Facepalm: Nvidia withheld the RTX 5060 Ti’s 8GB variant from reviewers to delay coverage that would expose its significant performance shortcomings compared to the 16GB version. With the launch of the most affordable RTX 50 series product so far, the RTX 5060 is fast approaching, but multiple outlets have accused the company of repeating this tactic by withholding drivers.

TechSpot, Hardware Unboxed, Hardwareluxx, PC Games Hardware, and Igor’s Lab recently confirmed they won’t receive drivers for Nvidia’s upcoming RTX 5060 until the graphics card’s May 19 launch, delaying reviews until at least that date. As with the harshly criticized 8GB RTX 5060 Ti, consumers will have little to no opportunity to evaluate third-party performance benchmarks before attempting to purchase this mainstream-tier GPU.

Although hardware manufacturers typically release initial drivers for new graphics cards on launch day, press and review outlets usually receive drivers in advance to provide early analysis. This is how things have worked for the most part for over 30 years. Without launch or review drivers, PCs will fail to recognize new GPUs or operate them improperly, making proper benchmarks impossible.

Can confirm! For us this has the implications, that we will be not able to tests the RTX 5060 on May 19th, because almost the whole team will be at Computex. This also means no testing for the Computex week. Not only bad for us, but above all for consumers. https://t.co/VDOpybbFqP

– Andreas Schilling 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@aschilling) May 8, 2025

Several outlets have accused Nvidia of trying to bury negative coverage of its latest 8GB GPUs. Reviewers couldn’t access the 8GB RTX 5060 Ti before it reached store shelves, and late reviews revealed substantially worse performance in many games compared to the 16GB variant.

TechSpot’s latest analysis even shows the 8GB RTX 5060 Ti often underperforms against Intel’s 12GB Arc B580, which is a cheaper GPU at least one tier below the RTX 5060 Ti in terms of product segmentation and pricing.

Moreover, launching the RTX 5060 at the beginning of Computex ensures that some outlets, including us/Hardware Unboxed and Hardwareluxx, will be busy covering the event to properly scrutinize the GPU. Delaying reviews for a $300 mainstream card is particularly concerning because Steam survey trends suggest it will become the most popular model in the RTX 50 series lineup.

While 8GB of VRAM is technically sufficient to run any game in 2025, doing so often requires lowering graphics settings below what should be acceptable for a $300 – $400 GPU. RTX 5060 Ti reviews demonstrate the card’s capability for 4K gaming when supplied with enough VRAM, while the Arc B580 comparison suggests that 12GB should now be considered the minimum for mainstream GPUs.

Still, the RTX 5060’s 3,840 CUDA cores, 2.5GHz boost clock, and neural rendering support should provide a decent performance uplift over the 4060 and 3060. Its main competitor, AMD’s Radeon RX 9060 XT, launches on May 18.