AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT Review – Mainstream Muscle with a Future-Proof Edge

AMD has expanded its RDNA 4 lineup with the new Radeon RX 9060 XT, aimed at gamers playing primarily at 1080p but looking to stretch into 1440p territory. Available in both 8 GB and 16 GB memory configurations, the RX 9060 XT starts at $300, with the higher-capacity model priced at $350.

Architecture & Design

The RX 9060 XT is based on AMD’s new Navi 44 GPU, a 4 nm RDNA 4 chip built on TSMC’s N4P process. With 32 compute units translating to 2,048 stream processors, it’s effectively half of the larger Navi 48 powering the RX 9070 series. Despite this, AMD has kept the full PCIe 5.0 x16 interface, a detail that could benefit older systems with slower PCIe versions or memory-constrained scenarios.

The chip includes 64 AI and 32 ray tracing accelerators, 128 texture units, and 64 ROPs. It's paired with either 8 GB or 16 GB of 20 Gbps GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, resulting in 320 GB/s memory bandwidth. Though this trails NVIDIA’s 28 Gbps GDDR7-equipped RTX 5060 lineup, AMD insists RDNA 4’s improved memory management narrows the gap effectively.

FSR 4 & AI Acceleration

RDNA 4 introduces robust AI capabilities, enabling FSR 4—AMD’s new machine learning–powered upscaling tech. Unlike earlier shader-based versions, FSR 4 uses dedicated AI hardware, leading to better detail reconstruction and cleaner image quality, rivaling DLSS in some cases. Frame generation is still based on FSR 3 and remains limited to simple frame interpolation, unlike NVIDIA’s more advanced multi-frame generation. Still, AMD’s AFMF (Fluid Motion Frames) provides a solid driver-level alternative that works across more titles.

Performance

In real-world testing, the Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB delivers performance close to NVIDIA’s RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB, trailing by just 3–5% across both 1080p and 1440p resolutions. Impressively, it achieves roughly 43% of the performance of the flagship RTX 5090—at just 10% of the cost. Compared to its predecessor, the RX 7600 XT, the RX 9060 XT offers a substantial 30–35% performance uplift at both Full HD and QHD. Ray tracing performance has also seen a significant boost, with gains of around 60% over the RX 7600 XT, bringing it much closer to NVIDIA’s mid-range RTX 50-series in this regard.

The RX 9060 XT overclocks fairly well—on average, 8% real-world performance boost.

Pricing & Competition

Officially priced at $350 for the 16 GB model and $300 for the 8 GB version, real-world pricing is likely to be higher. In our table we can see that 8GB model is around $330 and 16GB model is close to $400.  Some board partners have hinted that hitting MSRP will be challenging without incentives from AMD. 

From the table we can se that RX 9060 XT 16GB model offers great value at 80% of price to perfomance ratio compared to best case posible. The 8GB variant offers even better value on the paper of 91.3% but that is at this moment and only at lower resolutions, and its memory constraint reduces value significantly as time goes by. Nvidia 5060 Ti models fall behaind in this category but they offer some better features and software support.

Verdict

The Radeon RX 9060 XT brings meaningful generational improvements, especially in ray tracing and AI-based upscaling. With a competitive price (if it holds)The Radeon RX 9060 XT delivers meaningful generational improvements, particularly in ray tracing performance and AI-based upscaling technologies. With a competitive price (assuming it holds), future-ready features, and strong performance at 1080p and 1440p, it’s a compelling choice for gamers seeking an upgrade without breaking the bank.

Board partners often sweeten the deal with efficient cooling solutions, quiet operation, and decent factory overclocks. Higher-end custom models may push performance even further, if you're willing to pay a premium.

For those on a tighter budget, the 8 GB variant remains a viable option, but it’s important to consider the increasing memory demands of modern titles, which could limit its longevity.

Overall, the RX 9060 XT demonstrates that AMD is serious about reclaiming ground in the mainstream GPU market.

To compare similar models, refer to the table here.

For full specifications, visit these links:

 RX 9060 XT 16GB and RX 9060 XT 8GB.