What just happened? A non-XT version of the Radeon RX 9060 will likely be the last member of AMD's desktop RX 9000 lineup. Positioning a new product just below the $300 8GB 9060 XT might have allowed Team Red to undercut Nvidia's RTX 5060, but AMD has instead made its new entry-level card exclusive to system integrators.
Tom's Hardware recently acquired an AMD press release formally announcing the standard variant of the Radeon RX 9060. While some specifications remain unclear, the upcoming GPU is unsurprisingly slightly cut down from the 9060 XT, with the same amount of VRAM.
Notably, the company confirmed it will release the card only in pre-built PCs from select manufacturers. It remains unclear why AMD won't sell the standard RX 9060 directly to retail channels, but supply could be a factor. Other recent AMD products, such as the 9070 XT, have rarely, if ever, been available at MSRP.
The move could cede the sub-$250 GPU market to Nvidia's recently released RTX 5050. Prior rumors suggested that AMD might be developing an RX 9050, but that GPU could also be restricted to system integrators.
Compared to the 8GB RX 9060 XT (not to be confused with the 16GB model), the standard 9060 cuts the number of RDNA 4 compute units from 32 to 28 while maintaining a similar 8GB 128-bit GDDR6 VRAM pool. Although the company hasn't revealed other specifications, such as clock speed and power draw, VideoCardz claims that its boost clock has declined slightly, from 3,130 MHz to 2,990 MHz, with memory speeds dropping to 18 Gbps.
While budget-minded customers might complain after seeing yet another 8GB GPU, AMD has positioned the standard RX 9060 for 1080p gaming. Furthermore, company spokesman Frank Azor previously admitted that today's 8GB graphics cards are primarily for esports titles, which are the most popular.
Still, our tests show that adding more VRAM to entry-level GPUs makes them sufficient for AAA games. In today's unusual market, Intel's $250 12GB Arc B580 remains a unique value proposition. Although the GPU is rarely available at that price, Newegg has a couple at the time of writing, so it's still worth staying on the lookout for one.
AMD has not yet disclosed a release date for the Radeon RX 9060, nor have PC vendors revealed prices for systems that ship with the GPU.