Avid gamers don’t need 8GB graphics playing cards, in keeping with gross sales knowledge
GPUs are getting insanely costly. With the most recent will increase in costs and gaming demand, some players had been already scoffing at 8GB of VRAM on allegedly mid-range playing cards. But when gross sales knowledge is any indication, there’s a stunning lack of curiosity in that a part of the market, with a 16GB card outselling the 8GB variant by greater than 10-to-1.
The RTX 5060 Ti is the topic of this specific chunk of knowledge. When it launched in April, Nvidia supplied it at two completely different reminiscence capacities: 8GB for $379 and 16GB for $429. (These are the bottom retail costs. Actual costs are considerably greater for many fashions.) Nvidia declined to supply advance critiques for the 8GB mannequin, and primarily based on gross sales knowledge, it seems to be like players themselves are equally disinterested.
In keeping with TechPowerUp, German retailer Mindfactory.de has offered 16 instances as many RTX 5060 Ti 16GB variations as 8GB variations. Within the small slice of accessible knowledge, 16GB playing cards from numerous OEM companions offered 1,675 models whereas 8GB variations moved solely 105. TechPowerUp signifies that this isn’t a provide situation. It’s no shock that the extra highly effective model of the cardboard is extra widespread, on condition that it’s a comparatively small worth enhance for a fairly big bump in VRAM. However the sheer scale of the demand for one card over the opposite appears very telling.
I ought to spotlight that even tech media hardly ever will get this type of look behind the retail curtain, normally having to depend on a lot broader market stories to attempt to get a finger on the heart beat of trade traits. And that is, certainly, only one retailer in a single nation with a comparatively slim view of the market. Clearly, you may’t apply the identical considering for a $400+ graphics card to a “price range” one… although I’ll level out that the $220 Intel Arc B570 makes use of 10GB of somewhat-dated GDDR6 reminiscence, nonetheless greater than Nvidia’s $250 RTX 5050. Drop the worth down into that $200 vary and 8GB might be much more acceptable to patrons.
A single mannequin of a graphics card being a gross sales dud wouldn’t precisely be unprecedented, even for the near-monopoly big that’s Nvidia. Simply final era, the corporate canceled a 12GB variant of the RTX 4080 after getting destructive suggestions on its pricing, and even then the 16GB model of the cardboard has offered far lower than the RTX 4070 and 4090.
We’ll have to attend for a extra full have a look at how the RTX 5060 Ti breaks down on the subject of precise players. It’s attainable that gross sales of the 8GB mannequin are far higher for system integrators, and it’ll be essential to see how issues stack up versus AMD’s competitors. The Radeon RX 9060 XT can be supplied in each 8GB and 16GB variants, although it’s significantly cheaper at $300 and $350, respectively, competing extra straight with the $300 8GB RTX 5060 (non-Ti). Once more, these are MSRP numbers—precise costs could also be significantly greater.
