MSI GeForce RTX 5060 SHADOW 8GB GDDR7
QTHREE Radeon RX 550 4GB GDDR5
What Buyers Say
MSI GeForce RTX 5060 SHADOW 8GB GDDR7
The MSI RTX 5060 series receives strong praise for its performance, especially as an upgrade from older cards like the 1650 Super or 1060 Ti. Users highlight the new AI features like DLSS 4 and frame generation, as well as quiet operation and easy installation. A few note early driver issues and the need for a larger power supply, but overall sentiment is very positive.
Pros
- Excellent performance upgrade
- Quiet operation
- Easy installation
- Supports DLSS 4 and frame gen
- Beautiful design
Cons
- Early driver issues
- Needs larger power supply than recommended
- Some games buggy at launch
- Only 8x PCIe lanes
- Lacks additional HDMI ports
QTHREE Radeon RX 550 4GB GDDR5
This budget-friendly graphics card is a great fit for upgrading older small form factor PCs, with several verified 5-star reviews praising its multi-monitor support and plug-and-play ease on Linux. However, a few serious issues stand out: one verified buyer got repeated blue-screen lockups, the fan speed sensor is non-functional on another unit, and the lack of a driver disc forces users to hunt down updates online. Overall, it is a capable low-end card for light gaming and office work, but reliability and support documentation are hit-or-miss.
Pros
- Excellent multi-monitor support up to 3 displays
- Plays Minecraft and Roblox smoothly on i5-8500
- Easy plug-and-play installation on Linux
- Great for reviving older small form factor PCs
- Works well for light gaming and office tasks
Cons
- Causes BitLocker blue screen lockups on some systems
- Fan speed sensor does not work or show readings
- No driver disc included in package
- Requires bracket modification for VGA in small cases
- Does not support Meta VR headsets
Scores
Specifications
| MSI GeForce RTX 5060 SHADOW | QTHREE Radeon RX 550 | |
|---|---|---|
| Chipset | ||
| GPU Chipset | GeForce RTX 5060 | Radeon RX 550 |
| Brand | NVIDIA | AMD |
| Architecture | Blackwell | Polaris |
| Class | consumer | consumer |
| Process | 5★ | 14 |
| Memory | ||
| VRAM | 8 GB★ | 4 GB |
| Memory Type | GDDR7★ | GDDR5 |
| Memory Bus | ||
| Bandwidth | No data | |
| Compute | ||
| CUDA Cores | No data | |
| Stream Processors | No data | |
| Tensor Cores | No data | |
| RT Cores | 30★ | — |
| Base Clock | ||
| Boost Clock | ||
| FP16 TFLOPS | 19.18000030517578★ | — |
| FP32 TFLOPS | 19.18000030517578★ | — |
| Performance | ||
| PassMark G3D | ||
| GPU Compute | ||
| Power & Cooling | ||
| TDP | 145 | 50★ |
| Recommended PSU | 550 | 450★ |
| Power Connectors | 8-Pin | None |
| Cooler | Dual Fan★ | Single Fan |
| Fans | 2★ | 1 |
| Connectivity | ||
| Interface | PCI Express 5.0 x16 | PCI Express 3.0 X8 |
| DisplayPort | 3★ | 1 |
| HDMI | 1 | 1 |
| USB-C | — | 0★ |
| Max Displays | 4★ | 3 |
| Max Resolution | 7680 x 4320 | 4096x2160 |
| Physical | ||
| Length | 197 | 170★ |
| Slot Width | 2.5 | 2★ |
| Form Factor | Full Height | Low Profile |
| Weight | 0.83 kg | 0.33 kg★ |
| Features | ||
| Ray Tracing | ✓★ | ✗ |
| Upscaling | DLSS 4 | — |
| AV1 Encode | ✓★ | — |
| VR Ready | ✗ | — |
| DirectX | 12 Ultimate | 12 |
| RGB | ✗ | — |
Pros & Cons
MSI GeForce RTX 5060 SHADOW 8GB GDDR7
- Strong social proof (95th percentile)95th %ile
- Strong efficiency (95th percentile)95th %ile
- Strong connectivity (94th percentile)94th %ile
- Strong feature (73rd percentile)
QTHREE Radeon RX 550 4GB GDDR5
- Strong affordability (89th percentile)89th %ile
- Below average compute (4th percentile)4th %ile
- Below average feature (12th percentile)12th %ile
- Below average rt (12th percentile)12th %ile
- Below average ai (13th percentile)13th %ile
Pricing
MSI GeForce RTX 5060 SHADOW 8GB GDDR7 offers 1.2x better value for money
Verdict
Scores 72 overall, wins 8 of 8 usage categories and 19 of 40 specs.
