The first synthetic benchmark results for AMD’s upcoming Radeon RX 9060 XT have surfaced, offering an early glimpse at the performance potential of Team Red’s new mid-range contender. Tested on a system featuring a Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor and X870E motherboard, the 16GB variant of the Navi 44-based GPU demonstrates significant generational improvements over its predecessor, though questions remain about its exact market positioning.
Breaking Down the Early Numbers
In Geekbench tests (which notably lack support for modern gaming features like ray tracing), the RX 9060 XT 16GB posted scores of:
- 109,315 points in OpenCL
- 124,251 points in Vulkan
These results position the new card approximately 25-31% faster than the RX 7600 XT it’s meant to replace. However, the benchmarks also reveal it still trails AMD’s current RX 7700 XT in raw compute performance – potentially complicating AMD’s claims that the 9060 XT slots between the 7700 XT and 7800 XT in performance hierarchy.
What These Results Really Mean
While synthetic benchmarks provide limited insight, several key takeaways emerge:
- Memory Advantage – The 16GB configuration should help with modern games’ increasing VRAM demands
- Architectural Efficiency – The performance uplift suggests RDNA 4 improvements in compute throughput
- Positioning Questions – The gap between this and higher-end RDNA 3 models needs clarification
Industry analysts caution that these synthetic tests don’t reflect real-world gaming scenarios where factors like:
- Ray tracing performance
- AMD’s FSR upscaling
- Driver optimization
…will ultimately determine the card’s value proposition.
The Bigger Picture
AMD faces significant challenges in positioning the RX 9060 XT effectively:
- At $349 (16GB), it must justify its price over discounted last-gen options
- The 8GB model ($299) risks being obsolete sooner given VRAM trends
- NVIDIA’s RTX 5060 Ti looms as direct competition at similar price points
Also, Read
- NVIDIA’s RTX 5060 Driver Controversy – Why You Should Wait for Reviews
- AMD Unveils Radeon RX 9060 XT – $299 8GB and $349 16GB Models to Challenge NVIDIA
- AMD’s RX 9060 XT 8GB Defense Sparks Debate – Is 8GB Enough in 2025?
The true test will come when independent reviews publish next week, particularly examining:
- 1080p and 1440p gaming performance
- Power efficiency and thermals
- How FSR 4 implementation compares to DLSS
Source: Geekbench OpenCl, Vulkan