Nvidia has unveiled three new RTX 5060 series graphics cards, and the vanilla GPU should come in at $299. I say should since the new models will absolutely be at the mercy of custom MSRPs and potentially affected by US tariffs, both of which could become the perfect recipe for yet another disappointing launch.
The RTX 5060 won't arrive until May, but its Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti siblings will officially join the best graphics card race tomorrow. The cheaper of the two will retail for $379 and features 8GB GDDR7 VRAM paired with a GB206 GPU. There's a 16GB version too for those of you who'd rather have memory to spare, but that's going to set you $429 (or potentially the same price as a Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order).
The base RTX 5060 is what I'd traditionally refer to as entry-level since its 3,840 CUDA, 120 Tensor, and 30 ray tracing cores theoretically cater to a 1080p ultra settings experience. But, the budget-friendly side of Blackwell also has access to DLSS 4, which should allow you to boost fps at higher resolutions using Multi Frame Generation and AI upscaling.
The green team's main pitch for the RTX 5060 is that it'll seemingly let you run "your favorite games, maxed out" at over 100 frames per second. The natural caveats are that you'll be sticking to 1080p, using DLSS in "Quality" mode, and fully utilizing multi-frame generation to achieve that particular feat.
In-house benchmarks show the RTX 5060 specifically hitting just shy of 150fps in Cyberpunk 2077 using those settings, whereas the GeForce RTX 4060 allegedly only managed around 60fps in the same scenario. I'll naturally be sharing my own benchmarks soon that will delve into results with DLSS on and off, but the comparative figures make sense given the differences between original Frame Generation and the latest version.
Comparative performance will come, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't more nervous about pricing. General availably has already been a sore spot across the board this generation, and while I'm starting to see the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 return to virtual shelves, you're looking at over $700 for custom options.
My fear is that the should-be budget-friendly RTX 5060 will end up costing just as much as a 70-class card if standard models can't remain available, leaving only the versions that target a much higher price point. On top of that, ever-shifting US tariff policies could even drive up those same costs further, meaning the upgrade could realistically be off the cards for players in the states.
The 60-series should represent a range of GPUs that pack a respectable punch for an approachable price. Nvidia is clearly aiming for this by offering up a $299 model, even if I am a little disappointed that we haven't moved past 8GB VRAM yet. Yes, there are arguments to be made about that amount of memory being plenty for 1080p gameplay, especially with DLSS enabled. However, if the sub-$300 pricing goes out the window due to various factors, grumbling about the minimum memory bar will be somewhat justified.
I'll be sharing my thoughts on the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti soon, and I am hoping it'll serve as an approachable GPU upgrade in 2025. That said, the cheaper Intel Arc B580 has already pitched up camp on the entry-level battlefield, and while it's also suffering from price inflation, the green team already has a fight on its hands before the eventual AMD Radeon RX 9060 rolls into town.
If it's a punchier GPU you're after, I'll be continuing to keep an eye on the RTX 5070 stock situation. I'm also watching out for the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080, but to be frank, the RTX 5080 stock and RTX 5090 stock situation is another level of dire.
Upgrading your entire system? Swing by the best gaming CPU and best gaming RAM for more vital components. You'll also want to peek at the best gaming monitors if you're looking for better visuals too.
