Conclusion
The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT is a $399 suggested pricing premium Radeon RX 9060 XT from SAPPHIRE with 16GB of VRAM, higher TDP, and the highest clock-frequency while gaming we’ve seen yet on RX 9060 XT. The video card features SAPPHIRE’s Tri-X cooling technology with a triple-fan configuration, large ARGB strip, and a robust build that is also quiet while gaming.
In our review today, we put the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT through its paces, focusing primarily on the 1440p gameplay experience, but also testing some 1080p as well. We played games at the highest settings and then turned the settings down to playable levels. We used a mix of ray-traced games, and additionally enabled other RT features, and of course, FSR Upscaling as well, to find out what kind of experience the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT delivers. We compared it against a factory overclocked GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB video card, as well as a factory overclocked Radeon RX 7700 XT, which became very relevant as a comparison.
Performance
In Alan Wake 2, we found that the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT allows a playable 1440p experience at native resolution and the highest game settings smoothly. Enabling low ray tracing is demanding, but with upscaling enabled, it is viable, otherwise, you’ll want to keep ray tracing off at 1440p. Black Myth: Wukong is a very demanding game, and you will have to turn down the quality settings in this game at 1440p and 1080p. At 1440p, you can play very smoothly with medium game settings, and at 1080p, it plays very well at high quality settings, but ray tracing is out of the question.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is very demanding, and as such, to play well at 1440p, you’ll be dropping the quality setting down to medium for a native resolution performance level. If you opt for upscaling at 1440p then you will be able to run at higher settings. At 1080p, this game can run smoothly at one quality level below epic natively, or epic with upscaling. Cyberpunk 2077 runs very well on the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT, providing a native resolution playable experience at 1440p on ultra settings. Ray tracing is intense, but it can actually do it using the low ray tracing option at 1440p; the performance is there for that. Otherwise, 1080p at ultra ray tracing also works.
Doom: The Dark Ages plays very well on the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT with playable performance at 1440p and ultra settings. If you need the FPS, you will be enabling upscaling, though. Horizon Forbidden West plays extremely well at 1440p native resolution, no need for upscaling here unless you just want it on. Indiana Jones played surprisingly well at 1440p native resolution and the supreme quality. Thanks to the 16GB of VRAM on board, it is able to play above medium settings, where 8GB cards cannot. It has both the performance and the chops to handle it.
Kingdom Come Deliverance II was very demanding at ultra 1440p, so for this game, you’ll want to lower the quality setting to at least high quality at 1440p for a native resolution experience, though upscaling can help. Stalker 2 is also very demanding, you can play at 1440p, but you’ll need to lower the game settings to high or medium for a native resolution experience. If you use FSR, you can go ahead and use the high-quality setting option at 1440p. Star Wars Outlaws also did surprisingly well, but you will have to lower settings at 1440p down from ultra, to either high or medium for a smooth experience.
When we compare the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT to the competition, we find that it aligns with Radeon RX 7700 XT performance quite well. Remember, the Radeon RX 7700 XT we are using is a factory overclocked video card, but the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT can keep pace with it.
When compared to the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB, performance is more mixed. A lot of the time, you’ll notice the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT trailing the RTX 5060 Ti. However, when it does trail, it isn’t by large amounts, it’s under 10%. There are still some games, mainly the ones that use native heavy ray tracing, that just perform a bit better on the RTX 5060 Ti. However, the Radeon RX 9060 XT is catching up; it’s not far off, and in some places, it’s just as fast and delivers the same gameplay experience.
The Real Deal
The focus here is clear: to us, the Radeon RX 9060 XT is a better Radeon RX 7700 XT. It replaces it, but it does so with much less power, more VRAM, and most importantly of all, a cheaper price point! This point needs to be the focus, and the main takeaway about the Radeon RX 9060 XT. It is offering performance at the level of the previous generation RDNA 3 Radeon RX 7700 XT, which has, well, more of everything in terms of compute units and such, and a 192-bit memory bus as well.
It is very impressive to us, a feat of engineering really, that the Radeon RX 9060 XT can match Radeon RX 7700 XT performance using less of everything, that really does show generational improvement with RDNA 4. On top of that, it is doing so while consuming a lot less power than the Radeon RX 7700 XT. In our testing, the Radeon RX 7700 XT consumed 246W, while the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT is sitting here at just 182W, yet performs just as fast. On top of that, the Radeon RX 9060 XT also gives you more VRAM, 16GB versus the Radeon RX 7700 XT’s 12GB. Finally, it’s launching at a cheaper MSRP of $349, compared to the Radeon RX 7700 XT’s launch MSRP of $449. So yes, the Radeon RX 9060 XT is a better Radeon RX 7700 XT for 2025.
You can also see the comparison to the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti yourself, from our data, but it is competitive. There are places where the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti is faster, mostly in those titles that use native ray tracing now, but otherwise, the two cards are competing with each other. The main point is the price difference. The 16GB version of the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti is much more expensive than the 16GB Radeon RX 9060 XT.
Final Points
The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT is a fantastic card in our testing. It does have a price premium with a suggested price of $399, but we would argue that this is still a better value compared to the more expensive 16GB GeForce RTX 5060 Ti, which is also not MSRP. The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB is, after all, cheaper and competes well with it.
In our testing, the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT impressed us with its out-of-box factory overclock and real-world in-game clock frequency while gaming. We recently reviewed another Radeon RX 9060 XT-based video card, and the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT ended up slightly besting it in terms of the real-world in-game clock frequency while gaming. The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT’s clock speed was a bit higher, averaging 3200MHz while gaming. We were also able to overclock it to peak at 3300MHz, which is pretty amazing for the clock speed while gaming.
The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT performed well in terms of cooling, keeping the GPU and hot spot temperatures very cool. The fans were not loud, the large triple-fan configuration keeps the GPU cool. We noticed that the fan speeds were able to stay at relatively low RPMs and percentages while gaming, so it ran very quietly. It is a big video card, so you will have to make sure it fits your build, but that size allows it to maintain quiet operation and good temperatures. It also has a very appealing RGB strip and an ARGB header, which expands functionality for this video card. We also have to mention the quick fan disconnect option and the fact that SAPPHIRE will send replacement fans to you should they fail, so that’s good news.
Overall, the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT will cost above AMD reference MSRP; it’s a premium price, but also offers a premium Radeon RX 9060 XT experience out of the box. Even at this price point, it is a value compared to the competition based on its performance it delivers against a factory overclocked GeForce RTX 5060 Ti we used for comparison. It’s still ultimately cheaper in price than 16GB GeForce RTX 5060 Ti’s, and it also offers 16GB of VRAM, and now FSR 4 is finally catching up as well.
If you are in the market for a Radeon RX 9060 XT, pay attention closely to pricing. If the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT is near its suggested pricing, it is a good value, but if it is well over the suggested pricing, you might want to give pause and look around. If you ultimately decide this is the card for you, you’ll be able to enjoy a 1440p gameplay experience with it at medium to high to, maybe even ultra settings, depending on the game and if upscaling is used.
Based on our performance results, gameplay experience delivered, highest attainable clock frequency while gaming out of the box, great cooling and quietness, ARGB options, VRAM at this price point, this reward is well earned.
