The Rx 9060 XT 8GB
Yes, the step sibling of the better model from AMD, and the model that made much of the tech community collectively groan. It has half the memory of the 16GB, and arguably other architecture making it worse. AMD denies this and says they are identical but the memory, but board partners have a say as well.
Part of the reason for the collective dissatisfaction is performance, but a larger part is naming. AMD has chosen to follow examples set by its dominant competitor and confuse us. Yes, sometimes following an example can be great, but when the example is one consumers hate, we are left scratching our heads.
For years NVidia has pulled a bait and switch tactic on us and gets away with it. Multiple cards have identical naming and different specs. Some have slower memory swapped in. Some have artificial limits set on them so a lower model doesn’t outperform a higher one. Super versions and Ti versions knock on the performance door of the next tier up, but money is always in play.
And that’s the example AMD choose. Both cards have the same name and in prebuilt PC’s can have either. You expect high level performance, but get a lower tier card. Money.
But what about the card?
The card itself is a pleasant surprise. Drop the XT and this meets or beats expectations. AMD has done that before with cards like the RX 7600 or RX 9070. Yes, the current gen has plain and XT flavors. This card was destined for price drops. That’s why I bought it. A recent price drop well below retail on some models almost makes this a decent card.
A full set of testing on a mid range system showed great results. Matched with a Ryzen 7 3700X, Cyberpunk in 1080P Ultra had 103 FPS and Monster Hunter Wilds had 71 with no Frame Gen . Great numbers for a mid range 1080P build. Matching it with a 12700KF with 32GB of DDR5 saw 83FPS and 76 in 1440P, respectively. Those were the lowest marks with highest ranging up to 319 in CS2. All without borrowing from system memory.
I thought this card would have no choice but to borrow in the newer, more demanding titles, but it didn’t. The only time I saw it have to borrow was in MH Wilds while trying to make it do so with the settings for another video. Steam’s new Performance Monitor. This card works great in 1080P and 1440P.
I fully expected to hate this card because I was told to by most reviewers. The fact is, I didn’t. I don’t game in 4K and I don’t push Ray Tracing to the limit in any games I play. Yes, I can see where that would show it’s deficiency, but if you are playing with full RT or in 4K, you probably aren’t looking for a budget card.
This card is fine
Yes, it should have a different name. But so should the RTX 3050 6GB, or the RTX 3060 8GB. Yes, that one does exist, so does a 2060 12GB. If this card were a RX 9060, I think half the complaints go away. As it stands, if the price drops to around 250USD, it is the price of the now available B580, and clearly beats it.
When the B580 came out, people called it a great card, but something that beats it head to head will be marred by a confusing name and a higher retail price. It’s a shame, because if this card had hit the market right, people would have loved it. The fact is, it’s a solid video card and maybe a lesson in marketing.
Click here for the video run down.
I discuss whether you may need a High End Gaming PC in the first place, here.