Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Low Profile from Zotac: Powerful Blackwell mini GPU for compact desktop PCs review

The Zotac GeForce RTX 5060 Low Profile is one of the most compact options for bringing the latest Blackwell technology to small systems. Despite its slim design, it delivers solid performance for 1,080p gaming and shows noticeable progress compared to its predecessors such as the RTX 4060 or RTX 3060. However, the 8 GB VRAM can become a limiting factor in memory-intensive games. 

With a power consumption of around 145 watts, the card remains efficient, while the compact cooling unit works comparatively quietly even in the low-profile format. Another practical feature is the classic 6+2-pin power connection, which ensures broad compatibility with existing power supplies. If you are looking for powerful Full HD performance in a small space, the RTX 5060 Low Profile is a particularly space-saving yet powerful solution that is comparable to conventional RTX 5060 models in terms of performance. The Zotac GeForce RTX 5060 Low Profile not only impresses with its space-saving design, but also with a warranty of up to 5 years - a strong argument for a carefree purchase.

The Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 5060 Low Profile is currently listed from 331 Euros (~$388) at Alternate, for example. Due to the market launch, wider availability is not expected until the next few weeks.

The Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 5060 Low Profile is based on the new GB205 chip and is currently Nvidia's most affordable entry into the Blackwell series of desktop graphics cards. Even in this compact low-profile format, it adopts key features from the more powerful models - including the latest version of DLSS and the innovative Multi-Frame Generation (MFG). These technologies are primarily optimized for efficiency and energy savings, making the card particularly interesting for extremely compact systems and economical builds. In practice, however, the features do not prove to be a clear recommendation in every situation, as we will discuss later.

Compared to the RTX 5060 Ti, the RTX 5060 Low Profile offers fewer shader units and is only equipped with 8 GB DDR7 video memory.

The Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 5060 Low Profile is aimed specifically at users who want to use a modern Blackwell graphics card in particularly compact systems. With its slim low-profile design, it also fits into space-constrained cases such as HTPCs or SFF builds, opening up new possibilities for powerful yet small computers.

Despite the low height, Zotac has not sacrificed any essential features: Three efficient fans ensure reliable cooling, while the card's power consumption is not additionally restricted. There are deliberately no lighting effects - instead, Zotac relies on a functional and discreet design. The workmanship is impeccable and the scope of delivery also includes a half-height model in addition to the conventional slot bracket. Due to its compactness, the Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 5060 Low Profile only offers the option of operating three monitors.

Zotac FireStorm is Zotac's in-house software for its graphics cards. It can be used to overclock the GPU and memory, set the fan curves individually and monitor temperatures in real time.

Our GPU test system with AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D on an Asrock X870E Taichi motherboard (current BIOS v3.4) was used to test the Zotac GeForce RTX 5060 Low Profile. No adjustments were made to the card configuration itself - neither to the maximum power consumption nor to the GPU clock rates.

In the synthetic benchmarks, the Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 5060 Low Profile delivers a convincing performance that is clearly superior to its predecessor despite its compact form factor. The increase in performance is around 30 percent and is particularly noticeable in games in 1080p. Compared to the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti, the low-profile version is surprisingly close to its larger sister card with a gap of just over ten percent, which underlines the potential of the Blackwell GPU even in this slim format. The more compact form factor is by no means a disadvantage, as the results show. All three RTX-5060 models achieve almost identical performance values.

The Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 5060 Low Profile is below the GeForce RTX 5070 in terms of performance, but remains close to the RTX 5060 Ti. Its strength is its compact design, which makes it ideal for HTPCs, office PCs and small gaming systems. For demanding workloads, however, an RTX 5070 or an RDNA-4 model from AMD is recommended.

The Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 5060 Low Profile brings most current games to the screen smoothly and is therefore ideal for gaming in 1,080p resolution. For particularly demanding titles such as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, however, it is necessary to reduce the detail level in order to achieve stable frame rates. If you primarily play in FullHD, the low-profile version is a solid choice - even if the gap to the RTX 5060 Ti is slightly larger in practice than in synthetic benchmarks.

However, the limited video memory is increasingly noticeable: With 8 GB-GDDR7, the card reaches its limits in some modern games, even at 1,080p. Features such as DLSS and Frame Generation further increase the memory requirements, so a larger VRAM would be desirable. Although the RTX 5060 offers a significantly higher memory bandwidth than the RTX 4060, the core problem remains. If there is not enough memory, this can lead to start-up problems, loading errors or incompletely displayed textures - such as in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle or Space Marine 2. This behavior is not specific to the low-profile version, but generally affects graphics cards with insufficient VRAM.