Zotac has registered a slew of Nvidia GeForce GPUs with the EEC (Eurasian Economic Commission), including two new entries: the RTX 5060 series and the RTX 5050 (via Harukaze). Of the two, this is the first time we're hearing about an RTX 5050, succeeding the RTX 3050 as the RTX 40 series didn't feature a 50-class counterpart. In any case, we'll proceed with caution because a large number of SKUs listed at the EEC never actually see the light of day.
The newfound RTX 5050 could be Nvidia's first foray into the sub-$250 price bracket in a long time. This segment of the market has been primarily catered to by second-hand RTX 30 or Radeon RX 6000 series GPUs for the past few years. Lately, Intel's new Battlemage-based Arc B580 and Arc B570 have been a popular choice for budget gamers, though with a few caveats. As far as AMD is concerned, RDNA 4 will debut with the RX 9070 family (Navi 48) meaning budget RX 9060 or RX 9050 GPUs could take some time to materialize.
To reiterate, EEC listings never guarantee a GPU's release. OEMs typically register placeholder product names at these regulatory bodies, in case Nvidia launches said product in the future. With that in mind, it appears Zotac has filed several GPUs at the EEC spanning across multiple generations; from Kepler to Blackwell. The list includes the RTX 5060 Ti, RTX 5060, and the RTX 5050.
Now, the RTX 5060 Ti is rumored to carry two variants: one with 8GB and the other with 16GB of VRAM. Hopefully, that's the only differentiating factor between the two, unlike the Pascal GTX 1060 series. Similarly, the same source claims that the RTX 5060 will offer only 8GB of memory and not much is known about the RTX 5050. Reports suggest the RTX 5060 family will debut next month, but alleged RTX 5070 delays might introduce some uncertainties.
Budget gamers will likely have to wait until Computex in late May for potential RTX 5050 and RX 9060/9050 reveals. It is far too early to expect anything from Intel, given that Battlemage launched just two months ago. Celestial will arrive with Panther Lake CPUs in the second half of 2025, with dedicated GPUs potentially coming later.
