Mindfactory customers are overwhelmingly choosing 16GB Nvidia and AMD cards over their 8GB versions

midian182

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Facepalm: In what could be the least surprising news of the year, gamers are expressing their feelings toward the latest 8GB graphics cards by shunning them in favor of the 16GB versions. German retailer Mindfactory reports that the more expensive models of the Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti and AMD RX 9060 XT are outselling the less powerful alternatives by an enormous amount: up to 30 times, in the case of the AMD card.

We liked the AMD RX 9060 XT 16GB, awarding it a score of 85 in our review. Even the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB was described as "not great, not terrible," as reflected in its respectable score of 75.

However, we slammed the 8GB versions of both cards, giving Team Red's effort a score of 40 and Team Green's GPU an even worse rating of 30. Despite launching both versions simultaneously, Nvidia actually delayed reviews of its 8GB RTX 5060 Ti, thereby ensuring it wouldn't appear in initial coverage but would still be available for purchase when reviews went live – or shortly thereafter.

While the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB has a $429 MSRP and the 8GB model's is $379, Mindfactory has sold 1,675 units of the former, while the latter's sales stand at an abysmal 105 units. That means retail sales for the 16GB model are 16 times higher.

Moving to AMD, the RX 9060 XT 16GB has a $350 MSRP. As with Nvidia's card, choosing the model with half the VRAM will save you $50. But it's something few Mindfactory customers are doing: the RX 9060 XT 16GB is selling 30 times more units than the 8GB model.

Mindfactory is one of Germany's foremost online PC parts and gadget retailers, and while its figures don't show global sales of these products, it's hard to imagine the trend being different anywhere else in the world.

We've repeatedly said that while 8GB of VRAM is still enough for the majority of games today, it's no longer sufficient for an optimal experience in many of the latest titles, especially if you're playing at higher resolutions and want high frame rates. As games become more demanding – Borderlands 4's recommended specs call for an RTX 3080, which comes in 10GB and 12GB flavors – the situation is going to get worse. However, it appears that these 8GB cards continue to be popular in prebuilds.

In May, AMD tried to explain why it continues to make 8GB cards. Chief Architect of Gaming Solutions Frank Azor said the majority of gamers are still playing at 1080p and have no need for more than 8GB of memory. He added that the most-played games worldwide are mostly esports titles.

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In May, AMD tried to explain why it continues to make 8GB cards. Chief Architect of Gaming Solutions Frank Azor said the majority of gamers are still playing at 1080p and have no need for more than 8GB of memory. He added that the most-played games worldwide are mostly esports titles.
Maybe the majority of gamers wouldn't be running at 1080p if the affordable cards could handle higher resolutions at decent frame rates. I feel like by now "2K" resolutions such as 1440p should have supplanted HD/1080p. If the products being released over the last several years weren't so gimped that might be a reality by now.

Sure some gamers run at 1080p for the higher frame rates, but this isn't the reason the majority are still using 1080p. They are using 1080p because they can't afford a decent GPU that can do 1440p or higher at decent frame rates.
 
Ehhhh I'd bet the average MindFactory buyer is more savy than the average buyer in general.

I'd bet dollars to donuts 8GB are still selling gangbusters in laptops and pre-builts to either less informed folks or folks on a tight budget etc.

Honestly I have no issues with an 8GB card if I can snag one for $200 or less. I'm trawling the ebays etc for a $200 4060Ti 8gb or a $150 4060 8gb.

But brand new for $400? Get the **** outta here...
 
Turns out the buying public is not as gullible as the reviewers thought they were. As for pre built PCs, from talking to some people and looking around, there's a sucker born every minute. With most of these things, an 8GB gpu is the least of the problems with these things, Not to mention, 8gb will be fine for email and web browsing.
 
Ehhhh I'd bet the average MindFactory buyer is more savy than the average buyer in general.

I'd bet dollars to donuts 8GB are still selling gangbusters in laptops and pre-builts to either less informed folks or folks on a tight budget etc.

Honestly I have no issues with an 8GB card if I can snag one for $200 or less. I'm trawling the ebays etc for a $200 4060Ti 8gb or a $150 4060 8gb.

But brand new for $400? Get the **** outta here...
That's really my issue with them, with inflation they should be $275 max. nVidia moved the "mid range" from $300 to basically to $800. And I get it, inflation hits everyone, but these companies are using inflation as an excuse to increase their profit margins, not just "cover the costs of inflation"

I'm tired of these companies thinking we're all fools, but they keep raising prices and people keep buying this nonsense. Also, the people putting these in prebuilts are not paying MSRP. They likely have a retail account and are getting discounts.
 
The fact that the 8GB versions are still being pushed into prebuilt systems kind of says it all. OEMs want to shave costs and inflate margins, but savvy buyers clearly aren't fooled. This isn’t about chasing max settings, it’s about future-proofing a little.
 
This really shows how much more informed the average GPU buyer has become. VRAM might have been an afterthought a few years ago when the limitation wasn't relevant, but now it’s one of the first specs people check. The $50 savings just isn’t worth stuttering textures and crashing shaders in modern games.
 
I don't even want 16GB let alone 8GB, I want 24GB as I also use AI software like Topaz.

I hope AMD could offer RDNA4 with more memory, but not using GDDR7 means they can't switch to 3GB dies, so would need new wider bus.
 
Well hello of course, no one in there right mind would by an 8 gig of either of the two brands. Either that or they have no idea what they are buying in the first place.
 
While I think there's a place for 8GB cards in the entry level segment such as RTX/RX xx40, they are just too expensive. If you could get them for cheap, they would sell.
 
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