AMD’s Surprise Year End GPU
Right when most of the tech world is winding down for the holidays, AMD has quietly slipped a new graphics card onto its product pages. There was no flashy livestream, no big CES style reveal, just a new listing: the Radeon RX 9060 XT LP.
At a glance, this card looks almost identical to the standard Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB, and that is because it basically is. The key difference is its lower power limit. The original RX 9060 XT runs at 160 watts, while the new LP model drops that down to 140 watts.
For most gamers on a typical mid tower build, that might not sound like a big deal. But for anyone running a compact small form factor system, or planning a custom living room gaming box, shaving 20 watts off GPU power can really matter for thermals, noise levels, and PSU choices.
What Actually Changed With the RX 9060 XT LP
AMD does not list direct clock speeds on the LP product page, but you can infer the difference by looking at the theoretical performance numbers. The standard RX 9060 XT is rated for 25.6 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, while the new LP version is listed at 25 TFLOPS. That is roughly a 2 to 3 percent performance drop.
Translating that to clocks, the normal RX 9060 XT can boost up to around 3130 MHz. The LP model tops out at about 3050 MHz. In other words, AMD has slightly lowered the boost clock to match the reduced 140 watt power budget. In real games, you are unlikely to notice more than a couple of frames per second difference compared to the full power XT.
Importantly, AMD has kept the full core configuration and memory setup. The RX 9060 XT LP still comes with:
- 16 GB of VRAM
- The same number of shader units as the standard XT
This makes the LP model significantly more attractive than stepping down to the regular RX 9060 non XT. That non XT card has a lower 132 watt power limit, but also around 13 percent fewer shaders. For anyone balancing performance and power in a compact build, the XT LP offers far better performance per watt than the non XT.
That said, the choice to keep 16 GB of VRAM on a low power variant is a little unusual. Extra memory uses more power and is not cheap, especially with ongoing DRAM supply issues. An 8 GB LP model at around 130 watts would have undercut Nvidia’s lower end cards nicely on power and might have been cheaper to build for board partners. For now though, AMD clearly wanted to keep the full memory configuration.
Why This Card Matters for SFF and DIY Steam Machine Builds
The real story behind the RX 9060 XT LP is not raw performance. It is about competition in the compact PC and low power gaming space.
Nvidia’s recent GeForce RTX 5060 and RTX 5050 sit in a similar performance class with lower power limits. The RTX 5060 is rated at 145 watts and the RTX 5050 at 130 watts. That instantly makes them appealing to small form factor cases, lower capacity power supplies, and prebuilt mini gaming PCs.
On top of that, Nvidia partners are already shipping very short and low profile RTX 5060 cards that fit in truly tiny cases. AMD did not really have a direct answer with comparable power draw and performance until now.
The RX 9060 XT LP closes that gap. With a 140 watt limit and almost full XT performance, it becomes a much more realistic option for:
- Mini ITX gaming builds with tight airflow
- Compact office or living room PCs that double as gaming rigs
- DIY Steam Machine style boxes aiming for console like form factors
Valve’s own Steam Machine hardware uses a GPU with a power limit somewhere between 110 and 140 watts. The new 9060 XT LP fits into that bracket, while delivering a stronger GPU than the older RDNA 3 based chip Valve is using. For enthusiasts who want to build their own Steam Machine inspired box, this Radeon card suddenly looks very interesting.
There is another angle too. Even if AMD is not making an enormous engineering change here, the existence of an official LP variant nudges board partners to take small form factor Radeons more seriously. Vendors could always cap the power limit themselves, but an official SKU with tuned power and voltage curves makes it easier to market and support SFF oriented designs.
So far, none of the major Radeon board partners have formally announced custom RX 9060 XT LP models. When they do arrive, they may be limited to certain regions and specific niche product lines. Small form factor cards rarely sell in huge volumes, which tends to keep prices higher than equivalent full size cards.
Still, any move that lowers GPU power consumption and heat output without cutting performance too hard is good news for PC builders. You get more flexibility around PSU wattage, smaller cases become more practical, and cooling solutions can run quieter.
In the big picture, the Radeon RX 9060 XT LP is not a revolutionary new GPU. It is a smart tweak. AMD is carving out a more competitive spot in the growing SFF and efficiency focused segment, while giving gamers one more option that balances performance and power for modern builds.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/graphics-cards/amd-stealth-launches-a-new-low-power-version-of-its-radeon-rx-9060-xt-graphics-card-that-could-be-great-for-a-diy-steam-machine-though-its-only-shaved-13-percent-off-the-energy-consumption/
