Recently ASUS opened its GeForce RTX 4060 8GB dedicated graphics cards and a 3-slot ROG STRIX variant among them.
ASUS puts a big RTX 4090 cooler on the 115W NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ROG STRIX graphics card
If extreme specifications were an image, the ASUS GeForce RTX 4060 ROG STRIX graphics card would be a perfect example. The graphics card is what you’d expect, a flagship option with the best cooling solution ASUS has to offer, but is going that far really necessary?
The ASUS GeForce RTX 4060 ROG STRIX graphics card has the same AD107-400 GPU with 3072 cores as the reference variant. It’s the same card that will be available in small and compact ITX variants, but ASUS wants gamers to know that they’re making a giant version of the card that includes a similar cooling solution to that used in the top-end version. RTX 4090 graphics cards.
ASUS’ ROG STRIX cooler for the GeForce RTX 4060 features a 3-slot design and features a large double heatsink under the hood that is interconnected by several heatpipes. The card also adopts a triple fan layout and comes with a single 8-pin connector. It comes in both OC and non-overclocked flavors, but the standard variant retains its 115W TDP. Now the internal cooler is definitely toned down to keep costs down as using the same 4090 cooler means this card will cost a lot more than the MSRP.
But despite all the costs, the ASUS ROG STRIX remains a premium model and should cost around $100 more than the $299 reference price. At this price, you’ll be better off with RTX 4060 Ti 8GB graphics cards starting at $399. Also, the card is expected to run really cool and quiet, so you won’t get any significant advantage over the reference design from the three-socket and triple-fan cooling design that this variant uses. ASUS highlights the following features for the card:
- NVIDIA Ada Lovelace Streaming Multiprocessors: Up to 2X performance and energy efficiency
- 4th generation tensor cores: Up to 4x performance with DLSS 3 and brute-force rendering
- 3rd generation RT cores: Up to 2 x-ray tracking performance
- Axial technology fan design it has a smaller fan hub to increase airflow through the cooling array.
- 3.1 slot design: massive fin array optimized for airflow from three Axial technology fans.
- Ventilated back plate works in tandem with improved Axial technology fans to maximize heat dissipation
- Digital power control with high current power stages and 15K capacitors to maximize performance
- Auto Extreme precision automated manufacturing for higher reliability
- GPU Tweak III the software provides intuitive performance tuning, thermal control and system monitoring
A dual-slot and dual-fan variant should do the trick, too. Now obviously there will be a market for these cards and ASUS knows that’s why they’re doing it, but I wish we’d seen more unique and compact design approaches this generation as NVIDIA’s Ada GPUs are really efficient and run cool.