PC gamers are disappointed by RTX 5060 VRAM, but Nvidia explains why it only has 8GB
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The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 has finally been announced, and some PC gaming enthusiasts are disappointed by the amount of VRAM it offers. Nvidia, however, says there are good reasons for the 8GB VRAM.
Nvidia graphics cards with the -60 suffix are usually extremely popular. They benefit from all the latest features, but have a more attractive price point for those on a budget. The announcement of the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti and its little brother, the RTX 5060, was met with some confusion, since both had a version with only 8GB of VRAM.
Fans react to 8GB VRAM
Some PC gaming fans took to social media to express their disappointment, which was mixed with anger. As DannyOnPC put it on Twitter/X, “Why is there still an 8GB version?”
It has previously been shown that some games struggle with an 8GB VRAM limit. Some commenters have taken a more moderate stance on the subject, such as Mostly Positive Reviews on Twitter: “Maybe a hot take but I think there is still a place for 8GB VRAM GPUs in 2025, but only at the right price. Competitive games like CS2, DOTA, Apex, SC2, etc are all light on VRAM, especially at competitive settings, so a GPU aimed at that market would be good. Not at $300 though.”
Nvidia insists there are good reasons for the 8GB VRAM model. Within a recent pre-brief meeting, the company suggested that 8GB is enough when using DLSS and the game has been properly optimised. It was also noted that the board for this graphics card is configured to only accept 8GB or 16GB memory modules, due to memory bus width, making 10GB or 12GB modules impractical at best. However, this is an issue Nvidia brought upon itself with its design choices.
Using 8GB of RAM is all about optimizing the price-to-performance ratio for the majority of games and hitting the $300 target for the 5060. Instead of adding more VRAM or more transistors, both of which would drive up the costs, the power of DLSS is prioritized. Nvidia added that it has studied this balance “very closely” and it isn’t “haphazard”.
Even with these hardware limitations, some users say it is the price that is the sticking point. As one post on Reddit put it: “$540 for an 8GB card in 2025. What are we doing, man?”
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