Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB vs Radeon RX 7700 XT: Which is Better?

Both the Radeon RX 7700 XT and Radeon RX 9060 XT are selling for similar prices, but which is the better GPU and which one should you buy?

Picture of Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB vs Radeon RX 7700 XT — Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB vs Radeon RX 7700 XT (Image via Sapphire | ASRock)

The newly launched AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB is selling for around $379, which is a price bracket the Radeon RX 7700 XT has been selling for a while. The new Radeon GPU is equipped with the newer RDNA 4 architecture, higher memory capacity, and others.

Can the new Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB beat the established Radeon RX 7700 XT? Let’s find out with a detailed comparison of the two cards in this article below.

Note: The article is subjective and reflects the writer’s opinion.

AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB vs Radeon RX 7700 XT: Detailed Comparison

AMD believes the Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB is the most powerful mid-range graphics card and is designed to deliver a solid 1080p and 1440p gaming performance. On the other hand, the Radeon RX 7700 XT was originally designed to provide a budget 1440p gaming experience, but it remains to be seen if it can still deliver that two years later.

Let’s compare them in a head-to-head battle, starting with their specs.

Specs Comparison

Picture of ASRock AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT Challenger — ASRock AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT Challenger

Here are the specs of the Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB and the Radeon RX 7700 XT:

Specifications	Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB	Radeon RX 7700 XT
Architecture	RDNA 4	RDNA 3
Shader cores	2048	3456
RT cores	32	54
TMUs	128	216
ROPs	64	96
Base core clock speeds	1700 MHz	1435 MHz
Boost core clock speeds	`3130 MHz`	2544 MHz
Memory capacity	16 GB GDDR6	12 GB GDDR6
Memory bus width	128-bit	192-bit
Memory bandwidth	322.3 GB/s	432.0 GB/s
Manufacturing node	4nm	5nm,6nm
Thermal design power (TDPs)	160W	245W

The specs table revealed some drastic differences between the two GPUs. The newer Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB has lower shader cores, RT cores, TMUs, and even ROPs than the Radeon RX 7700 XT. However, the former has much higher clock speeds, more VRAM, and lower power consumption.

However, specs only tell half of the story. We need to look at some actual game benchmarks to find out what they are truly capable of.

Performance Benchmarks

Here’s how Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB and Radeon RX 7700 XT perform in popular games:

Games	Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB	Radeon RX 7700 XT
CYBERPUNK 2077	61 FPS	63 FPS
CYBERPUNK 2077 (RT)	54 FPS	44 FPS
Ghost of Tsushima	63 FPS	66 FPS
Forza Horizon 5	117 FPS	109 FPS
Stellar Blade	66 FPS	69 FPS
Oblivion Remastered (RT)	34 FPS	33 FPS
Doom: The Dark Ages (RT)	52 FPS	48 FPS
Horizon Forbidden West	73 FPS	71 FPS

Note: The two GPUs here were tested at 1440p resolution with High/Ultra Settings unless mentioned otherwise. All the FPS numbers were sourced from the Testing Games channel on YouTube. For the tests, the two graphics cards were tested with a Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU.

Despite having much lower shader cores, RT cores, and other things, the Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB is 3.3% faster on average compared to the Radeon RX 7700 XT. However, it’s not a clean win.

The latter was faster in rasterized games, but the higher ray tracing performance of the former gave it the win. Therefore, the Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB is better overall and is also equipped with more memory.

Price Comparison

Picture of Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB Gaming OC — Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB Gaming OC (Image via Sapphire)

The Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB is currently available for $379.99 on Amazon, while the Radeon RX 7700 XT often sells for around $399 on Amazon. Therefore, the latter is $20 more expensive.

Final Verdict on Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB vs Radeon RX 7700 XT

The Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB is the better GPU out of the two compared here. It is also equipped with more VRAM, despite being cheaper, even if it’s just $20. You can use the saved $20 towards the next RAM upgrade or any other component you need.

The Radeon RX 9060 XT is also significantly faster than the Radeon RX 7700 XT in ray tracing, even though it has fewer RT cores. This is a testament to how far ahead AMD has come in the latest Radeon RX 9000 series. Also, the Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB consumes only 160W, which is much lower than the other.

Therefore, we recommend that gamers buy the Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB without any worries at this price range.

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Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB vs Radeon RX 7700 XT: Which is Better?