Good news for next-gen GPUs: Nvidia’s RTX 5060 may consume less power than the RTX 4060
The Nvidia RTX 5000 Series has been the subject of many rumors over the past year, with plenty of leaks teasing its performance and specs. Thanks to a new rumor, we may also have some interesting information about the RTX 5060’s power consumption.
A new statement from Chairman Wu Haijun of Shenzen Hasee Computer Co. (which produces desktops, mini PCs and laptops), reported by Video cardzNvidia Inc. reveals that the RTX 5060 laptop GPU may require less power than its predecessor, the Nvidia RTX 4060. The statement claims that the 5060 will only require 115W of power compared to the 4000-series’ 140W. The chairman also stated that the 5060 will use GDDR7 memory, which isn’t really a surprise considering previous leaks have more or less hinted at that spec.
This new information contradicts an earlier rumor that the 5000 series, specifically the 5060, would consume much more power than the previous generation of cards. That leak indicated that the 5060 would have a 55W increase to 170W over its 4000-series counterpart, which would have been a huge increase if true. Hopefully this current report is more accurate, because it would be incredible news for gamers.
Lower power consumption, but at what price?
While the 115W power consumption is indeed great news, there are some caveats. It appears that the next-gen GN22-X11 and X9 SKUs are expected to hit 175W Total Graphics Power (TGP). For reference, the current-gen is codenamed GN21. The X7, X6, X4, and X2, however, will be limited to 115W of power. Apparently, the X7 is a new model with no older-gen counterpart, so this could mean even more card options are on the way.
There also seems to be a downside to this lower power consumption, as I understand from other rumors leaked earlier. The RTX 5090 graphics card is expected to offer 16GB of VRAM, while the RTX 5060 will only have 8GB of VRAM. Furthermore, the 5060 will likely be limited to a 128-bit wide memory bus, which corresponds to the lower VRAM. It will have 8GB of GDDR7 memory if these reports are true.
So the 5060 may use a lot less power, but there is some improvement over the 4060.
Nvidia is expected to use the GB203, GB205, GB206, and GB207 GPUs for its mobile RTX 50-series. There’s also the GB202 in development with a 512-bit memory bus, which sounds great unless you’re a laptop gamer as it’s unlikely to see use in anything other than a desktop.