Conclusion
And that’s a wrap of the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB video card review. Can we just end this with the shortest conclusion ever and say: Radeon RX 9060 XT is the best GPU at MSRP $349, just buy it? Because that is what we could do, and we wouldn’t be wrong.
Performance Conclusion
We put the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB through its paces at 1440p and 1080p, testing both intensive game settings and more reasonable playable settings. We won’t go through each game here; check out the gameplay page for that information and analysis.
What we will conclude with is that the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is on par with the more expensive Radeon RX 7700 XT level of performance from the previous generation from AMD. It seems AMD has managed to provide a video card that is cheaper, uses less power, yet performs the same as the higher-tier product in the stack from the previous generation. This is the kind of progress we like to see, gen-on-gen, actual forward momentum in a new generation of graphics cards.
If we compare the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB to the factory overclocked GeForce RTX 5060 Ti, we also find very competitive performance. There were some games where the Radeon RX 9060 XT is slower, some games where it is faster, and some games, more often than not, where it is comparable in the gameplay experience provided. The fact that NVIDIA is charging you MSRP $429 for a 16GB RTX 5060 Ti, and $379 for the 8GB RTX 5060 Ti is outrageous when you consider you can get that same level of performance for MSRP $349 out of the Radeon RX 9060 XT, and it’s got 16GB of VRAM at that price! 8GB GPUs should not exist above $300 in 2025, period.
In a nutshell, the Radeon RX 7600 XT was more of a Medium-High-Ultra 1080p-level card, but the Radeon RX 9060 XT improves that and is definitely at a Medium-High-Ultra 1440p level gameplay experience video card in games. It’s on the level of the Radeon RX 7700 XT from the previous generation, in terms of performance, and thus provides a viable 1440p gameplay experience, which the 7600 XT struggled with on its performance level. With the inclusion of 16GB of VRAM, the 9060 XT also has the VRAM capacity to make the 1440p and High/Ultra gameplay experience a reality.
The ray tracing performance of the Radeon RX 9060 XT really emphasizes how far back the previous generation was with RT performance. It seems RT performance has moved up an entire tier or more with RDNA 4, compared to RDNA 3, which is incredible to see. You want the 16GB model of the Radeon RX 9060 XT. We actually think AMD shouldn’t have even bothered with an 8GB 9060 XT and just made a 9060 non-XT 8GB instead.
You will also want the 180W TBP factory overclocked model of the Radeon RX 9060 XT. It was this version, tested with the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB, that reached the performance level of the Radeon RX 7700 XT and GeForce RTX 5060 Ti. We don’t know how the 160W TBP reference clocked Radeon RX 9060 XT would compare here, but it would be slower.
We would love to get our hands on a 16GB 160W model for comparison, but it is clear in our testing that the 180W model matches an OC RTX 5060 Ti, so that is the one to get for the best level of performance. We think AMD should have just gone ahead and made the 16GB model 180W by default, and forgo the 160W 16GB version, but they did not. Oh, and can we commend AMD for providing a full-fat PCIe 5.0 x16 interface instead of constraining it to x8? What a power move, AMD, well done.
Final Points
For the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB, we can summarize it as such: It is a $100 MSRP cheaper, lower power, higher capacity VRAM replacement of the Radeon RX 7700 XT. In other words, the Radeon RX 9060 XT brings Radeon RX 7700 XT performance down from $419-$449 MSRP to a $349 price point, and reduces power cost a whole bunch, ups the VRAM, and improves ray tracing performance up a tier. We are getting gen-to-gen improvement, raised performance at this price point in 2025, and forward momentum; it is refreshing to see. The Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB is a win for gamers.
The XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is a fantastic video card, the Radeon RX 9060 XT really pulls through this generation at a great value for $349. XFX has pushed the TBP to 180W on this video card, and the factory overclock is running at the fastest in XFX’s lineup currently, so you are getting nothing but the fastest card XFX offers with this one. We like its compact size, and the fact that it uses under 200W means it is highly compatible with cases and small form factor. In fact, we think small form factor gamers will cling to this card for providing a great 1440p gameplay experience that will last for years.
The XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB also runs very cool and quiet with its large fans. We even managed to squeeze out more clock speed, though it seems to be running near its maximum potential already. This is good news, as you know, you’ll be getting the most from the Radeon RX 9060 XT performance you can out of the box. Overall, the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 16GB is an excellent value for a video card at $349 MSRP.
Based on our performance results, gameplay experience delivered, and specifications of VRAM at this price point, this reward is well earned.
