MSI RTX 5060 Ti 16G Gaming OC Video Card Review

Our next card for review is a lower-midrange Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti. MSI sent their RTX 5060 Ti 16G Gaming OC version, which features a dual fan Twin Frozr 10 Thermal Design and RGB lighting. It won’t be the center of attention in your chassis, as the large fans dominate the front, leaving little room for embellishments. However, the RGB lighting accents add some flair to the otherwise plain-looking card. Priced at $539.99 on the MSI website, it’s a bit higher than MSRP, but so is the competition.

With this card, we’ve updated the entire test suite from the system to the benchmarks, dropping some older games and adding new benchmarks that leverage the features of all graphics cards. The details are below and in the updated GPU Test Procedure article.  Read on to see how it performed in our test suite and whether it earns our approval!

Blackwell Architecture and Technologies

Nvidia’s new Blackwell architecture is again fabricated using TSMC’s 4N manufacturing process. There wasn’t a process shrink, but that didn’t stop Nvidia from creating 31.1 million on the GB206-300-A1 die. As we’ve seen across the board, the 5060 Ti Gaming OC gets faster clock speeds than the previous-generation card and does improve upon performance. MSI’s Gaming card has a base clock of 2,407 MHz with a boost clock listed as 2,647 MHz… which we know is the listed minimum and often runs much faster. Power consumption is listed as 180W (Total Graphics Power) on our partner card, a slight increase over the 4060 Ti. MSI allows an additional 22% over stock (~220W) which leaves a fair amount of headroom for overclocking.

The GB206 GPU on the RTX 5060 Ti holds five Graphics Process Clusters (GPCs), 24 Texture Processing Clusters (TPCs), 36 Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs), on a 128-bit memory interface (6x  32-bit memory controllers). Nvidia lists the TDFLOP rate for the FP64 cores is 370 GFlops (1:64), while FP32 is 24. Pixel fill rate is 127 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 381 GTexel/s, all a small bit faster than the last-gen 4060 Ti.

Below is a close-up view of a single Streaming Multiprocessor and everything it contains.

The next evolution in neural rendering technologies utilizing the RTX Tensor Cores is DLSS 4. The latest iteration features Multi Frame Generation (75 games and apps support upon launch); DLSS Multi Frame Generation (MFG) generates up to three additional frames per traditional rendered frame, working with an entire ecosystem of DLSS technologies to multiply framerates up to an astounding 8x over more traditional ‘brute-force’ rendering. DLSS 4 also introduced the most significant upgrade to its AI models since DLSS 2 in 2020.

DLSS Ray Reconstruction/Super Resolution/DLAA will now be powered by the first real-time application of the ‘transformer model’, the same advanced architecture powering AI models like ChatGPT, Flux, and Gemini. The Transformer models improve image quality and temporal stability, less ghosting, and higher detail in motion. Any DLSS games with these features can be upgraded to the new DLSS transformer model for improved performance and IQ.

For streamers, Nvidia also updates its NVENC encode and decode accelerators (four each -2/4 NEVENC and 2/4 NVDEC are enabled). The new 9th-gen encode accelerations come with 4:2:2 AV1 and HEVC encoding support.

Details aside, the table below lists the specifications for the new Blackwell GPUs, including our review sample, MSI RTX 5060 Ti Gaming OC.

Specifications and Features

The MSI RTX 5060 Ti Gaming

The MSI RTX 5060 Ti Gaming OC sits towards the lower end of the product stack but offers plenty of value in the space. The dual fan Twin Frozr 10 Thermal Design helps keep things cool, featuring one RGB element between the two fans. On top of the card is MSI branding, while an MSI Gaming dragon badge on the end also receives the RGB treatment. A metal backplate protects the back of the card while showcasing a reflective Gaming Dragon. While it might not resemble higher-end models, it still looks good across a wide variety of build themes.

The card derives its power from a single 12V-2×6 connector, capable of supplying up to 600W of in-spec power. MSI recommends a 550W power supply, which is sufficient even with high-end processors and some overclocking. Unlike many cards, it has a single BIOS, so any fan control will need to be handled through software like MSI Afterburner. The large fans were relatively quiet during testing, though we couldn’t get to our most stressful test (F@H) to work. You can hear the Stormforce fans at work, but they didn’t produce any harsh tones, nor did we detect any coil whine from this sample.

Overall, we appreciate the look of the 5060 Ti Gaming OC. It’s easy on the eyes, feels well built, and maintains relative quietness with the stock fan profile. Take a look below to see the features that make it tick!​

	TWIN FROZR 10 Thermal Design Experience superiod cooling and quieter performance with MSI’s enhanced blade design.
	STORMFORCE Fan Seven fan blades, claw texturing, and a circular arc are designed  for optimal airflow with minimal noise.
	AIR ANTEGRADE FIN 2.0 The fins feature a V-shaped cutout and a high-low design at the airflow passthrough to optimize flow efficiency.
	WAVE CURVED 4.0 Precision-engineered wave edges with a high-low fin design enhance airflow and reduce turbulence.
	ZERO FROZR The fans completely stop when temperatures are relatively low, eliminating all noise when active cooling is not needed. The fans will automatically start spinning again when the heat is on during gaming.
	Core Pipe Square-shaped Core Pipes maximize heat dissipation with the Vapor Chamber for superior cooling.

Retail Packaging and Accessories

Retail packaging for this card is typical showing off the card on the front, the model below, and branding all around. The back shares some high-level specificaitons and goes over some major features. Opening it up, the card sits snug in form-fitting material with the 2x 8-pin to 12V2x6 stashed in it’s own space. Last, a quick-start guide hides below.

Meet the MSI RTX 5060 Ti Gaming OC

A Closer Look…

On the I/O, we see Nvidia’s standard lineup of three DisplayPorts and one HDMI. With Blackwell comes a bump in spec with DP 2.1b and HDMI 2.1b. The former offers ~3x the bandwidth of 1.4a and supports up to 4K 480Hz (with DSC) or 8K 165Hz (DSC).

Power for this card goes through the 12VHPWR connector (included), which uses two 8-pin PCIe power leads for the 12-pin configuration. Again, please use two unique PCIe cables with the connector, or buy an ATX 3,1/PCIe 5.1-spec’d power supply for native 12VHPWR/12V2x6 support.

Taking the heatsink off, we get our first look at the GB206-300-A1 core, the surrounding 16 Gb Samsung K4VAF325ZC-SC18 28 Gbps GDDR7, and the uPi Semi UP9512R 8-channel PWM controller.

Below is a screenshot of GPU-Z showing the clocks our card ran with stock speeds. Our review card has a listed boost clock of 2,647 MHz, but as expected it ran much higher, around 2,797 MHz throughout our testing.

MSI RTX 5060 Ti Gaming OC on the test bed…

Test System and Benchmark Methods

We’ve updated our test system to use one of the best gaming chips around in the Ryzen 7 9800 X3D. We’ve paired that with a B850/X870 motherboard along with 2x16GB of RAM with 30-36-36-80 timings. While not the fastest, the timings are relatively tight, and still balances performance and cost. The CPU runs stock for the motherboard.

Since the last update, we have made some changes and updated titles. More details can be found in the most recent GPU Testing Procedure article, which we have updated with our latest benchmarks. Below is a quick summary for easy reference.

• UL 3DMark Speedway – Default settings
• UL 3DMark Steel Nomad – Default settings
• UL 3DMark Port Royal – Default Settings (Ray Tracing capable cards only)
• UL 3DMark Time Spy Extreme – Default settings
• UL 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra – Default settings
• Monster Hunter Wilds
• F1 24
• Assassin’s Creed: Shadows
• CyberPunk 2077
• Black Myth Wukong
• Avatar

Synthetic Benchmarks

Our first set of benchmarks hails from Underwriters Laboratories, which acquired Futuremark in 2014. Earlier in 2018, a rebrand occurred, and since that time, Futuremark is now UL. The benchmarks have not changed; it is just the name. We chose a wide variety of benchmarks that including DX11/12, rasterization, and ray tracing covering a couple of resolutions.

As you can see, the 5060 Ti is the slowest of the cards we’ve re-benched, but that’s to be expected. Depending on the test, from these synthetics we can glean it’s around 30% slower than the next card up in the Nvidia product stack (the RTX 5070), and even further behind the AMD RX 9070 XT. It will be interesting to see how the RX 9060 XT performs as that will likely be this card’s direct competitor from AMD.

Gaming Benchmarks

We have updated our testing as of 4/2025 bringing more modern titles that utlize the features of the new graphics card. We’ve removed Far Cry 6, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and Assassin’s Creed: Odyseey, and added Monster Hunter Wilds, Black Myth: Wukong, and Assassin’s Creed: Shadows to F1 24, Avatar, and Cyberpunk 2077.

We’ve changed up the way our data is presented so we’ll sort these by game and resolution, then follow it up with ray tracing and DLSS results.

1920 x 1080 (1080p) Results

At 1080p without ray tracing or DLSS, FPS vary wildly depending on the title. In Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and Black Myth Wukong, it’s not even reaching 60 FPS while in other titles, it’s a High-Hz card. In evitably, in some titles, you may need to lower settings in order to reach 60 FPS, but for the majority, it won’t have a problem.

2560 x 1440

Moving up in resolution, we see the frames drop a bit, and is still 60 FPS+ capable across most titles.

4K UHD

At 4K, we can see that even our 16GB variant stuggles to reach that 60 FPS threshold with Ultra settings. To be frank, this isn’t a 4K UHD card unless you plan to use DLSS or MFG to boost the frame rate.

Ray Tracing and DLSS/FSR Testing

The charts below show what the review card can do when using ray tracing and DLSS/FSR capabilities. In this grouping, we test across all three resolutions, just like above.

Monster Hunter Wilds

F1 2024

Assassin’s Creed: Shadows

Cyberpunk 2077

Black Myth: Wukong

Avatar

Enabling ray tracing still puts a significant hit on FPS in most games. And while you can get away with it at 1080p, you’ll need DLSS and MFG to breach that number at higher resolutions.

Folding @ Home Performance

For all of the folding @ home community, we try to gather data to present on day 1, but sadly, we couldn’t get the web client to recognize the card so we couldn’t get anything for launch. That said, keep an eye out and we’ll update when we can gather the data.

Overclocking the MSI RTX 5060 Ti Gaming OC

Overclocking our card was easy as any other. We settled on +300 for the core and +2000 on the RAM. This yields ~3,100 MHz core clock and 2000 MHz on the memory. If you’d like to see our overclocking results, look for the yellow bar in our charts in a couple of synthetic benchmarks and in Cyberpunk 2077. The overall lift was around 9-12% depending on the benchmark, game, and resolution.

Temperatures and Power Use

We test power consumption by running through the game benchmarks Cyberpunk 2077 while temperatures are captured during a five lap run of F1 24.

Temperatures peaked at 63C during stock testing and 66C while overclocked (did not manually adjust the voltage).

Power use peaked at 174W in Cyberpunk 2077 while overclocking yielded about 190W peak. This card sips on power compared to its bigger brothers. Idle was good sitting around 12/13W.

Conclusion

Nvidia’s 5060 Ti, like most other 5000 series cards, has once again received a lukewarm response from users and reviewers alike. While it is somewhat more efficient than the 4060 Ti it replaces, it is not significantly faster in raster performance, which appears to be where the loudest complaints originate. If you’re a fan of DLSS or MFG, you’ll feel much better about the card itself, thanks to the technology, particularly since we continue to see improvements in image quality and performance (from AMD’s FSR 3/AFMF 2 as well).

MSI’s version, the Gaming card, features a dual-fan cooling solution, operates relatively quietly during gaming, and blends in well with most build themes. It comes with a small factory overclock, and there’s  ample headroom for further overclocking and performance increases. The Gaming model (priced at $539.99 at the MSI store for 16GB) is positioned in the middle of MSI’s product range for the Ti series. At the top is the Vanguard SOC ($589.99), followed by the Gaming Trio ($549.99 in black and $559.99 in white), then our Gaming card, followed by the Inspire 2X OC ($529.99), Ventus 3x and 2x ($519.99/$499.99), and finally, the Ventus 2x Plus ($479.99).

Overall, we appreciate what MSI’s Gaming card offers. The large fans operate quietly, and while it doesn’t have a fancy aluminum shroud, it is not off-putting and integrates well with any dark build theme. Priced at $539.99, it is not the cheapest option available but also not the most expensive, as some models exceed $600… and that’s without scalping. Considering we’re seeing 5070s under $600 and much faster (~30% depending where you look), we’d hope to see prices stick to the launch prices and don’t increase, especially due to lack of stock.

– Joe Shields (Earthdog)

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