to measure power consumption at the output of our power supply. Our modular power supply is a CORSAIR AX1600i. The result is the average total power consumption of our configuration. Only the graphics card changes between each reading. So it’s easy to calculate the difference between each graphics card.
We suspected as much, but we were pleasantly surprised by the overall power consumption of our MSI RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G configuration, which averaged 237.2 watts. Please note that the benchmark used only applies to the GPU. For gaming use, the overall power consumption of our configuration will be higher, but this applies to all our graphics cards.
This result is an excellent surprise, and in line with the new finesse of the engraving. Our RTX 4060 Ti does almost as well as the RX 6600, which is the best card in our table! As soon as we get our hands on the PCAT tool or the new version of the ElmorLabs PMD Power Measurement Device supporting 12+4 pins, we’ll update this chart again, isolating only the graphics card.
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Now it’s time to give you our impressions of this MSI RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G. In terms of raw performance, this new GPU logically does better than its equivalent of the previous generation, with an average of 13%, but also comes very close to the RTX 3070. Although its preferred definition will remain 1080p, you’ll have no trouble at all with 1440p rasterization.
As soon as we activate Ray Tracing in 1080p, performance is as good as ever, if not even better, since we’re on a par with the RTX 3070. DLSS is just as effective as ever, and compatibility with DLSS3 enables you to significantly increase FPS, as demonstrated by our results in Cyberpunk 2077.
So, is 8 GB currently enough?
Although we don’t yet have recent games like Hogwarts Legacy in our test panel, we haven’t encountered any problems overall, except with Watch Dogs Legion, which warns us if we turn the game’s graphics quality up to ultra. At the moment, you shouldn’t encounter any problems, but it’s hard to say what will happen in the years to come. Now, let’s not lie to ourselves, everyone knows that next-generation cards will be even more powerful, but if we stay in this vein, you’ll never buy a new GPU.
But who is this card aimed at? Personally, we think that gamers who still have a previous-generation card, such as the RTX 3060 Ti and its 8 GB RAM, won’t be particularly interested in this model unless they’re looking for DLSS3. On the other hand, those with a Turing card, such as the RTX 2060 Super, may find this upgrade much more interesting. The second-hand market and the rock-bottom prices currently offered by AMD don’t simplify the choice for potential buyers either.
What about the future 16 GB model?
We’ll also find out what to make of the RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB in a few weeks’ time, as this may well raise doubts in the minds of some potential buyers, who may wonder why the top model, the RTX 4070, has only 12 GB. We’ll be back this week with more details on the technical reasons for this choice. But the good news is that the 16 GB model will remain identical in all respects to the 8 GB version, which was not always the case in the previous generation.
As for our model of the day, the MSI RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G, we have nothing to reproach it with, except perhaps for a cooling system that’s perhaps too imposing. MSI offers a version with just two fans, which will surely be more than enough to keep this RTX 4060 Ti cool. There’s still the question of price, which is $459 on Newegg at the moment of the publication of this article. Let’s hope it’s not too high, as it would be very difficult for MSI to justify such a price, given that the Founders Edition is already priced at $399.
MSI RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G:
We liked:
- A card for full 1080p and 1440p rasterization
- Ray Tracing performance equivalent to the RTX 3070
- Well thought-out power supply with quality components
- Excellent cooling system combined with low noise levels
- Extremely low noise levels
- Significantly improved power consumption!
- Founders Edition board design quality
- Price consistent with the previous generation
- DLSS 3 support and the arrival of more and more compatible games
- NVIDIA software suite
We would have liked :
- A 16 GB version arriving at the same time
- A smaller format, especially given the size of the PCB
- To know the launch price, and especially that it’s not too high compared to the Founders Edition
This MSI RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G perfectly fulfills its objectives, offering better performance than the previous generation. The gain can be as much as 14%, with excellent power consumption and DLSS3 support, which also remains a major asset. We’re also eagerly awaiting the arrival of the RTX 4060, scheduled for July at an even more affordable price. Many thanks to MSI France for making this sampleavailable.
UPDATE: this MSI RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio can be found at $459, which represents an extra $60, justified by the cooling system, in-house PCB, etc. by MSI. Now, if this price is justified by MSI in relation to the investment in the card, the bill is becoming very (too) much for this range of GPUs. Let’s hope NVIDIA lowers the price of its chip in the coming weeks.