Hardware leaker claims RTX 5060 and 5060 Ti GPUs will use 8-pin power connectors

A Chinese hardware leaker affiliated with Zotac claims that the RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti GPUs will have a 650-watt minimum PSU power requirement — a 100-watt bump over the 550-watt requirement that the previous RTX 4060-series GPUs had. According to VideoCardz, the Douyin post says that the cards will still use 8-pin power connectors despite the bump in power consumption, so users won’t have to worry about any power connector shenanigans should they choose to upgrade. But this is far from official, so treat the news with some skepticism.

The Nvidia RTX 5060 and 5060 Ti GPUs, which are destined to be Nvidia’s most affordable Blackwell desktop GPUs, are rumored to arrive this coming March. If correct, we can expect even more ‘leaks’ about these GPUs to arrive in the coming days. Nevertheless, we still don’t have any official specifications or performance data. The most we can say is that the 5060 Ti is expected to arrive in both 8GB and 16GB variants, based on Maxsun EEC filings.

The leaker suggests these GPUs will come at a higher cost versus the previous generation RTX 4060-class equivalents. According to the leaker, the RTX 5060 will be priced between 2,599 and 3,399 RMB or about US$357 to US$467. On the other hand, RTX 5060 Ti cards are expected to go between 3,299 and 3,599 RMB or about US$453 to US$494. Given the non-USD base pricing, we wouldn’t read too much into this at present. The 5070 as an example costs the same as the (reduced after the 4070 Super launch) 4070, while the 5070 Ti costs $50 less than the 4070 Ti Super and the 4070 Ti launch price. And with the same 128-bit memory interface, Nvidia will have a difficult time convincing gamers to spend more for the RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti.

The power recommendations also need some additional dissection. Increasing the recommended PSU wattage by 100W usually means the base power use is only up to 50W higher. So with the 4060 Ti having a 160W TGP (Total Graphics Power) and the RTX 4060 at 115W TGP, it would be reasonable to assume around 200W for the 5060 Ti and 150W for the 5060. Time will tell on the actual specs, but both of those wattages are well within the capabilities of a single 8-pin connector.

But that’s also for reference clocks and performance. Could we see some RTX 5060 Ti cards opting for a 16-pin connector, with a factory overclock? If Nvidia does a reference 5060 Ti Founders Edition, you can bet it will have a 16-pin connector, even if it only has a single 8-pin to 16-pin adapter — just like the 4060 Ti Founders Edition.

AMD’s CEO has already confirmed that the Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT GPUs are set to arrive in early March, meaning it will coincide with Nvidia’s release of its 5060-class cards and could potentially dampen enthusiasm for Team Red’s graphics cards. It will also depend heavily on the sort of performance AMD can deliver, both with its 9070-class GPUs as well as the 9060-class cards that may not arrive until April~June.

If the 5070- and 5060-class GPUs also encounter the same GPU shortages that the RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 GPUs have right now, gamers who want a new GPU may choose AMD’s RDNA4 graphics cards as a more readily available option. Hopefully, AMD will be able to deliver enough stock to board partners and retailers so that we don’t have to deal with scammers and scalpers trying to take advantage of the situation.