You generally expect that a new generation of graphics cards will outperform the previous generation, but we’re in a precarious spot this time around. Nvidia’s recent RTX 4060 Ti hasn’t been met with a warm reception, and cheaper last-gen options like the RX 6700 XT have looked increasingly attractive as their prices come down.
Contents
- Where’s the value?
- Is the RTX 4060 Ti faster than the RX 6700 XT?
- The ray tracing wrench
- Should you buy the RTX 4060 Ti or RX 6700 XT?
I threw both cards on my test bench to see which is the better one to buy, and there’s a clear winner. There are some important considerations to keep in mind before picking up either GPU, though.
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Where’s the value?
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
The RX 6700 XT and RTX 4060 Ti are supposed to be in different GPU classes. However, the RX 6700 XT is from AMD’s previous generation, so its list price of nearly $500 has come down significantly, competing well with the $400 list price of the RTX 4060 Ti.
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Given how new the RTX 4060 Ti is, you’ll spend at least $400 on one. Rumors of price cuts have floated around, but they haven’t manifested in the U.S. Thankfully, plenty of options at list price are in stock at retailers like Newegg and Micro Center. If you want an overclocked model or a card tricked out with RGB, you can spend upwards of $470.
Stock is drying up for the RX 6700 XT, but I found models as cheap as $310 online. Some models are closer to $350, and I even found one selling for $390, but you can expect to spend somewhere in the range of $310 to $350 if you pick one up now.
Thankfully, there’s a lot more stock of the updated RX 6750 XT. It’s a slightly faster version of the RX 67o0 XT — somewhere around 5% to 10%, depending on the game — but you can make up most of that gap by overclocking a base model. If you’re interested in the updated model, though, you won’t spend much more. The cheapest option I found was $330, but models fall in the range of $360 to $400.
The clear value winner is the RX 6700 XT. It’s anywhere from $50 to $90 cheaper than the RTX 4060 Ti, and as I’ll dig into in the next section, it offers very similar performance. Outside of price, its a better value due to its VRAM configuration.
It usually isn’t worth comparing specs between two graphics cards from two different brands, but the RX 6700 XT has a unique advantage over the RTX 4060 Ti. It comes with 12GB of video memory, while the RTX 4060 Ti only comes with 8GB. The RX 6700 XT also has a larger 192-bit memory bus (compared to 128-bit on the RTX 4060 Ti), offering higher overall memory bandwidth.
That impacts performance, which you can see in my testing. The RX 6700 XT scales better up to higher resolutions than the RTX 4060 Ti, making it a solid option for 1440p gaming. In addition, the rising VRAM demands in modern games means it’s much better equipped to handle new releases, while the RTX 4060 Ti seems destined to be limited by its 8GB of memory.
Is the RTX 4060 Ti faster than the RX 6700 XT?
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
Yes, it is, but there’s more to the story. As you can see in my 1080p benchmarks above, the RTX 4060 Ti is slightly faster than the RX 6700 XT on average. There are some huge gains, such as a 28% increase in Red Dead Redemption 2, but most differences are more tame. For instance, the RTX 4060 Ti is around 5% faster in Horizon Zero Dawn.
It’s not a clear victory for the RTX 4060 Ti, though. In Hogwarts Legacy, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and Returnal, the RTX 4060 Ti and RX 6700 XT produced almost identical frame rates. The RX 6700 XT also takes a huge lead of 32% in The Last of Us Part 1, stressing how limited the 8GB frame buffer can be on the RTX 4060 Ti.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
Things change a lot at 1440p. The leads the RTX 4060 Ti established at 1080p shrink to only a few frames, all while the RX 6700 XT maintains a solid lead in The Last of Us Part 1. There are differences — the RX 6700 XT is slightly faster in Forza Horizon 5, while the RTX 4060 Ti takes a similar lead in Cyberpunk 2077 — but the cards are offering almost identical experiences.
What’s interesting is how the RX 6700 XT closes the gap at 1440p compared to 1080p. Its 12GB of VRAM helps in demanding games like The Last of Us Part 1, but it also allows the card to maintain high performance as you increase the resolution.
For what it’s worth, Nvidia has marketed the RTX 4060 Ti as a graphics card for 1080p. However, in the previous generation, the $400 price point was firmly centered around 1440p, and there’s no reason that should change this time around. A GPU like the RX 6700 XT is a testament to that, offering excellent 1440p gaming performance for even less than the RTX 4060 Ti.
With price in mind, the pick is the RX 6700 XT. That’s even more true if you can find a deal on the RX 6750 XT, which offers a minor performance boost over the base model.
The ray tracing wrench
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
The RX 6700 XT is a better value than the RTX 4060 Ti, but that assessment changes once you factor in ray tracing. As you can see from my 1080p ray tracing benchmarks above, the RTX 4060 Ti is around twice as fast as the RX 6700 XT in some games.
That isn’t to say the RX 6700 XT is down and out. In less demanding ray tracing titles, such as Returnal and Resident Evil 4, the graphics card still provides playable frame rates. In the most demanding situations, however, the RX 6700 XT falls far behind while the RTX 4060 Ti maintains solid performance.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
At 1440p, the situation is worse. The RX 6700 XT closes the gap in Resident Evil 4, mainly due to how demanding that game is with VRAM, but it still takes a clear backseat in other titles. That can make a significant difference in some cases, too. For instance, in Returnal, the RTX 4060 Ti is providing a clear 60 frames per second (fps), allowing you to play with ray tracing without upscaling. The RX 6700 XT can’t hit that mark.
I ran all of these tests without any super resolution features. The RTX 4060 Ti has access to Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), while the RX 6700 XT can use AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) — and you’d want to turn one of them on if you plan to run a ray tracing title.
The Nvidia GPU has an advantage here. Not only does DLSS look better than FSR, but the RTX 4060 Ti also supports DLSS Frame Generation. Returnal, Cyberpunk 2077, and Hogwarts Legacy all support Frame Generation, which uses AI to predict every other frame.
It massively improves performance, and allows the RTX 4060 Ti to hit higher levels of smoothness in the most demanding games. Although the RX 6700 XT is the value pick, there’s no doubt that the RTX 4060 Ti is the better option if you want to turn on ray tracing and access features like DLSS 3 in the latest games.
Should you buy the RTX 4060 Ti or RX 6700 XT?
As I’ve said in the past, Nvidia’s most recent GPUs are essentially little DLSS 3 machines. The RTX 4060 Ti is no different. Judging it by its merits as a GPU, it falls short of the RX 6700 XT, offering similar performance for a higher price and a memory configuration that could have dire implications in future games.
The RTX 4060 Ti has an advantage still, mainly for those prestige, recent games that have all of the visual bells and whistles. Unfortunately, those are the same games that are likely to run into issues with VRAM, which puts the RTX 4060 Ti in a bad spot.
For my money, the RX 6700 XT is the GPU to buy. It carries caveats, like poor ray tracing performance and no DLSS, but it’s the clear option in the vast majority of games. The big advantage, however, is its 12GB of VRAM, which allows the card to easily scale up to 1440p and handle newer releases that stress video memory.