AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT Review: Powerful desktop GPU with 16 GB VRAM in a price-performance check

The Gigabyte Radeon RX 9060 XT Gaming OC 16G presents itself as a balanced mid-range graphics card, which particularly impresses with its generous 16 GB VRAM. This configuration ensures future-proof gaming fun, especially with higher texture details in 1,440p resolution. 

The RDNA4 architecture provides a good balance of performance and energy efficiency, supported by the modern FSR 4 upscaling technology that can also help with smooth rendering of demanding games. 

Compared to Nvidia competitors such as the RTX 5060 Ti, the RX 9060 XT impresses with an attractive price-performance ratio. There are slight limitations in terms of connectivity, as the graphics card can only operate a maximum of three monitors simultaneously.

Overall, the Gigabyte Radeon RX 9060 XT Gaming OC 16G is an excellent option for price-conscious gamers who value performance, future-proofing and efficient cooling. 

Anyone planning to buy a Gigabyte Radeon RX 9060 XT Gaming OC 16G currently has to budget 379 euros. The graphics card can be ordered directly from Amazon for 379 euros.

Gigabyte is an established board partner that supplies both Nvidia and AMD graphics cards for the desktop market. With the Gigabyte Radeon RX 9060 XT Gaming OC 16G, the manufacturer is launching a factory-overclocked version of the new Radeon RX 9060 XT based on AMD's current RDNA-4 architecture. 

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT is also available in a version with 8 GB VRAM. Due to the disadvantages of having low VRAM these days, purchase of the 16 GB model should be preferred.

Further tests on AMD's RDNA4 graphics cards:

• AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT (Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming OC 16G)
• AMD Radeon RX 9070 (Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 Gaming OC 16G)
• AMD Radeon RX 9070 (Acer Nitro Radeon RX 9070 OC)

A look at the synthetic benchmarks shows where the Gigabyte Radeon RX 9060 XT Gaming OC 16G ranks in terms of performance. Performance in these benchmarks indicates that the RX 9060 XT Gaming OC 16G is a strong mid-range GPU. 

The RX 9060 XT Gaming OC is positioned just below the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 but can achieve an average lead of 20% over the older Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060. The gap to the AMD Radeon RX 9070 is relatively large.

The Gigabyte Radeon RX 9060 XT Gaming OC 16G delivers impressive performance in professional applications and is also suitable for simple semi-professional workloads. Compared to Nvidia, AMD delivers impressive performance in SPECviewperf 2020 and SPECworkstation 4.0. 

The RX 9060 XT Gaming OC 16G can easily compete with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 in SPECviewperf except in 3D tests like Maya and 3DS Max, while being right on the heels of the RTX 5070 Ti in overall SPECworkstation tests. The current top models based on RDNA4 are a long way off and even more powerful.

First, let's take a look at the native graphics performance of the Gigabyte Radeon RX 9060 XT Gaming OC 16G without FSR enabled. Our test sample delivers a convincing performance here, which is noticeably better than the previous synthetic benchmarks suggested. 

The Radeon RX 9060 XT Gaming OC 16G now duels with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti, which delivers a similar performance. The non-Ti model of the GeForce RTX 5060 is at a respectful distance behind the RX 9060 XT.

The 16 GB VRAM, which ensured consistently stable operation in our gaming tests, should be emphasized here. There were no unexpected crashes or blurred or incorrectly loaded textures. 

Current graphics cards with only 8 GB VRAM quickly reach their limits in modern games and can no longer display all the details. In tests at 1080p resolution, the VRAM load was already well over 8 GB in some cases.