AMD quietly announces Radeon RX 9060 alongside new Adrenalin driver — new entry-level GPU is for 'select system integrators only'
A new RX 9000-series graphics card for prebuilts, not builders
In a press release obtained by Tom's Hardware today, AMD announced the Radeon RX 9060, a new entry-level GPU that is said to be optimized for 1080p gaming. Notably, the new graphics card will not be available for purchase through retail channels, but will only be available with PCs offered by "select system integrators."
AMD hasn’t shared the full specifications of the RX 9060 yet, but it will be based on the same RDNA 4 architecture shared by the RX 9070 XT and the RX 9060 XT. This GPU has 28 RDNA 4 compute units, down from 32 on the RX 9060 XT.
Assuming clocks similar to those of the RX 9060 XT, the RX 9060 could deliver up to 22.43 TFLOPS of shader power, down about 12.5% from the RX 9060 XT. It will feature 8GB of GDDR6 memory running at as-yet-undisclosed speeds and will offer support for FSR 4 upscaling.
AMD's decision to make the RX 9060 available only through system integrators (i.e., in prebuilt systems) seems like an unfortunate one. Even with only 8GB of VRAM, this product could have been an appealing upgrade for system builders on tight budgets.
RX 9060 XT 8GB cards are currently available for about $250 to $300, depending on the retailer, and an even cheaper RDNA 4 card could have been compelling. Without an official MSRP, however, we have only a limited idea of how the RX 9060 would have been positioned in the Radeon RX 9000-series product family.
AMD also plans to release a new Adrenalin driver update for its range of GPUs that expands support for a handful of newly released games. Driver version 25.8.1 will soon be available for download and offers optimized gameplay in Mafia: The Old Country, Mecha Break, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, and the newly updated Unreal Engine 5 release of Valorant. The latest release is also said to offer support for the upcoming Battlefield 6 open beta, which is expected to roll out later this week.
While AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 (FSR 4) is officially supported by a limited number of games, the latest update also expands support for the upscaling tech to more titles. These include Cyberpunk 2077, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, Mafia: The Old Country, Arena Breakout: Infinite, Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, Wreckfest 2, and Lies of P.
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The limited availability of FSR 4 stands in stark contrast to Nvidia’s latest DLSS 4 upscaling, which is currently supported in over 125 games and applications. While AMD is clearly working on expanding FSR 4 support, the technology is restricted to the company's latest Radeon RX 9000 series graphics cards, which further limits its reach. Still, it's good to see the technology come to more titles.
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Kunal Khullar is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. He is a long time technology journalist and reviewer specializing in PC components and peripherals, and welcomes any and every question around building a PC.
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thestryker In a more consumer friendly universe there wouldn't have been an 8GB 9060 XT, the 16GB would cost $300-325 and these $225-250.Reply
At this point I'm somewhat curious if the next generation of GPUs will leverage multiple manufacturing nodes again. It seems unlikely that high end will survive another go on an N5 based node, but the lower SKUs already have fairly small die. While I don't trust the big players to do so it should be possible to make a lot of the smaller budget oriented GPUs on an N5 based node and provide good volume with decent prices. I'd love to see a return of the $200 card for budget gaming and certainly for nothing at the very least $300+ to have 8GB VRAM (I would rather nothing new did period). -
King_V I've definitely convinced myself I need to get my hands on one of these.Reply
Never picked up one of those low profile RX 6500 non-XT OEM cards, but I did snag an RX 5300. Also, got one of those RX 5600 OEM models that popped up almost 2 years ago. -
usertests Replythestryker said:In a more consumer friendly universe there wouldn't have been an 8GB 9060 XT, the 16GB would cost $300-325 and these $225-250.RX 9060 XT 8GB cards are currently available for about $250 to $300, depending on the retailer
9060 XT 8GB could fall to $250, with all of its compute units intact. But I haven't seen it near there except for this one. I checked Newegg and they're at $300.
They should definitely make 100% of full yields into 9060 XT 16GB and send others to become 9060 non-XT (87.5% CUs). That could be what's happening here.
I want to see a 75W low profile card based on Navi 44. This isn't that. RX 9050 might not even be that if it has to match the RTX 5050 (using 130W). That leaves RX 9040. I pray 4 9040 8GB.King_V said:I've definitely convinced myself I need to get my hands on one of these.
Never picked up one of those low profile RX 6500 non-XT OEM cards, but I did snag an RX 5300. Also, got one of those RX 5600 OEM models that popped up almost 2 years ago. -
Notton AMD wasting perfectly good silicon on 9060XT 8GB and it not selling well was hilarious, gotta admit.Reply
Frankly, Azor is really bad at his job. -
thisisaname Did they just rebadge the not selling RX 9060 XT 8GB cards in the hope they would sell?Reply -
qwertymac93 The Navi 44 die is so small the yields are probably too good to justify bringing a cut-down model to retail. Better to dump the defects onto the pre-built market in batches at a discount.Reply -
usertests Reply
No. 9060 XT 8GB cards have all 32 compute units and 20.1 Gbps memory. Specs other than capacity are identical to the 9060 XT 16GB, except for the TDP which is 10W lower.thisisaname said:Did they just rebadge the not selling RX 9060 XT 8GB cards in the hope they would sell?
This 9060 non-XT has only 28 compute units according to Tom's Hardware, and slower 18 Gbps memory according to VideoCardz. -
thisisaname Reply
Could they nerf it in the firmware?usertests said:No. 9060 XT 8GB cards have all 32 compute units and 20.1 Gbps memory. Specs other than capacity are identical to the 9060 XT 16GB, except for the TDP which is 10W lower.
This 9060 non-XT has only 28 compute units according to Tom's Hardware, and slower 18 Gbps memory according to VideoCardz. -
usertests Reply
Possibly, but I don't think they would do this either with cards rotting on the shelves, or the cards sent to system integrators.thisisaname said:Could they nerf it in the firmware?
Recalling 9060 XT 8GB already in stores/warehouses to apply a firmware of death = additional money spent just to make it worth less.
For the unbought 9060 XT 8GBs, all they have to do is stop producing more, and/or let the prices migrate down, until they're gone. It's the same silicon as non-XT. Disabling 4 CUs and nerfing the memory speed would simply make the card less valuable. Let the market decide the price. Shift more/all production to the 16GB model.
For system integrators, same argument. Plus some here have argued that the 9060 XT 8GB exists and is named that way simply to fool unsuspecting pre-built buyers. So removing the "XT" removes the opportunity to trick people.
A 28 CU 9060 non-XT card should exist, because there will always be some dies that don't have all 32 CUs working or hitting the correct clock speeds. They can never become the XT. -
Pemalite Reply
Yeah, I would buy one for my slim Core 2 Quad Q9650 PC, which currently has the Geforce 1030 GDDR5 single slot, low profile card.King_V said:I've definitely convinced myself I need to get my hands on one of these.
Never picked up one of those low profile RX 6500 non-XT OEM cards, but I did snag an RX 5300. Also, got one of those RX 5600 OEM models that popped up almost 2 years ago.
For almost 20 years it's been a reliable PC that can even do basic gaming... But a new GPU might breathe some new life into it.
The 6500 was always a bad buy for that rig due to the nerfed/older PCI-E lanes...