2023 continues to be a bad year for PC gaming, as Alex recently returned to Jedi Survivor to see if he fixed the game’s long-running shader compilation stumbling block and improved performance. This is the first news thread on this week’s DF Direct show, where Alex concluded that despite higher frame rates after subsequent patches, the underlying stuttering issue had not been resolved – and that interruption detracted from the Metroidvania-esque joy of discovering new regions. It’s a shame, but it’s a topic we’ve covered before in some detail – so the focus of this blog will be on another PC gaming topic covered by Alex, John and Rich in this week’s episode: the RTX 4060 and the 4060 Ti’s recent announcement.
In short, it’s clear from the response to our article announcing the cards and similar discussions elsewhere that many people are a little upset by what Nvidia has revealed. It’s nice to see a successor to the 3060 Ti, given the price/performance ratio of this card in the last generation, and it’s nice to have the 16GB version of the card…but with the 16GB model coming two months after the vanilla 8GB card and costing $100 More, neither of them seem to offer a great value proposition.
The 8GB model matches the price of the 3060 Ti and 2060 Super, at $399, yet that 8GB of VRAM feels a little weak in 2023 — especially considering recent PC releases have suffered so hard on 8GB cards. It’s possible to get around this with judicious settings options, but that’s not where you want to be right after buying a shiny new graphics card — even a mid-range one!
The 16GB model fixes this problem, but at $499 it seems pretty expensive for a card that only offers 1.15 times the performance of the 3060 Ti launched in 2020. And if you’re considering the 16GB 4060 Ti, why not go for the $599 . 4070, which might see its first cuts in a few months? Of course, DLSS 3 frame generation adds some value versus older GPUs, but you’d expect the reaction to be dramatically different had Nvidia announce a $449 or even $399 16GB card.
The RTX 4060 seems to be in a slightly stronger place; At $299, it’s $30 cheaper than the RTX 3060’s and $50 cheaper than the RTX 2060’s MSRP. Its specs point to good performance for the money, too, compared to the 4060 Ti, but real-world benchmarks should confirm that. Buffering 8GB frames was also still an issue, even for a card that rendered at 1080p, especially considering its predecessor was a 12GB GPU. This is a logical cut when examining the memory subsystem Nvidia is working with, but it looks strange at best to the average unquoted gamer.
- 00:00:00 Introduction
- 00:00:52 News 01: Jedi Survivor PC Performance Update!
- 00:17:04 News 02: RTX 4060 and 4060 Ti GPUs announced
- 00:48:20 News 03: Contemporary games in a tough area?
- 01:00:48 Booster Q1: Is there really a need for improved consoles when we have so few proper current-gen games?
- 01:07:17 Booster Q2: Do you think games like Callisto Protocol or Jedi Survivor would benefit from the 40 FPS mode?
- 01:12:32 Supporter Q3: Do you have any thoughts on viewing Layers of Fear supported by UE5 on PC?
- 01:16:51 Booster Q4: Does Rich have any new ideas on how to handle CPU video reviews?
- 01:25:32 Pro Q5: Has the workflow in capturing and producing HDR game videos improved over the past few years?
- 01:32:25 Booster Q6: John’s room tour. when?
Elsewhere in Direct, John criticized the current poor state of day one code on PC and console, particularly with regards to the amount of money and time required to make a modern game – but with so many unfinished games arriving, we often see discounts popping up quickly, lowering the price. Publisher takeovers to the point where these AAA releases seem increasingly unstable. Live service games have the potential to become Destiny or Genshin Impact, but a lot of developers also spent a huge amount of money with their direct service titles which sank right after they were released.
The poor state of recent games at launch also affects physical disc collectors and overall preservation efforts. After all, with a one-day patch required in almost all cases — and, in some games, many more before a title reaches a properly playable state — what’s the point of keeping a game disc if the update servers are shut down?
While this week’s news topics can be a little depressing, we can always count on our cadre of DF supporters to bring you some great questions on a much broader spectrum of positivity, fun, and insight. The main question this week was about the idea of a mid-gen console refresh – something we’ve gotten used to over the past few generations, but does this strategy make sense in the context of this generation’s very long crossover period and diminishing returns when it comes to newer processing nodes and unit cost savings? CPU/GPU over time?
I won’t reprint the entire discussion here – check out the time stamped link above to check out the relevant section – but I will say that having said on a few occasions that there’s no need for a PS5 Pro or Xbox Series Z, our “collective attitude … is changing”, as Rich says. After all, an Xbox One X style upgrade to faster components doesn’t really make sense, but we’d be foolish to rule one out. s Mode upgrade that adds live broadcast quality improvements or optional features that developers can take advantage of, such as custom AI upscaling silicon…
Otherwise, the gang talks about 40fps modes for more console games and the UE5-powered Layers of Fear demo, as well as sharing some behind-the-scenes thoughts — including Rich’s recent musings on CPU ratings, and HDR video workflows. Alex and John’s much-requested tour of the room. It’s all luminous stuff, and it’s all thanks to our customers. If you’d like to play your part in influencing these discussions, you know what we like to say: join us!
Manage your cookie settings
#Weekly #RTX #specs #reveal #reigniting #8GB #VRAM #debate