Nvidia tells partners to prioritize 16GB RTX 5060 Ti production after poor 8GB model sales

[midian182]

Rumor mill: It appears that Nvidia has finally accepted what everyone already knows: that nobody wants 8GB graphics cards at a time when games are more demanding than ever. Team Green has reportedly told its AIB partners to prioritize production of the 16GB version of the RTX 5060 Ti at the expense of the 8GB model.

We thought the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB was a better-than-average product, giving it a score of 75 and calling it not great but certainly not terrible. The $150 8GB model, however, earned a pitiful score of 30 due to its memory buffer, which is no longer satisfactory for PC gaming beyond the most entry-level products.

An increasing number of games are recommending graphics cards with more than 8GB of VRAM. Borderlands 4's recommended specs, for example, call for an RTX 3080, which comes in 10GB and 12GB flavors.

Now, it appears that Nvidia has finally taken notice. According to a thread on the Chinese forum Board Channels (via TechPowerUp), which cites multiple unnamed sources, disappointing sales of the 8GB RTX 5060 Ti have prompted Nvidia to implement supply controls on the card. This is entirely due to poor sales and negative gamer sentiment, rather than production shortages.

Board partners have been instructed to limit overstocking and manage the supply of the RTX 5060 Ti based on market demand. Nvidia is also introducing pricing controls to stop partners from underpricing the card to sell more unwanted units.

It's important to take unverified claims like these with a pinch of salt. But it's easy to believe that Nvidia has taken this step. In July, German retailer Mindfactory reported that buyers were overwhelmingly choosing the 16GB versions of Nvidia and AMD cards over their 8GB alternatives.

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.

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Nvidia tells partners to prioritize 16GB RTX 5060 Ti production after poor 8GB model sales

 

[Neatfeatguy]

The 5060Ti isn't even a worthwhile card to have at 8GB or 16GB. It can't even beat a 5 year old 3080 10GB.

 

[Axeia]

With the 12GB RTX 3060 12 GB they got it right. Sadly in the same generation some higher placed cards came with less memory. Then they shifted focus and came out with a less powerful and less VRAM gifted RTX 3060 as well. The 4000 series doubled down on these mistakes of cards and with the 5000 series they mostly let you pick between not enough and enough whilst overcharging you for the enough variant.
Hopefully the 6000 series will finally do what should've been done for 3 generations already.
And I'd like to flip the bird at all of you that kept defending Nvidia for releasing 8GB cards in the xx70 or higher classes especially.

 

[Billybobjoey]

There's no point to 8GB cards in the xx60 class and higher anymore. This (or even last) generation should have been where Nvidia shifted to 12GB for the lower end cards and 20 or even 24GB for the higher ended ones. Instead, they kept the same strategy of last generation and now they're paying for it with unsold inventory.

I have a 4080 (non-super). It has 16GB of vram. I bought Spider-Man 2 on discount a while back, and while that game is an optimization mess from what I've read from others, that is the first game where I consistently run out of vram and suffer large hitches when that happens unless I drop to 1440p (from 4K at DLSS performance mind you) and drop ray tracing along with it. That really should not be the case, but it shows what the near future will be like for 16GB cards. It's just not enough anymore for the higher end cards. I think the 5090 finally stepped it up to 24GB but the 5080 really should have stepped up to 20GB.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

The 5060Ti isn't even a worthwhile card to have at 8GB or 16GB. It can't even beat a 5 year old 3080 10GB.

A midrange only one node apart is NEVER going to beat a previous flagship. Duh.

This is like complaining a GTX 960 didnt beat the 780ti.

There's no point to 8GB cards in the xx60 class and higher anymore. This (or even last) generation should have been where Nvidia shifted to 12GB for the lower end cards and 20 or even 24GB for the higher ended ones. Instead, they kept the same strategy of last generation and now they're paying for it with unsold inventory.

I have a 4080 (non-super). It has 16GB of vram. I bought Spider-Man 2 on discount a while back, and while that game is an optimization mess from what I've read from others, that is the first game where I consistently run out of vram and suffer large hitches when that happens unless I drop to 1440p (from 4K at DLSS performance mind you) and drop ray tracing along with it. That really should not be the case, but it shows what the near future will be like for 16GB cards. It's just not enough anymore for the higher end cards. I think the 5090 finally stepped it up to 24GB but the 5080 really should have stepped up to 20GB.

the 5080 cant "step it up" to 20GB, it would need to go to 32GB or 24GB with 1.5Gb modules, which are still rare to see.

Given the current technical limits of consoles, it will be at least 4-5 years before 16GB is insufficient.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

A midrange only one node apart is NEVER going to beat a previous flagship. Duh.

What are you on about? The 3080 isn't a flagship card, it was a high-end card.

RTX 3060 12GB nips at the heels, but the RTX 3060Ti beats a 1080Ti
RTX 2060 beats a 980Ti
GTX 1060 beats a 780Ti
GTX 960 beats a GTX 580

Given this, we'd expect to see the 5060Ti outperform a 3090Ti or at the very least match it, but it can't even beat a 3080.

As I said, the 5060Ti, regardless of 8 or 16GB, isn't even a good card based on all the past generational performance gains.

 

[poohbear]

A midrange only one node apart is NEVER going to beat a previous flagship. Duh.

This is like complaining a GTX 960 didnt beat the 780ti.
the 5080 cant "step it up" to 20GB, it would need to go to 32GB or 24GB with 1.5Gb modules, which are still rare to see.

Given the current technical limits of consoles, it will be at least 4-5 years before 16GB is insufficient.

Agreed the technical limits are attached to consoles, but not 4-5 years from now. The next gen consoles come out in 2027. That's only 2 years from now.

 

[havok585]

What are you on about? The 3080 isn't a flagship card, it was a high-end card.

RTX 3060 12GB nips at the heels, but the RTX 3060Ti beats a 1080Ti
RTX 2060 beats a 980Ti
GTX 1060 beats a 780Ti
GTX 960 beats a GTX 580

Given this, we'd expect to see the 5060Ti outperform a 3090Ti or at the very least match it, but it can't even beat a 3080.

As I said, the 5060Ti, regardless of 8 or 16GB, isn't even a good card based on all the past generational performance gains.

You must be new, son.

the 3080 was THE FLAGSHIP card at the time 5 years ago.

You only say it was not because NOW you have 3080Ti, 3090 and so on, but those came after.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

You must be new, son.

the 3080 was THE FLAGSHIP card at the time 5 years ago.

You only say it was not because NOW you have 3080Ti, 3090 and so on, but those came after.

Oh wow....the 3080 was "THE FLAGSHIP" card for a whole week before the 3090 released. Glad you were able to clear that one right up!

3090 was the flagship card of the Ampere series - eventually a Ti version released, but that wasn't until April of 2022. Were as the 3090 and 3080 had been available since September of 2020.

 

[AnilD]

TechSpot smiles in secret... "I told you so"

 

[ScottSoapbox]

I have a 4080 (non-super). It has 16GB of vram. I bought Spider-Man 2 on discount a while back, and while that game is an optimization mess from what I've read from others, that is the first game where I consistently run out of vram and suffer large hitches when that happens unless I drop to 1440p (from 4K at DLSS performance mind you) and drop ray tracing along with it. That really should not be the case, but it shows what the near future will be like for 16GB cards. It's just not enough anymore for the higher end cards. I think the 5090 finally stepped it up to 24GB but the 5080 really should have stepped up to 20GB.

What CPU do you have? Because SM2 is pretty demanding on that front.

I upgraded from a 3080 to 5080 and only gained 10 FPS at 1440p Max + RT + Quality on SM1 because my 5800x3D is the bottleneck. (Miles gained more).

 

[Billybobjoey]

What CPU do you have? Because SM2 is pretty demanding on that front.

I upgraded from a 3080 to 5080 and only gained 10 FPS at 1440p Max + RT + Quality on SM1 because my 5800x3D is the bottleneck. (Miles gained more).

I've got an AMD 7700x at stock clocks. I had the new steam performance overlay on, and the hitches would always happen when the reported VRAM usage went above 16GB. Yes SM2 is newer and all that, but SM1 and MM run amazingly in comparison with everything cranked.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

I've got an AMD 7700x at stock clocks. I had the new steam performance overlay on, and the hitches would always happen when the reported VRAM usage went above 16GB. Yes SM2 is newer and all that, but SM1 and MM run amazingly in comparison with everything cranked.

That's good to know because the 7700x and 5800x3D are pretty similar in most games. That overlay has helped me a lot. Hopefully, they fix that VRAM issue in a patch, I'm planning on getting SM2 in the next good sale.

After thinking about this more, I went and tried SM1 with DLAA instead of DLSS Quality (Max RT 1440p) and got the same FPS. CPU bottle necks are so weird at realistic settings, I'm not used to even thinking about them. Luckily they are still pretty rare for our CPUs.