Something unusual has emerged with the launch of the new Nvidia RTX 5060 graphics card. Recently, it was disclosed that Nvidia decided not to provide sample cards for review tests related to its budget-oriented RTX Blackwell GPU.

However, this isn’t entirely unexpected for a lower-tier card lacking a Founder Edition of its own. What is unprecedented, at least based on my longstanding experience, is the company’s decision to refuse pre-release driver access, effectively preventing some media outlets from offering day-one critiques as the cards launch.

For the past few weeks, I’ve had an RTX 5060 sitting on my desk since MSI has generously lent us the hardware, but we were not granted driver access to enable pre-release cards to function as intended. Thus, my card has predominantly acted as a paperweight.

Despite the restrictions, some media outlets have been permitted to preview the new RTX 5060 GPU and have received drivers ahead of time. Their reviews are scheduled to go live during the embargo at 2 PM today. Unfortunately, it seems that PC Gamer, along with potentially Tom’s Hardware, has been excluded from this launch.

Nvidia has no obligation to support PC Gamer during new graphics card launches. We are talking about a massive company, and the RTX 5060 will likely dominate the Steam Hardware Survey shortly, irrespective of our input.

That said, in all my years as a PC hardware journalist, Nvidia has traditionally provided support for pre-release reviews, maintaining a spirit of fair play regardless of the nature of the reviews, whether positive or negative.

Nevertheless, I will proceed with testing this card live. Follow along with the live updates below as I benchmark the card once public drivers are finally made available.

Nvidia RTX 5060 Specifications

As we were not allowed access to review drivers, we also lack accompanying review guide materials to confirm the RTX 5060 GPU’s specifications. However, information has already been leaked, indicating that we are likely looking at an iteration of the GB206 GPU seen in the RTX 5060 Ti.

In terms of specifications, the RTX 5060 has six fewer streaming multiprocessors, totaling 3,840 CUDA cores, along with the essential RT Cores and Tensor Cores resulting from those 30 SMs. Nvidia claims a corresponding 25% increase in performance with these adjustments.

As for memory, the GPU is equipped with 8 GB of GDDR7 VRAM, boasting a memory bandwidth similar to that of the RTX 5060 Ti’s 8 GB version due to its 128-bit memory bus.

In my view, I do not have significant issues with a budget GPU featuring 8 GB of memory. There may be cases where memory amounts can impact performance, but it demonstrates that ample VRAM can suffice for maximum settings, given correct optimization in development.

Nvidia RTX 5060 Specifications	RTX 5060 (*unconfirmed)	RTX 5060 Ti
GPU	GB206	GB206
TFLOPs	19	24
CUDA cores	3840	4608
Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs)	30	36
RT cores (4th Gen)	30	36
Tensor cores (5th Gen)	120	144
Memory	8 GB GDDR7	16 GB / 8 GB GDDR7
Memory bus	128-bit	128-bit
Memory speed	*28 Gbps	28 Gbps
Memory bandwidth	448 GB/sec	448 GB/sec
Price	$299	$429 (16 GB) / $379 (8 GB)
Release date	May 19	April 16

AMD is also introducing new 8 GB graphics cards, such as the RX 9060 XT, expected to be announced soon at Computex this week.

The competition situation remains fluid, as we should also consider Intel’s offerings. The Intel Arc B580 could provide interesting price/performance comparisons against Nvidia’s latest card.

Ultimately, the state of Nvidia’s RTX 5060 launch drivers will be crucial. Once the drivers are installed, I will be able to provide insights based on benchmarks below.

Live Updates

Refresh

• 2025-05-19T17:02:25.664Z: We have collected our 3DMark scores for both Time Spy Extreme and Port Royal benchmarks. The B580 is displaying problematic performance against Nvidia, but it’s worth noting these results may not fully represent its capabilities.

• 2025-05-19T16:58:30.992Z: Performance metrics related to average and lower frame rates will be critical in this budget segment, where significant differences can impact the overall experience.

• 2025-05-19T16:49:13.956Z: Early efficiency numbers show the RTX 5060 running effectively during demanding gaming scenarios. However, how this card responds under budget loads is still uncertain.

I will continue to update this article with performance data and observations.