If you thought NVIDIA couldn’t get more DIRTY guess again Well uh let’s talk about 5060 launch coming up It is unprecedented Literally unprecedented Unprecedented drivers Unprecedently not including media in any of the launch for the 5060
Table of Contents
What this means for you as a consumer
So uh let’s talk about that Let’s talk about what that means to you as a consumer Uh I have the 5060 Ti Prime on here uh only because unfortunately during the launch um we got we did get the PMY card but the other AIB card which we were offered.
Which is obviously the ASUS Prime came way after launch So we haven’t had an opportunity to really use this yet Uh but it will be the card we have on hand for like future benchmarks and stuff because we gave away the PNY card at the uh SoCal Tech Fair.
NVIDIA’s press driver blackout
And then a little teaser of an upcoming video This is actually our 5090 Astro card right here that Derbower sent me the only prototype like full retailish but I say retailish because they’re still making a few revisions to that But anyway this is going to be a lot of fun right here.
And this was kind of like to support the RipGn series So anyway let me get this out of the way Moving on I want to talk about this So you guys may have seen on social media from like Hardware Unbox and Eigor’s Lab and most of the like most notorious written publications have said “Hey Nvidia is not providing a press driver for and I don’t know why I’m holding the 4060 Ti but whatever Nvidia is not hold is not supplying a press driver until May 19th”.
No communication no transparency
So Nvidia has basically said that they are not providing and I’m not even sure if they’re providing cards to be honest to be honest We’ve had absolutely no communication with them ever since the our last and we’ve we’ve been harsh on them in my opinion too Absolutely justified.
Why NVIDIA is doing this
So um we’ll talk about all these moving pieces on this particular review moving forward though But this is the first time ever that we are not going to be having access to a driver until the day the card is on shelves So let’s explain what that means.
That means you are not going to be able to have any information beforehand uh to know whether or not it’s even worth your time on launch day Now spoiler alert it’s probably not worth your time cuz if the 5060 Ti 8 GB which those that got their hands on those cards and went and bought them and tested them.
Found that it was even struggling in 1440p um it is no surprise that the 560 nonTi which is also an 8 GB card as far as far as I understand uh is absolutely positively not going to be a positive thing for Nvidia.
The driver chaos theory
Now we we we’d like to think that this is because they’re just taking extra time to sort of iron out all the driver issues that have been happening ever since the 50 series launch It has been a complete shitow when it comes to drivers.
There’s a lot of memes going around about AI written drivers I don’t know if that’s true I really don’t know if that’s true or not Unfortunately because Nvidia is one of those companies that adopts the say nothing and pretend it never happened mentality everyone’s just left guessing which leaves everything open to interpretation because of the non-transparent transparent nature of Nvidia.
The Computex timing conspiracy
So who knows why they are postponing press driver until the 19th which to be honest it’s not a press driver That is the release driver because that is the onshelf date for the graphics cards Now let’s talk about some possible motivations behind that Um one they could just be salty Nvidia could 100% just be salty.
We’ve seen this before Unfortunately we’ve seen this with a different marketing team at Nvidia where they get their their underwear all bunched up at the negative press that rightfully so 50 series is getting and then they say.
“Well then fine we’re not going to support you” And they’ve done that in the past They’ve done that with uh I can’t remember which it was a 30 series card I believe it was 3070 or 3070 Ti Uh I can’t remember which but they just were like “We’re not giving samples and we’re just not supporting media for the launch”.
NVIDIA wants buyers not informed buyers
Now what that means is Nvidia is not supporting you getting information ahead of time to try and become an informed buyer Nvidia doesn’t want informed buyers They just want buyers They just want people spending money on their stuff And because it’s been so negative along the way it’s easy to assume that Nvidia is just trying to head off the negativity that 5060 nonTi is going to be to just basically say we’re not going to support this launch for media
The anti-consumer pattern
Now the timing is also extremely sus for another reason that is May 19th is also the day that most media outlets are going to be on a very long international flight to Taiwan because of Compyex So many of the media including Hardware Unboxed has stated they will not have a day one In this case it would be day one not day zero Usually reviews go live a day before they’re on shelves if they’re MSRP models so that buyers can be informed and decide.
“Hey I want this card and go and get it” Usually it’s because Nvidia has something really exciting to show and it performs really well uh compared to the competition which unfortunately it’s not comparing very well to the competition especially when compared to previous gen AMD stuff I digress Moving on like hardware and box has stated they won’t have a day one review because they’re going to be on a plane to Computex.
It’s just seeming like the whole timing of the launch as well as the we’re not going to support you with press drivers ahead of time is all by design to limit the amount of negative comments and publicity that are going to be making their way out there on day one Now I can tell you that is pretty anti-consumer but I think the name Nvidia and anti-consumerism uh go hand in hand these days I I don’t think there’s been any lack of hiding that I I think Nvidia has been very straightforward with it.
Final proof NVIDIA doesn’t care
In fact the SoCal Tech Fair you notice Intel was there and AMD was there Uh Nvidia was invited and they were like “Hey thanks but no thanks” So that tells us Nvidia has decided to remove themselves from being anything proconsumer at all .
And you know what they can do that It’s free market and a company can decide to do that It is it is not the first time they’ve done it And then what they usually end up doing is going on like a reclamation tour trying to fix that image later or like with the team that we have now which is a whole new marketing team within Nvidia because the previous marketing team gave such a black eye Now we’re just seeing that it’s cyclical where it’s doesn’t really matter what marketing team is in there those powers that at that be are the ones controlling this.
And now here we are again with the well I don’t I’m not friends with you anymore so you can’t play with my toys type of mentality.
Why critics are justified
Now we as a media outlet and most media outlets I’ve ever talked to We are not crapping all over Nvidia just because it gets views That’s what people like to think This is all justified if you actually created a list In fact Phil maybe do me a favor on the side just put a text for every single problem we know has happened just since the 5090 has launched and you will see that our critique our criticism and our cynicism is actually very justified
This Criticism Is Warranted
and warranted And this is just another cherry on top of that I know this can come off as like well they’re not getting a card and they’re not getting a driver so they’re just salty about it No it’s because we cannot provide you the service that we are trying to provide and all of the outlets are known to provide.
Paperweight GPUs Without Drivers
Now fortunately a lot of the add-in board partners are supporting this launch by getting cards to folks In fact some media outlets already have cards on their benches that are complete paper weights until the day the card is on shelves because without a driver it is absolutely useless So this is just an a scenario where it it this is the wrong move on all accounts.
Playing Devil’s Advocate on Driver Delays
Now let’s play devil’s advocate Let’s say it’s none of that Let’s say this is truly them needing all of this time to iron out whatever the hell is going on with Nvidia drivers because what we’ve experienced is a complete 180 of the norm The norm is AMD has crap drivers AMD has to have tons of driver revisions because of all of the day one problems that rise with AMD drivers But that’s not been the case.
AMD’s Unexpected Stability
Now granted AMD’s only had to support 9070 XT and 9070 so far at launch But still even even then in the past when they would launch one or two cards at a time we would see all kinds of weirdness I’ve always referred to the AMD weirdness that happens whether it be a CPU or a GPU That has been absent for the last several revisions of products whether it be 9000 series X3D CPUs or any of their 9000 series GPUs they have been rock solid.
Gamer Sentiment Shifting to AMD
In fact I can tell you this When we were at the SoCal Tech Fair any of the like Nvidia cards we were giving away cuz I did give away an Nvidia card and uh you it was just a 5060 Ti but still it was like who’s excited woo the 970 XFX Who’s excited wa everyone started screaming.
So it it is it is fascinating to see this this pendulum shift of where the gamer is interested in actually you know putting their interest and their money and their efforts and we we’ve seen what AMD has done to Intel on the CPU side In fact I’ve talked to several SIS and on average SI are selling four AMD systems for every one Intel.
Nvidia’s Dangerous Complacency
So it’s going to be very naive of Nvidia to think that there’s a point to where you are immune from fighting over the consumer enough to where it won’t affect you Now it may not affect your bottom line because we all know you have moved on to AI Uh it’s I also love seeing the AI push back and people that are just sick of hearing about AI but unfortunately those people pushing back are not your customer The AI farms are your customers.
Nvidia Abandoning the GeForce Community
And at this point we know we know that you’ve already said “Hey GeForce fans thanks for helping build the house that is AI right?” Uh or AI is the house that GeForce built So that’s like a big thank you And then you shut the door And this type of anti-consumer behavior of not supporting this information and these benchmarks prior to launch to inform your customer shows that you’re just looking for the suckers You’re just looking for the suckers that are to go in there see a green box see that it’s in stock and buy it.
Retail Reality Check
I’m just pleased to see that every time we go to MicroEnter though there’s still plenty of Nvidia cards just sitting on the shelves especially the 70 series and down because people understand what just what a terrible terrible value it is.
Why the Driver Excuse Doesn’t Hold Up
But I started playing devil’s advocate and I got off rails and I d I’m going to digress again I would like to think that this is because you’re trying to straighten out those drivers but I don’t think it’s that I I really don’t think it’s that because that would either mean one
The drivers are so bad that you have no choice but to support the card with day one driver and even then it’s may still be broken but I really think the it’s the former which is you just are salty at the negativity you guys are getting and that’s fine be salty but actually listen it it is not because everyone wants to just crap on Nvidia it’s because Nvidia deserves the crap Nvidia has earned this spot and it sounds like you guys are doubling down on it.
Our Commitment to Testing Anyway
So with that said it’s time to get out of here but I want you guys to know that we are going to be doing whatever we need to do to try and support you guys as early as possible Even if we have to run down the MicroEnter on day of and buy one I’m sure that will be there will be some for sale I’m sure I will not have to worry about there being a line of people wanting to buy 50 60 8 gigabyte cards to the point where you cannot get one.
Fortunately because we’re not going to Computex we won’t have to delay that But it does take us a couple of days to actually get through a full GPU test of one card to make sure all of the especially when it’s a new card to make sure everything’s running properly with all the new AL uh logic and and methodology that we’ve adopted here.
Closing Thoughts: Reluctant But Curious
So stay tuned for that Like I didn’t really want to review the 5060 to be honest I’m not even the least bit like bothered by the fact that we’re not being supported by Nvidia for it Cuz to be honest I I didn’t want to do it but now I want to know what they’re hiding.
FAQs: NVIDIA’s RTX 5060 Launch Controversy
Q: Why is NVIDIA not giving drivers early
A: Nvidia is not supplying a press driver until May 19th It is unprecedented Literally unprecedented Unprecedented drivers Unprecedently not including media
Q: What does this mean for buyers
A: You are not going to be able to have any information beforehand uh to know whether or not it’s even worth your time on launch day Now spoiler alert it’s probably not worth your time
Q: Is NVIDIA sending review cards
A: I’m not even sure if they’re providing cards to be honest to be honest We’ve had absolutely no communication with them
Q: Why would NVIDIA do this
A: They could just be salty Nvidia could 100% just be salty They get their underwear all bunched up at the negative press that rightfully so 50 series is getting
Q: Is this about driver issues
A: We’d like to think that this is because they’re ironing out driver issues but it has been a complete shitow when it comes to drivers
Q: Why is the timing suspicious
A: May 19th is the day media is flying to Computex so outlets like Hardware Unboxed won’t have day one reviews It seems all by design to limit negative publicity
Q: Does NVIDIA care about gamers
A: Nvidia doesn’t want informed buyers They just want buyers They just want people spending money And AI farms are your customers not gamers
Q: How are reviewers getting cards
A: Add-in board partners are getting cards to folks but they’re paper weights without drivers
Q: Will you review the card anyway
A: We are going to run down the MicroEnter on day of and buy one I’m sure there will be some for sale
Q: Why criticize NVIDIA this hard
A: Nvidia deserves the crap Nvidia has earned this spot It is all justified
Anti-Consumer Tactics FAQ
Q: What’s the proof NVIDIA is anti-consumer
A: At SoCal Tech Fair Intel was there AMD was there Nvidia said “Hey thanks but no thanks”
Q: Are reviewers just salty
A: No it’s because we cannot provide you the service we are known to provide
Q: Is AMD better now
A: AMD’s 9000 series GPUs have been rock solid When we gave away an AMD card everyone started screaming
Q: Will this hurt NVIDIA sales
A: Every time we go to MicroEnter there’s plenty of Nvidia cards sitting on shelves especially the 70 series and down
Q: Why do you care if you didn’t want to review it
A: I didn’t want to do it but now I want to know what they’re hiding
