MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X Review: Goosed-Up Graphics

	MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X: Starting At $329 The MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X takes NVIDIA's reference specs and gooses them up a bit for a minor increase in performance.
	Efficient, Low Power Competitive In Its Class Compact Form Factor Cool And Quiet	Minimal Overclocking Only DP 1.4 Price Premium For Small OC

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NVIDIA officially launched its AD107-based GeForce RTX 4060 yesterday, a $299 graphics card that targets 1080p gamers. Our initial coverage focused on an ASUS card that stuck to NVIDIA’s reference specifications closely and is priced in-line with the MSRP. Today, however, we have another card to show you, the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X. The MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X kicks things up slightly from NVIDIA’s recommended specs with a higher maximum boost clock. And despite offering slightly better performance overall than the ASUS card in our launch coverage, the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X is significantly smaller and doesn’t require sacrificing a third slot. It’s got some integrated lighting too, but also costs a bit more.

Here’s the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X’s main features and specifications for your perusal. Take a gander to set expectations and then we’ll get this party started...

MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X Features & Specifications

MODEL NAME	GeForce RTX 4060 GAMING X 8G
GRAPHICS PROCESSING UNIT	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060
INTERFACE	PCI Express Gen 4 x 8
CORE CLOCKS	Extreme Performance: 2610MHz (MSI Center), Boost: 2595 MHz
CUDA CORES	3072 Units
MEMORY SPEED	17 Gbps
MEMORY	8GB GDDR6
MEMORY BUS	128-bit
OUTPUT	DisplayPort x 3 (v1.4a), HDMI x 1 (Supports 4K@120Hz HDR and 8K@60Hz HDR and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) as specified in HDMI 2.1a)
HDCP SUPPORT	Y
POWER CONSUMPTION	115 W
POWER CONNECTORS	8-pin x 1
RECOMMENDED PSU	550 W
CARD DIMENSION (MM)	247 x 130 x 41 mm
WEIGHT (CARD / PACKAGE)	587g / 1000g
DIRECTX VERSION SUPPORT	12 Ultimate
OPENGL VERSION SUPPORT	4.6
MAXIMUM DISPLAYS	4
G-SYNC TECHNOLOGY	Y
DIGITAL MAXIMUM RESOLUTION	7680 x 4320

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If you haven’t already done so, we recommend checking out our GeForce RTX 4060 launch coverage from yesterday. There are some additional GPU details covered in that piece that we won’t re-hash again here. To quickly reiterate, GeForce RTX 4060 cards are built around NVIDIA's AD107 GPU, which is the smallest, most power-friendly Ada Lovelace-based GPU in the current RTX 40-series line-up.


The AD107 GPU powering the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X is identical to its larger siblings in term of it feature support. It offers the entirety of features inherent to the Ada Lovelace architecture, like DLSS 3 and other NVIDIA technologies like NVIDIA Reflex latency reduction, hardware AV1 encoding (NVENC/NVDEC), NVIDIA Broadcast, Ansel, G-SYNC, Omniverse, optional Studio drivers, and GeForce Experience, to name just a few, but is scaled down to address lower power and performance targets, and a lower price point.

The AD107 as configured on the GeForce RTX 4060 has 3 GPCs, 12 TPCs, 24 SMs, 3,072 CUDA cores, 96 Tensor cores, and 24 RT cores, with a 128-bit memory interface. NVIDIA's reference specs call for a typical boost clock in the 2,460MHz range (this MSI card runs faster, though) and the 8GB of GDDR6 memory on the card operates at an effective data rate of 17Gbps, which equates to just over 272GB/s of memory bandwidth over the card's 128-bit memory interface. The larger L2 cache in the GPU versus previous-gen offerings, however, results in far more efficient use of that memory bandwidth. NVIDIA says that the GeForce RTX 4060's memory bandwidth is roughly equivalent to an Ampere GPU with 453GB/s of bandwidth.

Meet The MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X

In terms of its features and specifications, the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X closely matches NVIDIA’s reference spec save for its max boost frequency. Obviously, all base-model (not Ti) GeForce RTX 4060s are powered by the same GPU, but they also have identical memory configurations. Coolers and PCB designs will vary from card to card, however. Getting back to the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X, it offers two modes of operation, and "Extreme Performance" mode with a 2,610MHz boost clock and a standard mode with a 2,595 MHz boost clock. Note, however, that to enable Extreme Performance, you must install the MSI Center utility.

The MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X features a more traditional-looking dual-fan cooler setup, with all both fans mounted on the same side. And overall, the graphics card is somewhat compact at about 9”. If you look closely at the pictures, however, you’ll note that the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X’s PCB is much shorter than the cooler. The PCB actually ends right alongside the PCIe power connector.
The main heatsink on the card features a copper baseplate, with nickel-plated aluminum heatsink fins. That heatsink is mounted directly to the GPU and makes contact with the VRM and memory. There are four heat pipes running through the heatsink is well.

The fans on the card blow directly onto the heatsink, where some of the air will be exhausted from the chassis through the case bracket, and the rest travels completely through the heatsink, similar to NVIDIA’s FE cards.


The back-side of the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X is covered with a stylized plate, which is made of metal, unlike the lower-priced Ventus model that uses plastic. The entire fan shroud is made of a plastic composite material, and the card is relatively lightweight and won’t need the same kind of structural support of more massive, heavier cards.

The MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X is only two slots wide and uses a standard 8-pin PCI Express power connector. Total board power is only 115W, so that one PCIe 8-pin connector (150W) plus the 75W available from the slot, is plenty and offers a ton of headroom.


As for its output configuration, the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming X is identical to most other designs, with three DisplayPorts (DP 1.4) and a single HDMI (2.1) output.

And with that, it’s time to get to the benchmarks...