GeForce RTX 5060: Performance Increased, Video Memory Not

The GeForce RTX 5060 is significantly faster than the RTX 4060, although the starting price remains the same. The performance boost is clearly noticeable at 1080p, and in many games, it is sufficient even for 1440p. The weak spot remains unchanged: 8 GB of video memory is already a limitation for the card in certain demanding games.

Benchmarks of Real GeForce RTX 5060

The production RTX 5060s from different manufacturers show almost identical results. Factory overclocking gives only a few percentage points of improvement, so choosing a specific model should primarily be based on cooling, noise, and price.

The difference between the Zotac AMP and MSI GAMING in Time Spy is about 1.2%. It makes sense to pay extra for the higher version only for more efficient and quieter cooling; the factory overclocking does not provide a noticeable FPS boost.

In Time Spy Graphics, the Zotac Gaming RTX 5060 AMP scored 13,854 points compared to 10,289 for the ASUS Dual RTX 4060 EVO OC-an advantage of about 35%. The RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB scored 16,064 points in the same test.

Performance in Games

Without DLSS and Frame Generation, the RTX 5060 is already fast enough for high settings at 1080p. In many games, the card maintains good FPS even at 1440p.

In Cyberpunk 2077, the transition from RTX 4060 to RTX 5060 yields about 46% improvement at 1080p Ultra and almost 60% at 1440p Ultra. In Alan Wake 2, the gain is more modest but still exceeds 30%.

The GPU itself is fast enough for 1440p. The limitation occurs when the game runs out of 8 GB of video memory.

Where 8 GB Starts to Limit

Fast GDDR7 does not compensate for the small amount of memory: the RTX 5060 has only 8 GB of VRAM. Therefore, a high average FPS does not guarantee that maximum textures will work smoothly without stuttering and delays during loading.

In some modern games, the lack of memory leads to delays in texture loading, stuttering, or forces the user to lower texture quality. DLSS and Frame Generation do not solve this problem, as they themselves require video memory.

At 1440p, the RTX 5060 often shows good FPS, but in new games, the choice of maximum textures must be more careful.

Blackwell, DLSS 4, and Frame Generation

The RTX 5060 supports DLSS 4, Ray Reconstruction, Reflex, and Multi Frame Generation.

Multi Frame Generation significantly boosts the FPS count, but these results cannot be directly compared with standard rendering. The generated frames improve smoothness but do not make the GPU itself faster or compensate for the lack of video memory.

Therefore, it is better to compare the base performance of the card without Frame Generation.

Conclusion

The GeForce RTX 5060 provides a noticeable boost over the RTX 4060: in the tested games, the difference often exceeds 30%.

The main complaint about the RTX 5060 is its 8 GB of video memory. At 1080p, the performance is sufficient even for demanding games, but at 1440p, the memory limit becomes increasingly apparent.

The RTX 5060 is primarily a card for 1080p, although in many games, it is fast enough for 1440p as well. There is no sense in paying extra for a premium RTX 5060 for just a few percentage points of overclocking. If the price difference with the RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB is not significant, the additional cost for the faster GPU and 16 GB of memory seems much more reasonable.