Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB review: decent gen-on-gen uplifts, but RTX 5070 offers better value

With our testing complete, the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB is a tricky card to judge, given that its performance differentials can swing substantially based on the game and even game scene tested.

Based on our game selections though, the card is in the same territory as the RX 7800 XT, with an average 22 percent lead over the RTX 4060 Ti 8GB at 1440p. That's one of the biggest gen-on-gen gains that we've seen going from Ada Lovelace to Blackwell, but it's worth considering that the RTX 4060 Ti didn't really shift the needle when it came to beating its predecessor.

For those upgrading from prior cards in the same class, there's around a 37 percent increase over the RTX 3060 Ti from 2020. Meanwhile, versus the 2019 vintage RTX 2060 Super, you're getting double the performance. In both cases, the DLSS 4 feature set is appealing and I'd consider the RTX 5060 Ti a fine upgrade there.

Elsewhere, the RTX 5070 is significantly faster than the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB - to the tune of a mighty 38 percent. My results also see the RTX 4070 beat the RTX 5060 Ti by 11 percent, though overclocking can make up most of the difference in many games.

Based on the RTX 5060 Ti's overall performance, the card is solid enough but hardly spectacular - meaning that price comes into focus. Looking at dollars per frame based on MSRP, it's disappointing that the RTX 5070 offers better value - and I can't help but think there ought to have been a single 16GB or even 12GB model at $399. (Despite the 128-bit bus, 3GB memory modules do exist that would have unlocked 12GB as a potential option - though it's unclear whether they're available in the quantities and prices needed for a budget GPU.)

So as we keep saying, the RTX 5060 Ti is a bit tricky. The 8GB card on mixed benchmarks will provide better value than the 16GB version overall and compares more favourably to the RTX 5070. On the flipside, we just can't recommend the 8GB card given how often we're running into VRAM issues with many games, especially upon launch.

The 16GB version is the one to have then, but with the 5070 offering 35 to 43 percent better performance at "only" 28 percent more money, you're again funnelled towards the higher-priced offering - though $120 extra is a significant step up in this sector of the market. I just wish that Nvidia understood that value is supposed to increase the further down the stack you go - not decrease.

The PCIe situation is also not great, with the 5060 Ti's 8x lanes translating into some noticeable performance degradation on older PCIe 3.0 motherboards due to bandwidth limitations. While the majority of users will be using these cards with modern motherboards with PCIe 4.0 or 5.0 slots, these more budget-oriented cards are more likely to be used with similarly low-end or just antiquated motherboards compared to higher-end GPUs. Our testing shows up to a 20 percent performance drop in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle at 1080p, with less sizeable double-digit percentage drops in F1 24 and single-digit percentage drops in Black Myth: Wukong.

Ultimately, there are question marks over value, but the RTX 5060 Ti is worth taking a look at.

A GeForce RTX 5060 Ti review unit was provided by Nvidia.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB Analysis

• Introduction, power efficiency and test rig
• RT benchmarks: Alan Wake 2, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Cyberpunk 2077
• RT benchmarks: Dying Light 2, F1 24, Hitman: World of Assassination
• RT benchmarks: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition, A Plague Tale: Requiem
• Game benchmarks: Alan Wake 2, Black Myth: Wukong, Cyberpunk 2077
• Game benchmarks: F1 24, Forza Horizon 5, Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2
• Game benchmarks: Hitman: World of Assassination, A Plague Tale: Requiem
• PCIe 3.0 vs PCIe 5.0: Black Myth: Wukong, F1 24, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
• Conclusions, value and recommendations [This Page]