After unveiling the RTX 5060 last month, Nvidia has revealed its official launch date: May 19. Sales are expected to begin at 9 a.m. EST, immediately following a keynote by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at the Computex trade show in Taipei. On the same day, the GeForce RTX 5060 Laptop GPU will also be launched, according to an Nvidia blog post published on Tuesday.
At a starting price of $299, the GeForce RTX 5060 is the most affordable card in Nvidia’s RTX 5000 series. Nvidia claims the RTX 5060 allows gamers to enjoy their favorite titles at 100+ FPS.
However, Nvidia notes that the GPU’s performance boost depends significantly on activating the DLSS 4 frame-generation tool. Without this, the performance improvement over previous models may be minimal, as shown by the company’s own benchmarks.
Target Audience and Upgrades
Nvidia is positioning the RTX 5060 as a solid upgrade for gamers still using the older RTX 2060 or GTX 1660, which were launched in 2019. Many Steam users continue to rely on these older models, creating an opportunity for Nvidia to attract these users looking for a more affordable upgrade.
The RTX 5060 has 3,804 CUDA cores, which is fewer than the 4,608 cores in the RTX 5060 Ti. The card features 8GB of GDDR7 memory using a 128-bit bus. It’s priced at $299, though third-party vendors may sell it for a higher price due to tariffs.
Compared to the RTX 5060 Ti, which starts at $379 for the 8GB version and $429 for the 16GB version, the RTX 5060 is positioned as a more budget-friendly alternative. However, the 8GB of GDDR7 memory and 128-bit bus could limit its performance at higher resolutions, such as 4K. This makes the RTX 5060 better suited for 1080p or 1440p gaming.
Although Nvidia has set the starting price at $299, third-party vendors could sell the card at a higher price, especially due to the 20% tariff on Chinese-assembled products imposed by the U.S. This could affect the card’s final retail price, and consumers may need to wait for more information as the launch date approaches.
What The Author Thinks
The RTX 5060 is shaping up to be a strong offering for gamers who don’t want to break the bank on a high-end graphics card. Its affordable starting price makes it an attractive option for those still using older models like the GTX 1660 or RTX 2060. However, the reliance on DLSS 4 to unlock better performance could limit its appeal for users who want a simpler plug-and-play experience. Despite this, Nvidia’s focus on offering a cost-effective solution for 1080p and 1440p gaming seems like a smart move in today’s market, where high-end cards remain out of reach for many gamers.
Featured image credit: DonanimHaber
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