AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB review – this gaming GPU puts the RTX 5060 to shame

After spending a number of GPU generations struggling to climb out of limbo, AMD is now decided to combat again. Due to some very aggressive pricing and its new supremely succesful RDNA 4 graphics structure, the Radeon RX 9070 XT has already made an enormous splash, regardless of its largely fictional MSRP, and now AMD has Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5060 collection in its sights with its new GPU, which we’re testing now for our AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT evaluate.

Costing simply $349 for the 16GB model, this new AMD GPU undercuts the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB by $80, not less than by way of MSRP, whereas the 8GB model has the identical $299 value because the RTX 5060, whereas providing much more GPU energy. Has AMD simply made one of the best graphics card for avid gamers on a finances? I have been operating the brand new GPU in a great deal of the most recent video games, in addition to some older ones, to search out out.

Specs

The Radeon RX 9060 XT is actually half a 9070 XT with regards to the core GPU specs. It incorporates 32 AMD RDNA 4 compute items, that are the important thing constructing blocks of AMD GPUs, and this offers you 2,048 stream processors – the tiny, primary processing items that work collectively in parallel to render your video games – as a basic rule, the extra the higher. Comparatively, the Radeon RX 9070 XT incorporates 64 compute items and 4,096 stream processors.

This spec additionally permits us to carry out a stable comparability between the RDNA 4 structure and the outdated RDNA 3 structure. The Radeon RX 7600 XT makes use of the older structure however has the identical variety of stream processors and compute items because the 9060 XT and, as we’ll see in our benchmarks, it is significantly slower than the brand new GPU.

This configuration additionally means the Radeon RX 9060 XT has 32 RT cores for ray tracing, in addition to 64 AI cores for workloads comparable to neural rendering, in addition to dealing with AMD’s new FSR 4 upscaling tech. AMD has introduced extra FSR 4 goodies on the best way too, together with AI-based FSR 4 body gen, however these options aren’t accessible to check in video games but.

As with the RTX 5060 Ti, the 9060 XT additionally is available in each 8GB and 16GB variations. In AMD’s earlier era, it distinguished between the 8GB and 16GB finances playing cards by additionally utilizing completely different mannequin numbers, so we had the 8GB Radeon RX 7600 and the 16GB Radeon RX 7600 XT, however with this new GPU you will have to regulate the quantity of reminiscence within the itemizing to be sure to purchase the proper one.

The 8GB and 16GB playing cards do each use the identical GPU with the identical core spec, although – it is simply the reminiscence that is completely different, and AMD specifies that the 16GB model wants an additional 10W of energy than the 8GB card. Nevertheless, as you will see within the benchmarks, there are particular advantages to paying the additional cash for the 16GB model with regards to operating among the most demanding video games at excessive settings, and for future proofing.

In contrast to Nvidia’s newest GPUs, nevertheless, AMD has chosen to make use of the older GDDR6 normal, quite than newer and quicker GDDR7 reminiscence. The 9060 XT reminiscence is clocked at 2.5GHz (20Gbps efficient), which is considerably slower than the 28Gbps efficient pace of the RTX 5060’s reminiscence.

The knock-on impact right here is that the Radeon RX 9060 XT’s whole reminiscence bandwidth stands at 322.3GB/s, whereas the RTX 5060’s reminiscence bandwidth is way quicker at 448GB/s. Nevertheless, as we’ll see, it is usually significantly better to have 16GB of slower reminiscence than 8GB of quicker RAM, so AMD has made the proper choice right here, and it’ll allow the corporate to avoid wasting cash too.

The opposite areas of the specs worthy of observe are the truth that the 9060 XT solely wants one 8-pin energy connector, making for a straightforward improve when you already personal a 550-600W PSU. I am additionally actually happy to see that the 9060 XT makes use of the complete 16x PCIe 5.0 interface, together with all 16 lanes. This implies you will nonetheless get the complete pace of 16 lanes when you plug it into an older PCIe 3.0 or PCIe 4.0 motherboard (with slower efficiency per lane), whereas another new GPUs, together with the RTX 5060, solely use eight lanes, which restricts efficiency on older motherboards.

How we take a look at

To check the gaming efficiency of the Radeon RX 9060 XT, I am operating a variety of benchmarks utilizing actual video games, quite than artificial benchmarks, together with Doom The Darkish Ages, Name of Obligation Black Ops 6, Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle, F1 24, and Cyberpunk 2077. Every take a look at is run thrice, recorded with Nvidia FrameView, and I report the imply common of the outcomes, discarding any apparent anomalies.

I’ve examined the ASRock Challenger Radeon RX 9060 XT card for this evaluate, which takes up simply two slots and remained remarkably quiet all through testing. The cardboard was examined on the out-of-the-box settings, which embody a 5% overclock, so it boosts to three,291MHz quite than simply 3,130MHz. Frustratingly, none of my typical GPU overclocking software program, together with MSI Afterburner, was in a position to underclock this card to the inventory settings, so keep in mind {that a} inventory pace card will likely be just a little (usually round 2-3fps) slower than the efficiency listed within the benchmark figures beneath.

I report two figures for body charges – firstly, the typical, which supplies you an concept of the overall body charge you’ll obtain. Secondly, I report the 1% low, which is a median of the bottom one p.c of outcomes recorded in the course of the benchmark. The latter is a extra dependable indicator of efficiency than the outright minimal, because it removes outliers, comparable to moments the place a Home windows system occasion causes the sport to stutter, which is unrelated to the efficiency of the GPU. The 1% low is what you may anticipate the precise typical minimal body charge to be in these video games.

FrameView additionally data common PC latency figures so you will get an concept of responsiveness, however this function does not all the time work on AMD GPUs. The place it does work, for instance in Name of Obligation Black Ops 6, I’ve additionally mentioned the latency figures.

GPU take a look at system specs:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
• CPU cooler: Corsair H100X RGB Elite
• Reminiscence: 32GB 6,000MHz G.Ability TridentZ RGB, CL28
• Motherboard: MSI MAG X870E Carbon WiFi
• SSD: 2TB WD Black SN850X
• PSU: Corsair RM1000X Shift

Benchmarks

Doom The Darkish Ages

The newest id Software program demon buster has proved to be an ideal showcase for Nvidia’s newest tech, so I used to be intrigued to see how effectively it runs on the most recent AMD GPUs. The excellent news is that the Radeon RX 9060 XT places in an honest exhibiting on this sport, even once you max it out, exhibiting that AMD has actually caught up with Nvidia with regards to ray tracing efficiency now, though its assist for DLSS 4 provides Nvidia the sting right here.

Working at 1080p with none assist from DLSS or FSR, and maxing out the sport on the Extremely Nightmare settings, the 9060 XT averages 74fps with a 56fps 1% low, which locations it between the RTX 5060 and 5060 Ti. In case you then allow FSR upscaling on the High quality settings, the typical goes as much as 103fps with a 79fps 1% low, enabling the 9060 XT to meet up with the 5060 Ti by way of body charges.

There is a massive caveat right here, although, which is that Doom The Darkish Ages does not assist FSR 4, which implies the 9060 XT has to make use of FSR 3 for upscaling. Comparatively, the RTX 5060 playing cards use DLSS 4, which seems significantly higher than FSR 3, with much less noise across the edges and far much less blurriness. You’ll be able to then allow FSR body gen to push the typical as much as 179fps. In all honesty, although, FSR does not look good on this sport at 1080p – I would be extra inclined to drop the settings and run it with none FSR options enabled as an alternative.

Transfer as much as 1440p, and once more, the 9060 XT sits between the 2 Nvidia GPUs with regards to primary rendering efficiency. Nevertheless, the outcomes get fascinating once you allow body gen at this decision, as that is the purpose the place you begin to saturate the 8GB of VRAM on the RTX 5060. Even with 4x multi-frame gen enabled, the 5060 solely averages 92fps at these settings, and it is horrible to play, with apparent slowdown and stuttering, then instantly accelerating when the body charge catches up. Comparatively, the 9060 XT is way faster with single FSR body gen, and the sport is definitely playable in motion.

The RTX 5060 Ti 16GB is certainly the superior GPU for this sport, as DLSS 4 simply seems so significantly better, and the GPU is quicker. Nevertheless, it is also way more costly, and that benefit will diminish if Doom The Darkish Ages ever will get FSR 4 assist. What’s clear from these benchmarks, although, is that the 9060 XT can clearly deal with the sport effectively by way of rendering and ray tracing energy – it is simply held again by AMD’s supporting tech.

Name of Obligation Black Ops 6

Exhibiting that AMD is the king at this tier with regards to uncooked rendering energy, the Name of Obligation Black Ops 6 benchmarks display the talents of the 9060 XT in video games with no ray tracing options. Not solely does the 9060 XT outperform the RTX 5060 on this sport, however it’s additionally faster than the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB. Even with none assist from FSR, the 9060 XT averages 113fps in Black Ops 6 at 1080p, with the settings maxed out.

This sport additionally lets us use FrameView to measure the PC latency, and the 9060 XT’s 21ms result’s stable right here. Black Ops 6 additionally helps AMD’s newest FSR 4 tech, permitting you to enhance efficiency whereas not making the large sacrifice in picture high quality you make with AMD’s older FSR 3 tech. Set FSR 4 to High quality and the sport nonetheless seems nice, and the typical goes all the best way as much as 146fps, with a 112fps 1% low, whereas the latency drops to 16ms – a very good end result.

Weirdly, although, I had some issues with AMD FSR 3 body gen on this sport. This will get addressed in a future driver challenge, however I discovered the body charge fluctuated between highs and lows throughout testing with body gen enabled, with the 101fps 1% low ending up being 29fps slower than the end result from the older Radeon RX 7600. For the second, I would advocate not enabling FSR 3 body gen, and simply sticking with FSR 4 upscaling – it is actually nonetheless quick sufficient with out body gen anyway.

Transfer as much as 2,560 x 1,440, and the Radeon RX 9060 XT nonetheless holds up effectively. Working at native decision, and with the Excessive preset, it averages 76fps with 1% lows of 50fps – that is the identical common because the 5060 Ti. Nevertheless, when you set FSR 4 to High quality (which nonetheless seems excellent), the typical goes as much as 102fps with 75fps 1% lows – we measured the latency as 24ms at these settings too, which is ok by way of responsiveness. Comparatively, the 8GB RTX 5060 struggles at this decision, with 50fps 1% lows, even with DLSS body gen and upscaling enabled.

Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle

The newest Indy sport ought to be a first-rate showcase for Nvidia’s newest tech, however in fact, the shortage of VRAM on some Nvidia GPUs has enabled AMD to seize this flag in some instances. That is significantly true with the Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB, which fortunately runs the sport on the great-looking Extremely preset at 1080p, averaging 78fps while not having any assist from FSR.

Comparatively, the 8GB RTX 5060 cannot run this sport at 1080p above the Medium setting, because it saturates the reminiscence – the 5060 solely averages 23fps at Extremely settings, and is totally unplayable. The RTX 5060 Ti 16GB is even quicker, averaging 91fps, however it’s additionally dearer, and the 9060 XT nonetheless makes this sport easily playable at these settings.

You’ll be able to even get this Indy sport operating at 2,560 x 1,440 on the 9060 XT, the place it averages 61fps on the Extremely preset, and you can run it quicker with some assist from FSR, although there’s sadly no FSR 4 assist. Nevertheless, whereas this GPU can technically run Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle with path tracing, it may possibly’t be advisable. Even with FSR upscaling and body gen enabled, it solely averaged 48fps, and FSR body gen works horribly on this sport, with the body charge leaping far and wide – it is unplayable in motion.

To be honest, the RTX 5060 Ti additionally struggles with path tracing on this sport, and whereas that 105fps common within the graph seems excessive, it is solely achieved with 4x multi body gen, and is once more visibly glitchy in motion. You actually need not less than an RTX 5070 Ti if you wish to play this sport with all the trail tracing eye sweet enabled, even at simply 1080p.

Cyberpunk 2077

It is perhaps an outdated sport now, however CD Projekt Crimson’s sci-fi shooter has continued so as to add new graphical options alongside the best way, and it is nonetheless an ideal take a look at of a GPU’s talents. Traditionally, AMD’s GPUs have actually struggled with ray tracing in Cyberpunk 2077 in comparison with the Nvidia chips, however that is not the case.

As you may see within the graph beneath, with the sport operating at 1080p with the Extremely ray tracing preset, the Radeon RX 9060 XT is over twice as quick as its predecessor, the Radeon RX 7600, with a median of 47fps, placing it in entrance of the RTX 5060 and behind the 5060 Ti. Add FSR 3 on the High quality setting, and the typical climbs to 82fps, though the picture high quality is poor with FSR 3 at this decision, with clearly seen artifacts across the edges of crops and bottles the place mild hits them, and basic blurriness throughout the scene.

Enabling body gen on high of those settings provides you one other enhance, with the typical leaping as much as 157fps. Whereas AMD has vastly improved its ray tracing efficiency, although, this sport undoubtedly seems significantly better on the RTX 5060 Ti, with the DLSS 4 transformer mannequin trying considerably sharper, and multi body gen pushing the typical body charge all the best way as much as 255fps.

As with Indiana Jones, you may also allow path tracing on the Radeon RX 9060 XT in Cyberpunk 2077, however whereas it is technically doable, it isn’t nice to play in observe. The 9060 XT averages 81fps with the Overdrive ray tracing preset enabled, however it’s important to allow FSR body gen and upscaling to get to that time, and it does not look good – the body charge is not actually excessive sufficient to allow body gen with these settings, as you may see from the 57fps 1% lows. Nvidia clearly nonetheless has the higher GPU structure with regards to path tracing.

F1 24

We’ll quickly be incorporating F1 25 into our GPU benchmark suite, however within the meantime, F1 24 nonetheless provides us a great comparability of the facility of the most recent GPUs. The Radeon RX 9060 XT copes very well on this sport, even on the Extremely Excessive preset with all the flamboyant ray tracing options. At these settings, the 9060 XT averages a superb 87fps, in contrast with 82fps on the RTX 5060 Ti and 72fps on the RTX 5060, and that is with out FSR as effectively.

Transfer as much as 2,560 x 1,440, and the 9060 XT stays sturdy, averaging 65fps with 1% lows of 52fps, which is once more faster than the RTX 5060 Ti, and over thrice the pace of the 8GB Radeon RX 7600. You may also enlist some assist from FSR upscaling and body gen on this sport, which takes the typical as much as 169fps, though, as with Black Ops 6, the 1% lows have been surprisingly below-par on this sport on the 9060 XT.

Additionally, whereas the 9060 XT is ostensibly faster than the RTX 5060 Ti (and even the 5070) at these settings, FSR 3 seems nasty on this sport, with actually noticeable noise across the spinning tyres – DLSS seems significantly better on the Nvidia GPUs, even with out the brand new transformer mannequin.

Doom Everlasting

Lastly, Doom Everlasting remains to be a great take a look at of a gaming GPU’s talents, regardless of its age. It scales effectively as you add extra GPU energy, and it additionally makes good use of your graphics card’s reminiscence when you allow ray tracing. As you may see within the graph beneath, the 9060 XT 16GB averages an enormous 265fps at 1080p with ray tracing enabled, with stable 1% lows of 179fps. Comparatively, the 8GB playing cards wrestle, with even the RTX 5060 being 80fps slower, whereas the 9060 XT is near the tempo of the RTX 5060 Ti.

Transferring as much as 2,560 x 1,440 reiterates this level additional, with the 9060 XT averaging 192fps – simply 7fps off the tempo of the 5060 Ti, whereas the RTX 5060 solely churns out 131fps. The 1% lows are fascinating on this take a look at as effectively, as they present the moments when your GPU is struggling, very most likely as a result of it does not have sufficient reminiscence on this take a look at. The RTX 5060’s 1% lows of 71fps are a great 59fps away from the 9060 XT’s 130fps, exhibiting the benefit of getting 16GB of reminiscence in your graphics card.

This sport, together with Indiana Jones and Black Ops 6, exhibits the true advantages of the 9060 XT 16GB in comparison with the RTX 5060 8GB, with complete fields of settings changing into accessible merely from having extra VRAM. As such, whereas the 9060 XT 16GB is proving to be an honest GPU in our benchmarks, the 8GB model is prone to wrestle.

Energy draw

With only one 8-pin energy connector, the Radeon RX 9060 XT does not want to attract a lot energy, and our Ryzen 7 7800X3D drew 323W from the mains with this GPU operating at full load. Nvidia nonetheless has the higher hand right here, with our system drawing 298W with the RTX 5060 Ti operating the identical take a look at, however the distinction is not colossal. You will be superb operating this graphics card with a 550-600W PSU in your rig while not having to improve.

Value

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT value is $349 / £315 for the 16GB card and $299 for the 8GB card. These costs are the MSRPs that AMD suggests would be the minimums for primary 9060 XT graphics playing cards, with overclocked fashions costing extra. On the MSRP, the 16GB card represents excellent worth for cash, being $80 cheaper than the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB, whereas being nearly as quick, and considerably faster than the RTX 5060, whereas solely costing an additional $50.

Nevertheless, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT are inconceivable to search out at their MSRPs, even within the UK, the place inventory is secure in comparison with the US. Compared, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 and 5060 Ti costs are comparatively secure, with each GPUs straightforward sufficient to search out at their MSRPs when inventory is obtainable.

As such, we’ll be conserving a detailed eye on the precise costs of Radeon RX 9060 XT playing cards in the true world. On the MSRP, the 16GB card is a no brainer, but when it finally ends up costing the identical because the RTX 5060 Ti, then the Nvidia GPU will likely be a more sensible choice.

Options

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB

With a big 16GB serving to of super-fast GDDR7 VRAM at its disposal, the RTX 5060 Ti is an outstanding GPU for 1080p gaming, and it may possibly deal with a good bit of two,560 x 1,440 gaming as effectively. It is usually faster than the 9060 XT, its path tracing efficiency is superior, and it additionally has assist for Nvidia’s excellent DLSS 4 ecosystem, together with multi body gen. In relation to MSRP, the RTX 5060 Ti cannot justify its considerably increased value over the 9060 XT, but when the 9060 XT value goes up by any greater than $50, the RTX 5060 Ti is completely the GPU to think about as an alternative.

Learn our full Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti evaluate.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060

With ostensibly the identical value because the 8GB Radeon RX 9060, and with out the VRAM essential to run among the newest video games at excessive settings, the RTX 5060 has its work reduce out. Nevertheless, there are nonetheless legitimate causes to think about shopping for this GPU, particularly if the worth of the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT finally ends up being a lot increased than the MSRP.

The primary attraction of this GPU is its assist for the Nvidia DLSS ecosystem, as DLSS 4 is supported in lots of extra video games than FSR 4, and it seems higher than FSR 4 by way of picture high quality. You additionally get multi-frame gen assist, which you do not get on the AMD GPU, though that is solely helpful you probably have an honest body charge within the first place.

Learn our full Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 evaluate.

Verdict

The Radeon RX 9060 XT is not fairly the identical degree of slam-dunk win for AMD because the 9070 XT over the RTX 5070, however it’s priced very aggressively at MSRP, and its efficiency is incredible. I do not advocate shopping for the 8GB model of this card except you actually cannot afford the additional spend, however the 16GB card actually delivers the products, opening up 1440p gaming at some settings, and enabling you to max out the attention sweet. It places the RTX 5060 to disgrace for simply an additional $50, and it isn’t far off the tempo of the significantly dearer RTX 5060 Ti both.

There are some clear caveats, although. The primary is that, whereas FSR 4 is incredible for upscaling, and there is additionally machine learning-based body gen on the horizon, it at the moment lacks the broad sport assist of Nvidia DLSS 4. It is nice in Name of Obligation Black Ops 6, however the lack of assist actually places the 9060 XT at a drawback in video games comparable to Doom The Darkish Ages and Cyberpunk 2077, the place you find yourself having to allow older variations of FSR to enhance efficiency, and so they look dangerous.

The elephant within the room, in fact, is the worth. On paper, the MSRP seems incredible, however the real-world pricing of Radeon RX 9070-series playing cards has proven their MSRPs to be optimistic at greatest, and downright deceptive at worst. Briefly, when you can choose up a 16GB 9060 XT for $349, then do not assume twice – simply purchase it – it is an ideal purchase for the efficiency on provide. Nevertheless, if it finally ends up costing the identical value because the RTX 5060 Ti, then Nvidia’s providing is a greater GPU.

In case you’re enthusiastic about upgrading your graphics card, take a look at my full information on the way to set up a GPU, which takes you thru the entire course of.

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