If it can't easily match/slightly surpass a RTX 3070 then I see it as a mislabeled part. I've had a GTX 970*, a GTX 1070, RTX 2080**, RTX 3080, and now a RTX 4080. All five perform better than the class above it from the previous generation. I'd give a 16 GB version a pass if it could just match a RTX 3070 because the frame generation and the lower power consumption of this generation are notable. I think nVidia made a mistake in giving a 128 bit memory configuration part the xx60 label. Imo they should have given both the RTX 4060 Ti and the RTX 4060 a 192 bit/12 GB ram configuration, or maybe only 160 bit/10 GB ram for the RTX 4060, and just allowed the number of shader cores to be the obvious differentiator to the RTX 4070 series. Heck, use slower ram on the xx60 parts if worried about the xx70 not looking special enough. *The GTX 970 was part of a major generational change, and eventually could match a GTX 780 Ti, though that feat required driver updates, and nVidia no longer concentrating on optimizing performance for the older architecture. **The GTX 1080 Ti was/is a legendary beast of a card, and could edge out the RTX 2080 in several titles at 4k. Though eventually that edge was eaten away as driver updates kept piling on incremental updates to the newer architecture. Once DLSS and raytracing became factors worth considering, it became more plausible to say the RTX 2080 had an advantage. Though it was of course always more power efficient. Edit: I mistakenly wrote "GTX" instead of "RTX" at one point.

wavetrex:

You think?... The entire generation all the way up to the 4080 has been named up and priced up up. Starting with 4080 it has the specs of a "70" card, but priced like the 2080 Ti from previous gen, which was, at the time, considered outrageous, vs the $700 1080 Ti. Like, holy f**k, gamers got burned, yet they still buy this cr4p.

Honestly even the 4090 could easily be considered an x80 tier card considering how cut down the AD102 die in it is. There's more than enough cut out to be a meaningful tier above it; larger than something like 3090 to 3090 Ti. nVidia and AMD have spent this generation conditioning the market to accept higher prices at all tiers while every tier is downgraded. With jackshit for improvement for the most part this generation in the main tiers (3060 Ti matching or beating a 4060 Ti LOL), the next generation can easily offer a massive performance increase per dollar even if everything is insultingly overpriced as it is now. The question is, how many people will just bend over and accept defeat, making the BS prices permanent?

wavetrex:

You think?... The entire generation all the way up to the 4080 has been named up and priced up up. Starting with 4080 it has the specs of a "70" card, but priced like the 2080 Ti from previous gen, which was, at the time, considered outrageous, vs the $700 1080 Ti. Like, holy f**k, gamers got burned, yet they still buy this cr4p.

As it trickles down lower and lower it becomes sillier.