Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti GPU with 16GB rumored for March launch, followed by 8GB flavor in April – but where does that leave the vanilla RTX 5060?

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Nvidia’s RTX 5060 Ti is again rumored to have 16GB and 8GB versions
It’s now claimed the 16GB version will arrive first, later in March, and the 8GB model in the first half of April
There’ll be worries about that 8GB loadout, but we mustn’t forget the other VRAM specs that are pertinent here

Nvidia’s RTX 5060 Ti is seemingly the next Blackwell graphics card to go on sale – well, following the imminent RTX 5070 which arrives early in March – and it’ll be produced in 16GB and 8GB flavors.

Wccftech brings word – grab the saltshaker and use liberally – from unnamed sources that Nvidia reportedly intends to release the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB version first, in the latter half of March. The 8GB model will supposedly then arrive the following month, though it should be in the first half of April.

Core spec details are not provided here, notably, save for a guess that these graphics cards will be built on the GB206 chip as previously rumored (the Blackwell silicon which is a tier below GB205, the engine of the RTX 5070).

Analysis: Yet more VRAM controversy, potentially

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard rumors about the RTX 5060 Ti mirroring the RTX 4060 Ti with 16GB and 8GB variants. And just like the previous-gen Lovelace boards, this means the xx60 Ti graphics card can have more VRAM than the xx70 class model – 16GB versus 12GB – if you fork out for the more expensive RTX 5060 Ti.

That brings us to the topic of price, where Wccftech tells us that nothing concrete has been heard on the grapevine yet. The RTX 5060 Ti will obviously have to start at an MSRP of considerably less than the RTX 5070, which is $549 / £539, and Wccftech’s guess of $400 to $500 (the latter for top-end 16GB cards) seems about right.

I’m guessing Nvidia won’t have made that final decision yet, though, and is quite likely waiting to see how the RX 9070 models, or indeed RX 9060 – which are rumored to be getting an airing at AMD’s GPU event later this week – pan out for their MSRPs.

Pricing for the 8GB variant of the RTX 5060 Ti could be a tricky matter, as there were plenty of complaints about the RTX 4060 Ti being underpowered for video memory with that pool of VRAM. Now, we’re a whole generation on, so Nvidia sticking to the same loadout is going to go down like a lead balloon with quite a few PC gamers, I can guarantee that.

Of course, the overall increase in VRAM speed brought in by the introduction of GDDR7 (in theory) has to be considered, as I already observed – and the same goes for Nvidia’s new tricks to get more out of video memory with the Blackwell generation. But I’m guessing some gamers are going to be difficult to persuade away from the notion that simply on a raw capacity front, 8GB is just looking too thin for any real future-proofing here (even at 1080p gaming).

I’m getting ahead of myself here, though – we need to see what Nvidia reveals first, of course, even if the grapevine seems pretty consistent with its rumors here (which tends to be a sign they’re on the money, though it’s no guarantee by any means).

What’s also interesting here is that there’s no mention of the RTX 5060, and when that might arrive. If the 8GB flavor of the RTX 5060 Ti isn’t turning up until maybe mid-April, that may mean the vanilla RTX 5060 could be pushed back to May, perhaps? Those other rumors about delays for Nvidia’s RTX 5060 models appear to be backed up by this latest piece of speculation, at any rate.

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Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).