I'm building a new PC and am deciding between the RX 9060 XT 16GB and RTX 5060 Ti 8GB. I'm happy to stay at 1080p, but I'm unsure whether the 9060 XT's extra VRAM will make it more future-proof for demanding games such as GTA 6. The RTX 5060 Ti may have an advantage in ray tracing and some software, so I'd also like to know how these cards compare for ray-traced gaming and applications such as DaVinci Resolve and After Effects.
4 Answers
If a faster RX 9070 GRE is available locally for only a small amount more, it would be worth considering because it is roughly 25–30% faster. If it isn’t sold in your region or is significantly overpriced, stick with the 9060 XT. Nobody can know yet exactly how GTA 6 will perform, but having 16GB gives you more flexibility to lower a few settings without running into a hard memory limit.
The RTX 5060 Ti does have a ray-tracing and software-compatibility advantage, but the 8GB model is a pretty limiting choice. Turning on RT can push past 8GB even at 1080p, which may cause stuttering or force you to reduce other settings. The 16GB 9060 XT is only somewhat slower in RT and should be more practical long term.
The RX 9060 XT 16GB is probably the better value between these two. The extra VRAM should help it age better, especially in newer games with high-resolution textures. At this performance level, neither card is ideal for maxed-out ray tracing, so I’d rather have the larger memory buffer and use medium RT settings when needed.
For DaVinci Resolve and After Effects, Nvidia can sometimes be preferable because of CUDA support and broader application optimization. However, the exact benefit depends on the effects, codecs, and plugins you use. If gaming is the main priority, the 9060 XT makes more sense; if professional workloads are equally important, check benchmarks for your specific projects before deciding.
The Nvidia card’s dedicated RT hardware helps, but it doesn’t eliminate the VRAM limitation. For these specific models, I wouldn’t choose the 5060 Ti 8GB solely for ray tracing.