Best Entry-Level NVIDIA · Graphics Cards

MSI GeForce RTX 5060 8GB

The RTX 5060 brings DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation to a budget card, and it's a solid choice for 1080p gaming, though its 8GB of memory means turning textures down in the most demanding new games.

Brand: MSI
Best for: 1080p gaming on a tight budget
Price range: Budget
Our score: 7.5/10

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Our take

The RTX 5060 is NVIDIA's entry-level graphics card for this generation. It brings DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation to a budget price and is a solid choice for 1080p gaming, with one significant compromise: only 8GB of memory.

Performance

The RTX 5060 has 3,840 CUDA cores and 8GB of fast GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus. In published testing it's around 20 to 25% faster than the RTX 4060, and plays most current games at high settings at 1080p, with esports titles such as Counter-Strike 2, Valorant and Fortnite running at very high frame rates.

It's not really a 1440p card. Some games run well at that resolution with DLSS, but you'll often need to lower settings.

The 8GB question

8GB of memory is the RTX 5060's main weakness. A growing number of recent games, including some at 1080p, use more than 8GB at high or ultra texture settings. When that happens the card can stutter or display blurry textures, and the fix is to turn textures down a notch. For esports and older games it's not an issue, but if you want a card that will handle new releases for several years, the 16GB RTX 5060 Ti or RX 9060 XT is a safer buy.

DLSS 4

DLSS is especially valuable on a budget card. DLSS upscaling now uses a sharper transformer AI model and adds a lot of performance for little loss in image quality. Multi Frame Generation can generate up to three extra frames per rendered frame, making motion much smoother in supported single-player games. It doesn't reduce input lag and uses some extra memory, so it works best when the game already runs at around 60fps.

Power and compatibility

At 145W the RTX 5060 is easy to power and cool. Most models, including MSI's, use a single 8-pin connector, are short enough for compact cases and stay quiet. NVIDIA recommends a 550W power supply. The card uses eight PCIe lanes, which makes no difference on PCIe 4.0 or 5.0 motherboards but costs a few percent on older PCIe 3.0 boards.

Who should buy it

Buy the RTX 5060 for a budget 1080p gaming PC, especially if you mostly play esports or older games and want DLSS 4. If you play the latest big-budget games or want your card to last longer, spend a little more on a 16GB card.

Key specifications

Architecture	NVIDIA Blackwell
CUDA cores	3,840
Boost clock	2,497MHz (reference)
VRAM	8GB GDDR7
Memory speed	28Gbps
Memory bus	128-bit
Memory bandwidth	448GB/s
Total graphics power	145W
Interface	PCIe 5.0 x8
Recommended PSU	550W
Outputs	HDMI 2.1b, 3x DisplayPort 2.1b

Strengths and weaknesses

Pros

DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation
Low power draw, fits small cases
Good 1080p performance
Clearly faster than the RTX 4060

Cons

8GB of VRAM is already tight in some games
PCIe x8 link loses a little speed on older PCIe 3.0 boards
The 16GB RTX 5060 Ti is a safer long-term buy

Verdict

The RTX 5060 brings DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation to a budget card, and it's a solid choice for 1080p gaming, though its 8GB of memory means turning textures down in the most demanding new games. It earns our Best Entry-Level NVIDIA award in our guide to the best graphics cards.

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