RTX 4060 vs 4070 – The 1080p King or The 1440p Beast?

The Classic RTX 4060 vs 4070 Battle Begins!

With the release of the RTX 5060 and the RTX 5070, many questions are arising, especially when comparing them to the previous generation in the classic RTX 4060 vs. 4070 battle, and whether they remain relevant in 2025.

Both GPUs are from the RTX 40 series, built upon the previous generation of Nvidia’s architecture, Ada Lovelace. Needless to say, both the RTX 4060 and the RTX 4070 remain relevant in 2025.

The RTX 4060 is a budget king, priced at half of the RTX 4070 MSRP, offering decent 1080p gaming performance without breaking the bank. On the other hand, the RTX 4070 is the ultimate beast for 1440p resolution in a lot of AAA titles. Built by Nvidia for gamers striving for a high refresh rate experience, better visual quality, and more VRAM for future-proofing purposes.

But here are the real questions:

Is the RTX 4070 truly worth nearly double the price of the 4060 as of Nvidia’s MSRP?

Does everyone need an RTX 4070?

Can the RTX 4060 handle 1440p without issues?

Can the RTX 4060 be used by content creators or streamers?

What’s the smarter choice for your setup, the RTX 4060 or the RTX 4070?

In this comparison, we’ll answer all of these questions, and to make things simple, I will take your hand, and together we will break down the key differences in technical specs, raw GPU performance, and overall value to help you make the wise decision for your particular setup.

Technical Specs

Table Summary

From the table, it’s easy to see that both the RTX 4060 and the RTX 4070 are built upon the Ada Lovelace architecture and are using the 5 nm microchip provided by TSMC. The RTX 4070 has double the amount of CUDA cores compared to the RTX 4060, which is quite favourable for applications taking advantage of them, such as most Adobe software.

The RTX 4070 has 12 GB of GDDR6X VRAM, which is more future-proof than the 8 GB of GDDR6 VRAM featured in the RTX 4060. Additionally, you will notice that the RTX 4060 can achieve slightly lower base and boost clock speeds, and it has a significantly smaller memory bus compared to the RTX 4070.

The RTX 4060 needs a mere 550W PSU to run; meanwhile, the RTX 4070 requires a strong PSU of 650W. With the RTX 4070 equipped in your PC rig, you will end up paying quite expensive electricity bills as it will consume more electricity during gaming sessions or demanding tasks compared to the RTX 4060.

For example, running a 200W GPU, such as the RTX 4070, for 5 hours a day equates to approximately 1 kWh of energy consumption solely from the GPU.

If you analyse the whole table, you’ll notice that the RTX 4060 is only using PCIe 4.0 x8, even if the GPU comes with the full PCIe 4.0 bus size, and that means the RTX 4060 is only using half the bandwidth data lanes. However, the RTX 4070 is taking advantage of the full PCIe 4.0 x16 bus, which means that it’s using double the bandwidth compared to the RTX 4060.

Both GPUs were launched in the same year and feature Nvidia’s 3rd Gen Ray Tracing Cores and 4th Gen Tensor Cores, as well as support for DLSS 3.5 (Frame Generation), the best upscaling technology available to date. The RTX 4060 is the budget king with an MSRP of just $299, and later, I will show you why I described the RTX 4070 as the 1440p beast.

Gaming Benchmark

This video, created by “KRYZZP,” the owner of the “zWORMz Gaming” channel, summarises the verdict on choosing between an RTX 4060 and an RTX 4070 for gaming.

N.B.: I will not include the 1% low metric in each video game benchmarking test, as it may be too complicated for beginners. It’s generally more important to focus on the average FPS (frames per second) per game. The 1% low is useful for advanced users as it helps them understand the consistency of performance and the smoothness of gameplay.

RTX 4060 1080p Benchmark

All tests were conducted primarily at 1080p with high or ultra presets. DLSS and ray tracing were disabled unless specifically mentioned.

AAA Story-Driven Games

• The Last of Us Part 1 – 80 FPS on high settings at 1080p.
• Red Dead Redemption 2 – 122 FPS at 1080p (custom high settings). At 1440p, performance drops to 80 FPS.
• Cyberpunk 2077 – 80 FPS at 1080p high settings. With RT Ultra + DLSS Quality, it manages around 60 FPS.
• Hogwarts Legacy – 88 FPS at 1080p high settings.
• Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered – 82 FPS at 1080p with ray tracing enabled; without RT, it climbs to 140 FPS.
• Far Cry 6 – 104 FPS at 1080p ultra with ray tracing.
• Resident Evil 4 Remake – 100 FPS at 1080p RT preset.
• Assassin’s Creed Valhalla – 107 FPS at 1080p ultra-high.
• GTA V – 145 FPS at 1080p very high (4xMSAA).

Competitive & Esports Titles

• Forza Horizon 5 – 107 FPS at 1080p extreme settings.
• Valorant – Over 400 FPS at 4K high settings, easily surpassing 1080p/1440p demands.
• CS: GO (CS2) – 400–500 FPS at 1080p low preset.
• Call of Duty Warzone 2 – 90–100 FPS at 1080p ultra, depending on map location.
• Apex Legends – 195 FPS at 1080p, very high.
• Battlefield 2042 – 104 FPS at 1080p high; with DLSS Quality enabled, performance rises to 135 FPS.
• Rainbow Six Siege – 268 FPS at 1080p, very high.
• Fortnite – 204 FPS at 1080p high preset. With Lumen enabled, performance drops to 75 FPS.
• Diablo IV – 107 FPS at 1440p ultra, slightly higher at 1080p.

Can the RTX 4060 handle 1440p without issues?

N.B.: This GPU is not suitable for 2025 titles and beyond at 1440p; there are better GPUs suitable for 1440p. We discussed them in our latest blog posts comparing the RTX 4060 with the RTX 3070 or the RTX 4070 with the RTX 3080.

RTX 4070 1440p Benchmark

All tests were conducted at 1440p with high or ultra presets. DLSS and ray tracing were disabled unless otherwise stated.

AAA Story-Driven Games

• Cyberpunk 2077 – 64 FPS with Ultra RT preset + DLSS Quality. With Frame Generation enabled, performance jumps to 100 FPS.
• The Last of Us Part 1 – 74 FPS at ultra settings, no DLSS or ray tracing.
• Red Dead Redemption 2 – 100 FPS at ultra settings, focused on visual fidelity.
• Hogwarts Legacy – 88 FPS at ultra settings, no DLSS or ray tracing.
• Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered – 150 FPS at very high settings without RT. With RT enabled, FPS drops to 100, but combining RT + DLSS Quality raises it to 120 FPS.
• Dying Light 2 – 95 FPS at high preset using DLSS Quality and ray tracing set to high.
• Elden Ring – 60 FPS at maximum settings (capped). Requires a Nexus Mods fix to uncap.
• Microsoft Flight Simulator – 60 FPS at ultra preset with DLAA. Enabling Frame Generation nearly doubles performance to 110 FPS.
• Assassin’s Creed Valhalla – 115 FPS at ultra-high settings.
• GTA V – 145 FPS at very high preset (4xMSAA).

Competitive & Esports Titles

• Valorant – Up to 525 FPS at high settings.
• Call of Duty Warzone 2 – Around 100 FPS at extreme settings, no DLSS or RT.
• Apex Legends – 220 FPS at high settings.
• Battlefield 2042 – 114 FPS at ultra preset. With DLSS Quality, it climbs to 146 FPS.
• Fortnite – 50 FPS at Epic preset with Lumen ray tracing. Enabling DLSS Quality boosts it to 78 FPS.
• Overwatch 2 – 250 FPS at ultra preset.

Professional Workload & Creative Applications

Why the RTX 4070 Is a No-Brainer for Content Creation?

As I said, when I compared the RTX 3080 vs 4070. The RTX 4070 is a no-brainer choice when it comes to creative applications. The RTX 4070 has the newer “Ada Lovelace” architecture and more VRAM for GPU-intensive applications like Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Blender, Davinci Resolve, and so on. The AV1 encoder featured in this GPU is a blessing for all content creators & streamers out there.

Is the RTX 4060 Good for Creators? AV1 Support vs VRAM Limitations

The RTX 4060 is also a blessing for all creators & streamers out there because it features the same AV1 encoder as the RTX 4070, and it has the newer “Ada Lovelace” architecture. Unfortunately, it has a lower VRAM amount compared to the RTX 4070, and that will be quite a limitation for GPU-intensive applications like Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Blender, Davinci Resolve, and so on.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Does Everyone Need an RTX 4070?

The simple answer is a BIG NO!

If you play video games at 1080p and you think that you want to be a video editor using Premiere Pro or a streamer on Twitch or YouTube. You ONLY need an RTX 4060 regardless of the 8 GB VRAM limitation.

If you want to play the latest video games at 1440p resolution, and you think that you want to work with 3D modelling software, motion graphics, and other GPU-intensive applications. Go for the RTX 4070!

Which One is Worth Your Money in 2025?

If you found the RTX 4070 with a good deal on eBay or other marketplaces, go for it; it has great price/performance value. However, if it’s selling at its full MSRP of $599, and you only need to play at 1080p and do some video editing or streaming. Choose the RTX 4060.

Is The RTX 4070 Worth Double The Price?

If you play video games at 1440p and you need the great raw power of the RTX 4070 and you make money off of your investment, the answer is YES. The RTX 4070 is worth double the price if you didn’t find a good deal or buy it secondhand.

What’s The Wise Option, the RTX 4060 or the RTX 4070?

As I said, for gaming at 1080p, content creation, live streaming, and if you are on a budget. The wise option is the RTX 4060.

For gaming at 1440p, content creation, live streaming, 3D modelling, motion graphics, and you have the money. The wise option is the RTX 4070.

Which One is More Future-Proof?

For future-proofing, the RTX 4070 is the wise option because it has 12 GB VRAM and was built on the newer “Ada Lovelace” Architecture. That’s the most reasonable answer!