Nvidia's RTX 5060 Ti could provide AMD with an unanticipated advantage.

      While not officially announced yet, Nvidia's RTX 5060 Ti is anticipated to arrive soon, according to various leakers. It is reportedly going to launch in two different models, similar to the RTX 4060 Ti. However, the RTX 40-series had trouble establishing itself among the top graphics cards.

      I’ve been monitoring several leaks about the RTX 5060 Ti, and while there's some positive news, it appears Nvidia is primarily creating an updated version of the RTX 4060 Ti. This situation may favor AMD and its competing graphics cards. For gamers, the RTX 5060 Ti might be a GPU that looks promising on paper but presents its own set of challenges.

      The RTX 5060 Ti will share many features with its predecessor.

      Currently, Nvidia's RTX 50-series consists of only four GPUs: the RTX 5090, RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti, and RTX 5070. The last one hasn’t been released yet but is expected soon, launching on March 5. The first three are available, though they come with a range of issues, such as inadequate ROPs and problems with availability and scalper pricing.

      Despite these challenges, it’s evident that Nvidia intends to expand the Blackwell generation with at least two more desktop GPUs. The RTX 5060 Ti and the RTX 5060 are set to be released in late March and April. Wccftech has now provided additional details about the specifications for the pricier RTX 5060 Ti.

      The RTX 5060 Ti is expected to utilize the GB206 GPU and the PG152 PCB. Wccftech confirms that Nvidia is preparing two versions: one labeled “SKU 10” and the other “SKU 15.” The key difference between them is the video memory; SKU 10 refers to the 16GB model, while SKU 15 indicates the 8GB VRAM version.

      Now, there’s both good and bad news. The positive aspect is that Nvidia is equipping the RTX 5060 Ti with the same GDDR7 bandwidth enhancement that has been implemented in the rest of the Blackwell series. This upgrade involves changing to 28Gbps GDDR7 VRAM modules, which translates to a total bandwidth of up to 448GB/s, representing an impressive 55% increase over the RTX 4060 Ti.

      Conversely, the memory bus remains at 128-bit for both the 16GB and 8GB models. Such a narrow memory interface is likely to impact performance negatively, and even Nvidia’s 16GB of VRAM won’t mitigate this issue. We have seen this repeatedly in GPUs like the RTX 4060 Ti and AMD’s RX 7600 XT.

      Both models are said to have a total board power (TBP) of 180 watts, which is an increase of 15 to 20 watts compared to the previous generation. Wccftech also reports that Nvidia and its partners will utilize both 8-pin and 12V-2×6-pin connectors, depending on the model.

      Regarding other specifications, the RTX 5060 Ti is rumored to feature 4,608 CUDA cores and a maximum clock speed of 2,520MHz. While these specs have not been widely circulated, it’s important to approach them with a degree of skepticism.

      If all the information is accurate, the RTX 5060 Ti will closely resemble its predecessor. The RTX 4060 Ti provided the same VRAM amounts over the narrow 128-bit bus and was comparable in terms of CUDA cores, with 4,352 cores, and had a nearly identical clock speed.

      This situation doesn’t simply lead to minor generational enhancements. It’s a decision that Nvidia seems poised to repeat.

      The VRAM issue

      The RTX 4060 Ti was known for its VRAM limitations. Depending on the variant, there were two main issues: it either lacked sufficient VRAM, or it did not possess a strong enough memory interface to utilize the 16GB it did have. In both scenarios, this configuration resulted in lackluster performance.

      Our benchmarks of the RTX 4060 Ti against its competitors revealed similar results: the insufficient VRAM has significantly hindered the performance of what is otherwise a decent GPU.

      For instance, in our comparison between the RTX 4060 Ti and the RX 6700 XT, one might expect the newer RTX 4060 Ti to prevail. However, the RX 6700 XT outperformed the RTX 4060 Ti in many titles in our extensive testing, achieving significant victories in games like Forza Horizon 5 and The Last of Us Part 1.

      On average, the 8GB RTX 4060 Ti was marginally faster than the RX 6700 XT, but there were games where the previous-generation AMD card either matched or surpassed the Nvidia GPU, including a notable 32% advantage in The Last of Us.

      This success can