Nvidia RTX 4060 8GB vs AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GB: Which is the best for gaming?

The Nvidia RTX 4060 8 GB and RX 9060 XT 8 GB are your best bets in the sub-$300 range. While 8 GB video cards are quickly falling out of fashion, they still hold their ground surprisingly well at 1080p, as many modern titles require 5-6 GB of VRAM at this resolution. However, the newer 5060 might be too costly for some, as it generally sells in the $320-330 range. The last-gen alternative and AMD have kept prices around $250-270, which makes them more approachable.

However, should budget gamers buy Nvidia or AMD? Let's look at the performance differences and specs of the two cards and decide.

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The Nvidia RTX 4060 8GB and AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GB are capable entry-level 1080p gaming GPUs

The RX 9060 XT largely competes against the Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti (Image via AMD)

The RTX 4060 and RX 9060 XT share little in common as they're based on wildly different architectures. A look at the on-paper specs won't reveal much about performance differences.

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Specs comparison

The 4060 is based on the cut-down AD107-400 graphics chip from the last generation. You get 3,072 CUDA, 96 Tensor, and 24 RT cores. These aren't respectable numbers, as the card fails to beat the RTX 3060 Ti and RTX 2080 Super from the previous generations.

In terms of video memory, you get 8 GB of 17 Gbps GDDR6. However, it's limited to a 128-bit bus, which results in a 272 GB/s bandwidth. Moreover, the card also uses a PCIe Gen4 x8 interface, which could further limit its bandwidth on older motherboards. However, the limited on-board hardware makes the card extremely efficient: it draws just 115W under full load.

The RX 9060 XT, on the other hand, uses an RDNA 4-based Navi 44 graphics chip. You get 2,048 Stream processors, 32 RT cores, and 64 AI accelerators, making the card about 60% faster in terms of on-paper performance (25.6 TFLOPs vs 15.1 TFLOPs on the 4060). The 8 GB GDDR6 VRAM is faster but still based on a 128-bit bus, resulting in 320 GB/s of total bandwidth.

Here are the specs of the GPUs side-by-side:

Specification	NVIDIA RTX 4060 8 GB	AMD RX 9060 XT 8 GB
Architecture	Ada Lovelace (AD107-400)	RDNA 4 (Navi 44)
CUDA / Stream Processors	3,072 CUDA cores	2,048 Stream Processors
Boost Clock	~2.46 GHz (Boost)	Up to ~3.13 GHz (Boost)
Memory (VRAM)	8 GB GDDR6	8 GB GDDR6
Memory Interface Width	128-bit	128-bit
Memory Bandwidth	~272 GB/s (8 Gbps × 128-bit)	~320 GB/s (20 Gbps × 128-bit)
FP32 Compute Performance	~15.1 TFLOPs (Boost)	~25.6 TFLOPs
Ray Tracing Cores	3rd-Gen RT cores (count unspecified by spec)	32 RT cores (3rd-Gen)
AI / Tensor Cores	4th-Gen Tensor cores; ~242 INT8 TOPS	64 AI accelerators; up to 410 TOPS (INT8), 821 TOPS (INT4)
PCI Express Interface	PCIe 4.0 ×8	PCIe 5.0 ×16
Typical Board Power (TDP)	~115 W	~150 W (8 GB version)
Launch Price (MSRP)	~$299	$299 (8 GB model)

Both GPUs launched at $299. However, while the AMD GPU is maintaining its launch MSRP, the RTX 4060 can be found for slightly lower in the used market now that it's a generation old.

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Performance comparison

The RTX 4060 holds its ground pretty well in mid-2025 (Image via MSI)

Here's how performance varies between the two 8 GB video cards in some of the latest video games. The tests were conducted at 1080p with a Core i5-12400F. We sourced this data from the YouTube channel PC Support & Gaming Test.

	AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB	Nvidia RTX 4060 8 GB
Marvel's Spider-Man 2	70 FPS	54 FPS
Alan Wake 2	64 FPS	45 FPS
Assassin's Creed Shadows	69 FPS	46 FPS
Black Myth: Wukong	89 FPS	67 FPS
Cyberpunk 2077	102 FPS	74 FPS
Doom: The Dark Ages	90 FPS	62 FPS
Forza Horizon 5	148 FPS	107 FPS
Ghost of Tsushima	99 FPS	70 FPS
God of War Ragnarök	136 FPS	101 FPS
GTA 5 Enhanced Edition	131 FPS	121 FPS
Hogwarts Legacy	85 FPS	68 FPS
Horizon Forbidden West	90 FPS	78 FPS

The RX 9060 XT 8 GB is the clear winner here, taking an average lead of 33% over the RTX 4060 8 GB. The largest gains are seen in more graphics-heavy titles like Assassin’s Creed Shadows (+50%), Doom: The Dark Ages (+45%), and Alan Wake 2 (+42%). In several titles, the 4060 fails to hit 60 FPS, which is problematic for future-proofing and a smooth experience.

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While buying 8 GB video cards isn't a good idea in 2025, the RX 9060 XT 8 GB is clearly a much better option for gamers on a tighter budget. It's newer, offers faster video memory, and can play every title at 1080p 60 FPS, unlike the last-gen 4060.