NVIDIA News Roundup: There is a rumored low-price RTX 5060 Ti happening, folks still have a chance at MSRP cards, the latest GeForce drivers are still causing issues for some, and yet another report of a melted RTX 5090 connector. One thing is for certain when it comes to the PC enthusiast consumer graphics card segment, there’s never a dull moment and this has never been more true for NVIDIA with its GeForce RTX 50 series launch. So without further adieu, let’s jump right in.
GeForce RTX 5060 Ti might be released at a lower price than RTX 4060 Ti:
If the following rumors pan out to be true then they should still be taken with a grain of salt since regardless of MSRP most folks might have a better chance of winning the lottery than obtaining one of the following cards at said price. According to Board Channels (via VideoCardz), the upcoming RTX 5060 Ti series launch could see pricing below previous-gen models. According to the rumor the RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB will have a price of ~$429 vs $499 for its predecessor while the 8 GB model will go for ~$379 compared to $399 of the RTX 4060 8 GB. Another rumor from last month is that NVIDIA is requiring its board partners to offer at least one model in their lineup at MSRP.
Verified Priority Access is dead, long live VPA!
A couple of months back NVIDIA announced that it was bringing back its in-house lottery system which grants the lucky few an opportunity to purchase a graphics card at the manufacturer’s recommended prices. Not much has been said since about the NVIDIA Verified Priority Access program but according to one Redditor who posted their chat session with an NVIDIA employee, the program had reportedly ceased. The employee stated the program had been ended because of a lack of information regarding future releases. This post has since been removed by moderators but can be viewed at VideoCardz, however, the thread and subsequent reply from another employee states that the program is still alive but they could not provide contact info to appropriate channels for verification.
Worst Generational GPU launch ever?!?
It’s no secret that reports of NVIDIA’s latest drivers, essentially 572.xx, have caused a myriad of issues (1, 2) for various users. The most common reports indicate a black screen or crashing, with some stating the updates bricked their cards, and while it’s almost impossible to dial in exactly what the cause is since it has been said to affect RTX 30, 40, and 50 series GPUs. Regardless of the difficulty, hardware reviewer and consumer advocate Steve Burke and the team over at Gamers Nexus are up to the challenge of digging deeper to find out what is going on. In their investigation they were able to repeat some of the issues, concluding that usage combinations of DLSS 4, MFG (multi-frame generation), and/or G-Sync could instigate said issues. The issues are said to be so widespread that some game developers who’ve worked with NVIDIA to incorporate its technologies into their games have spoken up. In terms of speaking up, Steve also has some choice words for NVIDIA stating that in his time, since 2008, this has been “absolutely abhorrent”, “completely embarrassing”, and the “worst launch I’ve ever seen for NVIDIA”.
Although not quite the cherry on top, more like another sprinkle, yet another RTX 5090 owner has posted images of a melted power connector. This time around the victim is an MSI GeForce RTX 5090 Gaming Trio OC that was used with a Corsair SF100L PSU. The two connected via the PSU’s included power 12VHPWR cable. It has been speculated that the culprit of melted connectors is the result of load balancing issues on the power cables. NVIDIA has previously included power shunts on its RTX 30 series but the absence thereof is thought to cause power-hungry RTX 5090 GPUs which can pull over 600W, and the connector, not individual cable, is only rated for 600W. Reports have been minimal this time around but the latest is proof they are still happening.