Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti review – arguably a better gaming GPU than the 5070

Nvidia doesn’t typically admit when it has made errors, however it appears like there’s a hidden acknowledgement within the launch of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti. Perhaps, simply perhaps, Nvidia has realized that its GPUs must be kitted out with extra VRAM as commonplace. There was a large $100 distinction between the 8GB and 16GB variations of the 4060 Ti, and Nvidia didn’t ship samples of the latter to reviewers after they got here out a number of weeks later. This time, that distinction has shrunk to simply $50 and Nvidia has switched its evaluate samples round, with them solely sending me a 16GB RTX 5060 Ti card to check.

As we’ll see on this evaluate, that further reminiscence has a profound affect on some video games, notably if you’re piling on ray tracing results, and this resolution helps elevate the Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti 16GB out of the RTX 4060 Ti 8GB’s pool of mediocrity. It’s not all plain crusing, in fact. The GPU itself is just barely extra highly effective than the 4060 Ti, which was solely a smidgen in entrance of the 3060 Ti when it comes to primary rendering energy. In the meantime, inventory issues have made it very troublesome to purchase this new GPU at its precise MSRP within the US.

Even so, provided that there’s presently no signal of the AMD Radeon RX 9060 but, and that the RTX 4060 Ti is now inconceivable to seek out anyplace, the RTX 5060 Ti remains to be principally the perfect graphics card you should purchase proper now on this value vary. It’s price ready for the inventory and pricing state of affairs to cool down earlier than buying a card within the US, however within the UK the 5060 Ti goes for its MSRP, the place it represents first rate worth for cash. 

Specs

Beneath the hood, the RTX 5060 Ti is similar to its predecessor, however with a small bump in specs. Primarily based on Nvidia’s new Blackwell structure, the RTX 5060 Ti has 4,608 CUDA cores, that are the elements answerable for the GPU’s uncooked recreation rendering energy – the extra the higher, and that’s 256 greater than the 4060 Ti. That’s a small bounce, although, of just below 6%.

You additionally get 4 extra RT cores for ray tracing than the 4060 Ti, and eight extra Tensor cores for AI work, corresponding to DLSS and neural rendering. These elements have additionally been revised to their 4th-gen and Fifth-gen designs respectively, with the latter powering the flagship function of Nvidia DLSS 4, multi body gen.

This tech makes use of AI to cleverly insert as much as three synthetic frames between every pair of frames rendered by your GPU, to massively enhance body charges. It’s essential to have a good body fee earlier than you allow it (Nvidia recommends not less than 45fps), and it could actually’t repair a body fee that’s poor within the first place, but when your recreation already runs at 60fps or greater, multi body gen can work very well at smoothing out your body fee, which is good if in case you have a monitor with a quick refresh fee.

As I discussed beforehand, although, it’s the reminiscence the place you’ll see the largest distinction between the 4060 Ti and 5060 Ti. With 16GB of VRAM, the $429 model of this GPU can really run video games at some settings that may’t be achieved on the costlier RTX 5070, because it solely has 12GB of VRAM. Nvidia’s use of 28Gbps GDDR7 VRAM has additionally massively elevated the reminiscence bandwidth from 288GB/s on the 4060 Ti to 448GB/s on the 5060 Ti, that means the GPU can get knowledge to and from the reminiscence a lot sooner, regardless of solely having a comparatively slender 128-bit reminiscence interface.

You don’t all the time see the advantages of extra VRAM in video games, so there will likely be loads of instances the place the 8GB card is simply as quick because the 16GB one. Nonetheless, if you happen to actually push up the settings in a few of the newest video games, 8GB can turn into rapidly saturated, and at that time body charges fall off a cliff because the GPU has to get knowledge from system reminiscence as an alternative. With 16GB of quick VRAM, the one actual bottleneck on this card is the GPU itself.

There are a few different elements of the specs record price noting too. One is that this card solely makes use of eight PCIe 5.0 lanes, fairly than the 16 utilized by different Nvidia Blackwell GPUs. Eight PCIe 5.0 lanes is completely nice for this degree of GPU energy, however bear in mind that this variety of lanes will persist on older motherboards that solely assist earlier variations of PCIe, so that you’ll solely get eight PCIe 3.0 lanes, fairly than 16, as an example.  Such a setup may restrict efficiency.

Lastly, the ability draw of this GPU is notable just because it’s so low. We’ll come to the precise figures later within the evaluate, however Nvidia solely suggests you want a 450W PSU for this GPU, and our pattern Palit card solely comes with a single 8-pin energy connector on it. There are some 5060 Ti playing cards with 16-pin connectors as an alternative, however both means, most individuals seemingly gained’t want a brand new PSU to energy this card.

How we take a look at

To gauge the gaming efficiency of the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti, I’m working a lot of benchmarks utilizing actual video games, fairly 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 provides you an thought of the final body fee you’ll obtain. Secondly, I report the 1% low, which is a mean of the bottom one % of outcomes recorded throughout the benchmark.

The latter is a extra dependable indicator of efficiency than the outright minimal, because it removes outliers, corresponding to 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’ll be able to anticipate the precise typical minimal body fee to be in these video games.

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

Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle

I’m going to begin the benchmark dialogue with the perfect showcase of the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB’s talents, which is that this brutally demanding Indy recreation. Right here, you’ll be able to actually see the advantages of that further VRAM in contrast with the 8GB RTX 4060 Ti. At 1,920 x 1,080 with the Extremely preset, and never even any assist from DLSS upscaling or body gen, the 5060 Ti averages an outstanding 91fps on this recreation, and it could actually deal with the sport at 2,560 x 1,440 at these settings, with a mean of 73fps, and a still-solid 60fps 1% low.

Comparatively, the 8GB playing cards flounder at these settings, being unable to run the sport in any respect at 1440p, and with uneven, unplayable body charges at 1080p – the 15fps 1% low of the RTX 4060 Ti 8GB is 79% slower than the 5060 Ti 16GB. This makes the sport unplayable, and the RTX 5060 Ti 8GB will virtually definitely endure from the identical issues.

Remarkably, that further reminiscence additionally permits the 5060 TI 16GB to push previous the RTX 5070 on this recreation if you happen to crank up the attention sweet. Max out the sport with the Supreme preset and Full RT (path tracing) at its most setting and the RTX 5070 falls over with a mean of 5fps, whether or not you have got body gen enabled or not – its 12GB of VRAM merely isn’t sufficient. Nonetheless, with multi body gen enabled, the 5060 Ti 16GB averages 105fps on this take a look at.

There’s a large caveat right here, although, which is that the sport nonetheless isn’t notably enjoyable to play at these settings on the 5060 Ti. The beginning body fee of 40fps is just too low for multi body gen to {smooth} out with out encountering apparent enter lag, making for a uneven and glitchy expertise regardless of the ostensibly {smooth} body charges.

I discovered you may get a good compromise, although, working the sport with the Extremely preset and medium Full RT, and DLSS 4 on the Efficiency setting – the sport nonetheless appears actually good right here, due to Nvidia’s new Transformer mannequin, which is far much less blurry than earlier variations of DLSS.

At these settings, the sport runs at 54fps, providing you with simply sufficient headroom to allow multi body gen and hit 138fps. The sport is playable at these settings and appears nice, whereas the RTX 5070 can’t deal with these settings in any respect. Likewise, whereas the Radeon RX 9070 can not less than run the sport with Full RT, the 47fps body fee within the graph above was solely achieved with FSR body gen enabled, and I discovered it utterly unplayable in testing, with the body fee leaping everywhere.

Cyberpunk 2077

One other nice showcase for the RTX 5060 Ti is Cyberpunk 2077. It’s an previous recreation now, however CD Projekt Purple has stored including new graphical options as they’ve turn into obtainable, that means it’s nonetheless a good benchmark for the newest GPUs. Particularly, the sport appears implausible within the new Overdrive ray tracing mode with path tracing, and the RTX 5060 Ti can really deal with this mode.

Operating at 1080p with the Overdrive ray tracing preset enabled, and DLSS 4 (transformer) set to the High quality setting, the RTX 5060 Ti averages 56fps, with a 1% low of 46fps, which is a strong place to begin. You may then allow multi body gen, and the body fee rockets all the best way as much as 179fps. Comparably, the RTX 4060 Ti averages 87fps on this take a look at with single body gen, and there are noticeable body fee drops in play too, because the beginning body fee is decrease.

In case you mess around with the settings, you can too get this recreation working properly at 2,560 x 1,440 on the RTX 5060 Ti. At the usual Extremely ray tracing preset, the sport solely averages 33fps at this decision, however that’s nonetheless a great 8fps sooner than the 4060 Ti, and the 1% lows are a lot faster too. Allow DLSS 4 upscaling with the Efficiency preset, which nonetheless appears strong with the brand new Nvidia transformer mannequin, and the sport averages 81fps, providing you with sufficient headroom to allow multi body gen and hit 207fps.

Even with out DLSS enabled in any respect, the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB averages 54fps at 1080p with the Extremely ray tracing preset, once more with a lot greater 1% lows than the 4060 Ti 8GB. Allow DLSS 4 on the standard setting, and the common climbs as much as 86fps, and the sport nonetheless appears nice. Allow multi body gen and it runs at a super-smooth 255fps. That is all outstanding for a GPU at this value, and actually exhibits the advantages of Nvidia’s newest tech in video games that assist it.

Name of Responsibility Black Ops 6

However how does Nvidia’s new GPU cope in video games that don’t assist ray tracing or multi body gen? Name of Responsibility Black Ops 6 is an effective take a look at right here, a AAA recreation that doesn’t assist these options, and remains to be demanding on the high Excessive graphics preset.

At 1080p, there’s principally no distinction between the RTX 4060 Ti and 5060 Ti at these settings with out DLSS enabled. Each GPUs common 100-101fps with an identical 1% lows, and these outcomes had been constant throughout a number of runs.

That’s nonetheless playable, although, and enabling DLSS on the High quality setting, in addition to single body gen, permits the RTX 5060 Ti to tug forward to 170fps, in contrast with 154fps on the 4060 Ti. This recreation is best optimized for AMD’s GPUs, although, the place the Radeon RX 9070 is 75fps faster even with none FSR options enabled at 1080p, and even the funds Radeon RX 7600 is just barely behind the 5060 Ti at this decision.

Transfer as much as 2,560 x 1,440, and this recreation remains to be playable on the RTX 5060 Ti, with a mean of 76fps in comparison with 73fps on the 4060 Ti, and this will increase to 120fps if you happen to allow DLSS and body gen. Once more, although, the AMD GPUs are actually robust on this recreation, and it’s seemingly the brand new Radeon RX 9060 XT, if and when it’s launched, will likely be higher than the RTX 5060 Ti on this take a look at.

Doom Everlasting

The outcomes from this growing old first-person shooter had been an actual eye-opener once I was testing the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB, as the additional VRAM offers it a major profit if you happen to allow ray tracing within the recreation. At 1080p with the Extremely Nightmare preset and ray tracing enabled, the 5060 Ti averages an outstanding 278fps, whereas the RTX 4060 Ti 8GB may solely handle 181fps.

The 1% lows are additionally massively improved, from 85fps on the 4060 Ti to 187fps on the 5060 Ti. That’s as a result of the 8GB body buffer is pushed proper to its restrict on this recreation with ray tracing, giving the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB an enormous benefit.

The identical sample is repeated at greater resolutions, the place the sport is easily playable with 1% lows of 135fps at 2,560 x 1,440, whereas the 4060 Ti 8GB drops proper all the way down to 70fps. You may even play the sport at 4K on the 5060 TI 16GB, the place it averages 105fps, which will increase to 130fps with DLSS on the High quality setting, a outstanding outcome for a card with this degree of MSRP. Comparably, not one of the 8GB playing cards will even run the sport at these settings, as they’re stopped by a VRAM error within the recreation.

Once more, the Radeon RX 9070 is considerably sooner in these checks, however that GPU additionally prices much more cash. There’s nothing else that may contact the RTX 5060 Ti in its nominal $429 value bracket.

F1 24

Lastly, working F1 24 at Extremely settings, which incorporates ray tracing, exhibits the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB pulling properly in entrance of the 4060 Ti 8GB, particularly in relation to 1% lows.

Particularly, the sport is genuinely playable on the 5060 Ti 16GB at 1440p, with a mean of 63fps and a 1% low of 50fps, in comparison with 53fps and 38fps respectively on the 4060 Ti 8GB. Allow DLSS on the High quality setting, in addition to DLSS body gen, and it averages 111fps at 1440p, and 158fps at 1080p.

These are all first rate outcomes when it comes to playability, however once more, this recreation runs very well on AMD’s {hardware}. The exception right here is the funds Radeon RX 7600, which may’t even get a playable body fee at 1080p, and crashes if you happen to attempt to allow body gen. Nonetheless, the last-gen Radeon RX 7800 XT is firmly in entrance of the 5060 Ti, and the brand new Radeon RX 9070 is considerably faster – it’s seemingly that the rumored Radeon RX 9060 XT will outperform the 5060 Ti 16GB on this recreation.

Nonetheless, this recreation was a little bit of a battle for the 4060 Ti 8GB, and the 5060 Ti 16GB handles it nice. Additionally, as this recreation doesn’t assist DLSS 4 or FSR 4, it appears significantly better on Nvidia GPUs if you happen to allow upscaling. DLSS appears first rate on the High quality setting, whereas FSR appears horrible, with noticeable noise and distortion across the spinning wheels, notably in moist climate.

Energy draw

With only a single 8-pin connector on our Palit RTX 5060 Ti 16GB pattern, we had been hoping to see a low energy draw from this graphics card, and we weren’t disillusioned. Our Ryzen 7 7800X3D take a look at rig drew lower than 300W from the mains with the 5060 TI 16GB put in and working at peak load. That’s 20W greater than with the 4060 Ti put in, which is a worthwhile compromise for the development in efficiency, and almost 100W lower than the ability draw of the Radeon RX 9070.

Nvidia recommends not less than a 450W PSU for this GPU, and I’d be inclined to go for a 500W unit to be secure, particularly if you happen to’re utilizing a power-hungry CPU, however the excellent news is that many avid gamers gained’t must improve their PSU to put in this GPU. Plus, with many playing cards obtainable with an 8-pin connector, as an alternative of a 16-pin one, you gained’t want to fret about putting in cable adapters or extension leads both – it ought to simply work together with your previous PSU.

Worth

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB value is $429 / £399 at MSRP, whereas the RTX 5060 Ti 8GB value is $379 / £349. This represents a drop in value in comparison with its predecessor, the RTX 4060 Ti, which price $399 for the 8GB model and an enormous $499 for the 16GB card. The value of the 8GB RTX 5060 Ti remains to be too excessive for a card with simply 8GB of VRAM in 2025, even whether it is super-fast GDDR7 reminiscence, however the $429 value for the 16GB card represents first rate worth for cash at MSRP.

Not solely is that $70 cheaper than the 4060 Ti 16GB, however the reminiscence can be considerably faster. It’s price ready to see how the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT performs if and when it’s launched, particularly if it’s cheaper, however in the mean time, $429 for the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB is a good value for the efficiency on supply.

Alternate options

AMD Radeon RX 9070

If in case you have a bit more cash to spend, AMD’s new RDNA 4 GPUs presently supply implausible efficiency, though it may be laborious to trace them down at MSRP, notably within the US proper now.

The most cost effective mannequin is the Radeon RX 9070, which nominally prices $549 however really prices far more, notably within the US, attributable to inventory shortages. If the costs drop, although, the Radeon RX 9070 is considerably faster than the 5060 Ti when it comes to rendering energy, and it additionally comes with 16GB of VRAM.

Learn our full AMD Radeon RX 9070 evaluate.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070

As with all GPUs proper now, it may be laborious to seek out the RTX 5070 in inventory at MSRP within the US, however it’s available for MSRP in different international locations, together with the UK. Irritatingly, it solely has 12GB of VRAM, which limits its scope in actually demanding video games at excessive settings, however it has a good quantity of GPU energy at its disposal, in addition to assist for Nvidia’s multi body gen tech.

Learn our full Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 evaluate.

Verdict

With a great deal of quick VRAM obtainable and a good value at MSRP, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB is a strong gaming GPU for the cash. In reality, in some ways it’s a greater purchase than the RTX 5070, with its further reminiscence giving it future-proofing room for next-gen video games, and a considerably cheaper value. I’d positively go for the 16GB model fairly than the 8GB card, given the best way the opposite 8GB playing cards battle with a few of our checks.

Whereas the GPU’s uncooked rendering energy doesn’t all the time set the world alight, and it’s typically solely barely faster than the RTX 4060 Ti, the additional VRAM for the worth makes it a significantly better purchase than the 4060 Ti 8GB earlier than it, and it’s refreshing to see Nvidia lastly acknowledging that a few of its GPUs may do with extra reminiscence. Arguably, the RTX 5070 ought to have had a wider bus and extra VRAM, whereas the 5060 Ti may get away with having simply 12GB, however I‘m not going to complain when you may get a 16GB card for this value.

Nonetheless, the worth is one other downside right here. Whereas the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB is available at MSRP within the UK, the place it’s completely price shopping for for £399, present market circumstances typically make it laborious to seek out at MSRP within the US. To be honest to Nvidia, whereas provide was woefully insufficient for the primary few Blackwell gaming GPUs worldwide, it couldn’t have foreseen the present US commerce battle.

At MSRP, the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB is an effective purchase, and on the time of writing, it’s really obtainable for $429.99 at Walmart, however it isn’t well worth the foolish asking costs I’ve seen for it in some locations. I counsel ready for this GPU to be obtainable on the proper value fairly than paying over the percentages for it.

That’s all a disgrace, because it in any other case feels refreshing to be writing a typically constructive evaluate a couple of new Nvidia GPU. The pricing at MSRP is significantly better than the 4060 Ti, notably for the 5060 Ti 16GB, and also you get assist for multi body gen and first rate ray tracing efficiency in addition. It’s price keeping track of the competitors, as AMD will undoubtedly be launching a competitor within the close to future, however in the mean time, that is the sub-$450 GPU to purchase if you could find it at MSRP.