IT TOOK NVIDIA over two and a half years, but we finally have a successor to the RTX 3060Ti in the form of the new RTX 4060Ti. I’m sure many of you will have already seen the online discourse about the merits (or not) of the $399 card, but we have our full verdict on it in our review on page 74. The main concern for most people will be the 8GB VRAM on the card, which seems a little limited in 2023. I won’t spoil the review, but if you’re gaming at 1080p, you shouldn’t have much to worry about— it’s the higher 1440p and 4K resolutions where you’d be wise to wait for the 16GB version to arrive this month.
We couldn’t wait to get started on a 4060Ti build, however, and our builder, Sam, used the opportunity to drop the small-ish card into a mini-ITX build this month on page 16. This machine is purpose built to either be a perfect small form factor desktop PC, or fit snugly underneath a TV to serve as a gaming and home theater system. With an i5-13600K, 32GB RAM, and Z790 motherboard, I think Sam has nailed the specs when it comes to this system, which is a potent 1080p gaming machine, number-crunching beast, and sleek little mini PC all combined into one.
Elsewhere in this issue, but staying on the topic of living room gaming, we look at how you can play classic computer, console, and arcade games on your PC. Whenever I ask visiting friends if they want to play a game, I’m amazed at how many of them would still rather play the 30-year-old Street Fighter II than its 2023 equivalent, Street Fighter 6. The same goes for other classics like Sonic The Hedgehog, Mario Kart, and Streets of Rage, and you can have hours of fun revisiting these classics alone or with friends by creating your own emulation library on your PC. Find out how on page 32.