- Nvidia is apparently scaling back RTX 4060 production, big time
- This is another hint that the RTX 5060 could be arriving in March
- Don’t panic if you want an RTX 4060, though, as they aren’t going to be disappearing off shelves anytime soon
Nvidia is now drastically reducing the production volume of its RTX 4060 graphics cards, if fresh speculation from those apparently in the know is correct.
The first thing to be aware of is that this comes from the Board Channels forum in China (via VideoCardz), a regular source of gossip on hardware-related happenings populated by folks who are close to the supply chain over in Asia.
As such, the rumor pertains specifically to that region, but if Nvidia is pulling back supply of chips for RTX 4060 graphics cards in Asia, the same thing will surely be happening on a global scale.
According to the post on the forum, from February – so this is already underway – Nvidia is reducing RTX 4060 chip supply to its third-party graphics card manufacturing partners by at least 60% (compared to the final quarter of 2024).
Put simply, that means we could be looking at only a third of the volume of chips being produced by Nvidia and supplied to card makers, which would mean an identical drop in the level of new RTX 4060 (and 4060 Ti) graphics cards coming to the market.
As ever, though, this is just a rumor, so be careful about believing it too readily.
Analysis: Even if this is correct, the move will take time to filter through
The reason why Nvidia might be running down production – to a large extent – on a popular graphics card would seem to be obvious. In short, this is another clear indication that the RTX 5060 is imminent, with a number of rumors suggesting that this graphics card is set to launch in March 2025.
So, if the successor to the RTX 4060 is due to be unleashed next month, it’d fully make sense that this current-gen graphics card would start to be ushered out the door by Nvidia from around about now.
Again, exercise caution around the rumors for the RTX 5060 launch, but all these small pieces of the puzzle seem to be fitting together nicely enough.
Does this mean that, in theory, you soon won’t be able to buy an RTX 4060? No, it’s not as simple as that. Even if this two-thirds slashing of production is underway right now, it will take a while before that impact is felt on graphics cards that are actually shipping. Furthermore, there’s going to be quite a lot of stock in warehouses and other parts of the distribution cycle, too, and even when all of that sells through, there will still be some RTX 4060 boards being made.
This graphics card is still going to be on shelves for some time, then, but it will become rarer as this year rolls on, assuming this rumor is correct, as the RTX 5060 takes the limelight on the lower-mid-range GPU stage.
I’ll put my hands up and admit, I was skeptical that Nvidia would launch the RTX 5060 as soon as March, following the RTX 5070 so closely – but it increasingly seems like this is going to be the case.
It’s also worth noting that we just heard another positive rumor on the topic of the RTX 5060 and its cabling, with the GPU apparently not needing a 12VHPWR power connector (which will make upgrading a lot easier, and we go into exactly why this is the case here, if you’re interested).
