AMD has just quietly updated its graphics card lineup, but this one is in no danger of competing against some of the best GPUs. The latest arrival, dubbed the AMD Radeon RX 9060, feels a little unnecessary when compared to existing GPUs — but hear me out.
Although the spec changes are subtle, I believe that the RX 9060 could be exactly what we need right now. And yes, that’s still true even if you’re looking for a more high-end GPU. Here’s what the RX 9060 non-XT brings to the table, and why I think it could be good news regardless of how powerful it is.
What are the specs of the RX 9060 non-XT?
The reason why the RX 9060 non-XT might seem unnecessary is that it’s extremely similar to the XT version of the card. However, unsurprisingly, it is a little bit worse.
AMD has shared the official specs of the RX 9060 without any fanfare — the card simply received a product page on AMD’s official website. Thanks to that, we have a full overview of its specs and can compare it to the two RX 9060 XTs.
The RX 9060 sports 28 RDNA 4 compute units (CUs), which means 1,792 streaming processors (SPs) and 64 TOPs. Meanwhile, both the 8GB and the 18GB RTX 9060 XTs offer 32 CUs for a total of 2,048 SPs. This is quite a downgrade, but it’s not the only difference.
All three cards sport the same 8GB of VRAM across a 128-bit memory bus, and all three are GDDR6. However, the RX 9060 non-XT uses slower memory modules clocked at 18Gbps. As a result, it’ll offer a measly 288GB/s of bandwidth.
The cut-down specs result in lower power requirements, though: The RX 9060 has a TDP of 132 watts, while the better counterparts are at 150W and 182W.
All in all, we’re looking at a pretty budget-oriented GPU — one that many enthusiast gamers might turn their nose up at. It’s not going to breeze through Cyberpunk 2077 on max settings, that’s for sure. But will it be worth buying? Well, we still don’t know a few key aspects.
We still don’t know the most important thing
Before we can fully decide whether the RX 9060 will be a worthwhile pick, we’ll need to know its most important spec — well, kind of.
As AMD hasn’t made any announcements about this new GPU, we don’t know when it’ll launch, where, or at what price. I’m less bothered about the where and when; it’s the pricing that concerns me.
With specs such as these, the RX 9060 will have a few noteworthy rivals. AMD’s RX 9060 XT 8GB isn’t much of an interesting offering when the RX 9060 XT 16GB exists. Meanwhile, the RX 9060 will be even worse, putting it in a losing position against cards from the same generation.
Intel’s Arc B580 will likely continue to be a similar, or better, alternative. It’s my favorite GPU this year, and if you can score it near the $249 MSRP, it’s an undeniable value pick.
Nvidia’s got plenty of horses in this particular race, too, although they’re all a lot pricier than I imagine the RX 9060 is going to end up being. The RTX 5060 starts at $299 (and is actually readily available at that price, which is rare considering the current state of GPU pricing); the RTX 5060 Ti comes in two memory variants and can be bought for anywhere from $379 to $450.
Nvidia also has the recent RTX 5050, which falls far behind the rest of the range due to the addition of GDDR6 memory. I suspect that the RX 9060 might be targeting the RX 5050 in performance, but the RTX 5060 could be an option, too.
With such a saturated market and so many GPUs to choose from, the RX 9060 will need competitive pricing to stand out from the crowd.
This could be a good thing
As a standalone GPU, the RX 9060 won’t blow you away — at least I don’t believe so. However, as a part of a larger puzzle, it could help.
Most of the GPUs around the same caliber are all selling near MSRP right now, which means that AMD will be facing some serious competition — not just from rivals Intel and Nvidia, but also from its own range. As a result, the RX 9060 is unlikely to fly off the shelves, but this could spell good news for its pricing.
Nvidia priced the RTX 5050 at $249, and it can be picked up for as much. If AMD aims for a similar price point — perhaps even $239 — that’d be ideal. We’d finally have something closer to a true budget-friendly GPU available for gamers, with what I expect to be alright 1080p performance at under $250. Above $250, the GPU frankly doesn’t make a lot of sense, with the RTX 5060 available for $299.
Assuming that AMD aims to be competitive here, the RX 9060 could be more than just a budget GPU. It could be a cheap GPU. Given the current state of things, that’s exactly what the market needs, and I’m all for it.
This is one of those GPUs where the price will truly decide its fate, and I’m really hoping that we’ll get a solid value GPU instead of something overpriced.