RTX 5060 woes: Hardware Unboxed slams Nvidia for controlling early coverage
Nvidia’s attempts to control RTX 5060 coverage have sparked scathing criticism online. The company granted select outlets early access to the GPU for pre-launch performance previews — but under tightly controlled conditions. In response to what it sees as a manipulation of the narrative, Hardware Unboxed has publicly challenged Nvidia’s practices and urged gamers not to buy the RTX 5060 at launch.
For instance, GameStar Tech, a German-language publication, explains in its RTX 5060 preview that Nvidia had mandated that the RTX 5060 be compared only with the RTX 3060 and the RTX 2060 Super. Nvidia had also required the site to test only five titles:
- Doom: The Dark Ages
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Avowed
- Hogwarts Legacy
- Marvel Rivals
Nvidia even went as far as to tell the publications that were part of the previews to only use 1080p and show performance using DLSS, Ray tracing, Ray Reconstruction, and Multi Frame Generation 4X (MFG). By mandating the presence of MFG 4X, Nvidia propelled the RTX 5060 to triple-digit FPS vs older RTX 3060 and RTX 2060 Super, which don’t support the tech.
For instance, the RTX 5060 manages around 223 FPS in Doom: The Dark Ages using the mentioned graphics settings in Game Rant’s testing. Because the RTX 3060 and the RTX 2060 Super don’t support MFG, the GPUs could only manage around 63 and 52 average FPS, respectively, per GameStar.
We can see how the mandated settings make the RTX 5060 seem like a monumental leap forward in performance. Gamers who aren’t tech savvy might be inclined to buy the RTX 5060 based on these numbers.
Hardware Unboxed, in a bid to warn gamers from committing this mistake, has made a 32-minute video exposé explaining Nvidia’s past attempts at sponsoring and controlling HU’s coverage.
In the video, HU casts serious doubts on the trustworthiness of the RTX 5060 previews, as they were heavily controlled. Nvidia also apparently only offered press drives for RTX 5060 reviews to publications that had agreed to publish said previews.
This way, Nvidia seemed to reward sites that decided to play along and punish publications that didn’t. HU falls in the latter category as, despite managing to source the RTX 5060 weeks in advance, the channel couldn’t publish the RTX 5060 reviews at launch since Nvidia never offered them press drivers.
What does all of this mean for the gamers?
For the average gamer who just wants to buy the best GPU for the money, pre-launch RTX 5060 performance previews are potentially misleading. The lack of launch reviews from the likes of HU and Gamers Nexus also suggests that Nvidia might not want customers to make well-informed decisions after going through a variety of different reviews from well-established and trusted channels.
So, if you are a cash-strapped gamer who’s in the market for the best value GPU, it is best to wait for a bunch of RTX 5060 reviews to come out. If you can’t wait, a sensible decision could be to either look at the RX 9070 or last-gen Nvidia cards like the RTX 4060 Ti, if you can find them.
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