RTX4060 8gb vs RTX3060 12gb for 4k

[Psittac]

An online buddy of mine that I talk to every day is on a fixed income and his PC is rather old and causes him anxiety about the idea of it dying.

 

I have been trying to figure out the most cost effective way to get him an upgraded system before his poops out and watching scrap yard wars I figured I would check out jawa again, now I'm pondering getting him a piece at a time until he has a completely new to him system.

 

They have a 3060 12g but bestbuy has a new 4060 for $60usd more.  All thing's equal what would be a better option for him?  I'm thinking of an AM4 system in the long run with 32gb of ram and he runs on a 4k TV probably at 60hz

[Eigenvektor]

8 minutes ago, Psittac said:

now I'm pondering getting him a piece at a time until he has a completely new to him system.

That's not really a cost effective way to go about it. Why replace parts before they're actually dead. Depending on how long into the future that is, you can probably get a better deal at that time (same hardware for less or newer hardware for the same)

 

11 minutes ago, Psittac said:

They have a 3060 12g but bestbuy has a new 4060 for $60usd more.

How much does $60 mean in %? The 4060 has roughly 20% better performance.

 

That said, neither is particularly great for 4K and a lack of VRAM on the 4060 isn't particularly good for longevity either. Unless your friend needs the best RT or CUDA, I'd also take AMD cards into consideration, since they're usually better in terms of perf/$

[WereCat]

1 hour ago, Eigenvektor said:

That's not really a cost effective way to go about it. Why replace parts before they're actually dead. Depending on how long into the future that is, you can probably get a better deal at that time (same hardware for less or newer hardware for the same)

 

How much does $60 mean in %? The 4060 has roughly 20% better performance.

 

That said, neither is particularly great for 4K and a lack of VRAM on the 4060 isn't particularly good for longevity either. Unless your friend needs the best RT or CUDA, I'd also take AMD cards into consideration, since they're usually better in terms of perf/$

Arguably the 4060 is the worse card despite having more raw performance. 

 

It's very limited by it's 8GB of VRAM, it's bus width and it's PCIe lanes (if used on older system with just PCIe 3.0).

[Psittac]

2 hours ago, Eigenvektor said:

That's not really a cost effective way to go about it. Why replace parts before they're actually dead. Depending on how long into the future that is, you can probably get a better deal at that time (same hardware for less or newer hardware for the same)

Well the thing is that my money comes in randomly, it's easier for me to afford several small purchases rather than one large purchase.  Also, even though we have each others information I'd rather avoid him being without his PC for any amount of time.  So if we can avoid down time that is worth a hit to performance and/or cost.

 

20+ years ago all I had was my computer, in many ways.  If it broke I would spaz and freak out and cobble together components I had so I could at least get online while I waited for newegg to somehow replace my mb yet again.  While he has a far more varied life than I did back then, I can relate to the woes of losing your connection with basically everything.  Fuhq a phone, PC only.

 

Also I have a bare bones Alienware that I might send to him if the shipping isn't too bad, at least less than a case/mb/psu/hsf.

 

I'm contemplating getting him some ram to match his PC now so he has 32gb now and will hopefully run on the Dell frame.

[Eigenvektor]

5 hours ago, Psittac said:

Well the thing is that my money comes in randomly, it's easier for me to afford several small purchases rather than one large purchase.

Any time you can afford a part, put the money you would have spent to the side and consider it spent. It'll add up and at some point you can afford one large purchase. At least that's what I would do.

[Psittac]

12 hours ago, Eigenvektor said:

Any time you can afford a part, put the money you would have spent to the side and consider it spent. It'll add up and at some point you can afford one large purchase. At least that's what I would do.

Doesn't work unfortunately, I've tried in the past.  I'm far to impulsive and would buy something for my car or headphones or something else useless

[Mihle]

21 hours ago, Shloopingle said:

Neither at 4K...

Just upscale from 1440p with DLSS in games that need it.

Some games is easy to run.

 

But yeah, do not buy GPU with 8GB VRAM, it's too little.

[Psittac]

On 8/28/2024 at 1:36 AM, Mihle said:

Just upscale from 1440p with DLSS in games that need it.

Some games is easy to run.

 

But yeah, do not buy GPU with 8GB VRAM, it's too little.

 

On 8/27/2024 at 4:07 AM, Shloopingle said:

Neither at 4K...

well.... He's running a 1660 right now so no matter what it'll be an upgrade

[starsmine]

On 8/27/2024 at 6:07 AM, Shloopingle said:

Neither at 4K...

I run my 3060 12GB at 4k Semi regularly. Its mostly older games, but once in a while a new one like RE4R

[starsmine]

3 minutes ago, Shloopingle said:

Avoiding FSR or using a lower res than native is always the best, unless you like very parred back visuals, saying that it's not as if games can't look good on close to lowest settings.

.... sorry I should have said, at max or near max settings. 
RE4R I used DLSS on yes. 
Like I can play Mass effect enhanced maxed out on it.

[starsmine]

2 minutes ago, Shloopingle said:

I agree until you try playing something like Remnant 2 or anything that basically has a PS5 / XBOX ONE X exclusive release and is not made for XBONE or PS4, it all goes to crap.

cool then you can play at 1440p and run dlss. 
the 4060 8GB may get better fps at 4k (and 1440p) in games that use less then 8gb of ram, but games that use 10GB like ps5/xbox one X ports. dont run better on the 4060.

I personally would not buy EITHER card today. I would get an AMD card if buying today, or wait for blackwell in Q1 2025

[starsmine]

17 minutes ago, Shloopingle said:

So you buy a 1440P screen, not 4K.

 

This is why I originally said neither at 4K.

The TV is 4k. my main screen is 1440p

OP is talking about playing the odd game on the 4k TV. We are not talking about the main monitor.

no one buys a 1440p TV.

[Mihle]

3 hours ago, Shloopingle said:

We are not here to discuss your monitors and TV's, you directly quoted me because I said not 4K with either of them, I have explained to you why as the only information the OP gave was 4K.

 

The 3060 and 4060 are too weak regardless of memory config.

 

 

I don't know about that game, but I would turn down settings from ultra to high to play at higher resolution (at the same FPS), if I need to, any day of the week.

 

And I don't think you should make decisions on what monitor to use on the worst case scenario game.

 

We also don't know for sure what games OP is going to play.

 

And you can use upscaling like DLSS.

[Zodiark1593]

I actually have both, the 3060 12G in my old desktop, and a laptop 4060 (basically the same as the desktop card, just slightly slower clocks and more L2) in a machine I picked up on a really sweet discount. 
 

The RTX 4060 certainly is more performant, and it’s quite efficient (more appreciable in a laptop), but all the performance and efficiency in the world is worthless once that 8 GB VRAM is hit. 
 

Both cards are not well suited to native 4K in modern titles, though I frequently play older games at 1440P and 4K. Devil May Cry 5 does net 4K 60 fps on the 4060. Spyro Reignited falls ever so slightly short at 4K. Final Fantasy XII runs beautifully at 4K. If I’m willing to take the fan noise, I can even push 4x MSAA and Full Precision AO, which the desktop 3060 could not do. 
 

Cyberpunk 2077, native 1080P with optimized settings (no RT) has me at between 80-100 fps. Looks fine enough upscaled to 4K. I often run frame gen on the laptop (when gaming on the internal panel) to allow the fans to run a bit slower, while still hitting the 144 hz cap pretty solidly. 
 

Running RT though, does push things a bit over the limit. On the internal panel, I can do RT Lighting on Medium, and still get solid performance at native 1200P. Adding reflections does drop me down pretty harshly, 30s or so, requiring DLSS Quality to claw back performance. 
 

Connected to my 4K tv is where that VRAM really hurts. With my optimized raster settings plus above RT effects, with DLSS at Ultra Performance (720P render res), the stuttering is pretty lousy. 
 

As for the 3060, if your target framerate is 60 fps, probably best to pretend RT doesn’t exist (30 fps is probably doable). It’s excellent for Blender (rendering via Optix is amazing), but not really fast enough to be useful for gaming. 
 

And the 4060 is a decent enough laptop GPU, if the price is right, but pretty lackluster for desktop, where the efficiency doesn’t do much for it. 

[Psittac]

I almost love how this has become a biker fest between the (more than likely) regulars from this sub-forum.  I spend most of my time on the audio sub-section and while some people have wildly different concepts and obvious bias, I've learned to make peace with them and accept their opinions.  Though sound is far more subjective imo than visual.  There are legitimate actual numbers you can put on GPU's because it's purely math.  While there is subjectivity to a point given all the variables, someone could conceivably test every parameter with repeatable numbers.

 

On 8/30/2024 at 2:21 AM, Mihle said:

I don't know about that game, but I would turn down settings from ultra to high to play at higher resolution (at the same FPS), if I need to, any day of the week.

 

And I don't think you should make decisions on what monitor to use on the worst case scenario game.

 

We also don't know for sure what games OP is going to play.

 

And you can use upscaling like DLSS.

He doesn't play much for demanding titles other than Diablo 4.  It's valheim and Eve Online right now with some forays into various low demanding games.  I think that DLSS is a great idea.

 

As for eye candy vs resolution I figure he can decide when he gets the hardware.

 

On 8/30/2024 at 6:43 PM, Zodiark1593 said:

I actually have both, the 3060 12G in my old desktop, and a laptop 4060 (basically the same as the desktop card, just slightly slower clocks and more L2) in a machine I picked up on a really sweet discount. 
 

The RTX 4060 certainly is more performant, and it’s quite efficient (more appreciable in a laptop), but all the performance and efficiency in the world is worthless once that 8 GB VRAM is hit. 
 

Both cards are not well suited to native 4K in modern titles, though I frequently play older games at 1440P and 4K. Devil May Cry 5 does net 4K 60 fps on the 4060. Spyro Reignited falls ever so slightly short at 4K. Final Fantasy XII runs beautifully at 4K. If I’m willing to take the fan noise, I can even push 4x MSAA and Full Precision AO, which the desktop 3060 could not do. 
 

Cyberpunk 2077, native 1080P with optimized settings (no RT) has me at between 80-100 fps. Looks fine enough upscaled to 4K. I often run frame gen on the laptop (when gaming on the internal panel) to allow the fans to run a bit slower, while still hitting the 144 hz cap pretty solidly. 
 

Running RT though, does push things a bit over the limit. On the internal panel, I can do RT Lighting on Medium, and still get solid performance at native 1200P. Adding reflections does drop me down pretty harshly, 30s or so, requiring DLSS Quality to claw back performance. 
 

Connected to my 4K tv is where that VRAM really hurts. With my optimized raster settings plus above RT effects, with DLSS at Ultra Performance (720P render res), the stuttering is pretty lousy. 
 

As for the 3060, if your target framerate is 60 fps, probably best to pretend RT doesn’t exist (30 fps is probably doable). It’s excellent for Blender (rendering via Optix is amazing), but not really fast enough to be useful for gaming. 
 

And the 4060 is a decent enough laptop GPU, if the price is right, but pretty lackluster for desktop, where the efficiency doesn’t do much for it. 

Thank you for the first hand comparison.  My take away is that he should take it on a case by case basis, ignore RT or keep it low and if he wants to run native 4k the 12gb is important.  I think I'll get the 3060, however by the time I get some bills paid down I might be looking at a different market.

 

Most of this is pre-emptive to avoid his system borking and being cut off from the world, and at worst have two systems to rely on.