Rumor mill: Rumors had already suggested that the AI business and related memory shortages would significantly widen the traditional gap between generations of Nvidia graphics cards. Now, the latest information suggests the situation could be even worse for upcoming mainstream GPUs, which probably won't match the performance of next-generation consoles.
Prominent leaker Kepler_L2 recently suggested that Nvidia's next-generation mainstream graphics card, tentatively called the RTX 6060, could be delayed until as late as 2029. Memory supply shortages are the obvious cause.
DRAM and NAND supply constraints amid the AI data center buildout have already made currently available GPUs more expensive and harder to find. As some RTX 5090 listings march dangerously close to the $10,000 mark, Nvidia had to deny reports that it is discontinuing the flagship card.
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Meanwhile, the shortages may have already forced Nvidia to delay the previously rumored RTX 50 Super series, originally expected to debut in mid-2026. They might still arrive late this year or sometime next year to compete with a single high-end AMD RDNA 5 GPU.
The RTX 60 series is not expected until 2028, possibly extending the generational release gap to nearly four years, compared to the average gap of just over two years. A 2029 debut for the RTX 6060 would separate it from the 5060 by at least 3 years and 9 months. For comparison, the 5060 launched 4 years and 2 months after the 3060.
As for estimating the RTX 6060's relationship to the PlayStation 6, it's obviously too soon for precise predictions, but Kepler believes that Sony's upcoming console will launch sooner and with a performance advantage. The comparison roughly mirrors the relationships between prior PlayStation consoles and mainstream PC GPUs.
For example, the RTX 3060 launched about two months after the PlayStation 5, and the console's performance is comparable to that of slightly more powerful graphics cards, as per TechSpot's latest trivia question.
Assuming the 6060's performance gains follow the pattern suggested by our analysis of the last several years of mainstream GPUs, it might land somewhere near the 5060 Ti or 4070. Meanwhile, many have speculated that the PS6's 40 to 48 RDNA 5 compute units could bring it closer to the 5070 Ti.
However, price will be the main difference compared to 2020 and 2021. Kepler recently pegged the bill of materials for the PS6's memory and storage alone at $680, likely pushing the console's final price well past $1,000. It remains unclear how memory shortages will impact the RTX 6060's price. The 5060 launched with a $300 MSRP but now goes for around $470.