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AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT: One-minute evaluation
Having missed the preliminary AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT evaluation cycle earlier this month for logistical causes, I wished to do extra with this evaluation than simply attempt to play catch-up with my friends who received to evaluation the 16GB card previous to launch.
Fortunately, doing this post-launch meant that I used to be capable of get my palms on each 16GB and 8GB variations of the RX 9060 XT for a single evaluation, and I’m truthfully glad I waited.
Both AMD RX 9060 XT playing cards deliver a compelling worth, with the 8GB model beginning at $299.99 / £269.99 / AU$569 and the 16GB variations beginning at $349.99 / £329.99 / AU$689. This places it roughly in the midst of the value pack for the best cheap graphics cards of the present technology.
Spec-wise, the one distinction between the 2 playing cards is absolutely the quantity of GDDR6 video reminiscence out there, both 16GB or 8GB.
This issues, as that additional 8GB VRAM does enhance the efficiency of the RX 9060 XT (and even makes modest 4K gaming doable), however the distinction between the 2 is not so massive that it overrides any consideration of the extra value.
However, Nvidia‘s RTX 5060 Ti 16GB and RTX 5060 (an 8GB card) provide higher efficiency vis-à-vis the RX 9060 XT 16GB and RX 9060 XT 8GB, respectively. In the case of the RTX 5060, there isn’t any distinction in worth with the RX 9060 XT 8GB, so that could be a a lot harder name between the 2 for causes I’ll dig into in a bit.
On the opposite hand, the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB provides higher efficiency over the RX 9060 XT 16GB, however not so significantly better that it justifies the a lot increased worth.
In the tip, the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB strikes one of the best stability of worth and efficiency on this class, making it simple to suggest because the best graphics card on this section for most individuals, and each are two of the best AMD graphics cards the corporate’s ever put out.
AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT: Price & availability
- How a lot is it? $299.99 / £269.99 / AU$569 for 8GB, $349.99 / £329.99 / AU$689 for 16GB
- When are you able to get it? Now
- Where is it out there? Available within the US, UK, and Australia
The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT begins at $299.99 / £269.99 / AU$569 for the 8GB model, with the 16GB model beginning at $349.99 / £329.99 / AU$689.
There’s a way more direct comparability between the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT 16GB and the RX 9060 XT 16GB, as each are very comparable spec-wise. In that regard, the RX 9060 XT is a slight worth enhance over the RX 7600 XT (about $20 within the US), but it surely’s not likely massive sufficient to ding its rating.
The RX 7600 XT and RX 7600 are very comparable, however there are variations past simply their reminiscence swimming pools, so the RX 9060 XT isn’t fairly as corresponding to the RX 7600, which means regardless that the RX 9060 XT is barely dearer (about $30 within the US), it is far more affordable given the comparably quicker clock speeds.
Nvidia’s competing playing cards, the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB and RTX 5060, are dearer ($429 / £419.99 / AU$799 for the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB) or about the identical worth or barely dearer ($299 / £269.99 / AU$599) for the RTX 5060.
Neither RX 9060 XT model has an AMD reference card, so you may want to purchase one from a third-party producer, akin to Asus, Gigabyte, or XFX.
The identical is true for Nvidia’s RTX 5060 Ti and RTX 5060, although, so it is onerous to knock the 9060 XT playing cards too onerous for this, particularly as we have seen pretty large availability of MSRP playing cards on the market on-line which you could truly purchase.
Fortunately, we additionally have not seen any actual inventory shortages of the RX 9060 XT playing cards, so discovering inventory at MSRP is pretty simple proper now.
AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT: Specs
- PCIe 5.0
- 16GB and 8GB VRAM
| Header Cell – Column 0 |
RX 9060 XT (16GB) |
RX 9060 XT (8GB) |
|---|---|---|
|
Process Node |
TSMC N4P |
TSMC N4P |
|
Transistor Count (Billion) |
29.7 |
29.7 |
|
Compute Units |
32 |
32 |
|
Shaders |
2,048 |
2,048 |
|
Ray Accelerators |
32 |
32 |
|
AI/Matrix Processors |
64 |
64 |
|
Render Output Units |
64 |
64 |
|
Cache (MB) |
32 |
32 |
|
Base Clock (MHz) |
1,700 |
1,700 |
|
Boost Clock (MHz) |
3,130 |
3,130 |
|
Memory Clock (MHz) |
2,518 |
2,518 |
|
Memory Type |
GDDR6 |
GDDR6 |
|
Memory Pool (GB) |
16 |
8 |
|
Memory Interface (bits) |
128 |
128 |
|
Effective Memory Speed (Gbps) |
20.1 |
20.1 |
|
Memory Bandwidth (GB/s) |
322.3 |
322.3 |
|
PCIe Interface |
5.0 x16 |
5.0 x16 |
|
TGP (W) |
160 |
150 |
|
Recommended PSU (W) |
450 |
700 |
|
Power Connector |
1 x 8-pin |
1 x 8-pin |
Both variations of the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT have successfully similar specs, aside from totally different reminiscence swimming pools and the marginally increased TDP for the 16GB model to account for powering the extra reminiscence.
Otherwise, they use the very same GPU die with similar clock speeds, so your resolution between the 2 is absolutely about whether or not that 8GB of further GDDR6 VRAM is price the additional funding.
The variety of compute items, ROPs, and out there cache on the RX 9060 XT is unchanged over the RX 7600 XT and RX 7600, so the RX 9060 XT is successfully an upgraded model of these playing cards utilizing the brand new RDNA 4 structure and quicker recreation and reminiscence clock speeds.
There’s additionally the problem of whether or not 8GB is sufficient for a contemporary graphics card, even at a sub-$300 worth level. Given the efficiency I discovered whereas testing, an 8GB card can carry out nicely proper now, even at 1440p, on many video games, as long as you do not go wherever close to ray tracing. How for much longer will that be the case? It’s onerous to say, however 8GB playing cards are already beginning to battle, so even a 10GB card would have been higher, a lot much less a 12GB model for the lower-end 9060 XT.
Add to this AMD’s maddening resolution to stay with a 128-bit reminiscence bus for these playing cards, which unnecessarily constrains reminiscence bandwidth and inevitably limits the potential efficiency of the RX 9060 XT. This alone knocks some factors off, as a result of if the Intel Arc B570 can use a 160-bit reminiscence bus, there isn’t any cause why AMD or Nvidia proceed to take action on their 60-class playing cards.
That easy widening of the bus may noticeably enhance gaming body charges, and it is one thing neither AMD nor Nvidia has been capable of clarify to me past vaguely gesturing at value constraints. If Intel can afford a 160-bit bus, so can AMD, and it makes me marvel how significantly better these playing cards may need in any other case been.
OK, finish of rant.
- Specs & options: 3.5 / 5
AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT: Design
- No AMD reference card
- Good for SFF instances
There isn’t any AMD reference playing cards for both of the RX 9060 XT variations, so the design of the cardboard you get will depend upon the producer.
The two playing cards I examined, the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB and the Asus Dual Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GB, are each pretty slender and compact playing cards.
Neither have any RGB lighting, so if you happen to’re searching for one thing with extra bling, different playing cards can positively provide that.
Also, there are some playing cards from some producers that use triple-fan designs, which appears overkill to me, however if you would like a bigger-looking card for a selected construct, you may positively have that possibility.
AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT: Performance
- Big distinction between 16GB and 8GB variations
- RTX 5060 Ti 16GB and RTX 5060 provide barely higher efficiency than the 2 RX 9060 XT playing cards
A observe on my information
The charts proven beneath provide the newest information I’ve for the playing cards examined for this evaluation. They might change over time as extra card outcomes are added and playing cards are retested. The ‘common of all playing cards examined’ contains playing cards not proven in these charts for readability functions.
As far as efficiency goes, there’s lots to love about each AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT playing cards, from their modest energy draw to their strong 1440p gaming efficiency.
It’s not all constructive although, as there are a number of factors the place Nvidia’s competing playing cards outperform AMD’s newest choices, making the ultimate evaluation a lot nearer than I initially thought it might be after I started testing these playing cards.
Across artificial benchmarks, the RX 9060 XT and RTX 5060 Ti are kind of tied throughout resolutions, with Nvidia’s card solely edging out AMD’s in ray tracing efficiency. The RX 9060 XT 16GB is barely about 15% slower than the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB in artificial ray tracing efficiency. While that is anticipated, it is not as large as it has been in earlier generations.
The RX 9060 XT 8GB, in the meantime, outperforms the RTX 5060 in 1080p (about 4% higher), in 1440p (about 10% higher), and in 4K (about 10% higher), although the RTX 5060 does maintain a slight lead in ray-tracing efficiency (about 3%).
In artistic benchmarks, the RX 9060 XT playing cards are largely aggressive towards Nvidia’s GPUs in every thing however 3D mannequin rendering. Unfortunately, I am unable to say extra about this since Blender Benchmark wasn’t capable of run on both RX 9060 XT card, so I am unable to say how they’d fare towards the Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti 16GB.
The RTX 5060, apparently sufficient, could not run Blender Benchmark both, so this should be a problem I’ll examine additional and replace my outcomes as soon as I’ve them, however provided that Blender Benchmark Cycles renderer is optimized for Nvidia CUDA (as is almost all 3D modeling software program), I’m very assured that the RX 9060 XT playing cards aren’t going to be aggressive on this workload, it is actually only a matter of how far behind the RX 9060 XT playing cards land in the long run.
Creative workloads aren’t what AMD Radeon playing cards are most recognized for, although. PC gaming is the place these playing cards actually compete, and on this regard, the RX 9060 XT 8GB is available in about 4% slower than the RTX 5060 in 1080p total, whereas the RX 9060 XT 16GB comes up about 9% slower than the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB at 1080p total.
Gen-on-gen, although, the RX 9060 XT 16GB outperforms the RX 7600 XT by about 44% at 1080p, total, whereas the RX 9060 XT 8GB equally is available in about 46% quicker than the RX 7600 at 1080p total.
At 1440p, the story is comparable for the RX 9060 XT, with it coming in about 9% slower than the RTX 5060 Ti, total. For the RX 9060 XT 8GB, the hole widens a bit because it is available in about 8% slower than the RTX 5060, total.
At 1440p, the gen-on-gen efficiency enchancment is even better, with the RX 9060 XT 16GB outperforming the RX 7600 XT by about 53% total, whereas the RX 9060 XT 8GB outperforms the RX 7600 by an enormous 62.5% total.
In phrases of energy consumption, the height energy consumption of the RX 9060 XT playing cards are in step with the place the RTX 5060 Ti lands and barely above the listed TDP for the 2 playing cards. The RTX 5060, in the meantime, is available in a superb bit decrease at peak, in my checks.
Temperature, in the meantime, will largely depend upon the mannequin card you find yourself shopping for, as they are going to all have totally different cooling methods. That mentioned, the Sapphire Pulse RX 9060 XT 16GB stayed just a few levels cooler than the Asus Dual RX 9060 XT 8GB in my checks, purchase your mileage might differ.
In the tip, the RX 9060 XT playing cards stored issues fairly near their respective competitors from Nvidia, although could not fairly overtake them, even contemplating that I did not issue Blender Benchmark’s outcomes into the ultimate artistic rating for any of the playing cards examined, provided that I wasn’t capable of run it on three of the playing cards in query.
Had these checks run efficiently and been factored into the ultimate scores, the 2 Nvidia playing cards would have pulled additional forward, most definitely.
But would they’ve pulled far sufficient forward to justify shopping for them? In the case of the RX 9060 XT 8GB, the RTX 5060 merely provides you a greater worth provided that each will be bought for MSRP proper now, however if you happen to do not wish to give Nvidia your cash, you are not likely shedding something by going with the RX 9060 XT 8GB as an alternative.
For the RX 9060 XT 16GB, although, it comes inside just some factors of the RTX 5060 Ti at a a lot lower cost, making it the one I’d suggest to anybody looking for a GPU on this worth vary.
Should you purchase the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT?
|
Category |
Notes |
Score |
|---|---|---|
|
Value |
Both RX 9060 XT playing cards provide nice worth for his or her worth. |
4.5 / 5 |
|
Specs & options |
While the 16GB possibility for the RX 9060 XT is nice, 8GB is simply too little for a contemporary GPU. |
3.5 / 5 |
|
Design |
Since there isn’t any AMD reference card for both model of the RX 9060 XT, your design will differ relying on which card you get. The ones I examined have been tremendous, however nothing spectacular. |
3.5 / 5 |
|
Performance |
Both RX 9060 XT variations are succesful playing cards with improbable gen-on-gen efficiency, although Nvidia’s competing choices edge them out barely. |
4.5 / 5 |
|
Final rating |
While each RX 9060 XT playing cards do not fairly overtake Nvidia’s competing playing cards, they provide a really compelling worth for players, particularly those that are getting uninterested in what Nvidia has been providing currently. |
4 / 5 |
Buy the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT if…
Don’t purchase it if…
How I examined the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT
- I spent about three weeks with the RX 9060 XT 16GB and 8GB variations
- I used my full GPU testing suite to investigate the cardboard’s efficiency
- I examined the cardboard in on a regular basis, gaming, artistic, and AI workload utilization
Test System Specs
Here are the specs on the system I used for testing:
Motherboard: Gigabyte X870E Aorus Elite WiFi 7 ICE
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
CPU Cooler: Gigabyte Auros Waterforce II 360 ICE
RAM: G.SKILL Trident Z5 Neo DDR5-6600 (2 x 16GB)
SSD: Samsung 9100 Pro 4TB SSD
PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower PF3 1050W Platinum
Case: Praxis Wetbench
I spent about three weeks with each RX 9060 XT playing cards, utilizing my normal suite of benchmark checks with business normal instruments like 3DMark, PassMark, PugetBench for Creators, and extra.
For gaming, I take advantage of built-in benchmark instruments in video games like Black Myth: Wukong, Cyberpunk 2077, and F1 2024.
I additionally used each playing cards for a couple of week every because the GPU in my very own PC at residence the place I used it for work, content material creation, and gaming exterior of formal testing.
- Originally reviewed June 2025