Let’s start with what directly impacts our virtual racing experience: graphics cards. AMD has released new drivers that are putting some Nvidia GPUs to shame, especially in games where optimization and rasterization are crucial.
As simracers, we may not rely heavily on ray tracing, but we absolutely depend on stability and ultra-smooth performance at resolutions like 1440p, and for the more demanding among us, 4K.
These AMD improvements are a big deal. Not only do FPS go up, but micro-stuttering is reduced, which is key when you’re handling Suzuka’s hairpin with heavy traffic.
RTX 5050: The GPU Nobody Asked For?
While AMD gains ground with software, Nvidia seems to be losing momentum in the mid-range market. The RTX 5050 now official comes with only 8 GB of VRAM and offers performance that, in some tests, doesn’t even surpass the 4060. It does well in synthetic benchmarks, but in real-world testing with 15 games at 1080p, it falls behind the RX 7600 or even Intel’s B580.
For us simracers, that spells one thing: bottlenecks. Games like ACC, iRacing, or Automobilista 2 demand more VRAM as the experience becomes more immersive.
Running high-res textures, advanced physics settings, or triple-screen setups takes real muscle. This GPU just doesn’t deliver at the price point.
The New SUPER Models
But all is not lost. Nvidia is preparing four new SUPER series graphics cards—and the best news?
They come with more VRAM:
- RTX 5060 SUPER with 12 GB (GDDR7)
- RTX 5070 SUPER with 18 GB
- RTX 4070 Ti SUPER with 24 GB
- RTX 5080 SUPER also with 24 GB
If this pans out, it could be the push we need to ensure performance doesn’t drop during night races, in rain, or with dense AI traffic. Sim Racing is demanding, and it won’t forgive underpowered hardware.
Intel vs AMD
Meanwhile, the CPU world is heating up. Intel is going all-in with its upcoming Nova Lake architecture, while AMD answers with Zen6.
- Intel promises +10% single-core performance and up to +60% multi-core gains.
- AMD raises IPC by 10% and is rumored to hit frequencies beyond 6.5 GHz.
What does that mean for us? In games like iRacing, which are highly dependent on single-thread performance, an IPC and clock speed boost could give us that stable frame rate we need during a 30-car grid launch.
And if AMD truly integrates up to 240 MB of L3 cache with its new X3D chiplets, we could see an explosion in per-core gaming efficiency.
Watch the Price and the VRAM
The biggest takeaway this week? Hardware matters, but software and memory are key.
More and more simracers are refusing to pay over €300 for cards with just 8 GB of VRAM. If manufacturers don’t get the message, the market will force them to. We don’t care about flashy numbers in synthetic tests we want stability, smoothness, and visual fidelity while racing.
If they don’t deliver at the right price, we’ll keep squeezing life out of our trusty 1080s, 2060s, or even the legendary GTX 970.
And Windows 12? We’ll Have to Wait…
One last bit you shouldn’t ignore: Windows 12 has been delayed to 2026. In the meantime, we’ll get a major update to fix the many headaches in the current version. Fingers crossed, because any OS instability hits hard when you’re deep in a long endurance race.
Here is our selection of GPU’s for this month.
- Gigabyte RTX 5070 Ti
- Gigabyte RTX 5080
- PNY RTX 5090
- MSI RTX 5060 Ti
- Gigabyte AMD 9070 XT
- Gigabyte RTX 5070
Happy Racing!
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