Summary

  • RTX 5060 may have larger VRAM capacity, making it more enticing than expected.
  • A 12GB graphics card from Nvidia could be a good move, as seen with the RTX 3060.
  • 8GB of VRAM may not be enough for gaming at 1080p, making a 12GB RTX 5060 a desirable option.

All signs point to Nvidia's upcoming RTX 5060 being a disappointing release. The rumor mill suggests Nvidia will largely run back the same playbook we saw in the last generation, offering the RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti with 8GB of GDDR7 memory, with an optional (and likely more expensive) version of the RTX 5060 Ti with 16GB of VRAM. However, a recent retail listing of the RTX 5060 contradicts these specs, and it makes the RTX 5060 look more enticing.

Another 12GB graphics card from Nvidia?

It certainly worked well with the RTX 3060

Although Nvidia hasn't formally announced the RTX 5060, it looks like the card will arrive soon. Nvidia has exhausted the higher-end options in its Blackwell lineup, including the recent RTX 5070, and the 60-class of GPUs from Nvidia are traditionally the most popular among PC gamers. Adding more fuel to the fire, leakers have been active about the specs of the RTX 5060, and some have even pointed to a specific release date for the card.

Well-known leaker kopite7kimi shared the specs for the card about a week ago, suggesting the RTX 5060 would come with 8GB of VRAM and 3,840 CUDA cores, which is a clean 25% boost in core count over the RTX 4060.

However, a retail listing shared with VideoCardz showed the RTX 5060 with 12GB of VRAM. The outlet says it wasn't able to verify the source of the listing, but a bump to 12GB of VRAM would certainly make the mainstream card more attractive. Two generations back, Nvidia used 3GB modules to release the RTX 3060 as a 12GB graphics card, and it remains the second most popular graphics card in the Steam hardware survey.

Although 60-class graphics cards normally target 1080p, an 8GB frame buffer is quickly becoming too little for even that resolution. Recent games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle can stress an 8GB frame buffer at 1080p, and the upcoming Doom: The Dark Ages goes as far as to require an 8GB graphics card at minimum. A larger frame buffer also gives the GPU more grunt at higher resolutions, which is something we saw on full display with Intel's recent Arc B580.

A 12GB RTX 5060 would look great, though leakers are mostly in agreement that it'll be an 8GB GPU. We shouldn't have to wait long until we know for sure. Nvidia hasn't teased the RTX 5060 yet, but it's possible that the card could make an appearance at Nvidia's GTC keynote on Tuesday, March 18.