$280 Radeon RX 9050 ends up slower than $260 RX 7600 from 2023
Secret RX 9050
Hardware Unboxed has published one of the first independent reviews of the Radeon RX 9050 8GB, but there is something unusual about the review. T he channel cannot show the graphics card, its box or even disclose which partner model was tested. AMD did not provide a sample, and according to Hardware Unboxed, AMD partners were not allowed to send one either. The card was eventually obtained through what the reviewers call “side channels,” with the source requesting that its identity and the exact model remain undisclosed.
The Radeon RX 9050 is AMD’s smallest RDNA 4 desktop GPU configuration so far. It has 16 Compute Units and 1,024 Stream Processors, exactly half the shader count of the Radeon RX 9060 XT. The 8GB model uses 18 Gbps GDDR6 on a 128-bit interface and has a 92W typical board power. Hardware Unboxed suggests the RX 9050 may serve as a lower bin for Navi 44 silicon that cannot meet RX 9060 specifications, although AMD has not confirmed this explanation.
Performance below expecations, slower than RX 7600
The review does not give the RX 9050 much support on performance. Across ten games, the card averaged 49 FPS at 1080p and 33 FPS at 1440p. At 1080p, the GeForce RTX 5050 was 20% faster while the older Radeon RX 7600 was 22% faster. At 1440p, the RX 9050 dropped to the same 33 FPS average shown for the RTX 5050 in Hardware Unboxed’s results, while the RX 7600 reached 35 FPS.
© HardwareUnboxed Pricing makes the performance harder to justify. Hardware Unboxed tested the card against a suggested price of around $280 and concluded that it would need to cost no more than $200 to make sense. The reviewers instead recommend looking at used hardware, Intel’s Arc B580 or saving for the Radeon RX 9060 XT. Their conclusion is that the RX 9050 8GB offers too little performance for its current price.
© HardwareUnboxed There is also a Radeon RX 9050 4GB , but this is not a normal retail AIB model. AMD previously confirmed that the 4GB card was developed specifically for one OEM partner system and has no plans to sell it separately. The known system is a CyberPowerPC Gamer Master sold through Best Buy. The 4GB configuration also halves the memory interface from 128-bit to 64-bit, reducing bandwidth from 288 GB/s to 144 GB/s.
The 8GB version is the model intended for standalone sales, with designs announced by ASRock and SAPPHIRE. Availability is limited to Latin America, Asia Pacific and Japan rather than a global launch. Hardware Unboxed says Australia and Korea are excluded despite belonging to the broader APJ region, which left the Australia-based channel without a normal way to obtain a review sample. That apparently did not stop them from finding one anyway.
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