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The next generation of PC gaming is well and truly on its way. Just last week, I reviewed the MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 32G Suprim Liquid SOC. A beast of a GPU, that bad boy blew away anything that I could throw at it. As it should, with it’s SG$4,000 price tag. On the other hand, the MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G GAMING OC that I’ve reviewing today, doesn’t even cost much more than a Playstation 5 or Xbox Series X.
Of course, being price about 1/5th the price of the MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 32G Suprim Liquid SOC means that certain sacrifices had to be made to keep the GPU affordable (yet remain competitive) for the masses.
So the question now is, did MSI manage to keep those compromises without hobbling the card?
What is the MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G GAMING OC?
The MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G GAMING OC is the latest generation of GPU from NVIDIA. It utilizes the company’s new Blackwell GPU architecture (same as the other 50XX series GPUs), with fourth generation RT cores.
Geared for 1080p and 1440p gaming, the MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G GAMING OC is a middle of the road, wallet friendly option for users who aren’t willing to spend the big bucks but want a marked performance increase over NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20XX or 30XX series cards, especially in games with DLSS 4 support.
There are actually 2 versions of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060Ti, one with 8GB GDDR7 and another with 16GB. Everything other spec is the same. Considering that some modern AAA games are asking for 12GB VRAM to run well, you really do not want to even consider any version of the GPU that comes with 8GB.
The MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G GAMING OC can be boosted up to 2662Mhz (or thereabouts) if you extremely overclock it with the MSI Center app, or up to 2647Mhz with regular overclocking. Of course, since there’s some variability with each individual GPU, yours could withstand higher speeds (or not even come close to these numbers).
It’s all luck of the draw.
I could rattle off the specs for the GPU, but since as how MSI’s website has it already succinctly put, why not use that instead?
What I will emphasize here is that the MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G GAMING OC also utilizes MSI’s Twin Frozr 10 cooling design.
Alongside the metal backplate, there’s a nickel plated copper baseplate, core pipes that are specially designed to absorb and dissipate heat as efficiently as possible and what MSI is calling the Wave Curved 4.0, a layer of curved mesh (which looks like waves, hence the name) sandwiched between the GPU and the fans that facilitates airflow.
The Gaming variant from MSI also features 2 huge Stormforce fans, each with clawed blades to optimize how the air is sucked in to cool the GPU.
Despite all the tech crammed into the unit, this isn’t a chonky boy at all. It’s not exactly svelte, but it is compact and should fit in pretty much any case you throw at it without any issue at all.
However, despite the GPU having a lot going for it, there are some downsides. The biggest issue I have is that it’s still running on a 128-bit memory bus. It’s a relatively archaic tech that first debuted on the NVIDIA 256 GPU…which came out in 1999!
The memory bus controls the speed of data transfer from the GPU to the VRAM, so a higher memory bus is always better. With the MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G GAMING OC having 16GB of VRAM, it can be argued that it can perform better with a larger memory bus, if not on current games, then in future ones.
Now, this isn’t MSI’s fault, rather it’s NVIDIA for not wanting to cut into their profit, even if it’ll mean a better product.
In terms of hierarchy, the MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G GAMING OC is about 10% weaker than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070. However, that performance advantage is arguably negated by the MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G GAMING OC’s capability to utilize DLSS 4 and its Multi-Frame Generation.
If you’re thinking of a counterpart on the AMD side, that’ll be the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT. Going for raw power, the MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G GAMING OC is on par with AMD’s last generation card. That means games with older DLSS tech sees the card perform similarly to AMD’s GPU.
However, like the NVIDIA GeForce 4070, the MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G GAMING OC edges out the AMD GPU with its new DLSS 4 features in supported games. It’s also worth noting that DLSS is supported in more games than AMD’s FSR, so there’s also that to consider.
Build quality wise, the MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G GAMING OC is what you’d expect from MSI. Right out of the box, the GPU feels like a solid piece of tech.
No weird rattling noises, no loose bits…even the rubber connector protectors were snug and still in place when I removed the GPU from its packaging.
The GPU doesn’t have much in terms of frills apart from the MSI dragon on the back. It shimmers when you move around. Nice to look at but it’ll be completely overlooked once in a PC case. I mean, you don’t really buy a GPU for looks, right?
It’s all about the performance!
Speaking of performance, the GPU runs at around 60 – 65 degrees in my tests on our gaming rig, via NZXT’s Cam app. There’s not a lot of noise from the fans even when they’re in play. In fact, my NZXT Kraken X73 CPU cooler seems to generate more noise (I run it constantly at Performance settings, which is all out) than the MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G GAMING OC.
Here’s how the GPU performs when you’re looking at it from a purely gameplay point of view. I didn’t have the time to run our usual gamut of gameplay benchmarks (due to the needing to publish this post out ASAP) so here’s the summarized version.
The settings are pretty much in line with what you can get with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070, give or take some frames.
However, I am puzzled why Tomb Raider isn’t performing better. I tried benchmarking the game (patched to the latest version via Steam) twice and got similar results so it might something in the game engine that’s not playing nice?
Unfortunately, only Cyberpunk 2077 is supporting DLSS 4, so it’s not a true showcase of what the GPU is possible of with new games. It is promising that the game averages 39FPS with Raytracing on its highest setting though, which is rather impressive on a mid-tier card.
The Bottom Line.
The MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G GAMING OC is certainly a capable piece of gaming tech. It’s competitively priced, solidly built and delivers decent gaming performance on 1080p and 1440p. It’s a mid-range GPU, but one that punches up, with its copious VRAM.
On top of that, this offering by MSI is already overclocked right out of the gate, all but guaranteeing better performance than base models. It’s in a great position to leverage DLSS 4, while still maintaining a decent operating temperature and low noise levels.
It is however, potentially held back by its 128-bit memory bus. In games that require large amounts of VRAM (such as Monster Hunter Rise or Resident Evil 4), it could be a potential bottleneck, cutting off the GPU from achieving better performance, even on 1080p or 1440p.
That’s a potential problem that might or might not arise though.
Whatever the case for bottlenecking, the fact of the matter is that right now, the MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G GAMING OC is tremendous value. It offers a decent performance upgrade over older cards, while being more efficient and silent.
TLDR:
A great value GPU that comes with decent performance and superb cooling that could potentially be hampered by the 128-bit memory bus.
The Good:
- Great value.
- Lots of VRAM.
- Decent performance.
- Quality build.
The Bad:
- 128-bit memory bus may be a potential issue.
- Performance increases not as substantial as you’d expect.
Salehuddin Husin, EIC
Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.
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