NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5060 Ti saw the release of two different models, the 8GB and 16GB configurations, and it seems like Team Green should've released the model with less VRAM with a disclaimer.
NVIDIA's RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB Variant Simply Isn't Suitable For 2K/4K Gaming, Low VRAM Capacity Puts The Model In The Backseat
Interestingly, the launch of NVIDIA's RTX 5060 series lineup marked the entry of RTX Blackwell GPUs into the more mainstream market segment, and it was anticipated that Team Green would fight against existing counterparts. The dual-VRAM configuration launch meant that we were expecting little difference in performance between the two variants, and to our surprise, NVIDIA decided to supply a majority of reviewers with the 16 GB model, including us, which made the performance of the 8 GB model a mystery. However, HardwareUnboxed (HU) acquired a unit, and it's safe to say that the benchmarks they performed turned out to be a disaster.
It's simply an injustice to give a modern-day GPU an 8 GB VRAM competition, and given the capabilities of the RTX Blackwell silicon in general, the benchmarks we'll discuss ahead reveal that the 8 GB model is severely held back. It is to the point that HU called out the model as an "obsolete" gaming GPU, which shows that modern-day consumers shouldn't opt for this variant unless they have no other choice. Well, back to the benchmarks, HU tested out multiple titles, but we'll go through some of the more mainstream ones to give an idea of how the GPU performs in modern-day AAA scenarios.
Starting with The Last of US Part II, the 16 GB variant saw a 120% higher 1% Low FPS performance compared to the 8 GB model, securing an average of approximately 35 FPS and 70 FPS respectively. This was recorded on 4K Very High quality settings and with varying qualities, the 1% LOW FPS performance difference reached up to a whopping 320%, which is shocking. Similarly, in titles like Final Fantasy XIV and Hogwarts Legacy, the performance difference was recorded to be on average of around 30%-40%, which shows that the VRAM difference has contributed to a massive difference.
Benchmarks by HU cover the 8 GB model in a lot more detail, so we suggest you check it out to get an idea of how badly NVIDIA messed up. There was certainly optimism around NVIDIA's 60-class GPUs, given that we were expecting the firm to catch up with competition from AMD's RX 9070 series, but things turned out differently. While we won't call the 8 GB model something entirely "dead", there's little hope for it, and it doesn't make sense for consumers to go towards it at all.
About the author: Muhammad Zuhair is a hardware and technology reporter for Wccftech, specializing in the semiconductor industry and the complex interplay between technology, manufacturing, and geopolitics. His coverage focuses on the corporate strategies and technological roadmaps of industry giants like TSMC, NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel. Zuhair's expertise lies in deconstructing complex topics such as fabrication nodes (e.g., 2nm process), the economic impact of policies like the CHIPS Act, and the strategic development of AI infrastructure from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.
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