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| System Name | RBMK-1000 |
|---|---|
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 5700G |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte B550 AORUS Elite V2 |
| Cooling | DeepCool Gammax L240 V2 |
| Memory | 2x 16GB DDR4-3200 |
| Video Card(s) | Galax RTX 4070 Ti EX |
| Storage | Samsung 990 1TB |
| Display(s) | BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch |
| Case | Corsair Carbide 100R |
| Audio Device(s) | ASUS SupremeFX S1220A |
| Power Supply | Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W |
| Mouse | ASUS ROG Strix Impact |
| Keyboard | Gamdias Hermes E2 |
| Software | Windows 11 Pro |
The mainstream gaming GPU market segment is a jungle, with dozens of graphics card models from NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel fighting for a share of the largest segment of the market. With products priced between $250 and $450, these graphics cards are competing with value-ended gaming consoles such as the Xbox Series S. We drew up a list of graphics cards available in the market, and threw the question up to our readers on which card they'd buy given their pricing. The results are fascinating, and point to AMD getting the price-performance of its Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB graphics card just right. Our survey sample size is 16,333 responses.
Three key products emerge from our survey, with the rest being minor or academic choices. AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB at $370 is a simple-majority winner, with 52.4% or 8.552 responses backing it. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB at $440 is a distant second, with 21.6% or 3,520 votes in its favor. Intel Arc B580 12 GB at $250 is an interesting third place, with 10.1% or 1,648 votes backing it. The rest of the poll options are marginal choices, with none of the entries crossing 3.1%. The results highlight that there are three price-bands driving the 1080p gaming GPU segment—$250, $350, and $450.
$250 is what gamers are willing to pay to enter the segment. We tested the Intel Arc B580, and found it to provide an excellent value proposition for its starting price of $250. It's able to play any of today's games at 1080p with max settings, and has a surprising low performance-hit from enabling ray tracing, due to the generational advances Intel made with its ray tracing hardware.
$440 is as high as buyers are willing to go for a graphics card in this segment, with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB scoring twice as many votes as the Arc B580. The RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB from our testing comes across as an aspirational product. While NVIDIA recommends this for 1080p gaming, it is capable of 1440p-class gaming with high to maxed-out settings, if you can get the NVIDIA App to pick the right settings. NVIDIA App tends to be conservative with its choices, so it would help to just use your in-game performance presets for a high setting, and playing with individual settings until you get 60 FPS with some combination, or better yet, take advantage of DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation. NVIDIA's new Transformer-based upscaling and frame generation models are, well, transformative. Even the "quality" preset yields excellent results.
The winner of this poll, however, is the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB. This card is being massively favored for its price of $370, which undercuts the RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB. We tested the RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB and found it to be heavily compromised at its $380 price point, with its memory size eroding the GPU's aspirational value as a 1440p + RT product. The RX 9060 XT is a well-rounded product from our testing, because not only is it able to max out 1080p gameplay, but also brings some of the same capabilities of RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB in the form of 1440p gameplay with high settings. AMD took major strides in improving the ray tracing performance of RDNA 4 over its previous RDNA 3, with the RX 9060 XT nearly doubling RT-enabled frame-rates over the RX 7600 series. While the RX 9060 XT 16 GB is not as fast as the RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB, its $70 cheaper pricing comes through. Besides ray tracing performance, AMD also significantly improved image quality with FSR 4, which uses ML-based upscaling models. FSR 4 is expected to get additional features later this year.
In conclusion, our readers have done a good job cutting through the clutter of 1080p-class GPUs, and identifying three contemporary choices, with the Radeon RX 9060 XT at $370 emerging the winner, followed by the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB at $440, and the Intel Arc B580 12 GB at $250.
It's also worth noting just how averse our readers are to 8 GB graphics cards, particularly cards priced in the $300-$400 segment that offer 8 GB. These models are found fighting for scraps, with each securing under 3% of the vote. Notice how badly the 8 GB models of the RX 9060 XT and RTX 5060 Ti fare against their 16 GB siblings. Also notice how the Arc B580 with its 12 GB memory crushes the RTX 5050 that's priced on par, but only offering 8 GB. It's curtains for 8 GB.
View at TechPowerUp Main Site
Three key products emerge from our survey, with the rest being minor or academic choices. AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB at $370 is a simple-majority winner, with 52.4% or 8.552 responses backing it. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB at $440 is a distant second, with 21.6% or 3,520 votes in its favor. Intel Arc B580 12 GB at $250 is an interesting third place, with 10.1% or 1,648 votes backing it. The rest of the poll options are marginal choices, with none of the entries crossing 3.1%. The results highlight that there are three price-bands driving the 1080p gaming GPU segment—$250, $350, and $450.
$250 is what gamers are willing to pay to enter the segment. We tested the Intel Arc B580, and found it to provide an excellent value proposition for its starting price of $250. It's able to play any of today's games at 1080p with max settings, and has a surprising low performance-hit from enabling ray tracing, due to the generational advances Intel made with its ray tracing hardware.
$440 is as high as buyers are willing to go for a graphics card in this segment, with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB scoring twice as many votes as the Arc B580. The RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB from our testing comes across as an aspirational product. While NVIDIA recommends this for 1080p gaming, it is capable of 1440p-class gaming with high to maxed-out settings, if you can get the NVIDIA App to pick the right settings. NVIDIA App tends to be conservative with its choices, so it would help to just use your in-game performance presets for a high setting, and playing with individual settings until you get 60 FPS with some combination, or better yet, take advantage of DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation. NVIDIA's new Transformer-based upscaling and frame generation models are, well, transformative. Even the "quality" preset yields excellent results.
The winner of this poll, however, is the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB. This card is being massively favored for its price of $370, which undercuts the RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB. We tested the RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB and found it to be heavily compromised at its $380 price point, with its memory size eroding the GPU's aspirational value as a 1440p + RT product. The RX 9060 XT is a well-rounded product from our testing, because not only is it able to max out 1080p gameplay, but also brings some of the same capabilities of RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB in the form of 1440p gameplay with high settings. AMD took major strides in improving the ray tracing performance of RDNA 4 over its previous RDNA 3, with the RX 9060 XT nearly doubling RT-enabled frame-rates over the RX 7600 series. While the RX 9060 XT 16 GB is not as fast as the RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB, its $70 cheaper pricing comes through. Besides ray tracing performance, AMD also significantly improved image quality with FSR 4, which uses ML-based upscaling models. FSR 4 is expected to get additional features later this year.
In conclusion, our readers have done a good job cutting through the clutter of 1080p-class GPUs, and identifying three contemporary choices, with the Radeon RX 9060 XT at $370 emerging the winner, followed by the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB at $440, and the Intel Arc B580 12 GB at $250.
It's also worth noting just how averse our readers are to 8 GB graphics cards, particularly cards priced in the $300-$400 segment that offer 8 GB. These models are found fighting for scraps, with each securing under 3% of the vote. Notice how badly the 8 GB models of the RX 9060 XT and RTX 5060 Ti fare against their 16 GB siblings. Also notice how the Arc B580 with its 12 GB memory crushes the RTX 5050 that's priced on par, but only offering 8 GB. It's curtains for 8 GB.
View at TechPowerUp Main Site
