The newly released NVIDIA RTX 5090 is currently completely out of stock, while supply chain news indicates that the mainstream-oriented RTX 5060 Ti/5060 will be launched in March 2025. These two entry-level graphics cards, based on the Blackwell architecture, are trying to find a breakthrough in the fiercely competitive mid-range market with GDDR7 memory and precise positioning.
According to information leaked by motherboard manufacturer ChainTech, the RTX 5060 series will continue to use a 128-bit memory bus, but the GDDR7 memory will bring its bandwidth to 448GB/s, a 55% increase over the previous generation. This combination of “narrow bus + high frequency” is like adding smart lanes to a highway—while the roadbed is not widened, the traffic volume is increased by improving vehicle passing efficiency.
Specifically for gaming scenarios, this upgrade is expected to bring a 12-15% increase in frame rate under the “Cyberpunk 2077” 1080p extreme preset. However, TechInsights points out that when the resolution is increased to 1440p and ray tracing is enabled, the 8GB memory may become a bottleneck. Data shows that the average memory usage of AAA games in 2024 has reached 9.2GB, which means the 8GB configuration of the RTX 5060 may face the embarrassment of being “just barely passing.”
From the leaked specification sheet, it can be seen that Nvidia is building a product line with distinct gradients:
- RTX 5060 Ti 16GB: Aimed at entry-level 1440p ray tracing, with a price range likely between $349 and $399
- RTX 5060 8GB: Sticking to the 1080p market, targeting the AMD RX 7600 XT ($299)
This strategy is similar to the “standard/Pro” approach of mobile phone manufacturers—using configuration differences to create price anchors. However, compared to competitors, Intel’s Arc B580 with 12GB of memory and the AMD RX 7600 XT with 16GB still pose a pincer threat to Nvidia.
Although the official announcement is scheduled for March, the factory shutdown caused by the Lunar New Year poses a hidden danger to production capacity. The initial yield report for TSMC’s N4P process shows that the pass rate for the GB206 core is only 68%, a 5 percentage point decrease from the previous generation’s GB106. If the yield cannot break through 75% before March, the first batch of supply may be reduced by 30%.
A more difficult issue is power consumption control. The TBP of the RTX 5060 Ti is expected to reach 170W, 20W higher than the RTX 4060 Ti. For an entry-level graphics card that still uses the 12VHPWR connector, this is like asking an economy car to have sports car-level fuel consumption—hardware engineers are trying to find a balance between performance and energy efficiency through dynamic voltage regulation technology (with an accuracy of 0.5mV).
The Steam Hardware Survey reveals a cruel reality: six months after the release of the RTX 4060, its market share was only 4.3%, far below the 7.8% performance of the RTX 3060 during the same period. In addition to the major factor of rising graphics card prices at that time, it also shows that entry-level users are more inclined to choose AMD/Intel products with more memory.
The upcoming DLSS 4 may exacerbate this differentiation. According to developers, this technology will introduce an AI scene preloading function, which puts higher demands on memory bandwidth. If the RTX 5060 series cannot demonstrate a differentiated advantage, it may repeat the “acclaimed but not popular” mistake.
The arrival of the RTX 5060 series coincides with a key turning point in the graphics card industry: when the penetration rate of 4K ray tracing exceeds 35% and AI upscaling technology becomes a standard feature in games, a simple upgrade in memory bandwidth can no longer meet market demand. Nvidia needs to prove that the Blackwell architecture is not just a product of process iteration, but also a vehicle for user experience improvement—otherwise, this mid-range positioning battle may become the best springboard for AMD RDNA 4’s counterattack.