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.
Majority of gamers are still playing at 1080p and have no use for more than 8GB of memory. Most played games WW are mostly esports games. We wouldn't build it if there wasn't a market for it. If 8GB isn't right for you then there's 16GB. Same GPU, no compromise, just memory…
– Frank Azor (@AzorFrank) May 22, 2025
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.
Mindfactory customers are overwhelmingly choosing 16GB Nvidia and AMD cards over their 8GB versions