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Nvidia Blackwell has been an exciting journey. Since its launch in January 2025 with theRTX 5090, Nvidia has introduced a full range ofgraphics cardsMuch earlier than usual. Typically, it would take a full year or so before the RTX 5060 was released, but this time it was just a little over five months. The launch was also controversial, as Nvidia didn't have a pre-release review process, at least not unless you were willing to accept certain testing conditions. And I wasn't.
Although the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 has been available for just over a month, I only managed to test the Asus Prime version this week – and the outcomes were predictable. Similar to the rest of the RTX 5000 series, the RTX 5060 offers limited upgrades in terms of basic gaming performance compared to its predecessor, but Nvidia is counting on its DLSS 4 AI technology to give it an advantage.
Specs and Features
Just like the RTX 5060 Tiwhich came before it, the RTX 5060 is based on the Blackwell architecture. This is the same architecture used in most supercomputers driving the leading AI applications, though obviously scaled down.waydown. In fact, this GPU features 3,840 CUDA cores spread across 30 SMs, or Streaming Multiprocessors. That does provide thisNvidia graphics cardSlightly more silicon compared to its predecessor, the RTX 4060, which featured 3,072 CUDA cores.
However, the RTX 5060's drawback is its limited 8GB of GDDR7 VRAM. To be fair, thisis a video card designed for 1080p andmaybe1440p resolution, but 8GB may be tight even at lower settings in games such as Monster Hunter Wilds. Intel managed to include 12GB in its more affordable Arc B580, so it's not very logical to compromise here.
The RTX 5060 does support the complete DLSS 4 software package, including Multi-Frame Generation, or MFG. This feature builds upon the frame generation introduced with theRTX 4090, and employs a new AI Management Processor, or AMP, located on the GPU to enable it to create multiple frames from each rendered frame without causing significant frame pacing problems. Naturally, the same limitations remain. If you activate this feature with a low frame rate, you will still see more frames, but at the expense of visual imperfections and increased delay. It is advisable to keep MFG disabled unless you are already achieving 45-60 fps.
Alternatively, the key new DLSS 4 feature for the RTX 5060 is one that can be found on most RTX graphics cards – the updated Transformer model. This takes the place of the previous CNN, or Convolutional Neural Network, and is capable of generating significantly clearer upscaled images compared to earlier iterations of DLSS. During my testing with the RTX 5090, I conductedCyberpunk 2077With DLSS enabled in performance mode using the CNN model and the Transformer model, I didn't observe a noticeable difference in performance. I haven't repeated this test for the RTX 5060, but I anticipate similar outcomes.
Similar to its larger counterpart, the RTX 5060 Ti, Nvidia is not offering a Founders Edition for this graphics card. Rather, all available RTX 5060s will be produced by third-party companies, such as this model from Asus.
Asus provided me with the Prime RTX 5060 for evaluation, and it's significantly bigger than necessary. This model features a triple-fan configuration and a 2.5-slot form factor, which can make it challenging to install in compact cases. Nevertheless, the substantial cooling system performs well, as the 5060 never exceeded 69°C during my tests. This performance is comparable to what I observed with the RTX 4060 under the same testing conditions, even though the newer card uses more power.
In contrast to certain high-end RTX 5000 models, this iteration of the RTX 5060 utilizes a straightforward 8-pin PCIe cable, instead of the unusual 12VHPWR connector found on the RTX 5080 and 5090. This results in reduced cable mess inside your case, particularly if you own an older power supply that does not inherently support the newer connector.
Performance
At its foundation, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 is yet another 1080p graphics card, and it generally performs well, although you may need to lower the settings in some of the more intense games. Due largely to the restricted VRAM capacity, the RTX 5060 faces challenges in titles such as Assassin’s Creed Shadows, where the comparatively less powerful Intel Arc B580 performs better.
When compared to the RTX 4060, which also had 8GB of VRAM, I noticed that the RTX 5060 was generally about 15% quicker – this figure decreases to 13% when I remove 3DMark from the data. This pattern is consistent with what I've observed in the rest of the Blackwell series: Without frame generation, the RTX 5060 doesn't offer a significant upgrade over its predecessor. However, at least it manages to surpass the RTX 3060 Ti, something the 4060 struggled to achieve.
3DMark is typically the first test I run on a new graphics card, as it provides a sort of "best case scenario" view of its capabilities. In the Speed Way test, a standard DirectX 12 benchmark with ray tracing, the RTX 5060 outperformed its predecessor by 23% with a score of 3,458 points. Then in Steel Nomad, which evaluates DirectX 12withoutray tracing, the RTX 5060 had a significant advantage of 25%, scoring 3,149 points compared to the RTX 4060's 2,660 points.
Testing Nvidia graphics cards in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 should be approached with some skepticism, as the game has been mainly optimized for AMD hardware. Nevertheless, the RTX 5060 achieves an average of 100 fps at 1080p, compared to 96 fps from the RTX 4060 under identical settings. However, the Radeon RX 9060 XT significantly outperforms with 141 fps under the same conditions – although this is with the 16GB variant.
In Cyberpunk 2077, the situation is different, as Nvidia graphics cards usually have better performance, although this edge has been decreasing in newer versions. In this case, the RTX 5060 achieves an average of 71 frames per second at 1080p with Ray Tracing Ultra enabled and DLSS set to 'Quality'. Meanwhile, the RTX 4060 manages 65 fps under the same settings, resulting in a slight 8.4% performance advantage for the 5060.
I tested Metro Exodus without any form of upscaling, simply because itonlysupports DLSS, which is unavailable on non-Nvidia graphics cards. This test provides a good look at how demanding ray tracing is for the GPU, and it certainly puts the RTX 5060 to the test. In this game at 1080p, the 5060 achieves 54 fps, although this is an improvement from 43 fps on the RTX 4060. However, enabling DLSS should cause the frame rate to rise above 60 fps.
Although Red Dead Redemption 2 is now somewhat aged, it remains one of the most significant games available that supports Vulkan, making it still a useful benchmark. Additionally, with all settings set to maximum at 1080p, the RTX 5060 achieves 87 fps, which is a slight improvement over the 4060's 84 fps in the same test.
Total War: Warhammer 3 is an enjoyable game to try out, as it doesn't offer ray tracing or upscaling features, providing a clear view of standard rasterized performance. The RTX 5060 also caught me off guard: at 1080p with Ultra settings, it achieves 131 fps, whereas the RTX 4060 only manages 88 fps. This is certainly unusual, resulting in a 32% increase.
The RTX 5060 faces challenges in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. At 1080p, it achieves only 33 fps, slightly lower than the 34 fps of the RTX 4060. This difference is within the expected range and doesn't reflect well on the newer card. However, reducing ray tracing settings can significantly boost performance. This title performs better on AMD hardware, with the Radeon RX 9060 XT delivering 45 fps, which is a notable improvement but still falls short of the 60 fps benchmark.
Lastly, in Black Myth Wukong, the RTX 5060 averages 48 fps at 1080p using the Cinematic setting. This is still below 60 fps, but it represents a solid 19% increase compared to the RTX 4060, which only achieves 39 fps under identical configurations. This is another title where lowering the settings would be advisable.
Jackie Thomas serves as the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at Tech Bytes Lab and is known as the expert in PC components. You can follow her@Jackiecobra
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