I'm planning to upgrade my graphics card mainly for 1080p gaming at high settings. I'm not particularly interested in using upscaling technologies such as DLSS or FSR, so native performance matters most to me. My current CPU is an Intel Core i5-10400F.
The three cards I can find within my budget are the RTX 5060 8GB, RX 9060 XT 8GB, and RTX 3060 12GB. Their prices are almost identical, with the RX 9060 XT being about $10 more than the RTX 5060 and the RTX 3060 being the cheapest.
Which one would be the best purchase for my system, and what are the main reasons?
4 Answers
The RTX 5060 is still a reasonable alternative, particularly if you want CUDA support or expect to use DLSS and frame generation. For straightforward native 1080p gaming, though, the 9060 XT offers better value. If you can find the 16GB version for a reasonable premium, it would also provide more breathing room for future games.
The i5-10400F may hold back either newer GPU in some 1080p games, especially if you’re aiming for very high refresh rates. I’d still choose the 9060 XT if the prices are that close, but keep in mind that a future CPU and platform upgrade could provide a noticeable improvement.
The RX 9060 XT is the clear winner for native gaming performance. The RTX 3060 has more VRAM, but it is substantially slower and the extra memory usually doesn’t make up for that. At 1080p, 8GB should be usable at high settings for most games, although the newest demanding titles may require lowering textures or a few other settings.
I’d remove the RTX 3060 from consideration. It’s an older and much slower card, and saving only a small amount doesn’t justify giving up the performance and newer architecture of the other options. Between the remaining two, the 9060 XT is the better choice if you care about raw raster performance and don’t plan to use DLSS.
The extra VRAM on the RTX 3060 sounds appealing, but the GPU is already too slow for many demanding games at high settings. More memory doesn’t help much if the card can’t deliver the required frame rate.