AMD Radeon RX 9060 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark database splits these two cards exactly evenly, with five wins apiece across the ten recorded tests. The most dramatic separation comes in the modern DirectX 12 and Vulkan workloads, where the two cards trade blows with double-digit margins. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, the AMD Radeon RX 9060 posts a score of 3322 against the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060’s 2302, a 30.7% advantage for AMD. This is the single largest delta in the entire comparison, and it establishes the RX 9060 as the stronger option for contemporary, heavily threaded graphics workloads.

NVIDIA’s response comes in the PassMark DirectX 12 test, where the RTX 4060 scores 76 versus the RX 9060’s 44, a 72.7% lead. That is the widest margin in either direction across the entire head-to-head set, and it highlights how differently the two architectures handle the same API depending on the test methodology. The Vulkan results also favor NVIDIA: the RTX 4060 scores 48643 against 39476, a 23.2% edge. Similarly, in Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4060 leads with 95057 versus 88183, a 7.8% gap. These three wins give NVIDIA a clear narrative in compute and API-specific throughput.

The remaining NVIDIA victory is in PassMark G3D, where the RTX 4060 scores 19545 versus 17631, a 10.9% lead. It also edges out the RX 9060 in PassMark G2D, 1037 to 1002, a 3.5% margin. For AMD, the other wins are narrower but consistent across legacy DirectX versions. In PassMark DirectX 9, the RX 9060 scores 280 against 236, a 15.7% lead. In DirectX 11, it wins 182 to 175, a 3.8% margin. The DirectX 10 test is nearly a tie, with the RX 9060 at 104 and the RTX 4060 at 103, a 1% difference. Finally, in PassMark GPU Compute, the RX 9060 takes it with 9919 versus 9213, a 7.1% edge.

Looking at the aggregate scores, the RTX 4060 holds a higher average benchmark score of 17639, while the RX 9060 averages 16014. This places the RTX 4060 at the 61st percentile among all GPUs, with the RX 9060 at the 59th percentile. Interestingly, the RTX 4060’s nearest rivals in the database are all AMD parts: the Radeon HD 7790 at 17666 (0.2% higher), the Radeon 780M at 17588 (0.3% lower), and the Radeon Pro 560 at 17551 (0.5% lower). The RX 9060’s nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti at 16129, which sits 0.7% higher, followed by the AMD Radeon R9 370X at 15862 and the RX 7700 at 15852, both 1% lower.

The Verdict

The data presents a clear split based on workload type. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is the better choice for users prioritizing raw compute throughput and API-specific performance in OpenCL, Vulkan, and PassMark’s DirectX 12 test. Its 23.2% Vulkan lead and 72.7% DirectX 12 margin are decisive, and its higher average benchmark score of 17639 versus 16014 reinforces its overall consistency. The RTX 4060 also holds a higher percentile rank at 61 versus 59, meaning it outperforms a larger share of the GPU population in the database.

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is the stronger pick for modern rasterization-heavy workloads, as evidenced by its 30.7% lead in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. It also wins in legacy DirectX 9 and 11 tests, plus GPU compute, but those margins are smaller. The RX 9060’s lower average score and percentile suggest that its strengths are more concentrated in specific scenarios rather than spread across the broad benchmark suite. For a user who knows their primary application is a modern DX12 title, the RX 9060’s Steel Nomad result is the more compelling data point. For a user who needs consistent performance across diverse APIs, the RTX 4060’s record is stronger.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 wins in five categories: Geekbench OpenCL (95057 versus 88183), Geekbench Vulkan (48643 versus 39476), PassMark DirectX 12 (76 versus 44), PassMark G2D (1037 versus 1002), and PassMark G3D (19545 versus 17631). These wins cover the more modern API surface and general 3D rendering, with the Vulkan and DX12 margins being particularly large. The compute workload in OpenCL also favors NVIDIA, making it the better option for applications that leverage that API for general-purpose GPU tasks.

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 wins in the other five: 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 (3322 versus 2302), PassMark DirectX 10 (104 versus 103), PassMark DirectX 11 (182 versus 175), PassMark DirectX 9 (280 versus 236), and PassMark GPU Compute (9919 versus 9213). The Steel Nomad result is the standout, with a 30.7% margin that dwarfs all other AMD wins. The legacy DirectX 9 and 11 victories show backward compatibility strength, while the GPU Compute win indicates that in some compute tests, AMD’s architecture can pull ahead despite losing the OpenCL contest.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 has a higher average benchmark score of 17639, compared to the AMD Radeon RX 9060’s 16014.

Q: What is the largest single-test margin between the two cards?

A: The largest margin is in the PassMark DirectX 12 test, where the RTX 4060 scores 76 versus the RX 9060’s 44, a 72.7% lead for NVIDIA.

Q: How does the AMD card perform in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12?

A: The RX 9060 scores 3322, which is 30.7% higher than the RTX 4060’s 2302, making it the best result for AMD in the entire comparison.

Q: Which card has a higher percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The RTX 4060 is in the 61st percentile, while the RX 9060 is in the 59th percentile.

Q: Are the two cards close in any test?

A: The PassMark DirectX 10 test is nearly identical, with the RX 9060 scoring 104 and the RTX 4060 scoring 103, a 1% difference.

Q: Which card leads in GPU compute benchmarks?

A: The RX 9060 leads in PassMark GPU Compute with 9919 versus 9213, a 7.1% margin, but the RTX 4060 wins in Geekbench OpenCL with 95057 versus 88183.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different architectural generations and process nodes. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 uses the AD107 chip based on Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm TSMC process with 18,900 million transistors on a 159 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 118.9 million per mm². The AMD Radeon RX 9060 uses the Navi 44 chip based on RDNA 4.0, built on a 4 nm TSMC process with 29,700 million transistors on a 199 mm² die, giving a density of 149.2 million per mm². The RX 9060 has a smaller process node and a higher transistor density.

The core configurations differ substantially. The RTX 4060 has 3072 shading units, 96 TMUs, 48 ROPs, 24 RT cores, and 96 tensor cores. The RX 9060 has 1792 shading units, 112 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and 28 RT cores, with no tensor cores listed. Despite having fewer shading units, the RX 9060 achieves higher throughput rates: 191.4 GPixel/s pixel rate and 334.9 GTexel/s texture rate, versus 118.1 GPixel/s and 236.2 GTexel/s for the RTX 4060. The FP32 compute also favors AMD at 21.43 TFLOPS versus 15.11 TFLOPS, with both maintaining a 1:1 FP16 ratio.

Both cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The RTX 4060 has a base clock of 1830 MHz and boost of 2460 MHz, while the RX 9060 has a lower base clock of 1700 MHz but a higher boost of 2990 MHz, plus a game clock of 2400 MHz. The RTX 4060 is marked as end-of-life, while the RX 9060 is active production.

Specification Differences

The memory configurations are similar but not identical. Both cards have 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, but the RX 9060 has a higher bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s versus 272.0 GB/s for the RTX 4060. The memory clock also differs: the RX 9060 runs at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) while the RTX 4060 runs at 2125 MHz (17 Gbps effective).

Power and connectivity differ. The RTX 4060 has a TDP of 115 W with a 1x 12-pin power connector, while the RX 9060 has a TDP of 132 W with a 1x 8-pin connector. Both suggest a 300 W power supply. The bus interface is different: the RTX 4060 uses PCIe 4.0 x8, while the RX 9060 uses PCIe 5.0 x16. Display outputs also vary: the RTX 4060 has 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the RX 9060 has 1x HDMI 2.1b and 2x DisplayPort 2.1a.

Physical dimensions are only recorded for the RTX 4060: 240 mm length, 111 mm height, and 40 mm width. The RX 9060 has no dimensions listed in the database. Both cards are dual-slot designs. The release dates differ, with the RTX 4060 launching on 2023-05-17 and the RX 9060 on 2025-08-04. The RTX 4060 has a launch MSRP of 299 USD, while the RX 9060 has no launch MSRP recorded.