AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GB vs Nvidia RTX 5060: Which Is Better

The newly released Radeon RX 9060 XT can jeopardize the position of the RTX 5060 in the budget gaming market. Let’s find the true budget GPU.

XFX Radeon RX 9060 XT vs Gigabyte RTX 5060
XFX Radeon RX 9060 XT vs Gigabyte RTX 5060 (Image via XFX | Gigabyte)

Nvidia generally dominates the PC gaming market, and its 60-class GPUs are the most popular. In fact, the most popular desktop graphics card in the latest Steam Hardware Survey is the RTX 3060, followed by the RTX 4060. If everything goes Nvidia’s way, the RTX 5060 should also end up somewhere close. However, that may not be the case this time. That’s because the newly released AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT is a direct competitor to the RTX 5060 and is well-received by many reviewers and gamers.

Is the Radeon RX 9060 XT any better than the RTX 5060? Or should you go with the RTX 5060 like usual? Well, you may want to sit down and pay close attention to what we have to say. We will compare the two GPUs in various aspects to find out which is better. Read on to find out more.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the writer’s opinions.

AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GB vs Nvidia RTX 5060: Detailed Comparison

Picture of Gigabyte RTX 5060
Gigabyte RTX 5060 (Image via Gigabyte)

Before we begin comparing the Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GB and Nvidia RTX 5060, let’s look at their specs first to get a better idea of what they are equipped with, such as the number of shader cores, clock speeds, memory speeds, and more. You will find the full list of specs below:

Specs Comparison

SpecificationsAMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GBNvidia RTX 5060
ArchitectureRDNA 4Blackwell
Shader cores20483840
RT cores3230
TMUs128120
ROPs6448
Base core clock speeds1700 MHz2280 MHz
Boost core clock speeds3130 MHz2497 MHz
Memory capacity8 GB GDDR68 GB GDDR7
Memory bus width128-bit128-bit
Memory bandwidth322.3 GB/s448 GB/s
Manufacturing node4nm5nm
Thermal design power (TDPs)150W145W
Price$299$299

Both the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GB and the Nvidia RTX 5060 have mid-range specs that are great for 1080p gaming. They both have similar specs with some differences in shader cores, core clock speeds, memory bandwidth, and memory technology. You may believe these two GPUs will perform similarly, given that they have similar specs, but you would be wrong. That’s because the specs don’t always translate to real-world gaming performance linearly.

Performance Benchmarks

RTX 5060 vs Radeon RX 9060 XT in Marvel's Spider-Man 2
RTX 5060 vs Radeon RX 9060 XT in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (Image via Sony Interactive Entertainment | Terra Ware channel/YouTube)

Without any further ado, here’s how the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GB and Nvidia RTX 5060 perform in some popular games:

GamesAMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GBNvidia RTX 5060
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2120 FPS89 FPS
Assassin’s Creed: Shadows54 FPS50 FPS
Stalker 264 FPS63 FPS
Cyberpunk 2077101 FPS98 FPS
Doom: The Dark Ages77 FPS72 FPS
The Last of Us: Part 2140 FPS130 FPS

Note: The two GPUs here were tested at 1080p resolution with High/Ultra Settings unless mentioned otherwise. All the FPS numbers were sourced from the Terra Ware channel on YouTube. For the tests, the two graphics cards were tested with a Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU.

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GB is around 10–11% faster than the RTX 5060 on average in the six tested games. The difference in performance was significant in some games and less so in others, but the Radeon graphics card consistently came out ahead. However, the RTX 5060 scores higher in ray tracing.

AMD has improved the ray tracing capabilities of the Radeon RX 9060 XT significantly, so the gap between the Radeon and Nvidia cards is narrower than before. However, the RTX 5060 is still ahead, even if only slightly.

Price Comparison

Picture of XFX Radeon 9060 XT 8GB
XFX Radeon 9060 XT 8GB (Image via XFX)

Both the Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GB and the Nvidia RTX 5060 cost the same, at $299. However, actual pricing may differ due to inflation and/or higher demand. Also, the former GPU has a 16GB variant for $50 more, which should help in VRAM-heavy games. However, no such option is available for the RTX 5060.

Final Verdict on Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GB vs Nvidia RTX 5060

Since both the Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GB and the RTX 5060 cost the same, the choice comes down to performance and features. The RTX 5060 has a complete DLSS feature set, which the Radeon GPU doesn’t have at the moment. However, AMD has announced that all Radeon RX 9000 series GPUs will receive a similar feature set later this year. This will eliminate the feature advantage the RTX graphics card currently has.

When it comes to performance, the Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GB is the better GPU for rasterized games by a decent margin. On the other hand, the RTX 5060 is slightly better for ray tracing. However, since both graphics cards can only deliver around 30 FPS with ray tracing, this advantage is not significant. You don’t buy a new card to play at 30 FPS, so ray tracing is pointless for budget GPUs. Therefore, you should go with the Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GB graphics card instead.


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