Asus' Dual RTX 4060 Ti with an integrated M.2 SSD slot answers a question few thought to ask
The world of graphics cards can sometimes appear to be a bit 'me too'. Adding a splash of RGB, a factory overclock or a funky shroud are a few ways to differentiate a card from the pack, but adding an M.2 SSD slot is something else. Asus has done exactly that. Its new Dual GeForce RTX 4060 Ti features a PCIe M.2 slot built right into the graphics card itself.
Though the card has been demonstrated before, it's now showing up at a handful of European based retailers (via @momomo_us). As expected, the SSD slot equipped model comes with a markup compared to the regular Dual RTX 4060 Ti 8GB. The Multitronic listing shows a price of €559, compared to €470 for the non-SSD equipped Dual RTX 4060 Ti. Though there's no doubt this solution introduces some complexity justifying a price premium, that's a big markup.
The listing at Multitronic even includes some marketing information, which includes a line stating the slot is «capable of PCIe 5.0 speeds». The RTX 4060 Ti only supports PCIe 4.0 though, so take that line with a grain of salt. The slot also includes Asus' Q-Latch mechanism for easy installation.
On the GPU side of things, the RTX 4060 Ti is a well known quantity at this point. It doesn't blow us away with its performance and specifications, but it is a power thrifty and capable mid-range option, and it's able to make use of Nvidia's technologies, including DLSS 3 and frame generation.
Adding an M.2 slot to a graphics card might seem to be the answer to a question nobody asked, but it's actually a very interesting solution, for a few reasons.
Firstly, the RTX 4060 Ti only makes use of a PCIe x8 interface, so adding an M.2 slot is a clever way to add an SSD and take advantage of PCIe lanes that would otherwise be lost
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