MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X Review: Goosed-Up Graphics
Overclocking The MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X
Like previous-gen GeForces, Ada Lovelace-based GeForce RTX 40 series cards feature GPU Boost, which scales frequencies and voltages dynamically, power and temperatures permitting, based on the GPU's workload and other environmental factors. Should a temperature or power limit be reached, GPU Boost will drop down to the previous boost frequency / voltage stepping, to bring power and temperatures down gradually and not cause any significant performance swings. If there is power and thermal headroom, however, the GPU will boost higher. When overclocking, the maximum boost clock and power limit can be tweaked to increase performance with most cards.
MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X Hardware Monitor - Default Settings
Like previous-gen mainstream GeForces, the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X is still voltage or power limited in most circumstances to prevent damage and ensure the card's longevity. It is these limits that will usually be the gating factors in any overclocking efforts. As you can see above, even in its stock configuration, the card was hitting both a power and voltage limit while gaming.
With the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X, the power target can be increased by up to 5% and the max temperature target from 83°C to 88°C. Though the latest version of MSI's Afterburner has the option to alter voltage as well, increasing the GPU voltage will only force the card to hit the power limit faster. >3GHz clocks are still possible without tweaking the voltage.
MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X Hardware Monitor - Overclocked
We used the GPU and memory frequency offsets, along with the power and temperature target sliders available in Afterburner, to manually push the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X's frequencies beyond stock. First, we turned up the temperature and power targets to their maximum values, and then increased the GPU and memory clock offsets until the test system was no longer stable, showed on-screen artifacts, or performance peaked due to hitting the power limit. We did not, however, alter fan speeds because this card ran so cool and quiet without any modifications in that regard.
In its stock configuration, the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X boosted to over 2,850MHz (visible in the screenshot at the top of the page). While overclocked, we were able to take its GPU clock to just over 3GHz (3,060MHz) with a 17.42Gbps memory speed. Even while overclocked, the GPU maxed out at only 67°C, and probably had plenty of frequency headroom to spare.
With the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X overclocked, we saw some nice performance gains. Performance in 3DMark Speedway jumped by roughly 5%, and the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X jump out into a lead over the Arc A770 LE. It also matched the RTX 3060 Ti in Returnal at 1440p. It's going to be interesting to see what NVIDIA's partners do with overclocked RTX 4060s over time, but there's clearly lot of headroom to play with in the AD107.
Total System Power Consumption
Throughout all of our benchmarking and testing, we also monitored noise output and tracked how much power the GPUs were consuming in our test system. Our goal here is to give you an idea as to how much power each GPU used while idle and also while under a heavy workload. These power numbers were captured during Luxmark and F1 2022 testing, with ray-tracing enabled, and are representative of total system power consumption:
The MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X was the most power friendly card we tested. Despite offering better overall performance than the mainstream Radeons like the RX 6600 XT and RX 7600, the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X consumed less power under load while gaming or during the OpenCL test. That's a testament to the AD107's efficiency.
MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X Review Summary & Conclusion
The MSRP for GeForce RTX 4060 cards starts at $299, which is about $30 lower than the RTX 3060's launch price and $50 below the RTX 2060's. The makes standard GeForce RTX 4060s about $30 more than the recently-launched Radeon RX 7600. As we said yesterday, "At its expected price point, the GeForce RTX 4060 represents a decent value, especially in light of its all-around performance and low power consumption." The MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X, however, arrives at $329. That's a 10% premium for a very minor bump in performance. The 8GB of memory on the card may also be off-putting for some. If that 8GB is a no-go for you, the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB will be available in a few more weeks, and prices on Radeon RX 67x0 XT cards have dropped precipitously in light of recent GPU launces.
We consider the $299 GeForce RTX 4060 a good option for gamers with 1080p monitors, that don't have the budget for a higher-end card. It isn't an upgrade for anyone with an RTX 3060 Ti or better, but anyone still gaming on a GeForce GTX 1060, RTX 2060, or even a 1600-series card, will gain significant performance, power efficiency, and all of the features of NVIDIA's Ada architecture, like DLSS 3 and AV1 encoding. That $30 additional premium for MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X is difficult to justify, however, considering performance alone. The MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X does have a nice, compact form factor that won't encroach on a third slot, it's technically faster than standard RTX 4060s, and it also sports some lighting that's not present on most standard cards. If those features appeal to you, the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X is a solid graphics card, but keep in mind that investing a few more dollars could net significantly more performance as prices on previous-gen cards continue to drop.
