AMD has announced its RX 5600 XT graphics cards at its CES 2020 keynote. The card is based on the Navi architecture and sits between the 5500 and 5700 GPU lineups. It aims to fill the performance and price gap between the two segments of AMD’s graphics cards (the RX 5500 XT at $199 and the RX 5700 at $350). The card will be competing with the likes of Nvidia’s GTX 1660 Super and 1660 Ti variants.
AMD RX 5600XT Graphics Card Specifications
The AMD RX 5600 XT graphics card uses a cut-down version of the Navi 10 GPU that is also employed in the RX 5700 series. It features 36 Compute Units with 2304 stream processors, which is the same as the RX 5700 non-XT variant. However, the card uses 6GB of 12Gbps GDDR6 memory with a 192-bit memory bus. It is AMD’s first Navi-based card with 6GB of memory. The RX 5700 has 8GB of 14Gbps GDDR6 memory with a 256-bit memory bus. It results in an effective memory bandwidth of 288GB/s for the RX 5600XT compared to the 448GB/s of the RX 5700.
The new graphics card has a game clock of 1375MHz and a boost clock of 1560MHz, which is lower than the clock speeds of the RX 5700 graphics cards (1625MHz and 1725MHz). A performance gap will exist between the two cards due to the significant difference in their clock speeds and memory configurations.
RX 5600XT graphics card has a TDP rating of 150W which AMD says is on the conservative side. It uses a single 8-pin power connector while the reference RX 5700 uses an additional 6-pin power connector. No reference models will be launched for the card and only AIB variants will be available. Most of them will feature three DP1.4 ports and a single HDMI 2.0 port. Their coolers may be similar to the existing RX 5700 models.
AMD RX 5600XT Graphics Card Performance – What To Expect?
AMD’s RX 5600 XT primarily aims to compete with Nvidia’s GTX 1660 Super and GTX 1660 Ti graphics cards. Its performance will be close to its competitors. AMD released a few slides showing the performance of its RX 5600 XT graphics card against its rivals. As per the claims, when compared to the GTX 1660 Super, the RX 5600XT is up to 15% better on average in popular AAA games that include Battlefield 5, The Division 2, and Gears 5 among others. It yields 5% more frames on an average in popular E-sports titles like Fortnite, PUBG, and Overwatch.
Interestingly, the RX 5600 XT performs up to 20% better on average in AAA games in comparison to the GTX 1660 Ti as per the slides. In E-sports titles, it is up to 10% better on an average against its competitor. The increased performance gap could be attributed to the higher memory bandwidth of the GTX 1660 Super. While these numbers are from AMD, and it would be better to wait for independent reviews, we can expect the performance of the RX 5600 XT to be at par with its competitors.
AMD RX 5600XT Graphics Card – Price and Competition
AMD has launched the RX 5600 XT at $279. In comparison, the reference RX 5700 non-XT costs $350. The competing graphics cards from Nvidia include the $229 GTX 1660 Super and the $279 GTX 1660 Ti. While the RX 5600 XT manages to perform at par with its competitors, its success will be based on its price to performance ratio. Nvidia’s recently launched GTX 1660 Super can be a party pooper for the RX 5600 XT. It does not significantly lag behind in performance while being significantly cheaper ($50). Considering that most benchmarks from the manufacturers are best-case scenarios, we don’t expect the performance difference between the GTX 1660 Super and the RX 5600 XT to increase by much.
AMD’s RX 5600 XT is around 21% more expensive than the GTX 1660 Super while being performing 15% better on an average. It does not make it an exciting product. Also, there have been rumors doing the rounds of Nvidia launching a GTX 1660 Ti Super. It can significantly dent the sales of AMD’s RX 5600 XT. Nvidia has already done the same with its GTX 1660 Super refresh that has made AMD’s RX 5500 look an unlucrative offering. Only time will tell if the rumors turn out to be true.
If AMD had launched the RX 5600 XT at the same price as the GTX 1660 Super (around $230), then it would have blown the competition away. Since the company has moved to a new manufacturing node (7nm), it won’t be able to lower prices due to the immaturity of the fabrication node. AMD won’t have significant profit margins to play with until the process matures enough.
AMD RX 5600XT Graphics Card – Probably a 1080p King But…
At its current price, the RX 5600 XT is neither a lucrative nor an unattractive option. It takes over Nvidia when it comes to high-performance 1080p gaming. Gamers who are looking for the best 1080p-class card will find the RX 5600 XT to be a suitable fit for them. However, it can’t beat Nvidia’s GTX 1660 Super in price-to-performance. The picture will get clearer once the review embargo is lifted and we have independent benchmarks for the card. AMD RX 5600 XT will hit the store shelves on 21st January.
