Amidst all the AI hype and obscenely-priced PC hardware, Nvidia might be working on what it thinks will be a boon for gamers. Rumor has it that the company is planning to launch 9GB versions of its RTX 5060 series graphics cards, namely the RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti. This leak comes on the heels of a similar rumor about the RTX 5050 receiving the 9GB VRAM treatment. Nothing has been confirmed so far, but if these reports are true, we may see these GPUs in just a month or two. Nvidia probably thinks increasing the VRAM by 1GB on the RTX 5060 or the RTX 5060 Ti is generous by its standards. However, this upgrade seems pointless, all things considered. A minor VRAM bump, combined with a reportedly reduced bus width, will result in overall inferior offerings, and that's if there's no increase to the MSRP. This feels like a half-baked development from Nvidia, and doesn't deserve any attention from PC gamers.
8GB VRAM GPUs are a trap, even if they're cheaper than the alternative
Don't sacrifice GPU longevity in favor of short-term savings
Nvidia is rumored to launch new RTX 5060 series GPUs with 9GB VRAM
RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti with an extra 1GB of VRAM
It's hard to come by uplifting PC hardware news of late, so you may be tempted to consider a new Nvidia GPU as a positive development. In reality, though, the rumored 9GB VRAM variants of the RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti would do little to solve the deeper issues with the Blackwell 60-series GPUs. This rumor follows the one about the RTX 5050 9GB, reported by @kopite7kimi last month. According to TechPowerUp, Nvidia is planning to use new 3GB memory modules for the new RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti cards, upping their VRAM capacities from 8GB to 9GB of GDDR7 memory.
If these rumors are to be believed, these three GPUs could be announced as soon as May or June, in time for Computex 2026. For the entry-level RTX 5050, these new GDDR7 memory chips will actually be an improvement, albeit a minor one. The bump from 8GB of 20 Gbps GDDR6 memory to 9GB of 28 Gbps GDDR7 memory will result in a higher total memory bandwidth of 336 GB/s compared to 320 GB/s on the RTX 5050 8GB, a 5% improvement. Despite the reduced 96-bit bus width on the rumored 9GB variant (from 128-bit), it will technically be faster than its 8GB counterpart. The situation with the 60-series cards, especially the new RTX 5060, doesn't even look good on paper.
Asus GeForce RTX 5060 8GB
- Memory Clock Speed
- 1750MHz
- Architecture
- Blackwell
- Process
- TSMC 4N
- Shader Units
- 3840
Nvidia's RTX 5060 already feels out of date
DLSS is the only trick that the RTX 5060 has up its sleeve.
It's too little too late
The reduced bus width is the real downgrade
The RTX 5060 Ti does have a 16GB variant for gamers who can spend the extra $130 (yeah, the market sucks right now). The slower RTX 5060, however, does not. Having an extra 1GB of VRAM on the latter seems like an upgrade on the surface, but that's before you discover that the bus width will be reduced from 128-bit to 96-bit. Nvidia is trying to keep production costs low, which is why it's shifting to newer 3GB GDDR7 variants from Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix. In that vein, it's supposedly also shrinking the bus width to keep the new cards affordable.
However, a 1GB VRAM increase alone feels insufficient to resolve the myriad of issues plaguing GPUs with 8GB of VRAM. If Nvidia really wanted to launch a better variant for the RTX 5060, a 12GB or 16GB model would have made sense. Moreover, unlike on the new RTX 5050, the reduced bus width results in lower total memory bandwidth on both the RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti, leading to inferior performance in bandwidth-limited scenarios. Gamers may be able to switch to higher graphics settings, but the FPS would most likely suffer, making these new cards all but pointless, since the MSRPs are unlikely to be lowered.
Nvidia's new VRAM compression trick just gave it a reason to keep selling 8GB GPUs
It works like magic, but won't renew your old 8GB card's lease on life
Nvidia is hoping that "9GB" remains the only headline
And it probably will for the average gamer
If these rumored 60-series GPUs are indeed real, the only reason Nvidia is launching them is in the hope that the average consumer doesn't look past the "9GB" in the product name. After years of online discourse about the downsides of 8GB VRAM GPUs, most people will probably grab the 9GB variant of the RTX 5060 or RTX 5060 Ti over the 8GB alternatives without second thought. Nvidia probably plans to sell as many units as possible to unsuspecting consumers before the jig is up. Producing 12GB or 16GB variants of the RTX 5060 will cost Nvidia more than it likes, hence the pivot to the new 3GB GDDR7 memory chips to save costs and maximize profits.
Nvidia will always do what's best for business, so it's not surprising to see where the rumors are leading. What's unfortunate is that things will probably play out exactly as Nvidia intends, with gamers lapping up the cheapest GPUs they can buy in a terrible market. Barring the RTX 5050, the 60-series Blackwell cards will be one of the most affordable options on the market, and despite their very real downsides, they'll probably sell like hot cakes.
More VRAM is not always the performance boost you think it is
Having more VRAM is good, but it does nothing for a weak GPU or PC
I don't care about the RTX 5060 9GB, but many gamers will
Sadly, the average consumer doesn't spend time consuming third-party reviews before purchase decisions. If Nvidia launches 9GB variants of the RTX 5060 (and RTX 5060 Ti), most gamers will buy it if it's available at affordable prices. The fact that it will perform worse than the 8GB variant will be lost on many buyers, which is truly unfortunate. Nvidia is doing what it always does, which is making the most of a bad situation.