Gameplay Performance
On this page, we will look at the standard gameplay performance without enabling any special extended ray tracing options. However, note that several games we are using have ‘always on’ ray-traced calculated lights, and thus are ray-traced ‘always on’ games; in the mix, we will point those games out below. Those games below are: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Doom: The Dark Ages, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Kingdom Come Deliverance II, and Star Wars Outlaws. Otherwise, all games are tested in native resolution as well as upscaled performance using the relative “quality” upscaling option.
We are also focusing primarily on the 1440p gameplay experience below for the Radeon RX 9060 XT, but some games we have also thrown tougher quality settings at 1080p, especially on the ray tracing only page. Since we are testing at 1440p, instead of starving the cards of performance and creating a bottleneck, we are lowering game settings as necessary to create a ‘playable experience’, something more reasonable, and looking at what real-world gamers would actually utilize in the games at 1440p, as well as some tougher settings.
Note that every video card being used for comparison is a factory overclocked video card: the Radeon RX 9060 XT, the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti, and the Radeon RX 7600 XT. Only the Intel Arc B580 LE is a reference clocked card.
Alan Wake 2
In Alan Wake 2, we are running at 1440p and the highest game settings. The XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is able to run at nearly 60FPS average, just under, at native resolution, for this game’s style, which is playable. When we add FSR Upscaling, that is around 90FPS. Comparing performance, the first thing we note is that the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is on par, yes, on par exactly with the factory overclocked Radeon RX 7700 XT in this game at 1440p. In fact, the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is actually 6% faster than the factory overclocked GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB video card. Intel Arc B580 outpaces the 7600 XT. Compared to the previous generation Radeon RX 7600 XT, the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is 52% faster.
Black Myth: Wukong
In Black Myth: Wukong, this game is very demanding, and so we are going to show two different resolutions, and the game settings are turned down from the maximum to playable levels. Here we have the game at 1440p but set on the “Medium” quality setting, which is playable above 60FPS on the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB. However, in this game, it does seem to be a bit slower on the Radeon RX 9060 XT, as it sits 6% below the Radeon RX 7700 XT and very close to the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti at 3%, but, the game is playable on the Radeon RX 9060 XT at Medium here, and with Upscaling it’s way up there over 100FPS. The XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is 44% faster than the Radeon RX 7600 XT.
We wanted to run the game at a higher setting, so we lowered the resolution to 1080p to enable “High” quality setting in the game. We can see that the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is very playable at “High” 1080p, giving us 75FPS average at native resolution. When the game quality settings are pushed up, the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is now on par with the Radeon RX 7700 XT performance; it seems raising the quality settings brought the Radeon RX 9060 XT up to the RX 7700 XT level. The GeForce RTX 5060 Ti is only a couple of FPS faster on average, so they are overall very close. The XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is 47% faster than the Radeon RX 7600 XT, and the Intel Arc B580 falls off a cliff when raising the game settings.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a new game we are adding to the mix, and for this game, we are using a manual run-through. This game uses the UE5 engine, and Lumen, and enables ‘always on’ ray-tracing, so it is very demanding. We are first testing at 1440p above, but we have lowered the in-game quality settings to what is playable settings, which is “Medium” quality at 1440p on the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB. The XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB can give us nearly 60FPS average at Medium at 1440p, it’s very on par with the factory overclocked Radeon RX 7700 XT. GeForce RTX 5060 Ti is much faster though, in this game, the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is 10% slower. The XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is 39% faster than the Radeon RX 7600 XT.
We also wanted to push this game by enabling higher quality settings, so we lowered the resolution down to 1080p and enabled the “Epic” quality setting. At Epic, the game is not playable without Upscaling, but it does show still that the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is on par with Radeon RX 7700 XT, and now it is only 7% behind the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti. The XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is 35% faster than the Radeon RX 7600 XT.
Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 had some interesting results, we quadrupled our testing here and consistently found the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB to perform under both the Radeon RX 7700 XT and GeForce RTX 5060 Ti at 1440p “Ultra” settings. The XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB was about 5% slower than both. However, that said, the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is very much playable at native resolution, running at 75FPS average, and 90FPS with FSR Upscaling, so really not a problem. The XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB was 41% faster than the Radeon RX 7600 XT, so that’s pretty big; it takes the game from not playable on the 7600 XT to very playable on the Radeon RX 9060 XT.
Doom: The Dark Ages
We are also adding Doom: The Dark Ages to the mix as well, another newly released game, and perfect to test these larger VRAM capacity video cards. This game uses the Vulkan API and idTech 8 engine, and is also yet another ‘always on’ ray tracing game, so very demanding at high resolutions. At 1440p, we dropped the quality settings down to “Ultra”, which felt playable on the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB, even though it wasn’t averaging 60FPS, it was still smooth and enjoyable.
In this game, the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is actually 9% faster than the Radeon RX 7700 XT! Must be that better Ray Tracing perf? It’s close to the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti, about 7% slower. The XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is also a massive 80% faster than the Radeon RX 7600 XT, and we know it’s not a VRAM problem since it has 16GB, so this must be due to the RT performance on the 7600 XT. Intel Arc B580 is faster than the 7600 XT, and we know it has stronger RT performance.
Horizon Forbidden West
Horizon Forbidden West is very sensitive to VRAM capacity, but all the cards here seemed to do well with their VRAM buffers, even the 12GB Radeon RX 7700 XT, at 1440p. The king of the hill here is the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB, with a playable framerate at 76FPS at native resolution. It beats every single video card here, it is 7% faster than the Radeon RX 7700 XT, 14% faster than the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti, and 56% faster than the Radeon RX 7600 XT.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Two things about Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: it is very sensitive to VRAM capacity above Medium, and second, it is another one of these new ray tracing ‘always on’ games. The Radeon RX 7700 XT experienced some sort of perhaps VRAM limitation at “Supreme” settings at 1440p, and crapped out on performance, we just couldn’t get it to work above 30FPS. We think the 12GB of VRAM on board is hard cutting that card on Supreme at 1440p. However, the larger 16GB VRAM buffer cards handle it just fine, and surprisingly, the Intel Arc B580, which is also 12GB. /shrug
The XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB runs this game GREAT, though at “Supreme” quality settings at 1440p with 85FPS average, gameplay is super smooth. The GeForce RTX 5060 Ti is faster in this game, though the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is just 5% slower, though, very close to be honest. The XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is a massive 69% (nice) faster than the Radeon RX 7600 XT, again, this must be due to the improved RT performance this generation.
To give the Radeon RX 7700 XT a fighting chance, we lowered the game to “Medium” settings at 1440p as well. Now we can see that the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is 7% faster than the Radeon RX 7700 XT, and 76% faster than the Radeon RX 7600, wow. We can also see that at Medium, the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB and GeForce RTX 5060 Ti are neck and neck.
Kingdom Come Deliverance II
Kingdom Come Deliverance II uses CryEngine, and is yet another game that has its lights calculated with ray tracing at all times, so RT is a big component of performance here. In this game, we are running the game hard at “Ultra” settings and 1440p. At these settings, the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is not playable without Upscaling. We see that the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB and Radeon RX 7700 XT have exactly the same performance. The XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is 14% slower than the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti. The XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is 41% faster than the Radeon RX 7600 XT.
If we lowered the game to Medium quality, then the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is very playable at native resolution 1440p. However, the Radeon RX 7700 XT picks up steam at the lower settings. The XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is 7% slower than the Radeon RX 7700 XT and 12% slower than the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti. Intel Arc B580 actually kind of plays catch-up here, surprisingly, but it does have strong RT performance for its class. The XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is 37% faster than the Radeon RX 7600 XT.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
In Stalker 2, we wanted to start by pushing the cards really hard at 1440p and “Epic” quality, to see what would happen. Well, the game isn’t playable without Upscaling, so below we’ll drop the game to Medium in the next graph. However, at Epic, we can see that the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB and Radeon RX 7700 XT are equal in performance, and it’s about 9% below the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti. The XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is 35% faster than the Radeon RX 7600 XT.
That’s more like it, when we drop to “Medium” at 1440p, the game is playable at 60FPS average on the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB now. It is a bit slower than the Radeon RX 7700 XT, though, by 5%, and 10% slower than the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti. It is, though, 34% faster than the Radeon RX 7600 XT.
Star Wars Outlaws
Star Wars Outlaws is another UE5 game that has ‘always on’ ray tracing. We wanted to push the cards hard, trying “Ultra” at 1440p, but as you can see, without Upscaling it isn’t playable, but with Upscaling it is at 70FPS, so that’s nice. The XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is on par with the Radeon RX 7700 XT, and very close to GeForce RTX 5060 Ti performance, only 6% slower. The XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is 60% faster than the Radeon RX 7600 XT.
When we lower the game to “Medium,” now we notice that the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is playable at 1440p native resolution, and very smooth with Upscaling over 90FPS. We now see the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB overtake the Radeon RX 7700 XT, but it is still slightly slower than the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti by 6%. The XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is 55% faster than the Radeon RX 7600 XT.