NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 vs NVIDIA P106-100 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark database shows a decisive, one-sided comparison. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 wins all three recorded head-to-head tests, with the data revealing not just a victory, but a generational gap in performance. The most extreme margin comes in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, where the RTX 5060 scores 3,628 against the P106-100's 899. That translates to a 303.6% advantage, meaning the newer card delivers over four times the frame throughput in this modern DirectX 12 workload. This test is particularly telling because it stresses raw geometry and rasterization, areas where the architectural leap is most visible.

Moving to compute-oriented benchmarks, the lead narrows slightly but remains overwhelming. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 5060 posts 112,787 points versus 35,951 for the P106-100, a 213.7% delta. The Vulkan API test tells a similar story: 113,321 versus 32,897, giving the RTX 5060 a 244.5% advantage. These results indicate that the RTX 5060 does not merely brute-force its way through older workloads; it scales its advantage into heterogeneous compute tasks that exercise the GPU's full pipeline.

The average benchmark score in the database reinforces this hierarchy. The RTX 5060 sits at 26,331 points across all recorded tests, placing it in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs. The P106-100, by contrast, averages 23,249 points and lands in the 68th percentile. While the percentile gap appears modest, the raw score difference of over 3,000 points is substantial, especially considering that the P106-100's average is buoyed by fewer test entries. The nearest rival data provides further context: the RTX 5060 trades blows with the AMD Radeon 860M (delta of -0.3%) and the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 (delta of -0.3%), while sitting 1.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT. The P106-100, meanwhile, matches the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 exactly (0.0% delta) and trails the AMD Radeon RX 6600M by just 0.1%.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gulf between these two cards is vast, spanning two distinct eras of GPU design. The RTX 5060 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using the GB206 chip, manufactured on TSMC's 5 nm process node. This is a modern, densely packed design with 21,900 million transistors crammed into a 181 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 121.0M per mm². The P106-100, in contrast, uses the Pascal architecture with the GP106 chip, fabbed on TSMC's 16 nm node. It holds 4,400 million transistors across a 200 mm² die, resulting in a far lower density of 22.0M per mm². The node shrink alone explains much of the performance delta: the RTX 5060 packs roughly five times more transistors into a smaller physical footprint.

Core counts amplify this difference. The RTX 5060 fields 3,840 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 ROPs. It also includes dedicated hardware that the P106-100 entirely lacks: 30 RT cores for ray tracing and 120 tensor cores for AI acceleration. The P106-100, stripped down for its original mining purpose, offers just 1,280 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, with no RT or tensor cores present. The FP32 compute throughput tells the story: 19.18 TFLOPS for the RTX 5060 versus 4.375 TFLOPS for the P106-100. Even more striking is the FP16 comparison, where the RTX 5060 delivers 19.18 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio with FP32, while the P106-100 manages only 68.36 GFLOPS at a severely gimped 1:64 ratio, a feature clearly crippled for its original compute-mining role.

Memory subsystems also diverge sharply. The RTX 5060 uses 8 GB of GDDR7 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth at an effective 28 Gbps. The P106-100 relies on 6 GB of GDDR5 across a wider 192-bit bus, but the older memory technology caps out at 192.2 GB/s. The RTX 5060's advantageous bandwidth, despite the narrower bus, comes from the much faster memory generation. Clock speeds further separate the pair: the RTX 5060 boosts to 2,497 MHz from a 2,280 MHz base, while the P106-100 boosts to 1,709 MHz from a 1,506 MHz base.

The feature set diverges just as dramatically. The RTX 5060 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, along with modern display outputs: one HDMI 2.1b and three DisplayPort 2.1b connectors. The P106-100, true to its mining heritage, has no display outputs whatsoever. It does match the API list with OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4, but its DirectX support is capped at 12 (12_1), missing the Ultimate feature tier. The bus interface also differs: the RTX 5060 runs on PCIe 5.0 x8, while the P106-100 uses a legacy PCIe 1.0 x16 connection, though this matters little for a card with no video output.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 5060 wins every category where both cards are measured, but the nature of those wins suggests distinct use-case strengths. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, the 303.6% lead indicates the RTX 5060 is far better suited to modern gaming workloads that leverage DirectX 12's low-level API features, advanced rasterization techniques, and, implicitly, ray tracing via its dedicated RT cores. The P106-100, with its older Pascal architecture and no RT hardware, simply cannot compete in this arena. Any gamer building a system for current titles would see a transformative difference.

The compute benchmarks (Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan) show the RTX 5060's advantage in general-purpose GPU workloads. The 213.7% OpenCL delta and 244.5% Vulkan delta reflect the tensor core-equipped Blackwell design's ability to accelerate AI inference, machine learning tasks, and compute-heavy creative applications. The P106-100, despite its mining origins, is not well suited to modern compute demands. Its 1:64 FP16 ratio is a severe handicap for AI workloads that rely on half-precision arithmetic. The RTX 5060's 1:1 FP16 ratio, meanwhile, positions it as a capable entry-level compute card.

For the P106-100, the only "win" is contextual: it remains an end-of-life product with a lower power draw (120 W versus 145 W) and a simpler power connector (1x 6-pin versus 1x 8-pin), making it potentially easier to slot into older systems with modest power supplies. Its lack of display outputs, however, means it cannot drive a monitor, so any system using it must have a secondary GPU for video output. This severely limits its practical applications today, confining it to headless compute tasks or mining, where it has been superseded by far more efficient hardware.

The Verdict

The data in the database points to a single conclusion for general use: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is the superior product by every measurable performance metric. It wins all three head-to-head benchmarks with deltas ranging from 213.7% to 303.6%. It holds a higher average benchmark score (26,331 versus 23,249) and a higher percentile ranking (72nd versus 68th). Its architectural foundation, with 5 nm process technology, 30 RT cores, 120 tensor cores, and GDDR7 memory, makes it a modern, forward-looking part. It is an active product, released in 2025, with a launch MSRP of 299 USD. For anyone seeking a GPU for gaming, creative work, or AI-adjacent tasks, the RTX 5060 is the clear choice.

The P106-100, however, retains a narrow niche. It is an end-of-life product from 2017 with no display outputs, making it unusable as a primary GPU. Its only remaining relevance is in headless compute environments where raw FP32 throughput (4.375 TFLOPS) is sufficient and power draw (120 W) is a constraint. In the database, it sits at the 68th percentile, roughly on par with the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 and just 0.1% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, which indicates it retains some capability for older or lighter workloads. But these are diminishing returns. The verdict is unambiguous: the RTX 5060 is a modern, capable card for today's software, while the P106-100 is a relic of a bygone mining era with severely limited applicability in 2025 and beyond.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the RTX 5060 than the P106-100 in 3DMark Steel Nomad?

A: The RTX 5060 scores 3,628 compared to 899 for the P106-100, a 303.6% advantage. This is the largest margin in any head-to-head test.

Q: Does the P106-100 support ray tracing?

A: No. The P106-100 has no RT cores listed in the database, while the RTX 5060 has 30 dedicated RT cores. The P106-100 also lacks tensor cores, which the RTX 5060 provides in a count of 120.

Q: What are the memory specifications for each card?

A: The RTX 5060 has 8 GB of GDDR7 on a 128-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth. The P106-100 has 6 GB of GDDR5 on a 192-bit bus with 192.2 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Can the P106-100 be used to output video to a monitor?

A: No. The database lists the P106-100 as having no display outputs. The RTX 5060, by contrast, offers 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1b outputs.

Q: How do these cards compare in their average benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 5060 averages 26,331 points, placing it in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs. The P106-100 averages 23,249 points, placing it in the 68th percentile.

Q: Which card has a higher boost clock?

A: The RTX 5060 boosts to 2,497 MHz, while the P106-100 boosts to 1,709 MHz. The RTX 5060 also has a higher base clock at 2,280 MHz versus 1,506 MHz.