How Much Does it Cost?
Overview
Focussing purely on performance, the RX 9060 XT delivers on what it was set out to do by offering strong 1080p and competitive 1440p gaming experiences. Compared to its predecessor, the RX 7600 XT, it offers a substantial uplift, averaging 36% faster performance at 1080p and 35% at 1440p across rasterisation tests, with even more significant gains in ray tracing of 77% at 1080p and 78% at 1440p.
When pitting it side-by-side against the RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti, it generally competes very well, often outperforming the RTX 5060 by 13% at 1080p and 10% at 1440p, and proving to be a close contender to the more expensive RTX 5060 Ti – trailing by only 4% at 1080p and 6% at 1440p in rasterisation, while holding anywhere up to a 4% lead over the RTX 5060 in ray tracing, but falling behind the 5060 Ti by 10-15%.
The big one is always going to come down to pricing, though, and luckily AMD tends to fare better than its NVIDIA counterparts, even if this is not abundantly clear. Firstly, stock is generally pretty plentiful in comparison, and that is definitely going to be a saving grace for AMD, as it means we should see performance and pricing align much better in the real world when actually obtaining a card for the price it is meant to be.
For us, it is always hard to recommend a launch-day GPU, no matter the brand or tier, until we see the launch price and get a better “lay of the land”. So, speculation does generally come into play, and if the 9060 XT comes in for the expected price, then its 16GB model offers compelling value, particularly at 1440p where it stands out as the best value GPU, especially when compared to the NVIDIA RTX 5060 Ti 16GB.
What is clear to see is that unlike NVIDIA, AMD is not solely relying on upscaling technology. While it does have FSR, and that is something we will look at in an upcoming feature, it tends to push its marketing message around rasterisation and ray tracing performance, while also offering better efficiency and focusing heavily on getting the price right. While the 9060 XT does come in $50 more expensive than the RTX 5060, it does pack double the VRAM, which is something that the community as a whole has been irked about regarding cards that feature 8GB of VRAM. As mentioned, I think the 8GB version of this card is a bit of a non-starter, though we will do our best to get hold of one to see if that is actually the case.
Comparing like-for-like, though, in terms of pitting the 9060 XT against the 5060 Ti 16GB, it is clear to see that the 9060 XT offers very similar rasterisation performance while being priced significantly lower, providing a more attractive cost-per-frame. While ray tracing performance still favours NVIDIA in some titles, AMD has made significant strides, even taking wins in F1 24. Given the slightly cheaper price of the AMD offering, it positions itself as a strong value proposition, especially for those prioritising rasterisation performance and VRAM capacity over peak ray tracing in every title.
Of course, the big one for NVIDIA is that it has the stronger brand compared to AMD, and due to that, it will sell no matter what, even if not in the huge numbers it expects. For the red team, this puts them in a harder situation where marketing and buzzwords do not quite cut it; instead, they have to rely on having a good product at a solid price. For the most part, the RX 9060 XT delivers on that front, offering strong performance for its intended market segment, which is exactly what AMD set out to do with that bold statement.
What is clear to see is that while NVIDIA is dead set on pushing AI as far as it can, AMD has taken a much simpler approach to getting its technology into the hands of gamers for an affordable price. When it comes to the 9060 XT, it largely succeeds in offering a compelling mid-range option that balances performance, VRAM, and price, especially the 16GB model, making it a strong contender for mainstream gamers in 2025. What is also clear to see is that after testing a lot of comparison cards and seeing strange quirks in certain games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, 16GB is definitely now becoming the new norm, and I honestly feel the 8GB version of this card will undoubtedly be dead on arrival.
For now, that is going to wrap up this review of the new Radeon RX 9060 XT from AMD. We will have a more Sapphire-focused review in the near future, with more thoughts on the design, specs, and why you should or should not buy it over a reference spec model. Hopefully, you enjoyed this one. If you did, then a ‘like’ and subscribing to the channel would be greatly appreciated. If you love what we do, then you can help support our work by joining the Patreon family. You will get access to a host of goodies, including exclusive behind-the-scenes content, game nights, meetups at the eTeknix offices, and much more. The link for all this is available below. Thanks for tuning in, and I will see you in the next one.
