AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT assessment: A peculiar graphics card chances are you'll in fact manage to pay for

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At a look

Skilled’s Ranking

Execs

• $199 charge level
• Excellent 1080p gaming functionality at Medium/Prime settings
• Very energy environment friendly and funky
• Fashionable options like ray tracing and AMD Good Get right of entry to Reminiscence
• 4GB reminiscence buffer can’t be used for Ethereum mining, confidently decreasing cryptocurrency call for

Cons

• Will $199 charge level stick at the streets?
• Restricted PCIe lanes scale back functionality on older PCIe 3.0 techniques
• Unorthodox reminiscence configuration and restricted PCIe lanes restrict functionality doable
• Just one HDMI and DisplayPort
• Little functionality development over prior-gen GPUs

Our Verdict

The AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT brings ray tracing and reasonably priced GPUs to the loads, however doing so calls for some unorthodox tweaks that may impact functionality. If it remains in inventory close to MSRP and also you keep on with settings it’s supposed for, it is a forged mainstream 1080p graphics card, and a excellent choice for brand new PC players.

Easiest Costs As of late

Now not To be had

AMD’s $199 Radeon RX 6500 XT breaks new flooring for desktop graphics cards, and lots of the GPU’s achievements imply very excellent issues for PC players. At a time when it’s close to unattainable to discover a competent graphics card at an inexpensive charge, the Radeon RX 6500 XT is the primary GPU underneath $200 that packs real-time ray tracing functions. All of this is occurring 3 lengthy years after real-time ray tracing debuted in Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 20-series.

The Radeon RX 6500 XT could also be the primary GPU to wreck the two.8GHz barrier (wild), and it marks the debut of TSMC’s 6nm production era. However the actual tale here's AMD’s supply of a significant price-to-performance worth proposition: The Radeon RX 6500 XT is the primary cheaply priced graphics card of its technology, which has been rocked by means of shortages and excessive costs because of a mix of a chip crunch, logistics woes, and booming demand by cryptocurrency miners, amongst different elements. Certainly, in case you’ve been hoping to get your fingers on an reasonably priced GPU all over the pandemic, you’ve been out of success up to now. However this graphics card may just—may just—alternate that.

AMD took some bizarre twists and turns to reach on the Radeon RX 6500 XT. For starters, this budget-priced graphics card comes with simply 4GB of onboard reminiscence to evade the attention of crypto miners. Past that, different hardware compromises had been required to hit the sub-$200 charge level, and a few of these tweaks can impact functionality, relying for your PC’s general hardware profile and the way you play your video games. And past that, the GPU doesn’t considerably transfer the functionality needle past previous generations of in a similar fashion priced graphics playing cards.

Sure, the Radeon RX 6500 XT is a extra difficult beast than it sounds as if to start with look. However make no mistake: It’s an excessively succesful entry-level, 1080p graphics card in case you stay its obstacles in thoughts. In an technology the place getting older, in the past used, low-end GPUs are going for $300 or extra, the Radeon RX 6500 XT looks like an oasis within the wilderness—if costs stay sane at the streets over the approaching weeks, this is. Let’s dig in.

Radeon RX 6500 XT options, specifications, and value

The Radeon RX 6500 XT is constructed round a brand new 6nm AMD GPU that makes use of the corporate’s RDNA 2 structure, which paves the best way for energy potency and fashionable options in the past unavailable at this charge level. You'll discover a listing of uncooked specs within the AMD-supplied chart underneath.

AMD

The sky-high 2.8GHz spice up clock and a couple of.6GHz conventional Sport Clock must in an instant catch your eye. AMD tuned this GPU so it’s buzzing (sooner than this technology, you cheered if a graphics card broke 2GHz). It’s additionally price noting the inclusion of 16 ray accelerators, or one in every compute unit. That implies the Radeon RX 6500 XT can turn on real-time ray tracing in video games that fortify it, even though with so few accelerators in tow, you’ll wish to keep on with lower-end ray-tracing choices, and preferably use them along with AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution in well suited video games. FSR makes use of sensible upscaling tips to reinforce functionality. The era is most effective enabled in choose titles, however someday quickly, AMD will roll out a brand new driver-level Radeon Super Resolution feature that may permit you to delight in sooner body charges in hundreds of video games.

Don’t let the ones ultra-fast clock speeds idiot you, even though. That is nonetheless an entry-level graphics card, and that’s pushed house by means of a more in-depth have a look at the specifications. With 16 compute devices, 32 ROPs, and 16MB of AMD’s radical Infinity Cache, the Radeon RX 6500 XT gives part the uncooked hardware horsepower of the $375 Radeon RX 6600 XT, and somewhat just a little lower than the $300 Radeon RX 6600, as neatly. The ones modest internals, blended with AMD’s RDNA 2 enhancements, imply this graphics card sips a trifling 107 watts of overall board energy (or a reasonably upper 120W in overclocked variants). This shall we it slip simply into maximum current PCs with a unfastened 6-pin energy connection.

AMD additionally introduced a brand new Radeon RX 6400 graphics card unique to prebuilt techniques. It has a lot slower clock and reminiscence speeds in an effort to slip into PCs without a further energy cables required.

AMD

In different spaces, AMD made some key compromises to hit the Radeon RX 6500 XT’s juicy $199 charge level. Maximum significantly, AMD geared up this GPU with simply 4GB of GDDR6 reminiscence (albeit clocked at blazing-fast 18Gbps speeds). 4GB is lower than you’d like to look in a contemporary graphics card, however the modest capability way the cardboard can’t be used for Ethereum cryptocurrency mining, which supplies the 6500 XT a shot at in fact staying in inventory on retailer cabinets.

The remainder of the reminiscence configuration is simply as bizarre. Earlier fashionable generations of low-end GPUs from AMD and Nvidia used a 128-bit reminiscence bus. The Radeon RX 6500 XT comes supplied with a meager 64-bit bus, even though AMD’s Adam Kozak instructed newshounds that along with the 16MB of onboard Infinity Cache and lightning-quick 18Gbps VRAM clock, the cardboard gives successfully two times the reminiscence bandwidth you’d in most cases get from one of these small bus dimension.  

AMD is pitching the 6500 XT as a excellent 1080p choice with Medium to Prime graphics card settings. As you’ll see in our benchmarks later, the cardboard holds up simply positive underneath the ones so much. However the modest GPU and abnormal reminiscence configuration imply you’ll want to watch out concerning the settings you utilize. For those who crank visuals as much as extremely or run right into a sport with particularly excessive reminiscence calls for, the restricted reminiscence capability and bus width may just lead to jarring frame-time spikes when your PC exceeds the 4GB barrier and must faucet into your gadget’s normal RAM pool for assist. Don’t push this GPU tougher than it’s supposed for and also you must be positive.

The Radeon RX 6500 XT most effective makes use of 4 PCIe lanes in spite of carrying a standard x16 bodily connection. 

Brad Chacos/IDG

Most likely extra vexingly, AMD most effective slapped 4 PCIe categorical lanes at the Radeon RX 6500 XT. Maximum graphics playing cards use a complete x16 PCIe interface, with funds playing cards once in a while shedding right down to x8. 4 lanes is unheard-of in gamer-grade desktop playing cards. Fewer PCIe lanes supply much less bandwidth for GPUs to strut their stuff, however those are PCIe 4.0 lanes, that are a lot sooner than PCIe 3.0 lanes. In an excessively fashionable gadget with a PCIe 4.0-compatible motherboard and CPU (e.g., AMD Ryzen 3000-series or upper and Intel Eleventh-gen Core collection or upper), the Radeon RX 6500 XT has no downside working at its supposed Medium to Prime graphics settings. Then again, in case you’re shedding the cardboard into an older PCIe 3.0 gadget, the restricted PCIe lanes undoubtedly scale back your functionality—even though the 6500 XT stays a succesful funds choice even then. We’ll come with effects for each eventualities in our benchmark phase.

In the end, in its quest to hit the sub-$200 charge level, AMD wanted to take away hardware options that aren’t utilized by nearly all of entry-level players, Kozak mentioned. (He mentioned the verdict to make use of 4 PCIe lanes used to be made for a similar reason why.) As such, the Radeon RX 6500 XT lacks fortify for AV1 interpreting, in addition to H.264 and H.265/HEVC encoding. That, paired with the Radeon RX 6500 XT most effective supporting singular HDMI and DisplayPort connections, limits its enchantment for house theater PCs or for players who wish to flow their adventures on Twitch.

Phew. That’s much more caveats and compromises than you might in most cases see with a desktop graphics card. So, does the Radeon RX 6500 XT nonetheless grasp up as a forged entry-level gaming GPU? Spoiler alert: Sure. To check its chops, the corporate despatched over an XFX Qick 210 Radeon RX 6500 XT Black for assessment.

Brad Chacos/IDG

The Qick 210 options the similar graceful blacked-out design aesthetic as XFX’s different RDNA 2 GPUs, with nary an RGB LED to be discovered on its pockmarked shroud. It includes a fetching steel backplate; two 100mm lovers with 13 blades every (therefore the “210” within the identify); a couple of 6mm heatpipes; and a copper GPU coldplate. XFX additionally gave its card a 5+2 section virtual VRM. All in all, it appears to be like nice for an entry-level card. An XFX spokesperson declined to offer a company MSRP because of the fluid nature of lately’s GPU marketplace, however mentioned he expects real-world pricing to settle in reasonably above AMD’s $199 charge after the preliminary release mud settles. Taking into consideration that the four year-old Radeon RX 570 goes for $200 to $300-plus used on Ebay, that’s no marvel. However precise boulevard pricing for the Radeon RX 6500 XT will make up an enormous a part of its doable appeal.

Let’s get to the benchmarks.

Our check gadget

We check graphics playing cards on a AMD Ryzen 5000-series check rig in an effort to benchmark the impact of PCIe 4.0 fortify on fashionable GPUs, in addition to the performance-boosting AMD Good Get right of entry to Reminiscence and Nvidia Resizable BAR options (that are each in line with the similar underlying PCIe usual). These days, we’re trying out it on an open bench with AMD’s Wraith Max air cooler. Lots of the hardware used to be supplied by means of the producers, however we bought the garage ourselves.

• AMD Ryzen 5900X, inventory settings
• AMD Wraith Max cooler
• MSI Godlike X570 motherboard
• 32GB G.Ability Trident Z Neo DDR4 3800 reminiscence
• EVGA 1200W SuperNova P2 energy provide
• 1TB SK Hynix Gold S31 SSD

So far as our aggressive trying out set, we’re doing issues a little bit in a different way because of the funds nature of this card, and its peculiar configuration. Typically, we check video games on the best conceivable graphics presets and temporal anti-aliasing enabled to push them to their limits. However the Radeon RX 6500 XT is constructed for medium to excessive gaming at 1080p, on the cheap. So we skipped our standard strategies and as a substitute determined to check AMD’s new GPU towards prior-gen GPUs in a an identical $200 charge bracket, plus or minus $50 in both path, with every sport’s Medium graphics preset.

The charts underneath pit the newcomer towards AMD’s last-gen Radeon RX 5500 XT, which introduced at $180 in 2019 (and value $30 an excessive amount of on the time), in addition to the Asus ROG Strix Radeon RX 580 8GB, an enthusiast-class model of the superb GPU that launched in 2017 for $250. We’ve matched that on Nvidia’s facet with the Asus ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1650 Super, which introduced for $170 in 2019, and Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1060 6GB Founders Edition GPU, a $250 graphics card in 2016. We selected those playing cards as a result of they’re the standard used choices that the Radeon RX 6500 XT will compete towards in lately’s wacky GPU market.

Of all of the playing cards we’re trying out, most effective AMD’s new 6500 XT helps real-time ray tracing. Then again, we determined to skip ray tracing benchmarks lately to center of attention in on one thing that’s possibly extra necessary: Efficiency in each new and older PCs. We additionally incorporated functionality effects for the Radeon RX 6500 XT working in each PCIe 3.0 and PCIe 4.0 modes, given its 4 restricted PCIe lanes, so that you could see what kind of functionality to be expecting in case you drop this GPU into an older gadget as an improve.

We check quite a lot of video games spanning quite a lot of engines, genres, seller sponsorships (Nvidia, AMD, and Intel), and graphics APIs (DirectX 11, DX12, and Vulkan). When trying out, we disable VSync, body price caps, real-time ray tracing or DLSS results, and FreeSync/G-Sync, at the side of some other vendor-specific applied sciences like FidelityFX gear or Nvidia Reflex. We additionally disable AMD’s Good Get right of entry to Reminiscence and Nvidia’s rival PCIe Resizable BAR options, since they’re extremely depending on how the remainder of your gadget is configured. We run every benchmark no less than thrice and listing the typical end result for every check.

Gaming functionality benchmarks

Watch Canine: Legion

Brad Chacos/IDG

Watch Canine: Legion is likely one of the first video games to debut on next-gen consoles. Ubisoft upgraded its Disrupt engine to incorporate state of the art options like real-time ray tracing and Nvidia’s DLSS. We disable the ones results for this trying out, however Legion stays a strenuous sport even on high-end hardware with its not obligatory high-resolution texture pack put in.

Horizon 0 Morning time

Yep, PlayStation exclusives are coming to the PC now. Horizon 0 Morning time runs on Guerrilla Video games’ Decima engine, the similar engine that powers Dying Stranding.

Brad Chacos/IDG

Gears Ways

Gears Ways places it personal brutal, fast paced spin at the XCOM-like style. This Unreal Engine 4-powered sport used to be constructed from the bottom up for DirectX 12, and we adore having the ability to paintings a tactics-style sport into our benchmarking suite. Higher but, the sport comes with a plethora of graphics choices for PC snobs. Extra video games must commit such loving care to explaining what flipping most of these visible knobs imply.

Brad Chacos/IDG

Wolfenstein: Youngblood

Wolfenstein: Youngblood is extra amusing when you'll play cooperatively with a friend, however it’s a fearless experiment—and an absolute technical show off. Working at the Vulkan API, Youngblood achieves blistering body charges, and it helps all forms of state of the art applied sciences like ray tracing, DLSS 2.0, HDR, GPU culling, asynchronous computing, and Nvidia’s Content material Adaptive Shading. The sport features a integrated benchmark with two other scenes; we examined Riverside.

Brad Chacos/IDG

Metro Exodus

One of the crucial ideally suited video games of 2019, Metro Exodus stays one of the most best-looking video games round, too. The newest model of the 4A Engine supplies extremely luscious, ultra-detailed visuals, with one of the vital surprising real-time ray tracing implementations launched but. We check in DirectX 12 mode with ray tracing, Hairworks, and DLSS disabled.

Brad Chacos/IDG

Borderlands 3

Borderlands is again! Gearbox’s sport defaults to DX12, so we do as neatly. It provides us a glimpse on the ultra-popular Unreal Engine 4’s functionality in a conventional shooter. This sport has a tendency to want fashionable AMD hardware.

Brad Chacos/IDG

Odd Brigade

Odd Brigade is a cooperative third-person shooter the place a crew of adventurers blasts via hordes of mythological enemies. It’s a technological show off, constructed across the next-gen Vulkan and DirectX 12 applied sciences and infused with options like HDR fortify and the facility to toggle asynchronous compute off and on. It makes use of Rise up’s customized Azure engine. We check the usage of the Vulkan renderer, which is quicker than DX12.

Brad Chacos/IDG

General Struggle: Troy

The newest sport in the preferred General Struggle saga, Troy used to be given away unfastened for its first 24 hours at the Epic Video games Retailer, shifting over 7.5 million copies sooner than it went on correct sale. General Struggle: Troy is constructed the usage of a changed model of the General Struggle: Warhammer 2 engine, and this DX11 name appears to be like surprising for a turn-based technique sport. We check the extra extensive fight benchmark.

Brad Chacos/IDG

F1 2020

F1 2020 is a gem to check, supplying a big selection of each graphical and benchmarking choices, making it a a lot more dependable (and amusing) choice that the Forza collection. It’s constructed on the newest model of Codemasters’ buttery-smooth Ego sport engine, entire with fortify for DX12 and Nvidia’s DLSS era. We check two laps at the Australia route, with transparent skies on and DLSS off.

Brad Chacos/IDG

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Shadow of the Tomb Raider concludes the reboot trilogy, and it’s nonetheless completely beautiful a number of years after its debut. Sq. Enix optimized this sport for DX12 and recommends DX11 provided that you’re the usage of older hardware or Home windows 7, so we check with DX12. Shadow of the Tomb Raider makes use of an enhanced model of the Basis engine that still powered Upward push of the Tomb Raider and comprises not obligatory real-time ray tracing and DLSS options.

Brad Chacos/IDG

Rainbow Six Siege

Rainbow Six Siege nonetheless dominates the Steam charts years after its release, and Ubisoft helps it with widespread updates and occasions. The builders have poured a ton of labor into the sport’s AnvilNext engine over time, sooner or later rolling out a Vulkan model of the sport that we use to check. Via default, the sport lowers the render scaling to extend body charges, however we set it to 100% to benchmark local rendering functionality on graphics playing cards. Even nonetheless, body charges bounce.

Brad Chacos/IDG

Energy draw, thermals, and noise

We check energy draw by means of looping the F1 2020 benchmark at 4K for approximately 20 mins once we’ve benchmarked the whole lot else after which word the best studying on our Watts Up Professional meter, which measures the facility intake of our complete check gadget. The preliminary a part of the race, the place all competing vehicles are onscreen concurrently, has a tendency to be probably the most not easy portion. 

This isn’t a worst-case check; it is a GPU-bound sport working at a GPU-bound decision to gauge functionality when the graphics card is sweating laborious. For those who’re enjoying a sport that still hammers the CPU, it's essential see upper general gadget energy attracts. Imagine your self warned.

Brad Chacos/IDG

Access-level graphics playing cards at all times have modest energy calls for—all the examined devices most effective desire a unmarried 6- or 8-pin energy connector—however the super energy potency of AMD’s RDNA 2 structure shines even though right here, particularly while you imagine that the Radeon RX 6500 XT holds a forged functionality lead in uncooked body charges on this sport as neatly. Excellent stuff.

We check thermals by means of leaving GPU-Z open all over the F1 2020 energy draw check, noting the best most temperature on the finish.

Brad Chacos/IDG

The variability of cooler designs differs such a lot on those examined GPU fashions that you simply shouldn’t glance too deeply into those effects. Nonetheless, it’s transparent that cooling isn’t a topic by any means with any of those mainstream graphics playing cards.

Must you purchase the Radeon RX 6500 XT?

The 6500 XT is a forged acquire in case you’re at the hunt for an reasonably priced entry-level graphics card that delivers forged 1080p gaming functionality while you dial again some eye sweet. Taking into consideration that 2-year-old GTX 1650 graphics playing cards are going for $200 used to $350 new on Ebay after launching at $170, and the traditional Radeon RX 570 is in a similar boat, the $199 asking charge for a brand spanking new Radeon RX 6500 XT—entire with its killer power potency, ray tracing functions, and fashionable options—sounds downright delectable for players determined for the rest reasonably priced. It’s actually an unserved marketplace at this time.

The Radeon RX 6500 XT’s true measure will probably be published within the coming days and weeks, then again. It wishes to stick across the $200 charge level to stay probably the most interesting, even though it’s nonetheless price taking into consideration any place underneath $300 in lately’s wild marketplace.

The Radeon RX 6500 XT flies via video games at 1080p Medium settings, as our benchmarks confirmed, and activating options like Good Get right of entry to Reminiscence, Radeon Spice up, FidelityFX Tremendous Solution in supported video games, in addition to the coming near near almost-universal Radeon Tremendous Solution, must most effective velocity issues up much more on well suited techniques.

Brad Chacos/IDG

However AMD made a number of key compromises to hit this juicy charge level: losing PCIe lanes, fashionable encoders, or even shedding right down to a scant 4GB of reminiscence to evade the attention of cryptocurrency miners. The ones all impact functionality and also you’ll want to paintings throughout the confines of the low-end GPU and unorthodox reminiscence configuration to steer clear of bottlenecks. Some video games will have the ability to supply a soft revel in on Extremely settings—particularly aggressive e-sports titles—however you’ll want to stay expectancies modest and tinker with settings to steer clear of exceeding the cardboard’s 4GB body buffer. Blowing previous that may introduce jarring, laborious body time spikes. So, get started at Medium graphics presets on your selected video games, and paintings up from there. You’ll additionally wish to steer clear of going past 1080p decision, as shifting to 1440p and better in fashionable video games is very more likely to exceed this card’s 4GB VRAM buffer and result in lag spikes, particularly in case you’re the usage of a PCIe 3.0-based laptop.

Its bizarre configuration makes the Radeon RX 6500 XT’s functionality as opposed to older GPUs surprisingly variable. Most often, it’s both higher than, or aggressive with, prior-gen choices in functionality, particularly in video games that use the trendy DirectX 12 and Vulkan APIs that RDNA 2 excels at. Nonetheless, it could possibly range wildly relying at the sport. The Radeon RX 6500 XT brings up the rear in General Struggle: Troy, for instance, however plays exceedingly neatly in Borderlands 3. However, it nonetheless supplies very playable body charges around the board at Medium settings.

There’s no query that the restricted PCIe lane rely hinders functionality in case you drop AMD’s new GPU into an older PCIe 3.0 gadget (that means, all however probably the most fashionable PCs). Once more, it’s variable—Rainbow Six Siege plays identically in each, whilst General Struggle is a whopping 18.4 % slower on PCIe 3.0—however aside from the ones peculiar outliers, the Radeon RX 6500 XT is a median of 6.4 % slower throughout our check suite when working in PCIe 3.0 mode. That’s no longer too unhealthy all issues regarded as, and a lot better than you’d be expecting with a typical GPU configuration wielding those specifications, so it’s transparent that AMD’s Infinity Cache is doing paintings right here. For the reason that, the reasonably slower functionality on PCIe 3.0 techniques doesn’t alternate our general impressions of the graphics card, even though it’s indubitably price noting.

Until you need fashionable options like ray tracing and variable price shading, the Radeon RX 6500 XT isn’t a compelling functionality improve over last-gen entry-level GPUs just like the Radeon RX 5500 XT or GeForce GTX 1650 Tremendous. Nor does it supply sufficient of an uplift to imagine upgrading from a Radeon RX 580 or GTX 1060 6GB in case you’re nonetheless rocking the ones ever-popular choices from yesteryear. This normal charge section has been rocked by means of marketplace prerequisites and remained in large part stagnant over the past part a decade. Siiiiiiiiiigh.

There will probably be no AMD-made reference playing cards to be had for the Radeon RX 6500 XT, however a variety of customized playing cards by means of AMD companions will probably be to be had at release.

AMD

However in case you’re browsing to construct a brand new gaming PC from scratch, or improve from an even-more-ancient GPU, a brand new $199 Radeon RX 6500 XT is much more interesting than a used GTX 1650 or Radeon RX 570 for $300-plus, particularly while you issue within the AMD card’s fortify for contemporary options like ray tracing.

Sure, getting the Radeon RX 6500 XT to the $200 charge level took some important compromises on AMD’s section. And, sure, the ones compromises can stay you from cranking eye sweet to the max in lots of video games. However don’t lose sight of the woodland for the bushes. The arena wishes reasonably priced graphics playing cards at this time, and the Radeon RX 6500 XT delivers forged 1080p gaming functionality with out brutalizing your pockets. A brand new technology of players presented to the honour of the PC all over the pandemic is clamoring for hardware to energy their Fortnite machines. If AMD can provide sufficient chips to stay the Radeon RX 6500 XT on retailer cabinets, this humble, abnormal graphics card may just finally end up being a unusual savior all over very laborious instances.

That’s a large “if” in lately’s global. Costs want to keep sane for the Radeon RX 6500 XT to satisfy its doable and graphics card pricing has been the rest however sane over the past couple of years. The loss of a significant functionality improve over prior-gen GPUs coupled with issues stemming from its unorthodox configuration save you us from giving the Radeon RX 6500 XT the next rating or an Editors’ Selection award. Then again, if issues pass proper—AMD CEO Lisa Su told PCWorld “we intend to have numerous product” for this release—this graphics card might be precisely what the PC gaming plenty want at this time, warts and all.

Arms crossed.

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