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Gigabyte chops PCIe finger in half on its dual-fan RTX 5060 Ti cards
Gigabyte is apparently testing new methods to make its graphics cards as compact as possible. Andreas Schilling on X shared PCB shots of Gigabyte's latest RTX 5060 Ti Eagle sporting a very unusual PCB that is roughly half the size of a conventional dual-fan graphics card.
The PCB on the RTX 5060 Ti Eagle is about half the size of its predecessor, the RTX 4060 Ti Eagle. Gigabyte was able to achieve this by only using a physical PCIe x8 finger on the graphics card, rather than the full x16 finger found on other variants. Thankfully, this doesn't change PCIe bandwidth at all, since the RTX 5060 Ti (and the RTX 5060) can only take advantage of a PCIe x8 interface; all RTX 5060 Ti cards equipped with a full x16 finger are still limited to eight lanes of bandwidth.
Click "see more" to see photos of the RTX 5060 Ti Eagle PCB:
A GB206 GPU (181 mm², 21.9 billion transistors), a very compact PCB by Gigabyte and a PCIe interface cut in half. pic.twitter.com/lKdpfo4qigApril 16, 2025
(Image credit: Gigabyte)
The end result is one of the smallest PCBs on a GPU, and probably the smallest PCB ever on an RTX GPU. Gigabyte didn't waste any space, cutting the PCB off exactly where the PCIe interface ends. This is different from conventional PCBs, where the PCB normally hangs a bit further out from the PCIe finger.
The extremely short PCB allowed Gigabyte to create an impressively large rear cut-out on the back of the RTX 5060 Ti Eagle for passing air from the right intake fan through the backplate. With a traditional PCB, a cutout as large as the one on the RTX 5060 Ti Eagle would be impossible.
While Gigabyte opted to shrink the PCB on its latest Eagle graphics card to boost cooling performance. We could see the manufacturer take advantage of such a compact PCB for other applications. The tiny PCB is more than enough for Gigabyte to make a return to making single-fan graphics cards with an even smaller form factor than its dual-fan variants.
In the meantime, we could see aftermarket waterblocks for the RTX 5060 Ti Eagle that make up the entire width of the PCB itself, making for some truly compact RTX 5060 Ti custom-cooled graphics cards. This has been a trend for some time with Nvidia's Founders Edition graphics cards, which also sport extremely compact PCBs relative to the physical size of the cards themselves.
The RTX 5060 Ti is Nvidia's newest offering in its RTX 50 series lineup, sporting 8GB and 16GB configurations and priced at $379, replacing the RTX 4060 Ti.
"In the meantime, we could see aftermarket waterblocks for the RTX 5060 Ti Eagle that make up the entire width of the PCB itself, making for some truly compact RTX 5060 Ti custom-cooled graphics cards"
I personally wonders who would ever wanted to buy extra custom water cooling kits to cool a PCIE X8 entry level GPU..
It's like getting those fancy aerodynamic kits for a otherwise stock 660cc K car
"In the meantime, we could see aftermarket waterblocks for the RTX 5060 Ti Eagle that make up the entire width of the PCB itself, making for some truly compact RTX 5060 Ti custom-cooled graphics cards"
I personally wonders who would ever wanted to buy extra custom water cooling kits to cool a PCIE X8 entry level GPU..
It's like getting those fancy aerodynamic kits for a otherwise stock 660cc K car
I could see it for a super compact ITX system, maybe.
Shorter than a Mini-ITX motherboard, that would make for an interesting solution. But I think most chassis will have more room than that, so it is a bit pointless to consider.
Just as is though, that would certainly help airflow in a lot of ITX builds.
Everyone is complaining about the 5060 Ti, as usual, but I've been looking at the 50 series as a refresh. From the perspective, it is fine. They even dropped the price a little.
"In the meantime, we could see aftermarket waterblocks for the RTX 5060 Ti Eagle that make up the entire width of the PCB itself, making for some truly compact RTX 5060 Ti custom-cooled graphics cards"
I personally wonders who would ever wanted to buy extra custom water cooling kits to cool a PCIE X8 entry level GPU..
It's like getting those fancy aerodynamic kits for a otherwise stock 660cc K car
Google waterblock for gigabyte 3060 gaming eagle and you'll find a listing on amazon for a no longer available product. They've been around. Though with prices how they are noawdays, I doubt there will be such a market for manufacturers to make them anymore.
