RTX 5060: Nvidia slammed online for releasing card with just 8GB VRAM, no reviews
Nvidia has officially launched the GeForce RTX 5060, the latest addition to its RTX 50-series graphics cards, priced at $299.
The release, however, has drawn scrutiny due to both its technical specifications and the quiet manner in which the company is handling the rollout.
The RTX 5060 features 8GB of GDDR7 video memory and is reported to deliver around a 20% performance improvement over its predecessor, the RTX 4060, in conventional gaming scenarios.
GeForce RTX 5060 GPUs are out now from our add-in-card partners, powering your favorite games at 100+ frames.
To celebrate we will spotlight partner cards and games over the coming days giving you multiple chances to WIN...
Comment #GeForceRTX5060 for a chance to WIN the… pic.twitter.com/rBvpgveop2 — NVIDIA GeForce (@NVIDIAGeForce) May 19, 2025
In titles that support DLSS 4, the card is expected to perform significantly better, thanks to the enhanced AI frame-generation capabilities of the RTX 50-series.
Despite these improvements, Nvidia's choice to limit the memory capacity to 8GB has raised eyebrows.
Industry analysts and reviewers note that in 2025, such a VRAM allocation may be inadequate for many modern gaming titles, potentially resulting in performance issues such as stuttering, crashes, and reduced texture quality.
The concerns are not purely theoretical.
In earlier testing of the similarly specced RTX 5060 Ti 8GB model, reviewers found that the card struggled in comparison to competitors with higher memory capacity, such as Intel's Arc B580, which offers 12GB of VRAM and outperformed Nvidia's card in various benchmarks.
What has further fuelled scepticism is Nvidia's decision not to provide early access drivers or review units of the RTX 5060 to the press ahead of launch.
This means no independent performance reviews were available at the time the product hit store shelves.
This move is highly unusual for a major GPU release and coincides with the opening week of Computex, potentially limiting coverage as many hardware reviewers are attending the industry event in Taipei.
Many users on X have speculated whether this means Nvidia was 'burying' RTX 5060.
Nvidia: "We're not hiding the RTX 5060, we're very proud of it and gamers will love it"
...also Nvidia: "We're going to launch the RTX 5060 on May 19th during Computex, and although reviewers have cards right now we won't be releasing the driver until they go on sale" pic.twitter.com/Cw0mJnSgUp — Hardware Unboxed (@HardwareUnboxed) May 8, 2025
The RTX 5060 will be so bad that even scalpers are not going to bother with it. #NVIDIA pic.twitter.com/q59cmWTPRH — 𝓛𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓛𝓮𝓰𝓪𝓬𝔂 (@LatinLegacy) May 18, 2025
Why would I down grade from an RTX 4080 super with 16GB of GDDR6X for a card with half the V-Ram? Any more you shouldn't buy anything with less than 16GB, this is after all 2025. — Truck Driver Driscoll (@boomerang_32) May 20, 2025
The RTX 5060's launch date was also only briefly mentioned earlier this month in a company blog post primarily focused on other announcements, with the new GPU receiving just two sentences at the very end of a lengthy update.
Nvidia has not publicly addressed the absence of review samples or early drivers. A company spokesperson previously stated that the 8GB memory decision was made to keep the card's cost within a competitive range.
While the RTX 5060 may still appeal to esports players or those gaming at 1080p, experts advise potential buyers to wait for independent reviews before making a purchase.
'Lack of transparency around this launch is concerning,' said one industry analyst. 'If Nvidia isn't confident enough to let reviewers test it ahead of release, that should give buyers pause.'
Reviews are expected to surface in the coming days as units become available and journalists return from Computex.
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