Conclusion
The MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GAMING X SLIM WHITE 16G is MSI’s latest offering in its GAMING X SLIM line, offering GeForce RTX 4060 Ti performance with 16GB of VRAM. With the GAMING X brand behind it, the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GAMING X SLIM WHITE 16G has a high factory overclock, yet a slimmer profile, and comes in an all-white version that we are reviewing today.
The GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB was launched summer of 2023 and provided the same specs as the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti, but with double the VRAM capacity. The GeForce RTX 4060 Ti is geared for a 1080p gameplay experience, but with 16GB of VRAM higher game settings at 1080p in VRAM demanding games is possible, and 1440p with DLSS Upscaling or Frame Generation. The GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB has an MSRP of $499 at launch, and the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GAMING X SLIM WHITE 16G we reviewed today is around $519 online, but check our pricing widget below for the latest online pricing.
In our review of the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GAMING X SLIM WHITE 16G today, we put this video card directly up against the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB Founders Edition. We tested it at 1080p, 1440p, and even 4K, including Ray Tracing, DLSS Upscaling, and DLSS 3 Frame Generation. 
We put it through its paces with our main goal to look at the gameplay performance and experience the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GAMING X SLIM WHITE 16G provides in terms of what is playable in a game. We also looked for performance differences between 16GB vs 8GB on the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti. While we have included 8 games in our review, there are of course many other games that could show differences in VRAM capacity, this is a small sampling in the grand scheme of things.
Performance
At 1080p the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GAMING X SLIM WHITE 16G is a very capable video card. It provided a playable gameplay experience with the highest game settings in every game we threw at it. There were some challenging games, like Avatar Frontiers of Pandora which always has Ray Tracing enabled, but it still gave us 60FPS gameplay at 1080p, another demanding game was Starfield but it too was playable. The only time that performance wasn’t playable in some games was when Ray Tracing was enabled. You would need to enable DLSS Upscaling in several titles here to get playable performance with Ray Tracing, like Alan Wake 2 and Cyberpunk 2077.
At 1440p the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GAMING X SLIM WHITE 16G is playable in fewer games, without upscaling. For example, Assassin’s Creed Mirage plays great at 1440p native resolution, as does Returnal and even Alan Wake 2, Forspoken, Chernobylite, and Cyberpunk 2077. In the games that are too demanding, Avatar and Starfield you will have to utilize DLSS Upscaling, and then it should be very playable. Ray Tracing is also going to tank performance at 1440p in most titles here so you will need to use DLSS Upscaling for sure to get Ray Tracing playable at 1440p.
Naturally, 4K was not playable on the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GAMING X SLIM WHITE 16G in native resolution. Though, Assassin’s Creed Mirage was interesting at 50FPS at 4K, not as bad as we would have thought. At any rate, if you insist on playing at 4K with this video card, then aggressive DLSS Upscaling will be required to get a smooth gameplay experience, and Ray Tracing will be out of the question at 4K.
16GB vs 8GB
The discussion in regards to 16GB vs 8GB comes down to this, it is entirely game dependent. Some games do not tap into the extra VRAM capacity resources, while others might. One game that we experienced here in our testing was Forspoken, which was greatly affected by the VRAM capacity. 
In Forspoken, we found the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GAMING X SLIM WHITE 16G magnitudes of performance faster than the 8GB GeForce RTX 4060 Ti at 1080p, 1440p, 4K, and with Ray Tracing. In one scenario it meant the difference between being playable on the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GAMING X SLIM WHITE 16G and not playable on the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB.
There are other games out there that are like Forspoken that exist. There are newer games such as Last of Us Part 1, or Harry Potter, or a handful of new Unreal Engine 5 games that are also out now. In addition, there are many new games on the horizon this year to look forward to. The point is, when you come across a game that does benefit from more VRAM, then having 16GB of VRAM versus 8GB is going to make a big difference for that game, it can either be about making a game playable, reducing stutter but there may even be image quality related issues as well. 
With many newer games, they are able to scale image quality, as in texture quality and LOD with VRAM. It is such that if you don’t have enough VRAM, the game will stream in lower quality textures and level of detail, instead of outright reducing performance. In other words, a game could look worse on a video card with lesser VRAM, compared to one with appropriate VRAM for the demands of the game. Not every game is like this, but there is certainly a growing increase of this type. 
It is also worth considering features like Ray Tracing and Frame Generation which utilize more VRAM in of themselves, adding to the needs. If you plan to have your GPU for a few years before upgrading, then purchasing one with a higher VRAM capacity would be prudent for the coming years. The 4060 Ti 16GB is NVIDIA’s ‘cheapest’ 16GB video card in its lineup this generation.
Final Points
The MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GAMING X SLIM WHITE 16G is a fast factory overclocked card with a slimmer profile. MSI was able to slim its design down into a smaller form, yet retain the high factory overclock of the GAMING X line. In our testing, it provided consistent performance and frequencies and even had a lot of headroom for overclocking in this SLIM profile. The Tri-FROZR cooling worked well in our testing and kept the GPU very cool stock and overclocked, it is able to handle the power and Wattage well.
Overall, MSI is offering a unique build with its MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GAMING X SLIM video cards, you can get it in black or white, and the white one we reviewed looks great in an all-white build. If you are in the market for a GeForce RTX 4060 Ti and want NVIDIA’s features, and are willing to pay for it, plus to ensure longevity with gaming, this 16GB model is worth a look as it offers all of that from NVIDIA at this price point.
