GTX 1660 vs RTX 4060: Is the Upgrade Worth It?

Yes, moving from a GTX 1660 to an RTX 4060 is a worthwhile upgrade for 1080p gamers: published reviews put the RTX 4060 at roughly 80-100% faster in demanding games, it adds ray tracing, DLSS and frame generation, and it draws about the same power, so most systems can swap cards without a new power supply. The main caveat is that the RTX 4060 has only 8 GB of VRAM and is now a previous-generation card, so its price should be compared against the current RTX 5060 before buying.

What Changes When You Upgrade

The GTX 1660 is a 2019 Turing card without RT cores or Tensor cores. It handled 1080p medium to high settings well in its day, but current releases push it below 60 fps even at modest settings, and its 6 GB of GDDR5 memory is a hard limit in many 2025-2026 games. The RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a much larger 24 MB L2 cache, more than twice the shader count and a far higher boost clock.

• Performance class: from entry-level 1080p to a solid 1080p high/ultra card with some 1440p capability.
• VRAM: from 6 GB GDDR5 to 8 GB GDDR6.
• Features: hardware ray tracing, DLSS Super Resolution, DLSS Frame Generation, NVIDIA Reflex and AV1 video encoding.
• Power: 120 W to 115 W, essentially unchanged.

Spec Comparison Table

Spec databases list a 12-pin connector for the RTX 4060, but nearly all retail RTX 4060 cards use a single standard 8-pin PCIe plug, and some low-power models need even less. Check the specific model, but expect the same cable your GTX 1660 already uses.

How Much Faster Is the RTX 4060?

According to Tom’s Hardware’s 2022-2024 GPU benchmarks hierarchy, the RTX 4060 averages roughly 83% more frames than the GTX 1660 at 1080p medium and close to double the frame rate at 1080p ultra and 1440p ultra. Benchmark aggregators that blend many game results land in a slightly lower 70-100% range. TechPowerUp’s RTX 4060 review placed the card at roughly RTX 2080 level, which illustrates how big the jump is from a GTX 16-series card.

As a broad picture, a modern AAA game that runs in the low 40s fps on a GTX 1660 at 1080p ultra typically runs in the 80s on an RTX 4060 at the same settings. Lighter esports titles that were already CPU-limited will gain less. All of these figures depend on the game, the settings, the CPU and the driver version.

Ray tracing goes from “not really” to “usable at 1080p”

The GTX 1660 has no RT cores. Some games technically allow ray tracing on GTX cards through a software fallback, but frame rates are unplayable. The RTX 4060 runs ray traced effects in hardware, and with DLSS enabled it can manage moderate ray tracing at 1080p in many titles. Full path tracing is still beyond it.

DLSS and frame generation

This is where the upgrade feels bigger than the raw numbers. The RTX 4060 supports DLSS 4 Super Resolution with the transformer model, which typically looks better than FSR at the same internal resolution, plus DLSS Frame Generation, which is exclusive to RTX 40 and newer cards. Multi Frame Generation is limited to the RTX 50 series. The GTX 1660 can only use vendor-neutral options such as FSR 3 or XeSS’s fallback mode.

Which Games and Resolutions Benefit Most

• 1080p AAA games: the biggest win. Settings jump from low/medium to high/ultra, often with 60+ fps.
• 1440p: playable at medium to high with DLSS Quality in most titles; native ultra is borderline.
• Esports at 1080p: smaller gains if your CPU is already the limit; check CPU usage first.
• Streaming and video: AV1 encoding gives better quality at the same bitrate on platforms that support it.

VRAM: 6 GB to 8 GB Is Better, Not Future-Proof

The 2 GB increase removes many of the hard stutters that 6 GB cards hit in newer games at 1080p high. However, 8 GB is now the minimum comfortable amount, not a generous one. Several recent releases want more than 8 GB at 1080p ultra textures or 1440p, so expect to lower texture settings occasionally. Gamers who want headroom for several years should look at 12-16 GB cards.

Power Supply and Platform Check

Using the sizing rule of GPU power plus CPU power plus about 150 W of headroom:

• 115 W (RTX 4060) + 125 W (typical gaming CPU) + 150 W = about 390 W

NVIDIA’s guidance for the RTX 4060 is a 550 W system power supply, which leaves extra margin for cheaper units. Since the GTX 1660 is rated at 120 W, a PSU that ran it well will almost always handle the RTX 4060 too.

The RTX 4060 uses a PCIe 4.0 x8 link. In a PCIe 3.0 motherboard, common in systems that originally shipped with a GTX 1660, the bandwidth halves. Reviews have generally found a small performance loss in most games, with larger drops when a game overflows the 8 GB VRAM buffer. At 240 mm and two slots, the RTX 4060 is only slightly longer than the 229 mm GTX 1660, so case fit is rarely a problem, though some triple-fan partner models are longer.

Is It Worth the Money? A Quick Calculation

At launch prices, the GTX 1660 cost $219 and the RTX 4060 $299, about 37% more. If the RTX 4060 delivers roughly 80-100% more performance, the cost per frame drops by around a quarter or more compared with the GTX 1660’s launch value, before counting DLSS and frame generation. A used GTX 1660 typically resells in a broad range of about $60-$90, which offsets part of the upgrade cost.

Upgrade Decision Table

RTX 4060 or Current-Generation Alternatives?

The RTX 4060 is now a previous-generation card. The RTX 5060 replaced it at a similar launch price and adds DLSS Multi Frame Generation, while AMD’s RX 9060 XT and Intel’s Arc B580 offer more VRAM options in a similar budget. The RTX 4060 remains a sensible upgrade from a GTX 1660 when it is discounted, but it is no longer the automatic choice.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much faster is the RTX 4060 than the GTX 1660?

Roughly 80-100% faster in demanding games, based on Tom’s Hardware’s hierarchy data and benchmark aggregators. The gap is largest at 1080p ultra and 1440p. CPU-limited esports games show smaller gains.

Do I need a new power supply to upgrade?

Usually not. The RTX 4060 is rated at 115 W, slightly below the GTX 1660’s 120 W. Most retail RTX 4060 cards use one 8-pin connector, the same type many GTX 1660 cards use.

Will the RTX 4060 work on a PCIe 3.0 motherboard?

Yes. It runs at PCIe 3.0 x8 in that case, which usually costs only a small amount of performance. The loss grows in games that exceed the 8 GB VRAM buffer, so keep texture settings reasonable.

Can the GTX 1660 use DLSS?

No. DLSS requires Tensor cores, which GTX 16-series cards lack. The GTX 1660 can use FSR or XeSS fallback modes instead. The RTX 4060 supports DLSS upscaling and DLSS Frame Generation.

Is 8 GB of VRAM enough after upgrading?

For 1080p at high settings, mostly yes. Some recent games exceed 8 GB with ultra textures, which can cause stutter. Lowering textures one notch usually solves it.

Should I buy an RTX 5060 instead of an RTX 4060?

If both are available at similar prices, the RTX 5060 is the newer card and adds DLSS Multi Frame Generation. The RTX 4060 is a sensible choice when it is clearly discounted. Either one is a large step up from a GTX 1660.