Nvidia RTX 5050 vs AMD RX 9060 XT: Which is the better budget graphics card?

The Nvidia RTX 5050 8 GB and AMD RX 9060 XT 8 GB are among the latest budget gaming GPUs from the two leading graphics card makers. They are the cheapest current-gen offerings available, as they target the sub-$300 price range. While AMD launched its 8 GB competitor at $299, deals have already slashed the price to $249, making it cost about as much as the 5050.

However, should budget gamers side with Nvidia or AMD this generation? The answer is quite tricky, as Team Green has DLSS 4 with advanced ray tracing on its side, while AMD offers unprecedented performance-per-dollar. Let's learn more about the 5050 and the 9060 XT 8 GB to determine the better deal.

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The Nvidia RTX 5050 vs AMD RX 9060 XT are entry-level gaming GPUs

Nvidia Blackwell GPUs ship with the added benefit of DLSS 4-based upscaling (Image via Nvidia)

The Nvidia RTX 5050 8 GB and RX 9060 XT, despite being budget cards priced under $300, are based on different architectures. While an apples-to-apples comparison of their specs won't reveal much about the real-world differences in video games, let's look at their hardware details to get an idea of what to expect.

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Specs comparison

Don't expect much in terms of on-paper hardware from the two GPUs. While they are based on the latest architecture (Blackwell for Nvidia and RDNA 4 for AMD), both are based on cut-down graphics chips with many fewer graphics cores than high-end alternatives.

While Nvidia has bundled faster GDDR7 VRAM with much of its Blackwell lineup, the 5050 is based on older GDDR6, much like the 9060 XT 8 GB. Both come with the same buffer size: 8 GB. However, AMD's higher bandwidth, operating power draw, and rasterization potential help it achieve 25.6 TFLOPS of peak FP32 performance. Meanwhile, the RTX 5050 is about half that, rated at 13.2 TFLOPs.

Here's the detailed specs sheet of the two video cards:

Specification	RTX 5050 (NVIDIA)	RX 9060 XT 8 GB (AMD)
Architecture / Process	Blackwell (TSMC 4N); DLSS 4, Reflex 2, RT core gen 4, Tensor 5	RDNA 4 (Navi 44 on TSMC N4P); FSR 4 support
Compute Units / Cores	2,560 CUDA cores (20 SMs), 20 RT cores, 80 Tensor cores	32 Compute Units → 2,048 Stream Processors, 32 RT cores, 64 AI accelerators
Clock Speeds	Base: ~2.31 GHz; Boost: ~2.57 GHz	Boost: up to ~3,130 MHz
VRAM / Bus / Bandwidth	8 GB GDDR6, 128-bit, ~320 GB/s	8 GB GDDR6, 128-bit, ~320 GB/s
FP32 Peak Performance	~13.2 TFLOPS	~25.6 TFLOPS
TDP / Power	~130 W; single 8-pin PCIe; requires ~550 W PSU	~150 W; single 8-pin PCIe
Launch Timing & Price	Released mid-2025 (July), ~US $249 MSRP	Launched June 5, 2025; 8 GB model MSRP ~US $299
Upscaling / RT Features	DLSS 4 with Multi-Frame Generation, Reflex 2, strong ray-tracing with AI integration	FSR 4; enhanced RT and AI cores; strong FP32 throughput
Gaming Performance	~60% faster than RTX 3050 in raster; up to 4× faster with DLSS 4	Up to 6% faster than RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB at 1440p

The 9060 XT 8 GB is the costlier GPU among the two - its 8 GB variant starts at $299. Newegg is currently offering it with a $50 gift card, making it about as costly as the RTX 5050 8 GB, which is priced at $249.

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Performance comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT competes against the RTX 5060 with its higher price tag (Image via AMD)

The real test for budget gaming GPUs is performance in some of the latest video games. Releases like Cyberpunk 2077, DOOM: The Dark Ages, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 have been pushing realism to its max. Budget GPUs might struggle with these titles, given their limited rendering potential.

Below is a side-by-side framerate comparison of the RTX 5050 8 GB and the RX 9060 XT 8 GB in some of the latest titles at 1080p and 1440p. The numbers were sourced from the YouTube channel Testing Games.

	Nvidia RTX 5050 8 GB	AMD RX 9060 XT 8 GB
Red Dead Redemption 2 (1080p)	75 FPS	113 FPS
Red Dead Redemption 2 (1440p)	59 FPS	85 FPS
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (1080p)	59 FPS	75 FPS
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (1440p)	38 FPS	47 FPS
Cyberpunk 2077 RT (1080p)	55 FPS	58 FPS
Cyberpunk 2077 RT (1080p)	34 FPS	38 FPS
Forza Horizon 5 (1080p)	111 FPS	119 FPS
Forza Horizon 5 (1440p)	83 FPS	88 FPS
God of War: Ragnarok (1080p)	83 FPS	113 FPS
God of War: Ragnarok (1440p)	59 FPS	79 FPS
Microsoft Flight Simulator (1080p)	52 FPS	78 FPS
Microsoft Flight Simulator (1440p)	39 FPS	59 FPS
The Last of Us Part II (1080p)	72 FPS	93 FPS
The Last of Us Part II (1440p)	51 FPS	65 FPS
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 (1080p)	50 FPS	56 FPS
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 (1440p)	13 FPS	39 FPS
Ghost of Tsushima (1080p)	62 FPS	99 FPS
Ghost of Tsushima (1440p)	43 FPS	70 FPS
Doom: The Dark Ages (1080p)	53 FPS	75 FPS
Doom: The Dark Ages (1440p)	36 FPS	51 FPS

On average, the RTX 5050 scores 56.3 FPS while the RX 9060 XT gets 75 FPS. While performance on the 50-class card is commendable, especially as we are averaging performance at both 1080p and 1440p, the numbers are 33% in favor of AMD. This is an asymmetric difference, given that the two GPUs cost the same amount.

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While the RTX 5050 is a promising new GPU, we recommend buying the RX 9060 XT 8 GB now that it's available at the same $249 price with the Newegg gift card. While lucrative deals on the Nvidia card can make it worth considering for entry-level gamers, spending >$200 for a card that flatlines in some of the latest titles (13 FPS in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2) isn't a wise idea.