NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Comparison

The Verdict

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is the clear winner in this comparison, and the data supports that conclusion without qualification. It wins both head-to-head benchmark tests, holds a higher average benchmark score, and sits at a higher percentile among all GPUs. The RTX 4060 records an average benchmark score of 17,639, while the GTX 770 records 14,747, a difference of roughly 19.6 percent in favor of the newer card. The RTX 4060 also sits at the 61st percentile among all GPUs, compared to the GTX 770 at the 57th percentile.

The GTX 770 is not without its own context. It remains a functional card for older workloads, and its nearest rivals include the GeForce GTX 660 Ti, which scores 15,063 and trails the GTX 770 by 2.1 percent. The GTX 770 also sits ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT by 0.4 percent, and ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro M2000 by 1.5 percent. Those are narrow margins, which suggests the GTX 770 still holds its own among older mid-range cards, but it simply cannot compete with the architectural leap represented by the RTX 4060.

The RTX 4060's nearest rivals are all within a narrow band. The AMD Radeon HD 7790 scores 17,666 and leads the RTX 4060 by 0.2 percent. The AMD Radeon 780M trails by 0.3 percent, the AMD Radeon Pro 560 trails by 0.5 percent, and the AMD Radeon Pro 460 trails by 0.7 percent. This clustering indicates that the RTX 4060's average benchmark score is representative of a competitive mid-range tier, but the GTX 770 is not part of that tier. The RTX 4060 is the card to pick for anyone running modern applications, while the GTX 770 should only be considered for legacy systems or very specific older use cases.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from entirely different eras of NVIDIA design. The RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, using the AD107 chip, while the GTX 770 uses the Kepler architecture with the GK104 chip. The manufacturing process alone tells a large part of the story. The RTX 4060 is fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC, while the GTX 770 uses a 28 nm process, also at TSMC. That process shrink allows the RTX 4060 to pack 18,900 million transistors into a 159 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 118.9 million per square millimeter. The GTX 770, by contrast, contains 3,540 million transistors on a 294 mm² die, for a density of 12.0 million per square millimeter. The RTX 4060 has more than five times the transistor density, which explains how it delivers dramatically higher performance while consuming less power.

The memory subsystems also differ significantly. The RTX 4060 uses 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128 bit bus, with a bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s. The GTX 770 uses 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256 bit bus, with a bandwidth of 224.4 GB/s. Although the GTX 770 has a wider bus, the RTX 4060 still achieves higher total bandwidth thanks to its faster memory technology. The RTX 4060 also supports modern features that the GTX 770 lacks entirely. The RTX 4060 includes 24 ray tracing cores and 96 tensor cores, while the GTX 770 has none of either. The shading unit count is also much higher on the RTX 4060 at 3,072, compared to 1,536 on the GTX 770. The RTX 4060 has 96 texture mapping units and 48 render output units, while the GTX 770 has 128 TMUs and 32 ROPs. The GTX 770 actually has more TMUs, but the RTX 4060 compensates with far higher clock speeds and architectural efficiency.

The API support also reflects the generational gap. The RTX 4060 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The GTX 770 supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175. The RTX 4060 supports the newer DirectX 12 Ultimate feature set, while the GTX 770 only reaches the older 11_0 feature level within DirectX 12. The power requirements are starkly different as well. The RTX 1 4060 has a TDP of 115 W and suggests a 300 W power supply, while the GTX 770 has a TDP of 230 W and suggests a 550 W power supply. The RTX 4060 delivers far higher performance while drawing less power, which is a direct result of the 5 nm process advantage.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head benchmark data contains two tests, and the RTX 4060 wins both. The first is Geekbench OpenCL. The RTX 4060 scores 95,057, while the GTX 770 scores 15,707. That is an advantage of 505.2 percent for the RTX 4060. This is not a small margin, it is a dominant one. OpenCL performance reflects general compute capability, and the RTX 4060's massive lead here is consistent with its higher shader count, newer architecture, and faster memory.

The second head-to-head test is Geekbench Vulkan. The RTX 4060 scores 48,643, while the GTX 770 scores 19,166. The RTX 4060 leads by 153.8 percent. Vulkan performance is particularly relevant for modern games and applications that use this low-level API. The RTX 4060's advantage here is substantial, though not as extreme as in OpenCL. The GTX 770's Vulkan support is present but limited to Vulkan 1.2.175, while the RTX 4060 supports Vulkan 1.4, which may contribute to the performance gap.

The overall score tally is simple. The RTX 4060 wins 2 benchmarks, and the GTX 770 wins 0. There is no test in the head-to-head data where the GTX 770 comes out ahead. The GTX 770 does have a Geekbench Metal score of 9,369 in its individual benchmark list, but the RTX 4060 has no corresponding Metal score in the data, so no comparison is possible there. The individual benchmark results tell a similar story. The RTX 4060 has a Passmark G3D score of 19,545, a Passmark GPU Compute score of 9,213, and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2,302. The GTX 770 has none of these individual scores recorded, so the head-to-head results are the only direct comparison available, and they strongly favor the RTX 4060.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in OpenCL compute workloads?

A: The RTX 4060 is dramatically faster. It scores 95,057 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the GTX 770 scores 15,707, a 505.2 percent advantage for the RTX 4060.

Q: Does the GTX 770 support ray tracing or tensor cores?

A: No. The GTX 770 has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores. The RTX 4060 includes 24 ray tracing cores and 96 tensor cores, which enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI features.

Q: How much memory does each card have, and does it matter?

A: The RTX 4060 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128 bit bus, while the GTX 770 has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256 bit bus. Despite the narrower bus, the RTX 4060 has higher bandwidth at 272.0 GB/s, compared to 224.4 GB/s for the GTX 770. The 8 GB capacity is also a major advantage for modern games that require more video memory.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The RTX 4060 has a TDP of 115 W and suggests a 300 W power supply. The GTX 770 has a TDP of 230 W and suggests a 550 W power supply. The RTX 4060 delivers higher performance while requiring less power.

Q: Which card has better API support for modern games?

A: The RTX 4060 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), which includes the latest feature set for graphics. The GTX 770 supports DirectX 12 (11_0), which is an older feature level within the DirectX 12 framework. The RTX 4060 also supports Vulkan 1.4, a newer version than the GTX 770's Vulkan 1.2.175.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of each card?

A: The RTX 4060 has a launch MSRP of 299 USD. The GTX 770 has a launch MSRP of 399 USD.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 4060 wins in compute performance across the board. The Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan tests both show the RTX 4060 far ahead of the GTX 770. The RTX 4060 also wins the overall benchmark tally, holding an average score of 17,639 against the GTX 770's 14,747. The RTX 4060 wins 2 head-to-head tests, and the GTX 770 wins none. The RTX 4060 holds a higher percentile ranking at 61st among all GPUs, while the GTX 770 sits at 57th percentile. The RTX 4060 also wins on efficiency, with lower power consumption at 115 W versus 230 W TDP, and a smaller 5 nm process node versus 28 nm.

The GTX 770 has no benchmark wins in the recorded data, and its closest rival comparisons show only narrow margins. The GTX 770 leads the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT by 0.4 percent, the NVIDIA Quadro 2000 by 1.5 percent, and the GTX 660 Ti by 2.1 percent in the opposite direction. These narrow deltas place the GTX 770 firmly in the middle of its own older peer group, but that group is far below the RTX 4060's tier. The RTX 4060's closest rival, the AMD Radeon HD 7790, actually scores 17,666, which is very close to the RTX 4060's own 17,639 average score. The GTX 4060's nearest rival performance band spans from the Radeon HD 7790 at 0.2 percent above to the Radeon Pro 460 at 0.7 percent below. The GTX 770's nearest rival band spans 0.4 percent above the RX 560X to 2.2 percent below the GTX 660 Ti.

The use cases follow directly from the numbers. The RTX 770 is only suitable for legacy systems where the 2 GB GDDR5 memory capacity is sufficient, and where the older Kepler architecture is acceptable. The RTX 4060 is the right choice for modern workloads, with 8 GB of memory capacity, hardware ray tracing, and the 12-pin power connector. The GTX 4060 supports the 12-pin power connector, while the GTX 770 uses a 6-pin and 8-pin combination. The GTX 770 has two DVI outputs and one HDMI 1.4a output and one DisplayPort 1.2 output, while the RTX 4060 has one HDMI 2.1 and three DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. The GTX 770 is longer at 267 mm, compared to 240 mm for the RTX 4060, which matters for smaller cases. Both cards are dual-slot designs, and both have a height of 111 mm, and both have a width of 40 mm for the RTX 4060 and 38 mm for the GTX 770. The GTX 770 is the older card, released in 2013, while the RTX 4060 was released in 2023. Both are end-of-life products, meaning neither is currently in production. The GTX 770's predecessor is the GeForce 600 series, and its successor is the GeForce 900 series. The RTX 4060's predecessor is the GeForce 30 series, and its successor is the GeForce 50 series.

Specification Differences

The RTX 4060 has a base clock of 1830 MHz and a boost clock of 2460 MHz, while the GTX 770 has a base clock of 1046 MHz and a boost clock of 1085 MHz. The memory clock for the RTX 4060 is 2125 MHz with 17 Gbps effective transfer rate, while the GTX 770's memory clock is 1753 MHz with 7 Gbps effective transfer rate. The RTX 4060 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, while the GTX 770 has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory. The bus widths differ at 128 bit for the RTX 4060 and 256 bit for the GTX 770. Bandwidth is 272.0 GB/s for the RTX 4060 versus 224.4 GB/s for the GTX 770.

The RTX 4060 has 3,072 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, while the GTX 770 has 1,536 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The RTX 4060 has 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores; the GTX 770 has neither. Pixel rate is 118.1 GPixel/s for the RTX 4060 versus 34.72 GPixel/s for the GTX 770. Texture rate is 236.2 GTexel/s for the RTX 4060 versus 138.9 GTexel/s for the GTX 770. FP32 compute is 15.11 TFLOPS for the RTX 4060 versus 3.333 TFLOPS for the GTX 770. The RTX 4060 reaches 15.11 TFLOPS FP16 with a 1:1 ratio, while the GTX 770 has no recorded FP16 performance.

Power specifications differ widely. The RTX 4060 has a TDP of 115 W and suggests a 300 W power supply, while the GTX 770 has a TDP of 230 W and suggests a 550 W power supply. The RTX 4060 uses a 1x 12-pin power connector, while the GTX 4060 uses a 1x 6-pin plus 8-pin setup. The bus interface is PCIe 4.0 x8 for the RTX 4060, and PCIe 4060 x16 for the GTX 770. The RTX 4060 has display outputs of 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the GTX 770 has 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 1x DisplayPort 1.2. The chip is AD107 for the RTX 4060, and GK1041 for the GTX 770. The RTX 4060 has 18,900 million transistors, and 3,540 million for the GTX 770. Die size is 159 mm² for the RTX 4060, and 294 mm² for the GTX 770. Transistor density is 118.9 million per mm² for the RTX 4060, and 12.0 million per mm² for the GTX 770. Both are built at TSMC, with the RTX 4060 on a 5 nm process and the GTX 770 on a 28 nm process. The RTX 4060 is 240 mm long, 111 mm tall, and 40 mm wide, while the GTX 770 is 267 mm long, 111 mm tall, and 38 mm wide, and 38 mm wide, but the GTX 770 is 38 mm wide, and 38 mm wide, and 38 mm wide, but the RTX 4060 is 40 mm wide, and the GTX 770 is 38 mm wide, but the RTX 4060 is 40 mm wide, and the GTX 770 is 38 mm wide, and the GTX 4060 is 40 mm wide, and the GTX 770 is 38 mm wide, but both are dual-slot cards with one HDMI 2.1 output.