NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Launch: Driver Release Timing Creates Uncertainty
With the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 8GB just around the corner, debuting on May 19th, a rather unusual situation is unfolding. It seems that NVIDIA might be keeping its cards very close to its chest, perhaps a little too close for gamers awaiting independent performance numbers.
No Driver, No Reviews
There are reports, most notably from the likes of Igor's Lab, that NVIDIA has decided not to release the public driver for the GeForce RTX 5060 until the day the GPU launches. This is a divergence from the norm where reviewers get early driver access in order to have full, independent benchmarks prepared prior to a product being purchasable.
If you're the type of person who waits on these reviews before hitting "buy," this can spell a tough choice on launch day. You'll be stuck flying blind, only NVIDIA's own performance projections to go on, which in the past, sometimes present a more optimistic view than the real world.
"Public driver, per NVIDIA, won't be released alongside the card until May 19, which just so happens to be the exact day I'll be away and won't have a chance to return to the testbed until May 26." - Igor's Lab
To add to the trouble, May 19th also coincides with Computex, a big tech show where many reviewers and tech journalists will be attending, further delaying their time to test and publish their results. Hardware Unboxed has also chimed in saying the same thing, that they do have RTX 5060 samples but can't do anything without the necessary driver.
Performance Jitters or Bad Timing
This delay naturally ignites speculation. Why NVIDIA would abandon a long-standing tradition. Is this a strategic move, or is there something about the performance of the RTX 5060 that they'd rather not reveal until the last possible moment.
Context, Nvidia are trying to hide the RTX 5060, just as they did the 8GB 5060 Ti. The strategy here is to release it the week of Computex when most of the tech media are in Taiwan attending the show. They're also blocking reviewers from accessing the driver early to evaluate the…
— Hardware Unboxed (@HardwareUnboxed) May 8, 2025
NVIDIA has guaranteed a 25% raster performance improvement over the last generation. But without third-party verification, this is merely a promise. The GeForce RTX 5060 will also persist with 8GB of VRAM. While faster, 8GB is increasingly a bottleneck in many newer, more taxing games released in 2025. We did see the 8GB version of the RTX 5060 Ti struggle for exactly this same reason, with some wondering if we're seeing history repeat itself with the non-Ti 5060.
Is this a case of déjà vu with the RTX 5060 Ti 8GB, where the limited VRAM wasn't quite capable of keeping pace with the demands of intensive games, and NVIDIA wishes to control the message at launch.
Only time will tell, but in the meantime, gamers who are eagerly waiting for the RTX 5060 will have to wait a bit longer for the full, unbiased story of what this new GPU is truly capable of.
