Hardware Unboxed, along with Gamer Nexus, has been highly critical of the GeForce RTX 5060 graphics card. One of the main points of criticism is that this card only comes with 8 GB of VRAM, which many believe limits its potential.
The same criticisms were directed at the Radeon RX 9060 XT, which also comes with 8 GB of memory, but Hardware Unboxed argues that AMD’s offerings didn’t face the same level of scrutiny. In fact, they didn’t claim that AMD’s 8 GB VRAM cards were slowing down the evolution of PC gaming, unlike their strong statements about NVIDIA.
Performance Compared to Previous Generations
In a recent video, Hardware Unboxed delved deeper into the GeForce RTX 5060, claiming it to be 21% faster than the previous GeForce RTX 4060. They analyzed key aspects like the number of shaders across different generations of cards. For example, the GeForce RTX 2060 came with 1,920 shaders, significantly more than the GTX 1060’s 1,280 shaders. The RTX 3060 saw a jump with 3,584 shaders, but the RTX 4060 actually saw a drop to 3,072 shaders, which led many to view it as a step backward, especially with the reduction in VRAM from 12 GB to 8 GB.
A Mediocre Step in the RTX Line
The GeForce RTX 5060 has 3,840 shaders, surpassing the RTX 4060, but Hardware Unboxed believes this is still not enough for a true evolution of the line. They argue that the increase in shaders does not align with the performance boost consumers might expect. Along with other aspects like memory bandwidth and the reduction in VRAM, they suggest that the RTX 5060 is more of a mediocre upgrade, essentially being a GeForce RTX 5050 in disguise.
The reduction in performance jumps and the constant high pricing are major issues for the critics. It seems that GPUs are both shrinking in capabilities and inflating in price, making noticeable advancements increasingly rare for users.
