The GeForce RTX 5060 Ti will feature 16GB of VRAM, the base RTX 5060 will remain with 8GB

TL;DR: The GeForce RTX 5060 and 5060 Ti will be equipped with the GB206 “Blackwell” GPU with GDDR7 memory, providing increased bandwidth. The RTX 5060 Ti will have 16GB of VRAM, while the RTX 5060 will have 8GB, sparking debate in the hardcore gaming community despite the expected performance improvements.

With a recent unintentional leak from ZOTAC GAMING confirming that NVIDIA is set to announce four GeForce RTX 50-series graphics cards at CES 2025, from the GeForce RTX 5070 to the flagship GeForce RTX 5090, we now have some first information on the cards NVIDIA’s most common Blackwells, courtesy of Wccftech.

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The report, citing sources, details the memory configuration and chips used in the upcoming GeForce RTX 5060 and GeForce RTX 5060 Ti consumer PC gaming combo. According to the report, both GPUs will use the same GB206 core with a high-speed GDDR7 memory interface on a 128-bit bus. Moving to GDDR7 will increase memory bandwidth by up to 65% compared to the GeForce RTX 4060, so we can expect a decent improvement over the current generation’s performance.

Where it gets interesting is VRAM capacity, especially in light of NVIDIA’s launch of two versions of the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti – an 8GB and 16GB model – and the recent launch of Intel’s consumer GPU Arc B580 “Battlemage” which includes 12 GB of GDDR6 memory.

VRAM limits can impact high-end ray tracing performance and texture quality when playing games at 4K and 1440p. The usual approach is to use more, the better, but moving to GDDR7 could result in a massive performance increase even with the same capacity as the RTX 40 series. More cache and bandwidth also help improve 1% low performance for a smoother gaming experience.

According to the report, the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti will ship with 16 GB of GDDR7 on a 128-bit bus, and the GeForce RTX 5060 will ship with 8 GB of GDDR7 on a 128-bit bus. Both will have more bandwidth than their current generation equivalents. However, the 8GB-packed RTX 5060 will undoubtedly spark controversy even if it outperforms cards with more VRAM.

Based on this information, the GeForce RTX 5060 will most likely be aimed at high refresh rate 1080p gaming, with the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti offering even more performance with 1440p support.

Focusing on resolution only tells you part of the picture. Even though a card like the GeForce GTX 1060 from years ago was a 1080p gaming GPU, the GeForce RTX 5060 can handle complex ray tracing while supporting RTX technologies like DLSS and Frame Generation. This is something to remember as we head into the “new GPU season”. Still, we’d be happy if the GeForce RTX 5060 was a 12GB GPU like the original GeForce RTX 3060.