Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 review – Gigabyte Gaming OC graphics card benchmarks

I virtually really feel a bit sorry for the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060. My assessment has been delayed as a result of Nvidia determined to not launch a press driver so I may take a look at it earlier than launch, and there is now a really apparent purpose why. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 nonetheless solely has 8GB of VRAM, and that is proving to be a serious restriction on its capabilities. It is a baffling resolution meaning the RTX 5060 falls over in considered one of our take a look at video games for those who run it above the Medium graphics preset, even at 1,920 x 1,080.

All of which is a disgrace as a result of, as a GPU, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 is not really unhealthy, with an honest step up in rendering energy over its predecessor, the RTX 4060. With a wider reminiscence interface and 12GB of VRAM, it may simply justify its $299 asking value, even when Nvidia determined to make use of older GDDR6 reminiscence to maintain down the value. As it’s, the RTX 5060 has an uphill battle to justify itself as one of the best graphics card on this value vary, notably with the aggressively priced AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT launch date on the horizon.

Specs

If we ignore the VRAM elephant within the room for the second, the RTX 5060 has a strong uplift in specs in comparison with the RTX 4060. The brand new GPU incorporates 3,840 CUDA cores, that are the tiny processors that work in parallel to render your video games. As a normal rule, the extra the higher in relation to CUDA cores, and the RTX 5060 has a strong 25% greater than the RTX 4060, which solely has 3,072 of them, which means it must be considerably faster in relation to uncooked body charges.

In the meantime, the RTX 5060’s 30 RT cores will make this funds gaming GPU higher at dealing with ray tracing than the 24 within the RTX 4060, particularly as they’re additionally based mostly on the brand new and improved Blackwell structure. There are additionally 120 Tensor cores for AI workloads, resembling DLSS upscaling and body gen, in addition to new neural rendering strategies resembling neural radiance cache. Once more, that is an honest step up from the 96 discovered within the RTX 4060.

Nvidia has additionally furnished its newest Tensor cores with the flexibility to run its multi-frame gen tech, which makes use of AI to insert as much as three additional frames between every pair of frames genuinely rendered by the GPU. In my exams, I’ve discovered that this tech cannot repair a low body price – in case your sport is working at 15fps, then utilizing multi-frame gen to spice up that to 50fps will nonetheless be horrible to play. Nevertheless, in case your sport is already working at 60fps, multi-frame gen is usually a great tool in your GPU’s arsenal to spice up that determine to round 200fps, smoothing out the movement if in case you have a monitor with a excessive refresh price.

Then we come to the RTX 5060’s massive stumbling block, which is the VRAM. On the plus aspect, it makes use of quick GDDR7 reminiscence working at 1,750MHz (28Gbps efficient), which leads to a peak reminiscence bandwidth determine of 448GB/s with the cardboard’s 128-bit bus. That principally means the GPU can retrieve knowledge from the VRAM remarkably rapidly for a card at this value – as a degree of comparability, the RTX 4060’s whole reminiscence bandwidth is simply 272GB/s, so the RTX 5060’s reminiscence system is considerably sooner.

That is the place the excellent news ends, although, as a result of the large downside is that there is solely 8GB of this quick reminiscence on this card. That is the identical capability because the RTX 4060 earlier than it, and even lower than the 12GB RTX 3060 that got here out a number of years in the past. In consequence, lots of our take a look at video games confirmed us VRAM warnings within the graphics settings throughout testing, even when working a number of the video games at 1080p, some video games would clearly be faster with extra reminiscence, and a few video games simply flat-out become a horrible stuttering mess.

You may see how Nvidia ended up on this scenario. In spite of everything, 12GB of the most recent GDDR7 VRAM tech goes to bump up the value, and the yields on new 3GB GDDR7 chips are most likely nowhere close to excessive sufficient to make a mass-produced graphics card based mostly on them but. Meaning Nvidia wants to make use of 2GB chips in the intervening time, and the construction of the RTX 5060 offers it a 128-bit bus, which implies it will possibly both have 8GB or 16GB of VRAM made with normal 2GB chips – 16GB could be too costly, so we have ended up with an 8GB card.

Arguably, Nvidia would have been higher off having a distinct structure for this chip, with a 192-bit bus permitting for a 12GB setup, and even only a 160-bit bus permitting for 10GB – I might argue that simply utilizing extra GDDR6 reminiscence would have been higher than utilizing much less GDDR7 RAM. As it’s, although, the RTX 5060 has actually quick reminiscence, however not sufficient of it, which places it in a tough aggressive place towards the $349 AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB, if it is really accessible at that value.

One other space the place the Radeon RX 9060 XT has a bonus is the PCIe interface, because it makes use of the complete 16 PCIe 5.0 lanes, whereas the RTX 5060 solely makes use of eight of them. That is loads of bandwidth for those who’re utilizing a PCIe 5.0 motherboard, but it surely means you may nonetheless solely get eight lanes for those who put this GPU in a PCIe 3.0 or 4.0 motherboard, maybe for those who’re upgrading an Intel Tenth-gen Comet Lake system, for instance, which solely helps PCIe 3.0, and utilizing simply eight PCIe 3.0 lanes is prone to begin limiting efficiency of this GPU.

Lastly, I am happy to see that the RTX 5060 nonetheless solely requires a single 8-pin energy connector, which means it’s going to work nice with most individuals’s present PSUs, with the full graphics energy rated at simply 145W. Meaning you may be nice working this GPU with a regular 500-550W PSU.

Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5060 Gaming OC

Nvidia is not making its personal RTX 5060 Founders Version card, which implies all 5060 playing cards are made by third-party board companions. Gigabyte despatched me its GeForce RTX 5060 Gaming OC card for this assessment, which retains remarkably quiet with its three followers spinning at low speeds, and likewise tightly squeezes into simply two slots.

Gigabyte has additionally given its card a small overclock of 95MHz, which takes the increase clock from 2.5GHz to 2.9GHz. As such, keep in mind that our benchmark outcomes will probably be very barely faster than these of a inventory pace card, although the distinction will probably be very small (solely 1-2fps right here and there).

There’s additionally a big metallic backplate on the rear of the cardboard, which does not make a direct reference to any of the silicon, however does assist stop the cardboard from sagging, and the RTX 5060 does not run notably scorching anyway. In the meantime, a big cutout on the best of the backplate permits scorching air to be pushed straight by means of the highest of the cardboard in a regular case configuration, the place your case’s followers can then push it out the again.

It is a massive beast for a funds gaming GPU, but it surely was additionally exceptionally quiet throughout testing, and also you additionally get a little bit of RGB lighting on the right-hand aspect of the highest edge, beneath the Gigabyte emblem. One different fascinating a part of the design is the positioning of the 8-pin energy connector on the far left of the cardboard. This could make for tidy cable routing in case your case has a routing gap to your motherboard’s entrance panel audio header, however it will possibly look a bit messy for those who’re dragging cables over from the best.

How we take a look at

To evaluate the gaming efficiency of the GeForce RTX 5060, I am working plenty of benchmarks utilizing actual video games, reasonably than artificial benchmarks. Every take a look at is run thrice, recorded with Nvidia FrameView, and I report the imply common of the outcomes, discarding any apparent anomalies. I report two figures for body charges – firstly, the common, which supplies you an thought of the overall body price you’ll obtain. Secondly, I report the 1% low, which is a median of the bottom one p.c of outcomes recorded throughout the benchmark.

The latter is a extra dependable indicator of efficiency than the outright minimal, because it removes outliers, resembling moments the place a Home windows system occasion causes the sport to stutter, which is unrelated to the efficiency of the GPU. The 1% low is what you possibly can count on the precise typical minimal body price to be in these video games.

I am additionally now reporting the latency in GPU critiques, which is expressed in milliseconds (ms), and refers back to the delay between an motion being executed in a sport and that motion being displayed by your graphics card – the decrease the latency, the extra responsive your sport will really feel in motion. These figures aren’t at all times featured within the graphs, as I haven’t got the information for all the opposite GPUs, however they’re mentioned within the assessment.

GPU take a look at system specs:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
• CPU cooler: Corsair H100X RGB Elite
• Reminiscence: 32GB 6,000MHz G.Talent TridentZ RGB, CL28
• Motherboard: MSI MAG X870E Carbon WiFi
• SSD: 2TB WD Black SN850X
• PSU: Corsair RM1000X Shift

Benchmarks

Doom The Darkish Ages

I will kick off the RTX 5060 benchmarks with a take a look at an incredible showcase title for this new funds gaming GPU, Doom The Darkish Ages. The newest hellscape shooter from id options a great deal of cool ray tracing tech, in addition to implementing full help for Nvidia DLSS 4, together with multi-frame gen. I ran the brand new sport on the RTX 5060 at varied settings, and it coped remarkably effectively with them.

Even with none assist from DLSS, the RTX 5060 can deal with this sport at 1080p utilizing the Extremely Nightmare preset, the place it averages 70fps, with the 1% low dropping to 54fps. Allow DLSS 4 on the High quality setting, and these figures go as much as 93fps and 75fps respectively, plus the sport nonetheless appears to be like actually good at these settings, due to the brand new DLSS 4 Transformer mannequin, which makes for secure movement and far much less blurriness than DLSS 3.

That 93fps common can also be a strong sufficient basis to allow body gen, which means the RTX 5060 can unfold its AI wings and soar to a median of 238fps. Impressively, whereas enabling multi body gen does enhance enter lag, this sport’s help for Nvidia Reflex means the affect is minimal – I measured the enter latency at 24ms with out multi body gen, and 35ms with it, and the sport was completely nice with body gen enabled throughout gameplay, with the motion trying tremendous {smooth}.

Nevertheless, for those who then up the settings to 2,560 x 1,440, you already begin to bump up towards the VRAM limitation, with the reminiscence utilization turning pink within the graphics menu. You may run the sport fairly effectively at 1440p with DLSS on the High quality setting, the place it averages 66fps with 31ms latency.

Nevertheless, enabling body gen at these settings saturates the VRAM, with the latency going as much as 74ms. Whereas the common body price of 92fps appears to be like greater with body gen enabled, the sport was really unplayable in motion, with occasional stuttering and sudden acceleration because the body price caught up. When you’re solely gaming at 1080p, although, the RTX 5060 handles this sport rather well.

Cyberpunk 2077

One other good showcase for the RTX 5060 is Cyberpunk 2077, which once more helps all the most recent Nvidia DLSS 4 tech, and appears implausible on the brand new GPU. When you run the sport with the Extremely ray tracing preset at 1080p, you possibly can see that the RTX 5060’s 45fps common is considerably faster than the 37fps from the RTX 4060, and solely 3fps behind the RTX 4060 Ti.

It is nonetheless not playable at these settings, however setting DLSS upscaling to Balanced (which nonetheless appears to be like strong with the brand new Transformer mannequin), pushes this as much as 85fps, with a 68fps 1% low, which is a strong sufficient. You may then allow 4x multi-frame gen, and the sport averages 231fps with a 126fps 1% low – the sport appears to be like implausible at these settings, and it is {smooth} as effectively. There is a rise in latency right here, going from 26ms to 40ms, however I discovered the sport was nonetheless responsive sufficient to play in motion.

I then had a go at enabling path tracing utilizing the Cyberpunk 2077 Overdrive mode, simply to see if this new funds GPU may deal with the intensive calls for of this ray tracing method. It’s good to have interaction DLSS to get an honest body price, in fact, however for those who allow upscaling on the Efficiency setting (which, once more, does not look horrible anymore, due to the brand new Transformer mannequin), the sport averages 66fps with a 50fps 1% low and 31ms latency.

When you then allow multi-frame gen, the common body price goes as much as 202fps, however the 1% low is simply 70fps, and the latency will increase to 46ms. In motion, I discovered the sport often stuttered with body gen enabled right here, with sudden quick actions occurring when the body price caught up once more. Mainly, path tracing is technically potential on this GPU, however I would not suggest it, even for those who throw all of the DLSS magic Nvidia can muster at it.

Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle

Now for the large fly within the RTX 5060 ointment, a super-demanding sport that makes the RTX 5060 battle, just because it does not have sufficient VRAM to deal with it. This sport has two tiers of settings – the usual one ranges from Low to Supreme and has ray tracing as normal, and you may then additionally have interaction an additional tier of Full RT settings at varied ranges to allow path tracing options.

As normal, I run this sport on the Extremely preset with no path tracing on all GPUs, because it nonetheless appears to be like actually good at these settings, and most GPUs can deal with it. The RTX 5060 Ti 16GB, for instance, averages a {smooth} 91fps on this sport at these settings, with a 1% low of 72fps.

Nevertheless, 8GB of VRAM merely is not sufficient to deal with this preset, with the RTX 5060’s efficiency falling off a cliff edge – the common was simply 23fps, and the 1% low dropped proper all the way down to 9fps – it is fully unplayable. Even dropping to the subsequent setting down (Excessive) pushed this GPU’s reminiscence to the restrict, with a 41fps common and stuttery 1% low of 13fps. You additionally nonetheless get a warning about not having sufficient VRAM for those who drop all the way down to the Medium setting, however I discovered the cardboard may nonetheless run the sport utilizing this preset, averaging 92fps with a 71fps 1% low.

Ultimately, it’s important to drop all the way down to the Low preset to cease getting VRAM warnings within the graphics menu, the place the RTX 5060 averages 110fps. That is an honest body price, however whereas the sport nonetheless appears to be like OK at these settings, it is clear {that a} bit extra reminiscence would allow you to run this sport with far more element and eye sweet on the RTX 5060.

Name of Responsibility Black Ops 6

Subsequent up is Name of Responsibility Black Ops 6, a AAA shooter that does not characteristic any ray tracing tech, and likewise does not help multi-frame gen. This take a look at offers us a very good indication of a GPU’s uncooked rendering capabilities, though it does usually want AMD’s GPU architectures to these of Nvidia. As a living proof, that is the one sport in our take a look at suite the place the getting older Radeon RX 7600 is quicker than the RTX 5060.

Even so, the distinction is marginal, and the RTX 5060 can clearly deal with this sport nice at 1080p, even when it is maxed out with no DLSS. Its common of 94fps and 68fps 1% low is ok, with the previous being a very good 12fps faster than the RTX 4060. When you then allow DLSS on the High quality setting, the common body price goes as much as 100fps, and the latency stays the identical, averaging across the 22ms mark.

It’s also possible to then allow body gen, permitting the common body price to drag away to 147fps, though the latency then goes up a little bit to 32ms. Nevertheless, the 1% low was surprisingly low right here at 69fps, notably at the beginning of the benchmark. When you’re enjoying this sport on the RTX 5060, I might keep away from enabling body gen and simply keep on with DLSS on the High quality setting with the Excessive preset or, even higher, drop all the way down to decrease graphics settings.

Whereas the RTX 5060 can deal with Black Ops 6 at 1080p, the graphics menu flags up a pink VRAM warning once you up the decision to 2,560 x 1,440 with the Excessive preset. It is nonetheless playable, regardless of this, averaging 68fps, with the scope for a better body price for those who allow DLSS or drop the settings, however this does once more present that this card is correct up towards it in relation to reminiscence. Enabling body gen at this decision pushes the common as much as 104fps, however the 1% low nonetheless stumbles at 50fps, and the latency goes proper as much as 45ms – your greatest wager is to run this sport at 1080p for those who’re utilizing the RTX 5060.

F1 24

Whereas we anticipate F1 25 to return out, we’re at present nonetheless testing with F1 24, which continues to be an incredible benchmark with its quick tempo and lovely ray tracing results on the Extremely preset. This benchmark additionally actually reveals the rise in rendering energy you get from stepping up from the RTX 4060 to the 5060. The previous averages 53fps with a 38fps 1% low at 1080p, however the RTX 5060 takes the common all the way in which as much as 72fps. That places the common on a par with the RTX 4060 Ti, and the 1% low on the RTX 5060 was really sooner than the 4060 Ti at 56fps.

That is already playable with none assist from DLSS, however you may get some extra efficiency from the RTX 5060 for those who allow DLSS upscaling on the High quality setting and allow body gen too. This pushes the common proper as much as 120fps with a 74fps 1% low – an incredible consequence, and with solely a modest enhance in latency from 35ms to 38ms. Comparatively, I could not even get the Radeon RX 7600 to run this sport with FSR upscaling and body gen enabled, because it stored falling over.

Shifting as much as 1440p is a bit a lot for the RTX 5060 at these settings, although, the place it averages simply 48fps with a clunky 1% low of 34fps, and excessive enter latency of 52ms. As with many of the above exams, 1080p is certainly the candy spot for the RTX 5060 for those who’re working video games at excessive settings.

Doom Everlasting

Lastly, our getting older Doom Everlasting benchmark continues to be a very good take a look at of the most recent GPUs, notably for those who allow ray tracing. Even at 1080p, maxing out this sport with the Extremely Nightmare settings with ray tracing pushes the VRAM actually exhausting, however can provide you nice outcomes if the GPU is as much as the job. I’ve seen a number of 8GB playing cards fall over on this take a look at, together with the RTX 4060, so I used to be intrigued to see how the RTX 5060 coped.

Remarkably, the RTX 5060 managed to clock up a 185fps common at these settings, with a 96fps 1% low, providing related efficiency to the RTX 4060 Ti 8GB. Nevertheless, you possibly can see from the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB consequence that the additional VRAM actually allows this GPU to drag away by an enormous margin, regardless of solely having a modest quantity of additional GPU energy.

Disable ray tracing, nonetheless, and the RTX 5060 can actually churn out the body charges on this outdated sport, with its 336fps common at 1080p being 31fps in entrance of the RTX 4060, and its 247fps common at 1440p being an honest consequence too.

Energy draw

One space the place the RTX 5060 actually excels is energy draw, with our Ryzen 7 7800X3D take a look at rig solely drawing a peak of 274W from the mains with the RTX 5060 working at full load. Once more, that is an analogous consequence to the RTX 4060 Ti, and solely marginally greater than the Radeon RX 7600 – a distinction that will very most likely disappear for those who had been utilizing a inventory pace model of the cardboard, reasonably than our overclocked one.

I will be to see the facility draw of the Radeon RX 9060 XT as compared, however given the comparatively excessive energy consumption of the Radeon RX 9070 playing cards, it is a battle which will find yourself being gained by the RTX 5060. It could solely have 8GB of VRAM, however most PC players will simply be capable to improve to this card with no need to purchase a brand new PSU.

Worth

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 value is $299, which matches the value of its predecessor, the RTX 4060, whereas overclocked variations, such because the Gigabyte Gaming OC card we examined, price a little bit additional. At face worth, the value does not look too unhealthy, on condition that the brand new GPU provides a strong enchancment in rendering efficiency over its predecessor.

Nevertheless, at this value, this GPU actually wants greater than 8GB of VRAM now, particularly when the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB is lined as much as price $349. We’ll should see how real-world costs look as soon as all of the GPUs have been launched and the costs have settled down, however $299 is simply too costly for a GPU with this stage of efficiency and reminiscence in 2025, even whether it is higher than its predecessor.

Alternate options

AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT

AMD’s competing GPU will not be out but, however the Radeon RX 9060 XT launch date is coming very quickly, and I counsel holding off on buying the RTX 5060 earlier than you know the way this new AMD GPU performs. Two variations will probably be accessible, with AMD saying the 8GB card could have the identical value because the RTX 5060, with the 16GB card costing a really cheap $349 at MSRP. It is possible that the Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB will probably be a a lot better purchase than the RTX 5060, however provided that AMD’s pricing holds up in the actual world, which hasn’t been the case with the 9070 playing cards up to now.

Intel Arc B580

This Intel Battlemage GPU has one main profit over the RTX 5060, which is an additional 4GB of VRAM, giving it a complete of 12GB. This offers it far more headroom to run the most recent video games at excessive settings with out fully falling over, though Intel’s supporting suite of AI tech is a good method behind Nvidia DLSS in relation to sport help. Due to scarce provide, nonetheless, Intel Arc B580 costs are everywhere, notably within the US. At its $259 MSRP, the Arc B580 is an effective purchase, but it surely makes much less sense when it prices over $300.

Verdict

Oh, Nvidia, why do you do that to us? You give us an honest increase in rendering efficiency for a similar value as your outdated card, however then you definitely solely give it 8GB of VRAM on a $299 card in 2025 – it is like constructing a pleasant home, then making all of the doorways not fairly sufficiently big to keep away from scraping your butt and bashing your head. Nvidia may have undoubtedly made a greater providing right here, maybe utilizing a wider bus and 12GB of VRAM, even when it wasn’t GDDR7 reminiscence. I might even be stunned if we did not see a 12GB RTX 5060 Tremendous popping out subsequent yr, utilizing 3GB GDDR7 chips.

It is unlucky within the meantime, although, as a result of there are different areas the place the RTX 5060 is an honest GPU. Its rendering and ray tracing efficiency is a good bit faster than the RTX 4060, and never far off the RTX 4060 Ti 8GB, which is not unhealthy for the $299 asking value. Even at this stage, multi body gen can nonetheless be a useful gizmo as effectively – you simply want to verify your beginning body price is excessive sufficient, and you may then get pleasure from super-smooth body charges in video games that help it – specifically, Doom The Darkish Ages and Cyberpunk 2077 run effectively on this new GPU with DLSS 4.

However then we now have different video games, resembling Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle, that fall over for those who go above the Medium graphics preset, even at 1080p, and several other of our take a look at video games gave us warnings about VRAM capability within the graphics menu as we elevated the settings. To be honest, this card did nonetheless run most of our take a look at video games at 1,920 x 1,080 with its 8GB of VRAM, however a number of them had been proper on the restrict, which raises questions on future proofing and the lifespan of this GPU.

I additionally advise ready for our AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT assessment earlier than buying the RTX 5060, because the 16GB model of this graphics card may effectively change into a greater purchase, however provided that real-world pricing does not spiral uncontrolled. Within the meantime, the RTX 5060 is not a horrible $299 gaming GPU, but it surely may have been made so a lot better if Nvidia addressed its one main flaw.

When you’re planning an improve, try our information to one of the best graphics card to see which GPU most closely fits your wants, in addition to our tutorial on the way to set up a GPU, which takes you thru the entire course of.

It’s also possible to observe us on Google Information for day by day PC video games information, critiques, and guides. As well as, we now have a vibrant group Discord server, the place you possibly can chat about this story with members of the group and fellow readers.