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As you may already know, AMD officially launched the Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT last week. Moreover, recent leaks surfacing on the internet have provided details regarding the soon-to-be RX 9060 XT. If you’ve been watching the GPU scene for quite some time now, you’ve probably noticed that budget options usually have much higher demand than the rest. Therefore, they represent a massive chunk of the market share.
Nowadays, games are massive, and many modern titles push well beyond the 8GB VRAM limits. Fortunately for us, it has been confirmed through EEC listings that the RX 9060 XT will come in two variants: 8GB and 16GB configurations. It will also have a memory speed of 20Gbps and a 128-bit memory bus, two DisplayPort 2.1 ports, and an HDMI port. The card also has a single 8-pin power connector and a minimum 500W PSU requirement.
It’s setting the stage to potentially challenge or even be the final nail in the coffin for the RTX 50-series offerings in the budget segment. Moreover, if priced appropriately, it can be a really attractive value offer for PC gamers. When the release dates of the new GPUs are just around the corner, the RX 9060 XT might be the underdog that shakes things up a bit. Keep reading to find out why.
How Can 16GB VRAM Make a Difference?
Starting from a technical standpoint, one of its headlining features is that RX 9060 XT has 16GB of VRAM. Most modern AAA titles tend to surpass the limits of 8GB VRAM, indicating that an 8GB card would work decently now, but in a handful of years, or worse yet, today’s most demanding scenarios would cause trouble. I’ve noticed that the extra headroom makes a difference during the higher-resolution renders and textures.
Referring to previous benchmarks of different GPUs, it appears apparent that cards with more VRAM outperform cards with lower VRAM in terms of handling intense workloads. Overall, it can make a great difference when you’re playing the latest AAA titles.
How Does the RX 9060 XT Compare Against Its Competitors?
As things stand now, AMD appears to dominate the GPU market’s middle segment, Intel continues to dominate the low-end market, and Nvidia is still the clear leader in the high-end. However, AMD is trying to compete with Intel and might dethrone it with more reasonably priced GPU offerings since additional RX 9000-series cards are still coming.
After all, AMD mentioned last year that the company would focus more on midrange and affordable GPUs and would not be that interested in aiming for the premium market. In comparison, Nvidia’s new GPUs are announced to keep things tight with just 8GB of VRAM, which pretty much sticks with what we’ve seen in previous generations.
While the RTX 5060 even gets a few hundred extra CUDA cores over its older version, it still clings to that 8GB VRAM. Similarly, the RTX 5050 is even more of a carryover from the past, resembling the RTX 3050 in almost every way, including its 8GB of GDDR6 memory. On the other hand, the RX 9060 XT’s 16GB VRAM really gives it a leg up over Nvidia’s upcoming budget options, which seem stuck in an 8GB world, which could make it a very attractive proposition for gamers on a budget.
What Pricing Can We Expect for the RX 9060 XT?
Now, for the RX 9060 XT, based on past leaks and our current understanding of the RX 9070 cards, we can draw some logical conclusions about it even though we know practically nothing about it except a few things. To begin with, the leaks that surfaced back in December about the 9070 and 9070 XT turned out to be largely true, accurately predicting AMD’s latest FSR 4 upscaling technology, its name change, and an upgrade to RDNA 4.
Moreover, the price claims for both new GPUs were made in those leaks, which was also true. The same leaker revealed that the upcoming GPUs, most likely the RX 9060 XT, will cost around $349. At $349, the card would be $200 less expensive than the RX 9070 series, which seems like a very big price difference. That said, I take these leaks with a grain of salt. Early leaks often capture an optimistic approach that doesn’t always translate into the final retail price. Therefore, I think a price closer to $399 feels a bit more fair and reasonable.
Final Thoughts
AMD is making huge efforts to lead the way in the budget GPU market. While Intel’s latest budget GPUs offer decent performance, I don’t expect them to outperform AMD’s upcoming releases. Team Red has long been a strong player in the low to mid-range market and aims to regain its position after minor missteps in the last generation. With these new cards around the card and considering Nvidia’s focus on AI and high-end GPUs, the gaming industry has never had a better moment.
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[Hardware Reviewer]
After many years of exploiting various pieces of hardware, Abdul Hannan now serves as an editor at Tech4Gamers. He’s been in the PC hardware reviewing industry for almost a decade, and his staff of passionate geeks and reviewers is second to none.
Abdul Hannan is constantly seeking new methods, you will always see him running into New Computer Courses to improve the performance of his computer components since he is an ardent overclocker. He is well-known for providing the most extensive and unbiased analysis of the newest and greatest hardware for PC gaming, including everything from GPUs to PSUs.
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