The world of custom RTX 4060 graphics cards
The world of custom RTX 4060 graphics cards is sure to receive little enthusiasm, but there's a good reason to embrace the strange variation of AIB designs. The official announcement of the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB, which you can read about here, is a good time to go over just how experimental and strange some of these third-party designs are, and why this card in particular affords such wild design variations.
The RTX 4060 has been met with mixed reviews, from its spec falling short of its predecessor, the RTX 3060, to the $299 price tag seemingly being a bit too much. However, the low power operation of the RTX 4060 allows manufacturers to experiment with aftermarket designs, which breathe life into the otherwise drab entry to the RTX 40-series.
In the past, we've seen unique designs for GTX 1050 Tis, where they swapped out the usual single fan with a more efficient two-fan solution. We've also seen experimentation with AMD cards, such as creating a passive cooler for the RX 6400. These strange ideas breathe life into the GPU market, and we should continue to keep up the tradition.
Lenovo has yet to announce a GeForce RTX 4060, but we wouldn't be surprised to see one hit retailers in the future. A mini-PC enthusiast would likely love to pack the benefits of a 40-series card into a mini PC, especially as the power draw is so low.
The Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4060 Trigon has been met with an interesting third fan solution, which may not actually be necessary. However, it does give an entry-level GPU a more impressive look and feel.
If you're looking for something a little more flexible, Palit has introduced an RTX 4060 with a physical x8 PCIe connector. This allows manufacturers to take the internal components and configure them to their liking, which may come in handy for mining.
There's certainly more variance in RTX 4060 AIB designs compared to higher-powered graphics cards, and this is because of the spec and technology used under the hood. Built around TSMC's 4nm process, an RTX 4060 features 24 streaming multiprocessors and 3072 CUDA cores.
The RTX 4060's spec may fall short of its predecessor, but the 8GB card features an impressive 1152MHz boost clock. This improved performance-per-watt allows manufacturers to experiment with aftermarket solutions, and this particular model from Palit uses a custom cooler and a PCIe x8 slot.
Ultimately, we'll have to wait and see what the RTX 4060 can actually do, as its performance will determine whether or not it's worth buying. However, if you're looking for a cheap GPU for 1080p, there are better options available.
