Reviewers from multiple tech news outlets have reportedly been prevented from conducting standard prelaunch assessments of Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5060 gaming GPUs despite being sent review units weeks ahead of launch.
The RTX 5060, Nvidia’s cheapest “Blackwell” GPU with an MSRP of $299, is slated to launch on May 19. However, as reporters from PCGamesN, Windows Central, XDA, and numerous other outlets have reported, the firm is withholding the necessary drivers required to test review units.
“Nvidia has taken the extraordinary step not to issue the press with a pre-release driver,” wrote PCGamesN reviewer Ben Hardwidge, in a May 8 post. Hardwidge added that a representative for the chipmaker told them drivers won’t be made available until the GPU’s launch day.
Performance issues could be responsible for the delay
Nvidia has apparently given no explanation for the decision to withhold the drivers. Cryptopolitan reached out to the firm for comment but didn’t receive a response as of the time of this article’s publication.
This has led many reviewers to caution consumers against pre-purchasing the RTX 5060 over potential performance issues. The RTX 5060’s more expensive predecessor, the RTX 5070, for example, was launched in March to abysmal reviews.
The RTX 5070 features 12GB of VRAM, a relatively high number for a $549 GPU; however, its performance was panned in comparison to its predecessor, the RTX 4070 (which cost $50 more at launch). According to most reviews, the 5070 suffers from “stuttering” and other immersion-breaking issues when playing games at settings the 4070 was capable of handling.
The upcoming RTX 5060, by comparison, only has 8GM of VRAM. In lieu of information from the company, reviewers are speculating that the 5070’s performance issues are likely to be exacerbated by the 5060’s inferior VRAM specs. The more expensive RTX 5060 Ti model, which also features 8GB of VRAM, was released in April to similar negative reviews.
It’s possible Nvidia has chosen to avoid prelaunch reviews for the RTX 5060 altogether to avoid the same torrent of negative press given to the 5070 and 5060 Ti prior to their launch.
Competition from AMD threatens Nvidia’s gaming GPU dominance
Complicating matters further, Nvidia’s closest competitor in the gaming space, AMD, has fared much better in tech news circles as of late and is gearing up to launch similarly priced competitive models.
AMD is developing 8GB and 16GB versions of its new Radeon RX 9060 XT, with a rumored launch date of around June. While it remains to be seen whether these models will outperform Nvidia’s similarly spec’d 5070 and 5060 models, their imminent arrival and projected price points could be contributing to Nvidia’s apparent lack of confidence.
Ultimately, gamers looking for a modern GPU under the $1,000 price point have numerous options. Intel’s Arc B580, for example, retails for less than $300, received stellar reviews, and is readily available.
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