The world of graphics playing cards can generally look like a bit ‘me too’. Including a splash of RGB, a manufacturing facility overclock or a cool shroud are a couple of methods to distinguish a card from the pack, however including an M.2 SSD slot is one thing else. Asus has completed precisely that. Its new Twin GeForce RTX 4060 Ti contains a PCIe M.2 slot constructed proper into the graphics card itself.
Although the cardboard has been demonstrated earlier than, it is now displaying up at a handful of European primarily based retailers (by way of @momomo_us). As anticipated, the SSD slot geared up mannequin comes with a markup in comparison with the common Twin RTX 4060 Ti 8GB. The Multitronic itemizing reveals a value of €559, in comparison with €470 for the non-SSD geared up Twin RTX 4060 Ti. Although there isn’t any doubt this answer introduces some complexity justifying a value premium, that is a giant markup.
The itemizing at Multitronic even consists of some advertising info, which features a line stating the slot is “able to PCIe 5.0 speeds”. The RTX 4060 Ti solely helps PCIe 4.0 although, so take that line with a grain of salt. The slot additionally consists of Asus’ Q-Latch mechanism for straightforward set up.
On the GPU facet of issues, the RTX 4060 Ti is a well-known amount at this level. It would not blow us away with its efficiency and specs, however it’s a energy thrifty and succesful mid-range possibility, and it is in a position to make use of Nvidia’s applied sciences, together with DLSS 3 and body era.
Including an M.2 slot to a graphics card may appear to be the reply to a query no person requested, nevertheless it’s really a really fascinating answer, for a couple of causes.Â
Firstly, the RTX 4060 Ti solely makes use of a PCIe x8 interface, so including an M.2 slot is a intelligent approach so as to add an SSD and reap the benefits of PCIe lanes that will in any other case be misplaced when utilizing an x8 card in an x16 slot.
The second purpose is cooling. Having an SSD positioned atop the graphics card ought to ship good cooling potential, because the drive will sit proper within the path of entrance to again case airflow. That should not make an enormous distinction for motherboards with major M.2 slots situated above the graphics card, however motherboards with slots situated beneath the graphics card are likely to obtain poor airflow, and may really perform extra like warmth absorbers because of warmth coming off of the GPU when gaming.
The SSD slot appears to be like prefer it’ll be straightforward to entry. SSDs could be a actual ache to put in, particularly people who require the elimination of the graphics card. These tiny fiddly screws are a bane of the PC constructing expertise, and any approach to make SSD set up simpler is a welcome one in my e book.
After all, with out testing the efficiency and cooling capabilities of an SSD mounted this fashion, we won’t know for certain how this answer will carry out, however I believe  it is a very fascinating implementation. If it really works in follow, it may very well be the primary of many graphics playing cards to introduce this intriguing answer.