I've been using a RTX 3060 Ti for nearly six years and feel it's overdue for an upgrade. I recently bought a lightly used Radeon 9060 XT 16GB for $350, but I'm wondering whether the performance increase is large enough to justify keeping it. Some people say the 9060 XT is only around 20–25% faster than the 3060 Ti, while the 9070 would provide a much more noticeable improvement. Would it make sense to sell the 9060 XT and spend another $150–$200 on a 9070, or should I simply keep the 9060 XT? I mainly want to play at 1440p with good image quality and stable frame rates. I don't usually play the most demanding games, but I'd like enough headroom for newer titles.
3 Answers
The 9060 XT is definitely an upgrade, but it isn’t a huge generational jump from the 3060 Ti—roughly 20–25% in many 1440p scenarios. The 16GB of VRAM is useful, though, especially in newer or more demanding games. At $350, it was a good deal, so I’d be inclined to keep it unless moving to the 9070 is genuinely affordable.
The 9070 is the one worth considering if you want a clearly noticeable performance increase. Otherwise, keep the 9060 XT and enjoy the extra VRAM. Be cautious about claims of 165 FPS at native 1440p with ray tracing, since results vary heavily by game, settings, upscaling, and frame generation.
If you can comfortably make the jump to a 9070, that’s the more meaningful upgrade for 1440p. It’s in a higher performance class and should give you substantially more headroom than either the 9060 XT or the 5060 Ti. I wouldn’t switch to a 5060 Ti, since it’s too close to the 9060 XT to justify paying extra.
Just make sure the extra $150–$200 is realistic after accounting for what you can sell the 9060 XT for. If the difference is much larger, keeping the 9060 XT is perfectly reasonable.
Exactly. The upgrade is real, but whether it feels worthwhile depends on the games and settings you use. The discounted price makes the 9060 XT much easier to justify.