Even before release, there are first test reports on the new AMD graphics card RX 6600 XT. However, the promise that the new graphics card will become the Full HD flagship in the 1080p range can only be partially fulfilled by the manufacturer.
Since August 11, 2021, the RX 6600 XT card from AMD has been available for a suggested retail price of €379.99. However, one will not be able to buy the graphics card for that price, because the reality of the hardware world currently looks bleak.
In our article, we show what different testers think of the new card and why AMD can only touch the 1080p throne with 2 fingers but cannot conquer it.
What is the Radeon RX 6600 XT?
The RX 6600 XT is the latest graphics card from Team Red aka AMD. It ranks at the lower performance end of the 6000 series, the first models of which were released in 2020. The card was released today, on August 11, 2021, and is primarily aimed at Full HD gamers. However, players looking for a budget solution for their gaming setup might be deterred from purchasing due to overpriced street prices.
This is what the RX 6600 XT offers: With PCI-Express 4.0 as well as HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort connectors, the RX 6600 XT could also be used at higher resolutions and refresh rates. The GameStar test shows that the card struggles even at WQHD (2560x1440p). The scarce 8 gigabytes of GDDR6 video RAM hit 4K enthusiasts hard.
Radeon RX 6600 XT Overview
| Radeon RX 6600xt | |
|---|---|
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 |
| Base Clock | 1,968 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 2,589 MHz |
| Memory Size | 8 GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Speed | 16 GB/s |
| Bandwidth | 256 GB/s |
| TDP (Power Consumption) | 160 Watts |
What the testers say about the Radeon RX 6600 XT
In this section, we present the most important tests of the RX 6600 XT.
GameStar: “Practically unplayable with ray tracing.”
GameStar writes (via GameStar):
With the Radeon RX 6600 XT, AMD positions itself exactly between the RTX 3060 and the RTX 3060 Ti. The latter proves to be clearly faster in our tests, while the RTX 3060 is clearly lagging behind. However, this is only in terms of rasterization performance, i.e., the normal image rendering (no ray tracing).
Hardwareluxx: “In the end, it comes down to price.”
Hardwareluxx writes (via Hardwareluxx):
In the benchmarks, it ranks between the GeForce RTX 3060 and GeForce RTX 3060 Ti in most games. In comparison to the previous Radeon generation, it performs on par with the Radeon RX 5700 XT. (…) The Radeon RX 6600 XT is not an option for rendering ray tracing effects in various games, which now support it. The raw power of the card simply isn’t enough – often not even at 1080p.
PC Games Hardware: “The energy efficiency is pleasantly high.”
PC Games Hardware writes (via pcgameshardware):
The use case advertised by AMD in combination with a Full HD screen undoubtedly works; the performance is sufficient for good to very smooth frame rates in any case. The memory capacity of 8 GiB performs well, and it only rarely feels tight. The energy efficiency is quite high, indeed excellent in absolute idle.
ComputerBase: “The MSRP is set too high.”
ComputerBase writes (via ComputerBase):
The new smallest RDNA-2 graphics card is faster in Full HD than the Radeon RX 5700 XT and GeForce RTX 3060, with the lead in pure rasterizer titles being 7 and 13 percent respectively. AMD’s official recommended price of €380 is too high given the market environment. The GeForce RTX 3060 costs €329, significantly less, while the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti costs only €419, which is not much more.
Golem: “To 1080p and (not) beyond.”
Golem writes (via Golem):
The Radeon RX 6600 XT is the most affordable graphics card with AMD’s current RDNA2 technology. The manufacturer explicitly advertises the pixel accelerator for 1080p gaming, which we can verify based on our test results. Nevertheless, the card is still suitable for 1440p and, with reduced details, also for 4K. At these resolutions, the Radeon RX 6600 XT significantly loses ground against the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti.
This stands out to all testers: Recommending a purchase is difficult for many testers. The reason for this is primarily the lack of availability and the resulting expensive resale. The RX 6600 XT will likely be sold out everywhere shortly after release – it would be a wonder if not. Then resellers will again demand exorbitant sums for the card on eBay. The estimated street value of the card, according to testers, is between €500 and €700.
Why hardware is so expensive at the moment and why graphics cards are rarely found at list price is explained by experts from GameStar in the talk:
However, with €379.99, the MSRP is already too high. It is worth considering the — theoretically — only slightly more expensive RTX 3060 Ti (MSRP: €419); thanks to DLSS and better ray tracing performance. True shining moments can only be celebrated with the card in purist 1080p. But please without ray tracing, as this causes frame rates to drop even in “only” Full HD.
At least the RX 6600 XT scores in terms of energy efficiency. Here, it performs significantly better than the competing RTX 3060 and 3060 Ti from Nvidia. The card is said to consume only 160 Watts in operation.
Benchmarks: How well does the RX 6600 XT perform in games
Who should buy an RX 6600 XT? This is the target group
An RX 6600 XT should primarily be bought by players who
- play on a single monitor setup with 1080p (Full HD).
- are very conscious of power consumption.
Players should not buy an RX 6600 XT who
- wish for a resolution of WQHD at high FPS.
- want to play in 4K.
- are interested in ray tracing effects.
Anyone who doesn’t have to think about their finances when buying a graphics card:
An RTX 3090 graphics card costs €4,220 – how good is such an expensive graphics card?
