The PENELOPE code is used to determine direct strand break yields corresponding to photons from a 60Co source and 28 and 30 kV x-ray beams impacting on a B-DNA geometrical model, which accounts for five organizational levels of the human genetic material. Direct single, double and total strand break probabilities are determined in a liquid water homogeneous medium with 1.06 g cm-3 density. The spectra produced by the x-ray beams at various depths in the phantom have been used to study the dependence of the damage yield on the depth. The relative biological effectiveness (RBE) is also estimated using the 60Co radiation qualities as the reference. According to this work, the damage probabilities and thus the RBE are, within the uncertainties, similar for both x-ray energies and are independent of the depth into the phantom. Furthermore, the total strand break yield is invariant with respect to the energy of the incident photons. 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