Previously, we have shared several performance comparison reviews of RTX 40 graphics cards with DLSS enabled (commonly referred to as “Popeye”), showing impressive results.
Take the GeForce RTX 4060, which has been criticized and looked down upon by many. With DLSS enabled, its gaming performance in 1080P quality mode can at least double, roughly matching the GeForce RTX 3080, though slightly less.
This article will compare the gaming performance of the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB with DLSS enabled to that of the GeForce RTX 3070.
In normal mode, the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB’s performance is about 5% lower than the GeForce RTX 3070 (refer to the image above). However, with DLSS enabled, it is almost certain that the performance will surpass the GeForce RTX 3070.
How much stronger is the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB with DLSS enabled compared to the GeForce RTX 3070? This is the key question that warrants attention and research, and this article aims to provide a relatively accurate reference through testing.
01
Parameter Comparison between RTX 4060 Ti with DLSS and RTX 3070
GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB
- Release Date: May 18, 2023
- GPU: AD106
- Architecture: Ada Lovelace
- Process: TSMC 5nm
- Shader Units: 4352
- Texture Units: 136
- Raster Units: 48
- Streaming Multiprocessors: 34
- Tensor Cores: 136
- Ray Tracing Cores: 34
- L2 Cache: 32MB
- Base Clock: 2310 MHz
- Boost Clock: 2535 MHz
- Memory: 16GB GDDR6
- Memory Speed: 18 Gbps
- Memory Interface: 128 bit
- Memory Bandwidth: 288.0 GB/s
- FP32 Performance: 22.06 TFLOPS
- Power Consumption: 165W
- MSRP: $499
GeForce RTX 3070
- Release Date: September 1, 2020
- GPU: GA104
- Architecture: Ampere
- Process: Samsung 8nm
- CUDA Cores: 5888
- Texture Units: 184
- Raster Units: 96
- Ray Tracing Cores: 46
- Streaming Multiprocessors: 46
- Tensor Cores: 184
- L2 Cache: 4MB
- Base Clock: 1500 MHz
- Boost Clock: 1725 MHz
- Memory: 8GB GDDR6
- Memory Speed: 14 Gbps
- Memory Interface: 256 bit
- Memory Bandwidth: 448 GB/s
- FP32 Performance: 20.31 TFLOPS
- Power Consumption: 220W
- MSRP: $499
02
Test Platform Configuration
- Processor: Ryzen 7 7800X3D
- Motherboard: MSI MPG X670E CARBON
- Memory: 32GB DDR5 6000MHz
- Storage: Two Samsung 970 EVO 1TB SSDs
- Operating System: Windows 11
03
Real Game Test
Below, we will compare seven games, all running at 1440P with the highest quality settings. The left side represents the platform with the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB with DLSS enabled (referred to as the “GeForce RTX 4060 Ti platform”), and the right side represents the GeForce RTX 3070 platform.
① First Game: Alan Wake 2
GeForce RTX 3070 platform
- Average FPS: 24
- Minimum FPS: 19
- Frame Time: 40.7ms
- CPU Usage: 17%
- CPU Power Consumption: 49W
- CPU Temperature: 59°C
- Memory Usage: 10.5GB
- GPU Usage: 99%
- VRAM Usage: 7.7GB
- GPU Power Consumption: 215W
- GPU Temperature: 56°C
GeForce RTX 4060 Ti platform
- Average FPS: 44
- Minimum FPS: 36
- Frame Time: 23.8ms
- CPU Usage: 17%
- CPU Power Consumption: 48W
- CPU Temperature: 55°C
- Memory Usage: 10.6GB
- GPU Usage: 99%
- VRAM Usage: 11.3GB
- GPU Power Consumption: 149W
- GPU Temperature: 56°C
In this game, both platforms have similar CPU usage, memory usage, and GPU usage. The only significant difference is in VRAM usage, with the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti platform using 3.6GB more. The GeForce RTX 4060 Ti platform achieves 20 FPS more on average (83% higher), with the minimum FPS being 17 FPS higher (almost double), frame time 17ms lower, and 66W lower power consumption, with equal temperatures.
② Second Game: Cyberpunk 2077
GeForce RTX 3070 platform
- Average FPS: 56
- Minimum FPS: 42
- Frame Time: 18.2ms
- CPU Usage: 39%
- CPU Power Consumption: 60W
- CPU Temperature: 60°C
- Memory Usage: 11.0GB
- GPU Usage: 99%
- VRAM Usage: 7.1GB
- GPU Power Consumption: 214W
- GPU Temperature: 59°C
GeForce RTX 4060 Ti platform
- Average FPS: 82
- Minimum FPS: 56
- Frame Time: 13.0ms
- CPU Usage: 34%
- CPU Power Consumption: 58W
- CPU Temperature: 58°C
- Memory Usage: 11.1GB
- GPU Usage: 99%
- VRAM Usage: 9.8GB
- GPU Power Consumption: 156W
- GPU Temperature: 58°C
In this game, the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti platform’s CPU usage is 5% lower, memory usage and GPU usage are similar, and VRAM usage is 2.7GB higher. The GeForce RTX 4060 Ti platform has 26 FPS higher on average (46% higher), minimum FPS 14 FPS higher, frame time 5ms lower, and power consumption 58W lower, with similar temperatures.
③ Third Game: Ghostwire: Tokyo
GeForce RTX 3070 platform
- Average FPS: 50
- Minimum FPS: 45
- Frame Time: 20.2ms
- CPU Usage: 10%
- CPU Power Consumption: 42W
- CPU Temperature: 49°C
- Memory Usage: 11.1GB
- GPU Usage: 99%
- VRAM Usage: 7.1GB
- GPU Power Consumption: 213W
- GPU Temperature: 59°C
GeForce RTX 4060 Ti platform
- Average FPS: 77
- Minimum FPS: 62
- Frame Time: 13.0ms
- CPU Usage: 13%
- CPU Power Consumption: 45W
- CPU Temperature: 53°C
- Memory Usage: 14.5GB
- GPU Usage: 99%
- VRAM Usage: 9.1GB
- GPU Power Consumption: 148W
- GPU Temperature: 57°C
In this game, the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti platform’s CPU usage is 3% higher, memory usage is 3.4GB higher, GPU usage is the same, and VRAM usage is 2GB higher. The GeForce RTX 4060 Ti platform achieves 27 FPS higher on average (54% higher), minimum FPS 17 FPS higher, frame time 7ms lower, and power consumption 65W lower, with 2°C lower temperatures.
④ Fourth Game: Forza Horizon 5
GeForce RTX 3070 platform
- Average FPS: 89
- Minimum FPS: 81
- Frame Time: 10.9ms
- CPU Usage: 19%
- CPU Power Consumption: 50W
- CPU Temperature: 54°C
- Memory Usage: 11.5GB
- GPU Usage: 99%
- VRAM Usage: 7.8GB
- GPU Power Consumption: 210W
- GPU Temperature: 59°C
GeForce RTX 4060 Ti platform
- Average FPS: 143
- Minimum FPS: 117
- Frame Time: 7.0ms
- CPU Usage: 19%
- CPU Power Consumption: 49W
- CPU Temperature: 55°C
- Memory Usage: 12.8GB
- GPU Usage: 96%
- VRAM Usage: 9.3GB
- GPU Power Consumption: 148W
- GPU Temperature: 57°C
In this game, both platforms have identical CPU usage, but the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti platform has 1.3GB higher memory usage, 3% lower GPU usage, and 1.5GB higher VRAM usage. The GeForce RTX 4060 Ti platform achieves 54 FPS higher on average (61% higher), minimum FPS 36 FPS higher, frame time 4ms lower, and power consumption 62W lower, with 2°C lower temperatures.
⑤ The fifth game is “Horizon Forbidden West”.
GeForce RTX 3070 platform
- Average FPS: 58
- Minimum FPS: 54
- Frame Time: 16.8ms
- CPU Usage: 41%
- CPU Power Consumption: 66W
- CPU Temperature: 70°C
- Memory Usage: 11.3GB
- GPU Usage: 99%
- VRAM Usage: 7.7GB
- GPU Power Consumption: 223W
- GPU Temperature: 61°C
GeForce RTX 4060 Ti platform
- Average FPS: 92
- Minimum FPS: 70
- Frame Time: 11.0ms
- CPU Usage: 34%
- CPU Power Consumption: 57W
- CPU Temperature: 58°C
- Memory Usage: 12.3GB
- GPU Usage: 99%
- VRAM Usage: 9.2GB
- GPU Power Consumption: 155W
- GPU Temperature: 56°C
In this game, the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti platform’s CPU usage is 7% lower, memory usage is 1GB higher, GPU usage is the same, and VRAM usage is 1.5GB higher compared to the GeForce RTX 3070 platform.
In terms of average FPS, the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti platform is 34 FPS higher (about 59% better), with a minimum FPS 16 FPS higher, frame time about 6ms lower, power consumption 68W lower, and temperature 5°C lower than the GeForce RTX 3070 platform.
04
Comparison Conclusion
From the above tests, it is clear that with DLSS mode enabled, the game performance of the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti completely surpasses that of the GeForce RTX 3070, leading by approximately 61% overall. This is the final conclusion of this article.
Moreover, compared to running in normal mode without DLSS, the power consumption of the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti with DLSS enabled has almost no change, remaining roughly the same, and the CPU usage also remains largely unchanged. This is quite remarkable. However, the VRAM usage is noticeably higher.
05
Future Outlook
When it comes to “DLSS,” some people have always dismissed it, considering it to be “interpolation,” with performance achieved through opportunistic means rather than being real. They also believe that DLSS is still imperfect and has many issues, thus overall viewing DLSS as a “gimmick” and not very useful.
Actually, this perspective is very narrow and extreme because DLSS relies on the AI computing power (tensor cores) of the graphics card. Essentially, DLSS is a sub-derivative of AI technology, strictly speaking, it is AI.
In the future, AI’s applications will not be limited to enhancing game performance. The era of artificial intelligence becoming widespread in consumer computing devices has already arrived, and its roles and applications will become increasingly broad.
Therefore, even though there are various issues with DLSS at this stage, the overall development trend of improving graphical performance through AI is very clear. The existing problems will gradually be resolved, and the overall prospects are infinitely promising.
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