AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 SUPER Comparison

The Verdict

The recorded data presents a clear, though narrowly sourced, outcome. The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB holds a decisive advantage in the only shared benchmark, the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, scoring 4093 against the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 SUPER's 2690. That is a 52.2% lead for the AMD card. The database also shows the AMD card at the 27th percentile of all GPUs, while the NVIDIA card sits lower at the 18th percentile. For any user choosing strictly on measured performance, the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB is the stronger pick. The NVIDIA card, however, counters with a larger memory pool of 18 GB versus 16 GB, a wider 192-bit bus, and significantly higher memory bandwidth, which matter for certain workloads. The data indicates that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 SUPER is best reserved for scenarios where its memory characteristics outweigh its benchmark deficit, but the AMD card wins the primary performance comparison outright.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB wins in raw synthetic performance. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4093 outpaces the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 SUPER by 52.2%. Its average benchmark score across all recorded tests is 4657, compared to the NVIDIA card's 2690. The AMD card also benefits from a higher boost clock of 3130 MHz, a denser transistor layout at 149.2 million transistors per square millimeter, and a more efficient 160 W TDP. It achieves this with a smaller die, 199 mm², versus the NVIDIA card's 263 mm².

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 SUPER wins in memory-centric specifications. It offers 18 GB of GDDR7 memory, a 192-bit bus, and 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth, all of which are higher than the AMD card's 16 GB GDDR6, 128-bit bus, and 322.3 GB/s. The NVIDIA card also has far more shading units, 6400 versus 2048, and more texture mapping units, 200 versus 128. It includes 200 tensor cores, a feature the AMD card does not list. These specifications suggest the NVIDIA card is built for compute-heavy tasks, even if the available benchmark does not reflect that advantage.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB uses the RDNA 4.0 architecture on TSMC's 4 nm process. Its chip, Navi 44, packs 29,700 million transistors into a 199 mm² die. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 SUPER uses the Blackwell 2.0 architecture on a 5 nm process, also from TSMC. Its GB205 chip contains 31,100 million transistors on a 263 mm² die. The AMD card has a higher transistor density at 149.2 million per square millimeter, while the NVIDIA card sits at 118.3 million.

Clock behavior differs sharply. The AMD card's boost clock reaches 3130 MHz, with a game clock of 2530 MHz and a base of 1700 MHz. The NVIDIA card's boost clock is 2512 MHz, with a base of 2325 MHz. Memory clocks also diverge: the AMD card runs at 2518 MHz (20.1 Gbps effective), while the NVIDIA card runs at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The AMD card uses GDDR6 memory, the NVIDIA card uses GDDR7.

Compute resources are distributed differently. The AMD card has 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and 32 ray tracing cores. The NVIDIA card has 6400 shading units, 200 TMUs, 80 ROPs, 50 ray tracing cores, and 200 tensor cores. Pixel rate is nearly identical, 200.3 GPixel/s for AMD and 201.0 GPixel/s for NVIDIA, but texture rate favors NVIDIA, 502.4 GTexel/s versus 400.6 GTexel/s. FP32 performance also favors NVIDIA, 32.15 TFLOPS versus 25.64 TFLOPS.

Power delivery differs as well. The AMD card draws a 160 W TDP and uses a single 8-pin connector, while the NVIDIA card draws 275 W and uses a single 16-pin connector. The AMD card lists a suggested PSU of 450 W; the NVIDIA card does not list one. Physical dimensions only exist for the NVIDIA card: 245 mm in length, 115 mm in height, and 40 mm in width. Both cards are dual-slot and use PCIe 5.0 x16.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB scores 4093 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, which is 52.2% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 SUPER's 2690.

Q: Which card has more memory?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 SUPER has 18 GB of GDDR7 memory, while the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory.

Q: How do the architectures differ?

A: The AMD card uses RDNA 4.0 on a 4 nm process, while the NVIDIA card uses Blackwell 2.0 on a 5 nm process. Both are manufactured by TSMC.

Q: Which card has more shading units?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 SUPER has 6400 shading units, compared to the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB's 2048.

Q: What is the power draw difference?

A: The AMD card has a 160 W TDP, while the NVIDIA card has a 275 W TDP. The AMD card uses a 1x 8-pin connector, and the NVIDIA card uses a 1x 16-pin connector.

Q: Does the NVIDIA card have tensor cores?

A: Yes, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 SUPER includes 200 tensor cores. The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB does not list tensor cores in the database.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

Only one shared benchmark exists in the database: 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB scores 4093, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 SUPER scores 2690. The delta is 52.2% in favor of AMD. This is a substantial margin, larger than the gap between any of the AMD card's nearest rivals, which sit within 0.8% of its average score. The AMD card's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon R5 M320, matches its average score exactly at 4657. The NVIDIA card's nearest rival, the NVIDIA Quadro K1100M, sits just 1% lower than its 2690 average. The 52.2% lead in the sole head-to-head test is therefore not a marginal edge; it is a dominant one. The AMD card also holds a higher percentile rank, 27th versus 18th. The NVIDIA card's only counterpoints are its higher memory bandwidth, 672.0 GB/s versus 322.3 GB/s, and its larger memory pool, which the current benchmark data does not capture.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every specification field. The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB uses a 4 nm process; the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 SUPER uses 5 nm. Transistor counts are close, 29,700 million for AMD and 31,100 million for NVIDIA, but die size differs significantly, 199 mm² for AMD and 263 mm² for NVIDIA. Transistor density favors AMD, 149.2M per mm² versus 118.3M per mm². Boost clocks favor AMD, 3130 MHz versus 2512 MHz, and the AMD card has a game clock of 2530 MHz that the NVIDIA card does not list. Memory type differs, GDDR6 versus GDDR7, as does bus width, 128-bit versus 192-bit, and bandwidth, 322.3 GB/s versus 672.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA card has more shading units, TMUs, ROPs, and ray tracing cores, plus 200 tensor cores that AMD does not list. FP32 and FP16 performance favor NVIDIA, 32.15 TFLOPS versus 25.64 TFLOPS, as does texture rate, 502.4 GTexel/s versus 400.6 GTexel/s. Pixel rate is nearly equal. TDP favors AMD, 160 W versus 275 W, and power connectors differ, 1x 8-pin versus 1x 16-pin. The AMD card lists a 450 W suggested PSU; the NVIDIA card does not. Display outputs differ: AMD offers 1x HDMI 2.1b and 2x DisplayPort 2.1a, while NVIDIA offers 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1b. Both use PCIe 5.0 x16 and support DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The AMD card has a launch MSRP of 349 USD; the NVIDIA card has no recorded launch MSRP.