RTX 5070 vs Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB: Which Is the Better GPU?

Should you buy the Radeon RX 9060 XT to save money or get the RTX 5070, which costs more but has less VRAM? Which is better for gaming?

Picture of Nvidia RTX 5070 vs Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB — Nvidia RTX 5070 vs Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB (Image via ASUS | Sapphire)

The Nvidia RTX 5070 and Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB are very different GPUs. The former is a 70-class GPU that costs significantly more but has less memory, while the latter is a 60-class card that is more affordable and yet offers more VRAM. Is having more memory important, or is it better to buy a 70-class product since a higher class generally means more performance? These are the questions we plan to answer today.

In this article, we are doing a detailed comparison of the Nvidia RTX 5070 and the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB to find out which is the most powerful GPU and which one you should buy.

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Note: Parts of this article are subjective and reflect the writer’s opinions.

Nvidia RTX 5070 vs Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB: Detailed Comparison

The RTX 5070 is based on the Nvidia Blackwell architecture. On the other hand, the Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB is built on AMD’s latest RDNA 4 architecture, which is designed to deliver significantly higher performance than older RDNA 3 GPUs. Let’s start the comparison of the two GPUs, starting with their specs.

Specs Comparison

Picture of ASUS Prime GeForce RTX 5070 — ASUS Prime GeForce RTX 5070 (Image via ASUS)

Here are the specs of the Nvidia RTX 5070 and Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB:

Specifications	Nvidia RTX 5070	AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB
Architecture	Blackwell	RDNA 4
Shader cores	6144	2048
RT cores	48	32
TMUs	192	128
ROPs	80	64
Base core clock speeds	2325 MHz	1700 MHz
Boost core clock speeds	2512 MHz	3130 MHz
Memory capacity	12GB GDDR7	16GB GDDR6
Memory bus width	192-bit	128-bit
Memory bandwidth	672.0 GB/s	322.3 GB/s
Manufacturing node	5nm	4nm
Thermal design power (TDPs)	250W	160W

On one hand, the Nvidia RTX 5070 has more shader cores, RT cores, TMUs, ROPs, faster GDDR7 memory, and several other advantages. On the other hand, the Radeon RX 9060 XT has higher clock speeds and more VRAM. It will be interesting to see how these two GPUs perform in actual games.

Performance Comparison

You will find the gaming benchmarks of Nvidia RTX 5070 and Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB:

Games	Nvidia RTX 5070	AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB
The Last of Us Part II	85 FPS	61 FPS
Ghost of Tsushima	72 FPS	56 FPS
Forza Horizon 5	143 FPS	120 FPS
God of War: Ragnarok	126 FPS	83 FPS
Red Dead Redemption 2	114 FPS	92 FPS
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2	64 FPS	42 FPS
Black Myth: Wukong	46 FPS	28 FPS
Horizon Forbidden West	96 FPS	73 FPS
Cyberpunk 2077	90 FPS	62 FPS
Cyberpunk 2077 (RT)	45 FPS	29 FPS
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2	73 FPS	46 FPS

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

On average, the Nvidia RTX 5070 delivered 37.8% more FPS than the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT. In the ray tracing test of Cyberpunk 2077, the former was 55% faster than the latter, which is a huge difference. Nvidia GPUs have always been superior in ray tracing, but since the RTX 5070 has significantly more RT cores, this performance advantage was expected.

Price Comparison

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

The Nvidia RTX 5070 is currently selling for around $549.99 on Amazon, while the Radeon RX 9060 XT usually sells for around $379.99 on Amazon. This makes the Nvidia GPU 44.7% more expensive.

Final Verdict on Nvidia RTX 5070 vs Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB

The RTX 5070 is the better GPU of the two. It is capable of delivering 37–38% more performance in rasterized games and around 55% more performance in ray-traced games. However, it is also 44.7% more expensive, which reduces its value proposition despite being the fastest graphics card here.

We recommend the Nvidia RTX 5070 for those who want better 1440p gaming performance and don’t mind paying a premium. However, those on a tighter budget should go for the Radeon RX 9060 XT instead. It also delivers decent performance at 1440p resolution, but at a much lower cost. Still, if you are willing to pay a higher price for better performance, why not get the Radeon RX 9070? It is even better than the RTX 5070.

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RTX 5070 vs Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB: Which Is the Better GPU?