Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 VS Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 has a GPU clock speed of 2280 MHz, while the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB operates at a lower GPU clock speed of 1700 MHz. However, the RX 9060 XT's GPU turbo frequency is significantly higher at 3290 MHz, compared to the 2500 MHz turbo of the RTX 5060. In terms of pixel rate, the RX 9060 XT leads with 210.6 GPixel/s, surpassing the 120 GPixel/s of the RTX 5060. The RX 9060 XT also has a higher floating-point performance, achieving 26.95 TFLOPS, while the RTX 5060 provides 19.2 TFLOPS. Additionally, the texture rate of the RX 9060 XT stands at 421.1 GTexels/s, more than double the 300 GTexels/s of the RTX 5060.

When it comes to memory, the RX 9060 XT offers a much faster GPU memory speed of 2518 MHz, compared to the RTX 5060's 1750 MHz. The RTX 5060 has 3840 shading units, while the RX 9060 XT has only 2048 shading units, which might suggest a difference in architectural design and performance potential. Both GPUs feature 120 texture mapping units (TMUs) on the RTX 5060 and 128 TMUs on the RX 9060 XT, with the RX 9060 XT having slightly more. In terms of render output units (ROPs), the RX 9060 XT is ahead with 64 ROPs, while the RTX 5060 has 48 ROPs.

Both GPUs support Double Precision Floating Point (DPFP), making them capable of handling more complex calculations that require high precision, a feature that may be important for certain professional applications. Overall, the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9060 XT shows superior performance in several key areas like clock speeds, pixel rate, and memory speed, while the RTX 5060 has a larger number of shading units and ROPs.

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 comes equipped with 8GB of VRAM, while the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB has double that amount, offering 16GB of VRAM. In terms of effective memory speed, the RTX 5060 operates at a higher 28000 MHz, compared to the 20000 MHz of the RX 9060 XT. However, when it comes to maximum memory bandwidth, the RTX 5060 takes the lead with 448 GB/s, surpassing the 322.3 GB/s of the RX 9060 XT.

Both GPUs have a memory bus width of 128-bit, ensuring a similar interface width. They also share the feature of supporting ECC (Error-Correcting Code) memory, which helps in maintaining data integrity during high-performance tasks.

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 uses the newer GDDR7 memory, while the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9060 XT uses GDDR6 memory. This indicates a difference in memory technology, with GDDR7 being the latest iteration and potentially offering advantages in terms of performance or efficiency over GDDR6.

Both the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 and the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB support DirectX 12 Ultimate and OpenGL 4.6, ensuring compatibility with the latest graphics and rendering technologies. However, the RTX 5060 supports OpenCL 3, while the RX 9060 XT is limited to OpenCL 2.2. Both GPUs also support multi-display technology, ray tracing, and 3D, offering a robust feature set for gaming and professional applications.

One key difference is in DLSS support: the RTX 5060 supports DLSS, while the RX 9060 XT does not. This makes the RTX 5060 better equipped for games and applications that leverage DLSS for improved performance and visual quality. Additionally, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 features Intel Resizable BAR, whereas the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9060 XT supports AMD SAM (Smart Access Memory), indicating a preference for different platform optimizations.

In terms of physical features, neither card includes RGB lighting, and both are free of LHR (Lite Hash Rate) restrictions. The RTX 5060 supports up to 4 displays, while the RX 9060 XT supports up to 3 displays, which may affect users seeking extensive multi-monitor setups.

Both the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 and the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB have an HDMI output with 1 HDMI port each, supporting HDMI 2.1b. In terms of DisplayPort outputs, the RTX 5060 offers 3, while the RX 9060 XT provides 2. Neither card features USB-C, DVI, or mini DisplayPort outputs.

Overall, the main difference between the two products in this category is the number of DisplayPort outputs, with the RTX 5060 offering one more DisplayPort than the RX 9060 XT, which could be useful for users with multi-monitor setups requiring DisplayPort connections.

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 is built on the Blackwell GPU architecture, while the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB uses the RDNA 4.0 architecture. In terms of thermal design power (TDP), the RTX 5060 has a lower TDP of 145W, compared to the RX 9060 XT's 170W. Both cards support PCI Express (PCIe) version 5, ensuring fast data transfer speeds. The RTX 5060 is manufactured using a 5 nm semiconductor process, while the RX 9060 XT uses a slightly smaller 4 nm process.

The number of transistors also differs: the RTX 5060 has 21,900 million transistors, while the RX 9060 XT has 29,700 million transistors. Both cards do not include air-water cooling solutions. When it comes to size, the RTX 5060 measures 241 mm in width and 111 mm in height, whereas the RX 9060 XT is slightly taller at 124 mm but narrower at 240 mm.

These differences in architecture, TDP, transistor count, and physical dimensions could influence how these cards perform and fit into different systems, but both are designed for high-end gaming and professional use cases.