Conclusion
In this review, we had the opportunity to review the MSI GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING OC, which is a new video card in MSI’s lineup for the recently launched NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 GPU. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is NVIDIA’s budget-oriented tier for the GeForce RTX 50 Series Blackwell architecture GPUs for 2025. The GeForce RTX 5060 was launched on May 19th, 2025, during NVIDIA’s Computex 2025 event.
The $299 MSRP GeForce RTX 5060 sits just under the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti, based on the same GB206 die, it is a cut-down version of the RTX 5060 Ti with 8GB of GDDR7. The GeForce RTX 5060 consists of 30 SMs with 3,840 CUDA Cores, 120 Tensor Cores, 30 RT Cores, and 48 ROPs. It has a boost clock of 2497MHz, and 8GB of GDDR7 at 28Gbps on a 128-bit memory bus and runs with a TDP of just 145W on PCIe 5.0 x8.
The MSI GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING OC sits toward the top of MSI’s lineup for the GeForce RTX 5060 series dual-fan models, with a factory overclock of 2625MHz. There is also a triple-fan GAMING TRIO OC model available with both a white and black themed version, but it also runs at the same factory overclock as the MSI GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING OC we reviewed today. Therefore, the MSI GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING OC that we reviewed represents MSI’s fastest factory overclock in its lineup and the highest performing RTX 5060. Currently, the MSI GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING OC has an MSI storefront pricing of $359.99. If you want something less expensive, MSI does offer other models below this, while the GAMING OC and GAMING TRIO OC offer the best performance and gaming-focused designs.
Performance
In today’s review, our focus was looking at the new GeForce RTX 5060 as it compares to the previous generation GeForce RTX 4060, and what it offers as a performance up-lift gen-to-gen. Both video cards are equipped with 8GB of VRAM, so they are equal in that area, and therefore, the performance increases of the GPU at native resolution, Upscaling, and Ray Tracing were important to look at. We tested a wide range of games at both 1080p and 1440p, with some always on ray tracing games, and even turned on extra ray tracing features to really test it.
Overall, the GeForce RTX 5060 delivered a noticeable performance improvement over the GeForce RTX 4060. Both video cards in this review were factory OC cards as well. The MSI GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING OC was mostly between 20-30% faster than the GeForce RTX 4060 OC video card in our testing. There were some games and scenarios where this exceeded 30%, and we definitely had some outliers in both directions.
Looking at the 1080p gameplay experience, for the most part, we were able to play most games at High-Ultra settings at 1080p native resolution with plenty of performance for playability. There were a few select, intense games where we had to drop the game quality settings at 1080p, like Black Myth: Wukong and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and Stalker 2. We were trying to avoid Upscaling at 1080p, so for these games it is best to drop the game settings to High or Medium settings to be able to run at native resolution, otherwise most games were in the High-Ultra setting range, like Doom The Dark Ages for example, it ran great at Ultra Nightmare at 1080p.
When it comes to 1440p, the GeForce RTX 5060 is not really a 1440p video card, in our testing. However, that doesn’t mean that it cannot be done. If you drop the in-game quality settings low enough, and or use Upscaling, it is usable for sure. If you lower game settings to around the Medium levels, maybe Low in some games like Doom, then it should be an ok experience at 1440p native resolution on the RTX 5060. If you want higher game settings, then there is always DLSS Upscaling at 1440p, and at 1440p it doesn’t look terrible so it is a viable option to achieve a playable experience at High game settings at 1440p, but you still won’t be doing max game settings.
The GeForce RTX 5060 is not the best suited for running extra Ray Tracing features. It doesn’t have the performance or the VRAM capacity, and it will struggle even at 1080p. However, there are some games where lighter uses of Ray Tracing are doable at lower RT settings, especially if you enabled Upscaling. Keep in mind that some newer games today use ray trace lighting natively now, like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Doom The Dark Ages, Indiana Jones, Kingdom Come Deliverance II, and Star Wars Outlaws, so that performance is important for a modern graphics card now to do it well. That said, we didn’t really see a generational uplift of RT performance with RTX 5060 compared to RTX 4060, which has been the case for each tier of Blackwell GPU this generation.
Final Points
The MSI GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING OC is a solid video card from MSI, offering the highest factory overclock this generation in MSI’s RTX 5060 lineup in a dual-fan configuration. Our performance testing demonstrated that the GeForce RTX 5060 does offer a surprisingly decent performance uplift gen-to-gen, compared to the GeForce RTX 4060. It also offers a performance uplift compared to a Radeon RX 7600 and Radeon RX 7600 XT. If this is what you went with last generation, the GeForce RTX 5060 would be an upgrade in processing performance. The GeForce RTX 5060 offers a playable 1080p gameplay experience, and can make 1440p work in a pinch, with some game setting compromises and or DLSS. Just remember, you can always turn down the game settings.
The MSI GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING OC performed extremely well in our overclock testing, power, and temperature. The default GPU frequency of the MSI GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING OC ran higher than the factory overclock, boosting it well above the NVIDIA reference specification for boost clock performance. When we manually overclocked the MSI GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING OC, we found it very easy to do, and we obtained an incredible 17% GPU clock speed boost from the default by cranking it up to 3.2GHz! We also managed to overclock memory, and keep the fans on automatic, and the GPU remained very cool and the fans quiet during overclocking.
The power and efficiency are great with the MSI GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING OC it has a very low power demand, and therefore not as much heat to dissipate. When it needs to, though, the TWIN FROZR 10 thermal solution works great on this compact video card. The MSI GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING OC has an appealing size, which will be very compatible in small form factor builds, considering its size and low power draw. The temperatures on this video card were very good, with great memory temperatures as well, and no fan noise.
The MSI GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING OC is on the higher end of pricing in MSI’s GeForce RTX 5060 lineup this generation for a dual-fan solution. For this price premium, you are getting the highest factory overclock in MSI’s GeForce RTX 5060 lineup, with a great design, cooling, noise levels, and overclocking from the GAMING OC line. The MSI GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING OC is highly compatible with different PC build sizes, and has amazing enthusiast tweaking potential in a small package with both low power and low noise. It offers upgrade potential from the previous generation or prior generations. If you are upgrading from many generations back, this will be very noticeable. If you are looking at GeForce RTX 5060 video cards, the MSI GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING OC is a solid graphics card from MSI.
