What is better for my new Photoshop/Lightroom PC - RTX 5070 with 12GB (192bit) or RTX 5060 Ti OC with 16GB (128bit)?

Forum|Forum|3 days ago
February 11, 2026
3 replies
52 views

Hello everyone,

I am currently building a new PC mainly for photo editing. I will be using an Intel 265K CPU. Back in December, I purchased an ASUS RTX 5060 Ti OC with 16GB GDDR7 (90YV0MG0-M0NA00). However, some friends recently told me that an RTX 5070 with 12GB would be a much better option, as it has the faster chip and also better for KI features.

I frequently use the Denoise feature in Camera Raw within Photoshop, as well as the newer AI-based artifact removal tools. Since I haven’t opened the graphics card yet, I still have the option to exchange it for the RTX 5070.

Do you think the RTX 5060 Ti is sufficient for this type of workload, or would upgrading to the RTX 5070 provide a noticeable real-world benefit for these features?

Thank you in advance for your advice.

Kind regards Christoph

D Fosse

Community Expert

@StefanKlein

While it’s true that Lightroom uses VRAM up to 90% or so, that’s the case whatever amount of VRAM you have. It will use 90% of 12 GB, and it will use 90% of 16 GB. This is how it’s supposed to work. It uses what it has.

I have two machines, one with a 12 GB GPU, and the other with a 16 GB GPU. The percentage used is basically the same.

But yes, it’s also true that Adobe now recommend 16 GB VRAM or more for Lightroom Classic, for the reason you mentioned. So I’d go with that just to be future proof.

Ged_Traynor

Community Expert

According to the system requirements, it’s 16GB of shared memory, not dedicated

https://helpx.adobe.com/ie/lightroom-cc/system-requirements.html

D Fosse

Community Expert

@Ged_Traynor

Correct, but now there’s also “Use GPU for preview generation”, which will not work with less than 16 GB:

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/gpu-preview-generation.html?trackingid=4JW793VX&mv=in-product&mv2=cc

Now, any dedicated GPU with onboard VRAM also has, in principle, access to shared system RAM. However, I have never seen any of my GPUs actually do that. That graph in Task Manager is always pretty flat zero.

S

StefanKlein

Known Participant

I would not buy a GPU with 12 GB VRAM anymore, because the demand for VRAM is getting bigger and bigger. Just an example:
Lightroom Classic can build previews via GPU, but only, if you have 16GB VRAM. You can force Lightroom to do it with 12GB, but Adobe recommends 16GB and that shows, where things are headed.
Also Lightroom and ACR always max out the 12GB VRAM of my RTX 3060.
You can expect that in the future more and more A.I. models will be able to run on local GPUs, at least as an option, and only, if you have enough VRAM. Today 12GB may be fine, but next year….?

kkstbAuthor

Participating Frequently

Sure it is nice to have, but also prices are insane. A RTX 5070 Ti 16GB is now around 1000-1200 Euro in Europe, so more as twice as expensive as the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB... not sure if I need this power, considering the price. And if this power is worth it.

Ged_Traynor

Community Expert

@kkstb performance wise, the RTX 5070 would be the better option, there’s not much difference in the price, for me, I would go with the RTX 5070, 12 GB of VRAM is plenty for Photoshop and Lightroom.

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/rtx-5070-vs-rtx-5060-ti-16gb

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