GeForce RTX 5060 reviews to arrive after launch because there are no press drivers - report

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A new report at Igor's Lab has information on the upcoming May 19 launch of the GeForce RTX 5060 8GB GPU from NVIDIA, the long-awaited successor to the popular RTX 3060 and RTX 4060. According to the report, the site won't publish a day-one or launch-day review for the mainstream RTX Blackwell GPU for a reason that raises a few questions.

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As per the article, Igor's Lab notes that it has already received its GeForce RTX 5060 sample or samples; however, their review is delayed due to NVIDIA not providing any press drivers until launch. For those wondering, the review process for a GPU (check out our many reviews of RTX Blackwell and RDNA 4 here) involves receiving samples with enough lead time to ensure that reviews are ready (and as thorough as they can be) when stock hits shelves.

Part of this process includes gaining access to pre-release or press drivers, which specifically add support for the new GPU. In the case of GeForce RTX, official drivers are made available to the public on launch day with minimal, if any, changes to the pre-release or press drivers.

Igor's Lab's report implies that when it comes to the GeForce RTX 5060, reviewers will need to wait until the GPU is widely available before conducting any testing and providing their audience a review. To make matters worse, the GeForce RTX 5060's launch coincides with Computex 2025, which means media like Igor's Lab (and us at TweakTown) won't be able to commence testing until the week after the GPU's debut.

"According to NVIDIA, the public driver will not be released together with the card until May 19, which is exactly the day I will be away and unable to return to the test environment until May 26," Igor Wallossek writes. "In plain language, this means: no early access, no pre-tests, no benchmarking for the sales launch."

Other media outlets, including Hardware Lixx and Hardware Unboxed, have corroborated this. Hardware Unboxed took to social media to state that they believe NVIDIA is "trying to hide the RTX 5060, just as they did the 8GB 5060 Ti." It's a strange situation, as, again, the press is usually provided review-ready drivers well ahead of a new GPU launch.

As of writing, NVIDIA has not responded to these claims.