Power & Temperatures
As mentioned, we have the Nitro+ model from Sapphire, which is likely going to be one of the top-tier models being released and comes with a pre-factory overclock. Looks-wise, it essentially is a slightly shrunk-down version of what we have seen on its higher-tier brothers, the RX 9070 and 9070 XT.
Under our hour-long load test of F1 24, we found a very reasonable peak GPU temperature of 53 degrees Celsius, while the memory came in at a higher 82 degrees Celsius. The fans did stay relatively quiet, which is something we are used to seeing with the Nitro+ range, at around 1500 RPM on average, though this did see peaks around 1738 RPM, which is still silent enough not to be heard over the rest of your system’s cooling.
The power really did hit the limits at 183W peak, which is above the 160W reference spec. Though AMD does allow for higher limits, as the reference spec is more of a guideline than a cap, and it allows AIBs to go above and beyond, which would require a beefier power delivery system and cooler, something the Nitro+ prides itself on. Unless you are going for a more basic model, this is pretty typical and still within reasonable expectations.
In terms of the core clock, we saw clock speed behaviour hovering around 2960 MHz for the most part, but on occasion, we did see that jump to a little over 3000 MHz. Overall, the card performed very well, though at this point, we have no other 9060 XTs to compare it to, but that is something we will look at in future pieces of content.
The XFX card came in slightly different. While the GPU temperature was slightly higher, at around 56 degrees Celsius, with the occasional peak at 57 degrees Celsius, the memory temperature stayed at a very steady 68 degrees Celsius throughout the test. The fans also stayed very quiet, at just under 1300 RPM at its highest, but for the most part, we saw speeds as low as 980 RPM, making it essentially silent.
Power-wise, being a new card, there was clearly an error with HWiNFO in displaying the power outputs. Once we are able to see that data, we will update you all on our social media channels, though it is more than likely to be exactly where you expect it to be, at similar levels to the Sapphire card.
Then, in terms of clock speed, while it did not hit the same levels as Sapphire’s, it still ended up hovering around 2850 MHz and had occasional peaks at just under 2900 MHz, which, when compared to Sapphire, would not mean much, if anything, in terms of real-world performance.
