I bang , I know we ’re all hopped up about theRX 9070 XT and 9070 launching — I know I am . But wait beyond the potential big profits AMD is on for with its first RDNA4 computer graphic cards , I ’m also particularly unrestrained about the potential for the rumor 9060 XT . Not because it ’ll be tacky again — it will be — but because it might have up to 16 GB of VRAM . That ’s going to wrack Nvidia ’s long - condition second - hand board grocery , which could have a much swell impact on AMD ’s market place share over the tenacious full term .

It ’s all just rumors for now , andsome of my colleagues are much less excited by thisthan I am , but I mean there ’s some genuine potential here for this little calling card to be a game changer .

Hitting the VRAM wall

Video memory , or VRAM , has been a front - and centre feature of nontextual matter card spec sheets for generations , but it ’s started tomatter a lot more in late eld . While flagship graphics cards have burst forth in their VRAM quantity , with the 5090 now offer 32 gibibyte , most mainstream cards have been getting by with less . It was only a couple of generation ago that the flagship RTX 3080 only had 10 GB of VRAM , and outside of the top few models , you ’ll still see 12 gigabit , 10 GB , or even 8 gigabit .

The problem is , this is really not enough any more . Not for the latest games , and not when you enable demanding options like ray tracing . Alan Wake 2has been time using over 15 GB when running at full tilt , 4 K , beam of light tracing , all the beans . Other games are n’t far behind .

DLSS ca n’t avail with your cardrunning out of VRAM when you enable 4 M textures . Neural grain compressionisn’t anywhere most ready to bushel this , either . As other games start to prove their VRAM requirements for more pocket-size setting , old high - end card are go to be left behind .

Why affordable 16GB of VRAM matters

AMD has been putting more VRAM in its cards for the past couple of generations . The RX 6700 XT had 12 GB of VRAM , where the RTX 3070 only had 8 GB . The RX 7700 XT has 16 GB of VRAM , while the 4070 only had 12 gigabyte . Even Nvidia ’s new RTX 5070 , which is refresh very ill , only has 12 GB of VRAM .

These card with sub 16 GB of VRAM are going to be unequal to of play some biz at higher preferences in a few years . At options that they should still be able to match based on their in the buff functioning , but only wo n’t be able to enable because of the VRAM shortage .

go in the RX 9060 XT . This card is going to launch at some item in the next brace of months with a low Mary Leontyne Price than the $ 550 of the 9070 . Probably much less . Let ’s assume that over the long term it work on out to around $ 300 — the in high spirits - end of RX 7600 XT pricing at the time of writing . That ’s a $ 300 bill of fare that is operate to be able to do thing that some of Nvidia ’s late - generation high - end GPUs just can not do .

That means in a year or so when people are considering buying a new graphics card , and they await at the price of AMD ’s entry - spirit level modeling , and compare them to the higher - end manikin from Nvidia on the second - hand market , they ’re going to opt the model that can play the game they need to roleplay .

How wide is your bus?

The only caveat to all this , is bus - width . Asmy workfellow Monica points outin her prevue of the rumored RX 9060 XT cards , AMD could ruin these GPUs before they even get out the gate . In previous generations , the X600 serial of graphics cards from AMD have had their operation wrecked by limited bus widths and PCIExpress bandwidth .

If AMD does that again with the RX 9060 XT and 9060 , my prediction may turn out to be short - sighted and overly rosy . short carrying out is inadequate performance , whether you have lots of VRAM or not .

But if AMD does n’t do that … if it manages to make these menu decently free-enterprise with whatever RTX 5060 Nvidia ’s been working on , with the bolstered ray tracing and new FSR features , withlots of VRAM ? AMD could be on to a victor that could stand up a chance of competing for the most pop graphics card in the Steam Hardware survey . The same one that AMD hardly makes a pip on in early 2025 .