Nvidia’s RTX 5060 Will Most Probably Use Less Power Than The RTX 4060

Sources: TechRadar, TechPowerUP

The Nvidia RTX 5000 series has been the subject of many rumors over the last year, with plenty of leaks teasing performance and specs. NVIDIA’s RTX 5060 “Blackwell” Laptop GPU comes with 8 GB of GDDR7 Memory Running at 28 Gbps and 25 W lower TGP.

In a recent event hosted by Chinese laptop manufacturer Shenzen Hasee Computer Co. (manufacturer of desktops, mini-PCs, and laptops), Chairman Wu Haijun revealed that the “Blackwell” RTX 5060 laptop GPU may require less power than its predecessor, the Nvidia RTX 4060. The statement asserts that the 5060 will only need 115W of power compared to the 4000-series, which uses 140W. The Chairman also stated that the 5060 will use GDDR7 memory, which aligns with earlier leaks suggesting NVIDIA’s entire Blackwell lineup would adopt this new standard. This upgrade is anticipated to deliver substantial boosts in bandwidth and increase VRAM capacities in other SKUs. Perhaps most intriguing is the reported performance of the RTX 5060. Wu said this laptop SKU could offer performance comparable to the current RTX 4070 laptop GPU. It’s said to exceed the RTX 4070 in ray tracing scenarios and match or come close to its rasterization performance.

The chip’s reduced power consumption makes this capability leap even more impressive, with a maximum TGP of 115 W compared to the RTX 4060’s 140 W. The reported power efficiency gains are not exclusive to RTX 5060. Wu suggests that the entire Blackwell lineup will significantly reduce power draw, potentially lowering overall system power consumption by 40 to 50 watts in many Blackwell models. While specific technical details remain limited, it’s believed the RTX 5060 will utilize the GB206 GPU die paired with 8 GB of GDDR7 memory, likely running at 28 Gbps in its initial iteration.

Lower power consumption, but..

The 115W power consumption is excellent news, yet the next generation of GN22-X11 and X9 SKUs is expected to run at 175W Total Graphics Power (TGP). For reference, the current generation is codenamed GN21. However, the X7, X6, X4, and X2 will be limited to 115W power. The X7 is a new model without an older-generation counterpart, so this could mean even more card options will come.

From other leaked rumors, this lower power consumption has more downsides. The RTX 5090 graphics card might offer 16GB of VRAM, while the RTX 5060 will only have 8GB of VRAM. Further, the 5060 will remain limited to a 128-bit width memory bus, consistent with the lower VRAM. According to these reports, it’ll have 8GB of GDDR7 memory. So, the 5060 may use far less power, but it is measuredly less improved than the 4060.

Nvidia is expected to use the GB203, GB205, GB206, and GB207 GPUs for its mobile RTX 50 series. The GB202, which has a 512-bit memory bus and is in development, will be used in the flagship RTX 5090.