Gigabyte Radeon RX 9060 XT GPU Review: AMD's RTX 5060 Rival Debuts
Overclocking The Radeon RX 9060 XT
Similar to previous-gen Radeons, when the GPU is boosting, frequencies and voltages dynamically scale up or down based on the GPU's workload and temperatures at the time. That frequency and voltage curve can be altered to increase performance, save power, or sometimes both if you tune the settings accordingly.The tuning options built into AMD's driver suite give users the ability to manually alter frequencies, voltages, fan speeds, and the max power target -- using percentages or finer-grained numerical sliders. Users can also opt to use various preset modes that slant the VFC in favor of efficiency or higher performance.
Gigabyte Radeon RX 9060 XT Stock Hardware Health Data
The tuning options built into AMD's Radeon Software suite offer manual controls, along with an automatic GPU overclocking button. The auto memory overclocking button available on previous gen AMD Radeon cards was not present.
As is the case when overclocking any GPU, finding the highest stable memory and GPU clocks, at the lowest voltage possible, while simultaneously increasing the max power target and keeping temperatures low, is what will yield the best overall overclocking results.
Gigabyte Radeon RX 9060 XT Overclocked Hardware Health Data
At its stock settings, the Gigabyte Radeon RX 9060 XT Gaming OC's GPU boost clocks will hove around the 3.1GHz range, while gaming (give or take) with maximum boost clocks of approximately 3.2GHz, at least according to the metrics reported by AMD's drivers. When running in this stock configuration our card hit a modest GPU temp of only 53°C. With some tweaking, we found we could increase the GPU clock offset by 105MHz, with the power target increased by its maximum of 10% with a .1mv reduction in GPU voltage. We also manually increased the memory clock by 200MHz and bumped up the fan curve to keep temperatures lower than stock.
While we had the card overclocked, we saw GPU boost frequencies in the 3.3GHz range, with a nearly 2.8GHz memory clock and super-low 43°C GPU temp, though that was with the fans running at about 2x their normal speed. At its overclocked settings, we saw some decent performance increases, in the neighborhood of 5%. With some additional tweaking, we suspect there's a bit more performance headroom available under the 9060 XT's hood.
Total System Power Consumption Tests
We'd also like to cover a couple of final data points regarding power consumption and acoustics before we wrap up. Throughout all of our benchmarking and testing, we monitored noise output and tracked how much power the test system was consuming using a power meter. Our goal was to give you an idea as to how much power each GPU used while idle and also while under a heavy workload. These power numbers were captured during MLPerf and a Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered run at 4K...
Although its got somewhat higher power consumption that its competitors, noise isn't a concern with the Gigabyte Radeon RX 9060 XT Gaming OC at all. The card's fans are dead silent at idle, because they spin down completely when temperatures are low. In its stock config, the fans typically hovered around 1,700 RPM under long sustained loads, which produced a dull whir that wasn't particularly noticeable over our test system's PSU fans and CPU cooler. And while overclocked, the fans hovered at around 2,400 RPM with the default fan curve, which had a minimal impact on noise output. Overall, we'd consider the Gigabyte Radeon RX 9060 XT Gaming OC we tested very quiet and noise shouldn't be an issue for most gamers, especially in a closed chassis.
Gigabyte Radeon RX 9060 XT Review Summary And Conclusion
Our thoughts on the new Radeon RX 9060 XT are somewhat mixed. At its MSRP of $350, the 16GB Radeon RX 9060 XT is a good value. If we focus strictly on gaming, the Radeon RX 9060 is generally stronger than the GeForce RTX 5060 8GB and it often competes favorably with the higher-priced GeForce RTX 5060 Ti. In AI / ML and the creator workloads, however, the GeForce RTX 50 series cards generally perform better. The latest GeForces use less power too. Should actual, real-world street prices land well north of MSRP – as they have for the majority of recent GPU releases – then the Radeon RX 9060 XT’s value proposition obviously changes.
If you’re in the market for a GPU in the $350 - $400ish price range, there’s a lot to consider. Though we’re not of the opinion that you should avoid 8GB cards at all costs in 2025, opting for a modern GPU with 16GB of memory is obviously the better choice and should result in better overall performance down the road. That said, if you’re willing to turn down image-quality settings (particularly ray tracing), some previous-gen cards offer strong performance in this price range, though they’ll lack some of the latest features. Of course, if it’s at all possible to afford a bit more on a GPU purchase, and opt for a GPU further up the stack, there’s a lot more performance to be had. At this point in time, a Radeon RX 9070 or GeForce RTX 5070 are about double the price of a Radeon RX 9060 XT, so they’re not feasible alternatives for most people. But dang do they offer significantly more performance, especially in the most demanding titles. A 16GB GeForce RTX 5060 Ti, however, which can currently be had for about $480 is probably worth the additional investment if you can swing it. It doesn’t beat the 9060 XT across the board but does have more well-rounded performance, if you do more than gaming.
If you’ve got strict budget and absolutely must stay below the $400 mark though, the Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB is going to be a solid choice. It’ll have more legs than the similarly-priced GeForce RTX 5060 8GB moving forward and it’s a significant upgrade over previous-gen cards in its class.
If you’re in the market for a GPU in the $350 - $400ish price range, there’s a lot to consider. Though we’re not of the opinion that you should avoid 8GB cards at all costs in 2025, opting for a modern GPU with 16GB of memory is obviously the better choice and should result in better overall performance down the road. That said, if you’re willing to turn down image-quality settings (particularly ray tracing), some previous-gen cards offer strong performance in this price range, though they’ll lack some of the latest features. Of course, if it’s at all possible to afford a bit more on a GPU purchase, and opt for a GPU further up the stack, there’s a lot more performance to be had. At this point in time, a Radeon RX 9070 or GeForce RTX 5070 are about double the price of a Radeon RX 9060 XT, so they’re not feasible alternatives for most people. But dang do they offer significantly more performance, especially in the most demanding titles. A 16GB GeForce RTX 5060 Ti, however, which can currently be had for about $480 is probably worth the additional investment if you can swing it. It doesn’t beat the 9060 XT across the board but does have more well-rounded performance, if you do more than gaming.
If you’ve got strict budget and absolutely must stay below the $400 mark though, the Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB is going to be a solid choice. It’ll have more legs than the similarly-priced GeForce RTX 5060 8GB moving forward and it’s a significant upgrade over previous-gen cards in its class.
