AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT Review

We’re a small implicit 4 months into this caller procreation of graphics cards, and portion we would usually beryllium waiting much than a twelvemonth for cards similar the Radeon RX 9060 XT, we got this 1 3 months aft the flagship, which is simply a blistering pace. I mean, the RX 7600 XT, the 9060 XT’s nonstop predecessor, launched successful January 2024, much than a twelvemonth aft the Radeon RX 7900 XTX that headlined that generation.

That does mean the 9060 XT is launching a small sooner than it would person successful erstwhile years, but it besides means it comes little than 2 years aft the paper it’s replacing. That’s going to suck if you bought a 7600 XT reasoning it was going to beryllium current-gen for a mates years, but if you’ve been connected the obstruction astir upgrading, the 9060’s on-average 40% show uplift implicit its predecessor rewards your patience a bit.

Unfortunately, similar Nvidia did precocious with its RTX 5060 Ti, Team Red is launching 2 versions of the Radeon RX 9060 XT, 1 with 16GB of VRAM for $349 and 1 with 8GB for $299. AMD lone sent the 16GB exemplary for review, but you should inactive debar the 8GB mentation – games are becoming much babelike connected VRAM each day.

Specs and Features

Both versions of the Radeon RX 9060 XT are built connected the RDNA 4 graphics architecture, conscionable similar the unthinkable RX 9070 XT. Both versions of the 9060 XT are built connected the aforesaid AMD GPU, with 32 Compute Units, making for a full of 2,048 Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs). The lone large quality betwixt the 2 cards is the representation budget, with 1 16GB exemplary and an 8GB mentation for $50 less.

This makes the RX 9060 XT a important measurement down from the 9070 XT, which features treble the Compute Units, oregon adjacent the 9070, with its 56 CUs. The Radeon RX 9060 XT does person the aforesaid magnitude of VRAM arsenic these much almighty cards, but connected a overmuch smaller 128-bit representation bus. Compared to the 256-bit autobus of Team Red’s pricier cards, you get fractional the representation bandwidth, astatine 320GB/s.

Compared to its predecessor, though, the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT fundamentally takes the aforesaid specs of the RX 7600 XT and moves them to a caller graphics architecture, on with immoderate faster memory. Both cards person 32 Compute Units with a full of 2,048 SMs and 16GB of VRAM connected a 128-bit bus. However, the representation is clocked a spot faster connected the caller generation, astatine 20GB/s, compared to 18GB/s connected the 7600 XT.

What’s confusing, though, is that AMD fundamentally has 2 powerfulness budgets listed successful the specs it shared with me. There seems to beryllium some a 160W ‘base’ mentation of the card, and a 180W version, presumably meant for factory-overclocked versions. The paper I tested peaked astatine 182W successful my investigating suite, truthful I evidently got the latter. There apt isn’t a large quality betwixt these 2 cards erstwhile it comes to performance, it’s conscionable that timepiece speeds are evidently going to beryllium higher successful a graphics paper with a higher powerfulness budget. This lone accounted for astir a 200MHz quality successful my testing, which isn’t capable to marque a meaningful interaction to gaming performance.

Just similar the 9070 cards, AMD is not selling its ain notation mentation of the RX 9060 XT, but the Gigabyte RX 9060 XT Gaming OC 16G I was sent had nary occupation dealing with temperatures. Throughout my testing, the 9060 XT peaked astatine conscionable 59°C, with a blistery spot somesthesia of 86°C. That’s acknowledgment to this card’s triple-fan design, which leaves plentifulness of country if you privation to effort your manus astatine overclocking this card.

Performance

While the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT tin wholly play astir games astatine 1440p, it truly shines astatine 1080p, particularly if you similar to crook connected each the spiffy graphics effects successful modern games. On average, I recovered that the 9060 XT was astir 41% faster than the RX 7600 XT astatine 1080p – not atrocious considering that paper is conscionable implicit a twelvemonth old. What’s much interesting, though, is however good it compares with the much costly RTX 5060 Ti.

I don’t person a RTX 5060 for investigating yet, truthful comparing alternatively to the RTX 5060 Ti, Nvidia’s latest mid-range paper was connected mean astir 12% faster than the Radeon RX 9060 XT, contempt being 19% much expensive. The show quality does turn to 14% erstwhile I destruct 1440p and synthetic performance, but you’re inactive getting a amended woody with the AMD card, assuming prices clasp up. They astir apt won’t, of course, but I can’t archer the future.

As with each of our graphics paper reviews, each investigating was done connected the astir caller driver, to marque definite each information is up to date. That means Nvidia cards were tested connected Game Ready Driver 576.52, AMD cards connected Adrenalin 25.5.1, and the Intel Arc B580 was tested connected Intel Graphics Driver 32.0.101.6874. The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT itself was tested connected a pre-release operator provided by AMD.

While it doesn’t precisely correspond real-world gaming performance, 3DMark is usually the archetypal trial I tally connected a caller graphics card, arsenic it shows the potential I’m dealing with. The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT got 2,995 points successful Speed Way and 3,753 successful Steel Nomad. These are some DirectX 12 tests, with and without ray tracing, respectively. And portion the 9060 XT did autumn down the RTX 5060 Ti successful Speed Way, it fundamentally broke adjacent with the much costly Nvidia paper successful Steel Nomad. The 9060 XT did truthful good successful Steel Nomad, successful fact, that it bushed its last-generation counterpart by a whopping 60% astatine a akin terms constituent – thing I haven’t seen overmuch of this generation.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is mostly considered optimized for AMD hardware, truthful it shouldn’t beryllium excessively astonishing that AMD edges retired a triumph against the RTX 5060 Ti here, adjacent if it’s conscionable a flimsy lead. Team Red’s latest is astir 8% faster than the RTX 5060 Ti successful this crippled astatine 1080p, averaging 202 fps with FSR 4 and DLSS acceptable to ‘Quality’, respectively.

Cyberpunk 2077 is fundamentally connected the other broadside of the spectrum, and successful my acquisition performs amended connected Nvidia’s GPUs. Even here, though, the Radeon RX 9060 XT managed 80 fps with the ‘Ray Tracing Ultra’ preset astatine 1080p, with FSR acceptable to Quality. The RTX 5060 Ti was faster, for sure, but lone by 10%, averaging 88 fps with the aforesaid settings, conscionable with DLSS. This shows however acold AMD has come, too, arsenic the RX 7600 XT gets conscionable 46 fps with the aforesaid settings – making for a 74% show jump.

I similar to trial Metro Exodus: Enhanced Edition without upscaling, simply due to the fact that the crippled lone supports DLSS. And portion I bash deliberation upscaling is indispensable these days, I’m not going to alteration it connected Nvidia cards if I can’t use akin settings connected the competing cards. But adjacent successful this ray tracing-heavy crippled with nary upscaling, the 9060 XT hits 59 fps astatine 1080p, which is conscionable 9% abbreviated of the 5060 Ti’s 65 fps.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the Radeon RX 9060 XT averages 105 fps with each the settings cranked, compared to 101 fps from the 5060 Ti and conscionable 73 from the Radeon RX 7600 XT. The quality betwixt Team Red and Green’s latest cards is wrong the borderline of mistake here, but considering the terms difference, that’s inactive a triumph successful AMD’s favor.

Total War: Warhammer doesn’t enactment thing successful the mode of ray tracing oregon upscaling, truthful it gives a wide representation of axenic rasterization performance, which is particularly important if you play older games. In this game, the Radeon RX 9060 XT managed an mean of 125 fps, compared to 154 from the 5060 Ti and 91 from the 7600 XT. That’s a 19% pb successful favour of Nvidia.

What’s amusive astir Assassin’s Creed Shadows is that it’s truthful demanding, which is simply a acold outcry from however casual Mirage was to run, particularly connected AMD hardware. Shadows has go 1 of the astir demanding benchmarks successful my full suite, and the 9060 XT manages conscionable 45 fps connected mean astatine 1080p with each the settings maxed out. Nvidia isn’t excessively acold up present either, getting conscionable 51 fps astatine the aforesaid settings.

Black Myth Wukong is different incredibly demanding crippled that has ray tracing baked into it by default. Just similar Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the Radeon RX 9060 XT scrapes by with 45 fps, compared to 57 from the 5060 Ti and 31 from the RX 7600 XT.

A Budget Card?

Whenever I speech astir immoderate graphics paper launching this year, pricing is the elephant successful the room. Because AMD is advertizing a terms of $349, which is wholly tenable for what the RX 9060 XT is. However, determination is simply a precise precocious anticipation that the terms is going to beryllium overmuch higher erstwhile it really lands connected store shelves. I conscionable can’t perchance foretell however overmuch the terms is going to determination erstwhile the paper really launches a time aft this writing.

It’s wholly imaginable that AMD is capable to nutrient capable of these cards to support the terms comparatively unchangeable implicit the adjacent fewer months. Unfortunately, I person nary mode of accurately predicting this 1 mode oregon the other.

If the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT stays disposable for around $349, it’s an unthinkable graphics card. It’s importantly faster than its last-generation counterpart and manages to enactment wrong grasping region of the more-expensive RTX 5060 Ti. But if the terms rises by a 100 dollars? Well, it becomes a batch harder to recommend, and that’s without the 8GB exemplary further complicating the matter.

My advice? Pay adjacent attraction to the store listing and marque definite you’re getting what you wage for. The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT has the imaginable to beryllium an awesome mid-range GPU, conscionable don’t wage excessively overmuch for it.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor astatine IGN and the PC components queen. You tin travel her @Jackiecobra