- Nvidia has introduced its RTX 5060 arrives on Might 19
- The GPU has an MSRP of $299 and comes with 8GB of VRAM (which stays controversial)
- With AMD rumored to disclose its rival RX 9060 XT on Might 21, the week after subsequent could possibly be an enormous one for players in search of a extra reasonably priced GPU
Nvidia has introduced that its RTX 5060 desktop graphics card will go on sale on Might 19, as will the laptop computer model of this GPU.
VideoCardz caught wind of the date being introduced on X (previously Twitter). It was a launch day that had been beforehand rumored, with the value tag on the desktop GPU being $299, and the specs already revealed by Nvidia beforehand (when its sibling, the RTX 5060 Ti, was launched).
Beginning Might 19 at 9 a.m. Pacific Time, GeForce RTX 5060 graphics playing cards, desktops, and GeForce RTX 5060 Laptop computer GPUs shall be accessible from our companions and retailers worldwide.#GeForceRTX50 pic.twitter.com/VLA9bZUWRWMight 6, 2025
The RTX 5060 Ti arrived in each 16GB and 8GB flavors, however the RTX 5060 will solely debut with the latter loadout of video RAM (VRAM), and that has already proved controversial amongst PC players.
Once more, just like the RTX 5060 Ti, there’ll solely be third-party variations of this graphics card, that means Nvidia isn’t producing its personal Founders Version mannequin.
To recap on the (already revealed) specs, the RTX 5060 has 3,840 CUDA Cores which is a 17% drop in comparison with the core depend of the RTX 5060 Ti. Clock speeds and different specs are in the identical ballpark, however as talked about, there’s no 16GB spin on the vanilla RTX 5060.
Energy utilization can be decrease with the RTX 5060 at 145W in comparison with 180W, which could possibly be a consideration for people who’ve a lesser energy provide and never a lot room to maneuver in relation to the general wattage that their gaming PC can deal with.
Evaluation: Lane drain and different VRAM issues
To not bang on about it, however the apparent drawback with the RTX 5060, as I mentioned at size yesterday, is Nvidia’s option to run with 8GB of VRAM. I received’t go over the identical floor I’ve already coated (see yesterday’s piece for the total lowdown), however there are some additional factors to think about now the launch date is primed and able to go.
The arguments in favor of accepting 8GB (as a pricing compromise) may embody ‘it’s effective for 1080p gaming’ that means these working at Full HD decision ought to be kind of okay with this serving to of VRAM. Nonetheless, numerous third-party assessments have illustrated that with some video games and graphics settings, 8GB is a bottleneck at 1080p now, slowing down body charges considerably.
Sure, Nvidia does have its bag-of-AI-tricks within the type of RTX Neural Texture Compression as revealed with the Blackwell era, which helps VRAM go a lot additional. However the bother is, nothing’s occurring shortly to convey help in with video games for that tech. It could possibly be a great distance down the street earlier than texture compression makes a significant impression (although it could certainly be an enormous piece of the puzzle for Nvidia finally).
As issues stand within the right here and now, that 8GB loadout is wanting plain shaky. The central tempting issue for the RTX 5060, then, is that it’ll be a way more reasonably priced outlay – we hope. With that MSRP of $299, if third-party graphics playing cards can be found at that worth stage, this GPU could possibly be seen as a good shot at an reasonably priced gaming card with some limitations that you just’ll simply must stay with.
At the least for these with a motherboard that helps PCIe 5.0, as a result of when you have a PCIe 4.0 motherboard, you’ll expertise extra slowdown in eventualities the place the 8GB of reminiscence isn’t sufficient, as evidenced with the RTX 5060 Ti. Why? As a result of when the on-board VRAM can’t cope, the graphics card faucets the primary system RAM, utilizing that PCIe 4.0 interface to succeed in it – and it’s quite a bit slower than PCIe 5.0.
This will get a bit sophisticated as a result of it’s worsened by the choice made by Nvidia that every one RTX 5060 fashions, Ti variations included, solely help half the accessible PCIe lanes, and so half the bandwidth. Now, PCIe 5.0 is ok as a result of it’s so quick, halving its bandwidth nonetheless leaves loads of room to pipe knowledge by way of. Nonetheless, this turns into an actual stumbling block with the slower PCIe 4.0 normal, and much more of an issue with PCIe 3.0 ought to you will have a motherboard working that even older tackle the interface.
I ought to observe that the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB is okay, as a result of it has that a lot bigger serving to of VRAM, and so doesn’t must run off to seize extra system RAM. And the RTX 5070 above it’s effective, too – even when it solely runs with 12GB of video RAM, which is arguably nonetheless mild on the reminiscence – as a result of Nvidia didn’t hamstring that GPU by closing off half the PCIe lanes. The RTX 5070 has the total 16 lanes, relatively than simply eight as with the RTX 5060 fashions.
The lengthy and wanting it’s that these with out a new PCIe 5.0-toting motherboard will undergo the extra outrageous slings and arrows bogging down efficiency with any RTX 5060 8GB (Ti, or non-Ti) graphics card. Pricing may additionally find yourself being greater than MSRP, too, as we’ve seen with the RTX 5060 Ti 8GB, which is presently promoting for one thing like 10% greater than its really useful worth (that’s the most cost effective mannequin on the time of writing within the US).
So, we may find yourself $330 (round £250 / AU$510) for the RTX 5060 within the US realistically, or $350 upwards for beefier fashions of this graphics card (and in keeping with that elsewhere). At which level, given the talked about shakiness round efficiency, would-be consumers might have extra pause for thought.
Historically, the xx60 collection has been an enormous vendor for Nvidia, however possibly that received’t be fairly as clear minimize this time round – particularly given the irony that you just want a cutting-edge motherboard to most successfully run your affordable-level Blackwell GPU.
Moreover, we additionally must see what competitors AMD’s RX 9060 XT shall be – though which will even have an 8GB spin (in addition to a 16GB mannequin), we don’t know that for certain but, or how the total specs will pan out. Loads of eyes are watching this lower-mid-range battle, that’s for certain, with the 9060 XT anticipated to be revealed simply after the RTX 5060 goes on sale.
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