Nvidia RTX 5060 Released: Should You Wait?

Nvidia unveiled the RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti in April 2025, and now the more budget-friendly RTX 5060 is hitting the market, following its reveal at Computex.

Priced at a starting point of $299, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 offers 3,840 CUDA cores spread across 30 Streaming Multiprocessors, making it a solid choice for 1080p gaming. Nvidia boasts that the RTX 5060 can achieve impressive feats at this resolution, such as reaching 223 fps in Doom: The Dark Ages at 1080p with max settings, utilizing 4x multi-frame generation.

The key feature Nvidia emphasizes with this new generation of graphics cards is Multi-Frame Generation, and despite being the most affordable option, the RTX 5060 fully supports this technology along with the entire DLSS 4 suite. However, with only 30 SMs, there are limits to what DLSS can achieve.

It's important to note that the $299 price is just a starting point. While some models will be available at this price, many RTX 5060 variants will be pricier, often equipped with additional features like factory overclocking and RGB lighting.

Reviews Are Coming... Later

Although the RTX 5060 is relatively affordable—provided the $299 MSRP remains consistent—it's wise to hold off on purchasing until performance reviews are available. Nvidia's performance claims are based on Multi-Frame Generation, and real-world performance won't be clear until the card is tested in labs.

Unfortunately, reviews will be delayed. Unlike previous launches in this generation, such as the RTX 5090, Nvidia isn't providing an early driver to the press, so initial reviews might not surface for the first week or so. The RTX 5060 is expected to be a good 1080p graphics card, but the broader Blackwell lineup has shown less-than-stellar generational improvements.

The RTX 5060 might follow the performance trajectory of the RTX 5070 compared to its predecessor, particularly in traditional gaming without frame generation. When questioned about the performance gain over the RTX 4060, Nvidia stated the 5060 could potentially double performance with frame generation enabled, but only around a 20% increase in games without ray tracing or frame generation, which seems to be an optimistic estimate.

As with any high-cost tech purchase, my recommendation is to wait for reviews before buying, to ensure you're getting the best value for your money. Those reviews are on their way, but they might take a few days to appear.