XFX Swift AMD Radeon 9060 XT GPU Review

The AMD Radeon 9060 line of GPUs is positioned to be one of the fiercest competitors with Nvidia's GeForce RTX 5060, offering competitive performance at a lower power demand and price point. Split between two model configurations, the 9060 and the 9060 XT, AMD's 9060 GPUs aim to make use of some impressive proprietary technology — namely, AMD's FSR 4 frame-gen — to deliver better performance per dollar than its main competitor. Ahead of the rollout of the 9060 series cards, we got to test the XFX Swift AMD Radeon 9060 XT in its 16 GB configuration, and I can safely say that it's a card that fully delivers on AMD's intentions with the 9060 line.

Most important to note about the 9060 XT is that it's a card that is specifically geared toward players using 1080 or 1440p displays. While the 9060 XT is capable of putting out some impressive performance in 4K based on our internal testing, a surprising number of PC gamers are still using displays that render at 1440p or lower, and the AMD 9060 line is a card that strikes a balance between providing some top-quality performance in those resolutions while keeping the price below that of its competitors. Our testing of the card was done on a 1440 display, and it worked exactly as intended right out of the box, even on more demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077 or STALKER 2. Paired with a seamless install, day 1 driver support, and ease of access to tweak and adjust settings via AMD's Adrenalin software, the XFX Swift 9060 XT is one of the best GPUs at its MSRP.

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By  Matti Robinson

The XFX Swift is a Sleek and Low-Profile Version of AMD's 9060 XT That Packs a Punch

Unboxing the XFX Swift AMD Radeon 9060 XT greets you with some no-frills packaging and a small but sturdy graphics card that, like other dual-fan GPUs, features a thicker chassis than what you might find on a larger triple-fan card. But that smaller form factor of the XFX Swift 9060 XT allows it to sit firmly in its housing in a PC case, avoiding the sagging issue that some triple-fan cards have thanks to their weight distribution. Other than the card itself, there are no bonuses to speak of in the box for the XFX Swift AMD Radeon 9060 XT, which means anyone upgrading to this card would need to repurpose an existing cable or, in my case, go digging through their PSU box to find the appropriate 8-pin connector.

The card is sturdy without feeling heavy, and getting it seated in a PC case is straightforward and hassle-free. Booting up and installing the pre-downloaded driver for the 9060 XT was seamless, with the installation's completion marked by launching the AMD Adrenalin software. Coming from using an Nvidia card as my main GPU, I was impressed with the level of customization that Adrenalin offers through a single front-end, and its ability to accurately read the rest of my system's information and display information, automatically adjusting settings accordingly, was a nice touch.

From just within the AMD Adrenalin software, users can toggle AMD's Radeon Super Resolution technology, configure settings related to the intensity of image sharpening, see performance readouts of your most recently played games, and much more. There are 4 presets to select from for global GPU settings within Adrenalin: HYPR-RX, Quality, HYPR-RX Eco, and Default. The Default setting allows users to granularly adjust the various settings, while the other options have preset configurations that can then be slightly adjusted. To truly see what the new FSR 4 technology was capable of, and with no concerns over wattage or temperature thanks to the rest of the components in the PC used for benchmarking, we selected the HYPR-RX setting aimed at providing the best possible gaming experience with minimal latency and maximum image quality.

AMD 9060 XT Specs and Performance

Compared to similar entry-level GPUs like its main competitor, Nvidia's GeForce RTX 5060, the AMD 9060 XT is a very attractive option for those needing to make an upgrade or purchase a budget-friendly GPU for a new build. Since it's a card aimed at those playing on 1080 or 1440p displays, our benchmarks for the XFX Swift AMD Radeon 9060 XT were done using a system that adhered to those specifications, with the following other components:

After some initial setup and adjustments performed using AMD's Adrenalin software as a front-end, all other settings were configured at the in-game level for each of the titles used in testing. Where applicable, we were able to let the four titles used as benchmarks — Cyberpunk 2077, STALKER 2, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Witchfire — auto-detect graphics settings, which we then went in and manually adjusted to get an accurate picture of how the XFX Swift AMD 9060 XT would handle heavy demands like ray tracing.

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl Testing

• Settings: "Custom" graphics preset, all settings set to "High" or "Epic"
• With FSR: 85+ FPS
• Without FSR: 54-60 FPS

The 9060 XT was more than up to meeting the demands of STALKER 2's open world, able to maintain a mostly stable 60 FPS without FSR frame generation active. Turning on FSR and rebooting STALKER 2, though, the 9060 XT was able to reach upwards of 97 FPS, consistently hovering around the low 90s and never dipping below 85 FPS. Also of note is that, thanks to AMD's image sharpening settings in the HYPR-RX preset, there was no noticeable blur or image degradation with FSR 3 active.

Red Dead Redemption 2 Testing

• Settings: "Custom" graphics preset, Texture Quality set to "Ultra", all other settings at "High"
• With FSR: 144 FPS
• Without FSR: 110–120 FPS

Despite being a 6-year-old game, Red Dead Redemption 2 still requires some serious horsepower to squeeze every bit of fidelity out of its gorgeous open world, and the XFX Swift AMD 9060 XT was able to maintain a consistently stable 144 FPS on a 1440 display with FSR 3 frame generation enabled. Even without FSR active, our testing had Red Dead Redemption ​​​​​​running natively at 1440p in a buttery-smooth 110 FPS, reaching upwards of 120 FPS on occasion.

Witchfire Testing

• Settings: "High" graphics preset
• With FSR: 190–220 FPS
• Without FSR: 70–80 FPS

Extraction roguelike Witchfire is a game that, under the right conditions, can provide a blisteringly fast first-person shooter experience, and the 9060 XT was more than capable of having it reach the upper threshold of its 240 FPS frame limit with FSR active. Once the on-screen action started to get a little more intense, those numbers would drop a bit, but consistently hover between 190 and 220 FPS. Even without FSR active, though, our testing of the XFX Swift 9060 XT showed that Witchfire was able to maintain a steady frame rate that fluctuated between 70 and 80 frames per second.

Cyberpunk 2077 Testing

• Settings: "Custom" graphics preset, all settings at "High" or "Ultra", Ray Tracing settings at "Ultra"
• With FSR: 114–127 FPS
• Without FSR: 65+ FPS

To see what the 9060 XT was truly capable of with a 1440p display, we finished our testing by throwing Cyberpunk 2077 at it set to "Ultra" ray tracing and a custom graphics preset that used a mixture of "High" and "Ultra" settings for different parameters. Under these conditions, we were able to maintain a stable 65 FPS without FSR active. Turning FSR on and rebooting Cyberpunk, though, resulted in us getting a consistent frame rate of 120 FPS or higher, only dipping as low as 114 FPS in open-world areas where the action wasn't confined to an interior space.

3D Mark Benchmarks

• Port Royal: 9795
• Speedway: 2992

Similar to our games testing, our use of the Port Royal and Speedway benchmarks through 3D Mark produced some impressive results, with the 9060 XT capable of meeting similar scores to AMD's internal testing.

The XFX Swift AMD Radeon 9060 XT is One of the Better Budget-Friendly GPUs

AMD's 9060 line of GPUs is geared toward being affordable upgrades that offer better performance per dollar than their competitors, and our testing indicated that the 16GB model is an impressive unit that surprisingly holds its own even when stacked up against more expensive and powerful cards. With an MSRP starting at $349 for the 16 GB model, the 9060 XT is one of the better graphics card options at its price point, and an ideal option for anyone who's been putting off an upgrade or wanting to build a great gaming PC within a budget. The XFX Swift AMD Radeon 9060 XT was able to handle everything we threw at it with ease, proving itself to be both an affordable and dependable card that offers top-quality performance for those using 1080 or 1440p displays.

AMD's 9060 cards and the XFX Swift AMD Radeon 9060 XT will be available for purchase on June 5, starting at $349.99. The Best War Games was provided a unit for this review.