I got roasted for loving RTX 5060 gaming laptops — so I hit back with hard benchmarks

Tom's Guide

5 days ago

So as you may have seen, I've been able to put the RTX 5060 through its paces here at Computex 2025 — both the desktop and laptop version. And, in my opinion, they're better than you think.
Nothing worth upgrading to if you have a 40-series card/laptop at all, but you already knew that. And some of the recent reviews agree with me about the price-to-performance.
Because at the end of the day, for something cheaper, AI trickery is always going to be the name of the game. And most people looking to 5060 will be first timers who just want to know "will it play my games well?"
The kind of folk like my mates who are lured into talking about GPUs with me at the bar after seeing the supercar RTX 5090, but walk out the dealership with the more functional (and cheaper) station wagon in the 5060.
But that doesn't mean I don't see the comments and emails I get from people — saying "how dare you praise the RTX 5060." …well not actually that, as what this reader actually said, I can't repeat for risk of getting the site knocked out of Google search!
I wanted to explore this further, to give you an even clearer picture of what I saw, and really try to back up what I'm saying. So I headed over to MSI, grabbed the Stealth A16 and benchmarked it properly to give you some more specific data of where this sits in the whole GPU ecosystem.
Laptop makers are coming at making 5060 systems in all kinds of ways — from slapping it in the more premium shell of the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (with an equally premium price tag) to going big on the screen with the aforementioned Stealth A16.
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But these do come at a price that puts them quite far over the MSRP dictated by Nvidia, so i've done the research and found the best value for money options.
Starting with a strong all-rounder of a laptop – the LOQ 15 takes a lot of what makes the Legion lineup strong, while reducing costs at the same time. Specs-wise, you're getting an Intel Core i7-13650HX, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD.
For some extra power without the big price tag increase, look to the Cyborg A15. The build quality is not as premium as the LOQ, and the display isn't as good either. But that's the trade-off for AMD Ryzen R9, 32GB DDR5 RAM and 1 TB SSD. It's up to you what matters to you between all-round laptop experience or the most power.
So let's get into it. To give you as much transparency as I can, alongside the 5060, this also has 16GB of DDR5 RAM, a 512GB SSD, and an AMD CPU that I'm not allowed to talk about (yet). So let's get into it.
Laptop
3DMark Time Spy
3DMark Steel Nomad
Cyberpunk (1080p High/Ray Tracing Psycho settings)
MSI Stealth A16 (RTX 5060)
11407
2403
33.9 FPS
MSI Crosshair 18 HX AI (RTDX 5070)
14203
2812
40.2 FPS
Asus TUF Gaming A14 (RTX 4060)
9458
2029
29.6 FPS
Asus TUF Dash F15 (RTX 3060)
8979
n/a
n/a
As you can see, you're getting a 15-20% improvement over RTX 4060 laptops, and even higher over 3060. It also fits logically into the RTX family with it tucking in around 20% behind RTX 5070.
And that's before applying the DLSS goodness to it as well, and when multi-frame gen gets involved, that number can easily reach up to 150 FPS vs the 60-70 FPS you see on a 4060 system.
But when you put them in a straight face-off, the use of an identical Blackwell architecture between 50 and 40-series with just more cores added does lead to those smaller gains.
When I read the comments and emails I recieve, honestly, I get it. And it comes down to some of Nvidia's odd behavior when working with the press.
I understand the frustration around not releasing the full 5060 drivers until launching the card itself, and the specific controls on what games can and can't be tested in early previews.
It will leaves gamers feeling more dubious about the claims being made, and when you show comparisons with vague graphs, that further ignites doubt.
Then there's the big question about what kind of company Nvidia is. With its GPUs being AI powerhouses, Team Green has found itself being the only seller in town of the picks and shovels for this gold rush — furnishing the likes of OpenAI and Meta to rapidly become a 3.2 trillion-dollar company.
In fact, gaming only accounts for 8.7% of Nvidia's total revenue, while nearly 90% of the pie comes from its data center tech.
And this pivot was on full display too at Computex. Huang spent about 45 seconds talking about the RTX 5060 before moving swiftly on to the remaining 90 minutes of AI, robotics and data center talk.
However, because a company has a big moneymaker elsewhere doesn't mean it won't try, and we can still glean data-driven information from the clarity of the picture we have in front of us. And that picture is a little more optimistic than the weird comms will have you think.
8GB and all, this is a strong lower-mid range GPU that unlocks some smooth game performance and paves the way forward for DLSS to take center stage as the way gameplay improves.
When I say it's the top pick for most people, I mean it. But of course there are some conditions to this that I'll happily spell out.
Being smart with your money at a time like this is always the right thing to do, and 5060 is not going to be the smart buy for everyone. So of course those who know a thing or two about GPUs, and have direct interaction with vastly more powerful systems will laugh this off.
But I'm not talking to them, I'm talking to you — the gamers who have stuck religiously to an old laptop, or those who are flirting with the idea of buying your first portable system. For you, based on the numbers I'm seeing, you can't go far wrong with these.