5 GPUs to buy instead of the RTX 5060

As the graphics card market continues to stabilize and new mid-range releases hit the shelves, consumers are beginning to have a bit more choice when it comes to what GPU they put in their system. Besides Nvidia's questionable behavior surrounding the release of the RTX 5060, the card itself has been regarded as somewhat of a missed opportunity for a company whose recent releases have been marred with issues and controversy.

It comes down to the woefully inadequate 8GB of VRAM that the RTX 5060 has been equipped with. The VRAM discussion has once more been at the forefront of yet another GPU release, and regardless of what side of the fence you find yourself on, 8GB of VRAM ensures that the RTX 5060 will have a much shorter lifespan as a gaming graphics card than it otherwise could've had. So which cards should you buy instead?

5 Intel Arc B580

A compelling value

In a similar price class to the 5060, the Arc B580 may have been somewhat forgotten by those consumers looking for a mid-range value card because of its poor availability at its MSRP. Now, however, stock is improving, and in turn, so are the prices. The Arc is still intermittently in stock, but when it is, it's much closer to its original $250 launch price.

Much like the 5060, the B580 isn't meant to be a 1440p card capable of ray tracing and path tracing, but it is capable of giving you a great experience at 1080p. Improvements to XeSS (Intel's flavor of supersampling tech) and perhaps most importantly, its 12 GB VRAM buffer, are what make it a much more compelling buy than the RTX 5060.

4 RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB

Higher price point, much better value

We're jumping up a significant amount here in price, which may make those of you looking for a more budget-friendly option scroll immediately to the next item in this list, but hear me out.

The bog-standard 5060, if equipped with even just 4 GB more of VRAM, would be an excellent buy at its MSRP, but unfortunately, Nvidia doesn't want us to have nice things. The next option up the stack for someone looking for enough VRAM to last them past this calendar year, is the 5060 Ti. I wouldn't recommend you buy one at an inflated price, but if you can find one close to its $429 MSRP, you'll have a much better experience 2 to 3 years down the line, as VRAM requirements continue to climb. It'll also handle any kind of ray tracing much better than anything else at that price point, so that's something to consider if you're playing a lot of titles that require it.

3 RX 9060 XT

Worth waiting for, only at MSRP

While there may be a little bit of conjecture with this entry, the RX 9060 XT is due to be in the hands of reviewers in just a few short days at the time of writing, so we'll have a better idea of its performance very soon. Based on first-party benchmarks and its price point, the RX 9060 XT looks to compete directly with the 5060.

What we can safely assume is that the 9060 XT, like its big brother, will still struggle a bit with ray tracing and path tracing workloads, which is to be expected. At this price point though, you're not expecting your socks to be knocked off, you just want something to run raster workloads for the next few years, and the 9060 XT is poised to be just that.

2 RX 6950 XT

A pre-owned bargain

Venturing into the pre-owned options on our list, the RX 6950 XT, when found for a reasonable discount, can be an excellent value. I'd understand any reservations one might have about buying a flagship that's a couple of generations old, but the 6950 XT is aging like a fine wine.

In my area, an RX 6950 XT (or even 6900 XT) can be found for as low as $400. It depends on the workload, but you can expect performance close to a RTX 4070, with 16 GB of VRAM to boot. I wouldn't pay more than around $500 for one though, because that's quickly approaching the RX 9070 price range, and cards in that class are just a cut above the best of the RX 6000 series.

1 RX 7800 XT

Continues to age well

If you're not willing to fork over a little bit over MSRP for a new GPU, another pre-owned option is the RX 7800 XT, which continues to age pretty well despite being a bit underwhelming on launch. Like with any pre-owned GPU, price is everything, and if you can find one of these under $500, it's still an excellent option for raster in 2025, but like I've mentioned a few times in this article, it will struggle in RT, and that's just the way it is with these older AMD cards.

The RTX 5060 just isn't a good buy, even at its compelling price

Unfortunately for consumers waiting for a sub-$400 60 class card from the Green Team, the RTX 5060's 8GB of VRAM makes it dead-on-arrival for anyone looking to make their GPU last more than a couple of years. The good news is, the current GPU landscape is improving for both new and pre-owned models.