Lastly, a strong $350 GPU

NVIDIA releases a model new video card and AMD follows up with a less expensive one. That is mainly been the cycle of the GPU trade for the final decade, with NVIDIA sometimes main the pack and AMD dashing to maintain up. However with the current Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT, AMD lastly discovered a profitable formulation with GPUs that have been each cheaper than NVIDIA’s and, in lots of instances, extra highly effective. The brand new Radeon RX 9060 XT, which is supposed to tackle NVIDIA’s RTX 5060 Ti in 1080p and 1440p gaming, largely repeats that formulation. Beginning at $350 with 16GB of RAM (and $300 with a paltry 8GB), it is launching for a lot lower than the $429 RTX 5060 Ti whereas delivering the same degree of efficiency.

As soon as once more, the important thing for AMD is providing rather more RAM than NVIDIA for much much less cash. Positive, AMD is utilizing slower GDDR6 RAM with 320 GB/s of reminiscence bandwidth, in comparison with NVIDIAs’ 448 GB/s GDDR7. However in apply, really having a bigger reminiscence pool is extra helpful whenever you’re coping with large textures and 3D fashions in trendy video games. So should you’re searching for one of the best gaming bang for the buck below $400, the 16GB Radeon RX 9060 XT is undoubtedly a winner.

What’s the Radeon RX 9060 Ti?

The least highly effective member of AMD’s Radeon RX 9000 household (up to now), the RX 9060 XT is mainly the cardboard you’d get if you cannot abdomen spending greater than $500 on a GPU. Simply do not forget that video playing cards have a tendency to leap up in price as soon as they really hit shops, relying on availability and the whims of outlets. The RX 9060 XT sports activities 32 RDNA 4 compute models, 32 RT accelerators and 64 AI accelerators. It will possibly attain as much as 3.1GHz speeds with its increase clock and consumes as much as 180W of energy. Compared, the $549 MSRP RX 9070 has 56 compute models, whereas the $599 RX 9070 XT has eight extra.

AMD is pitching this GPU as a substitute for the RX 7600 XT, which launched at $329 final yr. That card additionally had 16GB of VRAM, however it had a slower 288 GB/s bandwidth. Whereas the 7600 XT was extra centered on entry-level 1440p gaming, the 9060 XT’s {hardware} enhancements make it way more succesful. AMD claims it is 46 p.c quicker than the 7600 XT throughout greater than 40 video games, and in my testing that determine checks out.

For this evaluation, I examined Gigabyte’s RX 9060 XT GPU, which has three cooling followers pointed at a typical copper heatsink. There is no fancy vapor cooling chamber or any extravagant supplies on the cardboard, however at this value vary I did not count on a lot.

What’s good in regards to the Radeon RX 9060 Ti?

Throughout video games and benchmarks, the 9060 XT clocked in nearly the place I anticipated: noticeably slower than the RX 9070, and both on-par or barely slower than the NVIDIA RTX 5060 Ti. In 3DMark’s Metal Nomad benchmark, the 9060 XT scored 200 extra factors than that NVIDIA card, and it was additionally 90 factors forward in Timespy Excessive. However NVIDIA had a 1,000 level lead within the Speedway benchmark and it was greater than 2,000 factors forward within the Luxmark HDR 4 check.

Regardless of these figures, I am nonetheless impressed that the 9060 XT can keep in the identical league as NVIDIA’s RTX 5060 Ti whereas costing lots much less. AMD’s ray tracing efficiency has additionally improved fairly a bit from its earlier generations, scoring 45 p.c quicker within the 3DMark Port Royal benchmark. NVIDIA nonetheless has the lead in ray tracing in video games although, particularly with the one-two punch of DLSS 4 AI upscaling and multi-frame technology. NVIDIA’s RTX 5000-series playing cards can produce as much as three interpolate frames for each natively rendered body, whereas AMD remains to be caught with producing a single further body with its FSR 3 and 4 (Constancy Tremendous Decision 4) upscaling.

The Radeon RX 9060 XT was in a position to run Cyberpunk 2077 in 1440p ray tracing “overdrive” mode at a good 80 fps, whereas NVIDIA’s RTX 5060 Ti hit 136 fps because of multi-frame technology. Nonetheless, there’s loads of wiggle room to crank out extra frames: Stepping all the way down to 1080p received me 120 fps, and I noticed 90 fps whereas utilizing the much less demanding ray tracing “extremely” preset in 1440p. By way of uncooked efficiency, with none upscaling fanciness, the 9060 XT hit 114 fps in 1080p and 90 fps in 1440p.

The Radeon RX 9060 XT did not run highly regarded throughout my testing, however that is smart because it’s purely centered on 1080p and 1440p gaming, Throughout 3DMark’s Metal Nomad stress check, which repeats the benchmark 20 instances in succession, the cardboard solely topped out at 54 Celsius. I am used to seeing video playing cards reaching upwards of 70C below load, so the 9060 XT was a pleasant shock. Whereas idling, it sits at 42 Celsius. That is greater than playing cards with vapor chamber cooling, however it’s about common for playing cards on this value vary. I did not hear any annoying fan noise below load both, because it barely broke a sweat.

What’s unhealthy in regards to the Radeon RX 9060 XT?

There is not actually a lot to complain about with the Radeon RX 9060 XT, as long as you are not anticipating an excessive amount of from a sub-$400 GPU. Nonetheless, it might be good to see help for AMD’s new FSR 4 AI upscaling unfold out extra shortly. When the RX 9070 XT launched, the function was solely accessible in a handful of video games like Name of Obligation: Black Ops 6, and now it is supported over 60 video games. That is nonetheless about half of the video games that NVIDIA’s DLSS 4 helps (which up to now consists of over 125 titles).

On the RX 9060 XT, the FSR 4 consumer expertise nonetheless is not so simple as activating DLSS on NVIDIA playing cards. I needed to allow it manually in AMD’s Adrenaline software program, then flip it on in Name of Obligation: Warzone to activate it. On the intense aspect, I noticed a median of 254 fps whereas enjoying a match in 1440p with excessive graphics settings, FSR 4 and body technology flipped on. With body gen enabled, however no FSR 4, efficiency dipped to 174fps. And if I eliminated each of these options, it fell to 110 fps. Clearly, FSR 4 and body gen helps fairly a bit, I simply want it have been in additional video games.

Do you have to purchase the Radeon RX 9060 XT?

Assuming retailers do not go wild by overpricing the Radeon RX 9060 XT, it is a strong choice should you’re searching for an inexpensive GPU that is devoted to 1080p and 1440p gameplay. At $350, the 9060 XT is effectively beneath the RTX 5060 Ti’s $429 retail value, and positively less expensive than fashions being bought for greater than $500.

To achieve a decrease $300 value level, AMD additionally unveiled an RX 9060 Ti with 8GB of RAM. However truthfully, I might suggest avoiding that solely except you solely play historical video games in 1080p. It is value spending a bit extra so you may play newer video games with much less complications, and it is virtually a requirement if you wish to play in 1440p.

Wrap-up

The Radeon RX 9060 XT is a reminder of a world the place we didn’t need to pay greater than $400 to get a succesful GPU. We already know greater than 80 p.c of PC avid gamers play at 1440p or decrease resolutions, in keeping with Steam’s knowledge. So for the overwhelming majority of gamers on the market — those who aren’t utilizing screens with loopy excessive refresh charges or 4K+ resolutions — it’s all of the GPU you really want.