NVIDIA's graphics card making partners don't seem to have much faith in the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB

NVIDIA's RTX 4060 Ti with 16GB of VRAM has been a controversial graphics card since it was first announced, and just ahead of its launch, the divisive feelings around this model are very much still present.

This time we're hearing from NVIDIA's partners who manufacture graphics cards using Team Green's chips, via Andreas Schilling, editor of a German tech site.

Note that we must be cautious about rumors on Twitter, but we're told that Schilling spoke to some add-in board (AIB) makers and that it looks like "very few" are interested in promoting the graphics card in a "big way," as you can see in the tweet.

Schilling further observes that the lack of enthusiasm for the 16GB spin is clearly reflected by how many fewer models are being produced for this variant compared to the original RTX 4060 Ti with 8GB of VRAM.

The problem here is two things. Firstly, while the new 4060 Ti version doubles up the VRAM to 16GB, which is more than enough for those who've been complaining about the 8GB loadout, it doesn't move the needle on the spec elsewhere. And while extra VRAM is always useful, as an upgrade in isolation, it'll only be useful in certain scenarios.

This is compounded by the second issue, which is pricing - at $499 in the US, this variant of the 4060 Ti just looks too pricey. We've said this from the off, and indeed with custom variants pushing up the price further, the value proposition becomes even more questionable (and the temptation to simply opt for an entry-level RTX 4070 instead if you want current-gen NVIDIA).

Is it any wonder that card makers are unenthusiastic about this incoming launch, or indeed gamers themselves, going from the broad reaction online? Not really.

NVIDIA's RTX 4060 Ti 16GB flavor is supposed to launch at some point this month, and according to the rumor mill, the graphics card will hit shelves on July 18, so we've only got a week to wait now. If all this reaction is anything to go by, mind, it'll likely stay on the shelves for some time, as well.

Sales of the RTX 4060 Ti 8GB version have been pretty shaky as it is, and while we thought that the RTX 4060 vanilla card would shift better at its lower price point, even this most affordable Lovelace GPU is seemingly struggling for sales.

Early reports from Europe were pretty dire - surprisingly so - and the sentiment on the sales grapevine has not improved since then. Overall, the RTX 4060 family is shaping up to be quite the flop, or maybe NVIDIA (and partners) will be spurred into action for some price-cutting to remedy the situation. For now, though, last-gen RTX 3000 cards seem to be very much where it's at for NVIDIA buyers.