The RTX 4060 Ti is Nvidia’s latest graphics card, but a few days after it went on sale, it looks like it might fail.
This might worry Nvidia, because just a few years ago, a (relatively) affordable entry-level offering in its latest generation of GPUs, offering advanced features like ray tracing and DLSS 3, would inevitably be popular.
However, as Wccftech reportit seems that the RTX 4060 Ti has been dropped Very slow start.According to a tweet by GDM, a company that monitors sales in Japan, only one A person bought an RTX 4060 Ti from a reputable store.
[アキバ material collection class: GeForce RTX 4060 Ti late-night sale]Selling ban lifted されましたれ, ドスパラ Akihabara original store で 1 ガ purchase したのみでend しましたhttps://t.co/LmmqCCaOR9 pic.twitter .com/u9LSM1exN8May 24, 2023
Worryingly, the RTX 4060 Ti also appears to be struggling in a market traditionally keen on PC gaming. In Germany, for example, mega-retailer Mindfactory apparently only sold 30 RTX 4060 Ti cards during the launch period.
If that seems low, it is – the RTX 4070 launched in April apparently sold 315 units in the same time frame, while the 4070 Ti launched in January sold 540 units.
Even those better sales figures are a far cry from the growth rate of the previous generation RTX 3000. So, what happened, and what can Nvidia learn from it?
learn a lesson
First, it’s important to remember that current graphics cards and needs are very different from previous generations.
When the RTX 3000-series GPUs launched, the world was in the midst of a global Covid-19 pandemic, which in turn led to a severe shortage of chips, as the lockdown affected the foundries that produce the chips, including those used to make graphics cards.
This coincided with a rise in the value of cryptocurrencies, leading some to buy GPUs in bulk for mining — the process of generating cryptocurrencies. Both of these factors have resulted in a shortage of modern GPUs, which essentially means that Nvidia (and its rival AMD) sold nearly all the GPUs it could produce.
It also means that new GPU launches get a little crazy as people desperately want to get their hands on the graphics card – a scarcity that ultimately makes GPUs a very popular product.
Today, however, things are very different. While Covid-19 is still with us, it has not caused widespread shutdowns affecting component production. The cryptocurrency bubble also burst, causing a flood of used GPUs to flood the market.
Then, the excitement and hype surrounding the new GPU announcement feels a bit subdued. There’s not much Nvidia can do about it (I’m not suggesting starting a new pandemic or artificially limiting inventory to boost consumer interest), but it can still learn from the current climate and customer demand.
One of the most pressing issues for many of us right now is the cost-of-living crisis, which has made many of the everyday items in our lives more expensive — and made buying luxury items like a new GPU much less attractive.
While the RTX 4060 Ti is a welcome sign that Nvidia is looking to appeal to more budget-conscious gamers rather than launching an ultra-high-end card like the RTX 4090, the $399 (around £240, AU$600) price tag is still a steal. is an expensive proposition, and the performance (as we discuss in our own Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti review) doesn’t justify the price.
To make matters worse, in some markets like Japan, local taxes make GPUs more expensive – understandably, a budget GPU without a budget price tag won’t break sales records.
In fact, as Videocardz report Via a tweet from 3DCenter, sales have been so bad that Mindfactory dropped the price of the Palit GeForce RTX 4060 Ti to €419 just four hours after launch, which is €20 off the MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price). EUR.
GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Market starts at 🇩🇪🇦🇹 +4hAlternate: 439-519€ (13 available offers, 6 MSRPs) Asus: 440-500€ (2/1) Caseking: 439-529€ (10/ 4) Mindfactory: €419-509 (5/2) Notebooksbilliger: €439-499 (8/3) MF is now €20 off MSRP. But only about 20 units were sold overall.May 24, 2023
I’ve certainly never seen GPU price cuts launch day, while this may not be good news for Nvidia, it is good news for PC gamers. A few years ago GPUs were so scarce that when they went on sale they were often priced well over MSRP. It is indeed very welcome to see graphics cards sold at more reasonable prices.
Hopefully this also shows Nvidia that consumers are more price sensitive right now, so the company can expect to add more value to its upcoming releases. Nvidia rival AMD has shown the company how it can use the fantastic AMD Radeon RX 7600 it just launched for $269 (about £215/AU$405), and Nvidia needs to prove to gamers that it understands that money is tight right now, and that it can deliver more for what it costs. value service.
Another problem with the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti’s lack of excitement is that it doesn’t feel like a major generational leap over the RTX 3060 Ti, offering 10-20% better performance in games. While the use of DLSS 3 in games that support it may widen that gap, it’s no surprise that a small performance boost won’t have people scrambling to buy it.
Likewise, Nvidia will get us excited again with the promise of graphics cards this generation or the next that will actually show a leap in performance.
Nvidia remains the world’s most popular GPU maker, and its stock has soared to new highs recently amid excitement over its artificial intelligence plans. So I suspect Nvidia HQ is having too many sleepless nights over tepid sales of the RTX 4060 Ti. But if this downward trend in sales continues, it may be time to ring the alarm bells.
