News ASRock doubles memory on AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT — budget gaming GPU has 8GB GDDR5 for $169

[Admin]

ASRock has launched the Radeon RX 6500 XT Phantom Gaming 8GB OC, a custom version of the GPU with twice as much memory as the original.

ASRock doubles memory on AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT — budget gaming GPU has 8GB GDDR5 for $169 : Read more

 

[Metal Messiah.]

Pretty weak GPU due to it's god-awful "64-bit" Memory bus width ! Not to mention the 4 PCIe Gen 4 lanes as well (I know this might not matter much for gaming), and only 16MB on-die SRAM for Navi 24.

But basically, Navi 24 was meant to be used as a Laptop/Mobile discrete chip. For desktop use as a gaming GPU it's even worse. It's doesn't matter if this card sports 8GB VRAM as well.

Expect poor/sub-par performance at least in some bandwidth-starved games, if not all.

But anyway, history repeats again. Because this isn't the first 6500 XT GPU with 8GB VRAM. Nope.

SAPPHIRE PULSE AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT. Released July 2022.

https://www.sapphiretech.com/en/consumer/pulse-radeon-rx-6500-xt-8g-gddr6

https://twitter.com/x/status/1551553081153921024

View: https://x.com/SapphireTech/status/1551553081153921024


Chinese brand PELADN also released their own variant last year in July, dubbed RX 6500 XT ARMOR.

https://www.ithome.com/0/709/340.htm

 

[usertests]

At this price, I'd pick up a 3050 6GB instead, which is going to have similar performance (I referred to a TechPowerUp chart instead of a review), 75W PCIe power only, DLSS support, and PCIe 4.0 x8 instead of PCIe 4.0 x4 (better for an old PCIe 3.0 system).

Oh, and it has intact media decode/encode support, unlike the 6500 XT.

 

[beyondlogic]

Pretty weak GPU due to it's god-awful "64-bit" Memory bus width ! Not to mention the 4 PCIe Gen 4 lanes as well (I know this might not matter much for gaming), and only 16MB on-die SRAM for Navi 24.

But basically, Navi 24 was meant to be used as a Laptop/Mobile discrete chip. For desktop use as a gaming GPU it's even worse. It's doesn't matter if this card sports 8GB VRAM as well.

Expect poor/sub-par performance at least in some bandwidth-starved games, if not all.

But anyway, history repeats again. Because this isn't the first 6500 XT GPU with 8GB VRAM. Nope.

SAPPHIRE PULSE AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT. Released July 2022.

https://www.sapphiretech.com/en/consumer/pulse-radeon-rx-6500-xt-8g-gddr6

https://twitter.com/x/status/1551553081153921024

View: https://x.com/SapphireTech/status/1551553081153921024


Chinese brand PELADN also released their own variant last year in July, dubbed RX 6500 XT ARMOR.

https://www.ithome.com/0/709/340.htm

asrocks version is more then a memory upgrade on there page it runs at x8 and yes its on a 64 bit bus still.

 

[beyondlogic]

At this price, I'd pick up a 3050 6GB instead, which is going to have similar performance (I referred to a TechPowerUp chart instead of a review), 75W PCIe power only, DLSS support, and PCIe 4.0 x8 instead of PCIe 4.0 x4 (better for an old PCIe 3.0 system).

Oh, and it has intact media decode/encode support, unlike the 6500 XT.

while i agree the 3050 6gb is better.

they are both 4.0 x8

and the 6500 xt is slightly faster memory wise.

they clearly have excess stock and are just trying to tweak the chips that work.

price needs to be like 130 in uk for this thing to even move though

 

[Metal Messiah.]

asrocks version is more then a memory upgrade on there page it runs at x8 and yes its on a 64 bit bus still.

Yes, I have seen that mention on one page, and even this Tom's article had it listed as x8, but now they have edited it, and I think the ASRock specs are wrong as well, at least on the OC page. It's a typo error.

Because here it says: PCI Express4.0 x4. And the specs totally match with the OC variant.

To quote this article:

"The Radeon RX 6500 XT Phantom Gaming 8GB OC has a factory overclock, meaning the shaders run at 2,420 MHz — 4.8% faster than the reference specifications. ASRock has binned the graphics card's game clock and boost clock for 2,685 MHz and 2,825 MHz, representing a 2.9% and 0.4% uplift."

https://pg.asrock.com/Graphics-Card/AMD/Radeon RX 6500 XT Phantom Gaming 8GB/#Specification

On this page, it says, - PCI® Express 4.0 x8, which IMO is not correct. And these specs listed here as exactly the same as above.

https://pg.asrock.com/Graphics-Card/AMD/Radeon RX 6500 XT Phantom Gaming 8GB OC/index.asp#Specification

 

[beyondlogic]

Yes, I have seen that mention on one page, and even this Tom's article had it listed as x8, but now they have edited it, and I think the ASRock specs are wrong as well, at least on the OC page. It's a typo error.

Because here it says: PCI Express4.0 x4. And the specs totally match with the OC variant.

To quote this article:

"The Radeon RX 6500 XT Phantom Gaming 8GB OC has a factory overclock, meaning the shaders run at 2,420 MHz — 4.8% faster than the reference specifications. ASRock has binned the graphics card's game clock and boost clock for 2,685 MHz and 2,825 MHz, representing a 2.9% and 0.4% uplift."

https://pg.asrock.com/Graphics-Card/AMD/Radeon RX 6500 XT Phantom Gaming 8GB/#Specification

On this page, it says, - PCI® Express 4.0 x8, which IMO is not correct. And these specs listed here as exactly the same as above.

https://pg.asrock.com/Graphics-Card/AMD/Radeon RX 6500 XT Phantom Gaming 8GB OC/index.asp#Specification

i have a sneaky suspicion that these chips while named rx 6500 xt are either same silicon but tweaked to have x 8 lanes or are binned chips from another chip like a rx 6600m

if they can give it more memory e.g ram chips maybe they had to wire more lanes ?

 

[thestryker]

These would be an okay deal if they were around $100, but missing encoders, limited display output, and the 4 lane limitation makes it a poor alternative to the A310/A380/3050 6GB.

i have a sneaky suspicion that these chips while named rx 6500 xt are either same silicon but tweaked to have x 8 lanes or are binned chips from another chip like a rx 6600m

if they can give it more memory e.g ram chips maybe they had to wire more lanes ?

It's not, this is Navi 24 which is a completely different GPU. It was intended to be predominantly mobile (maybe workstation as well) which was changed to desktop amidst the crypto boom.

 

[beyondlogic]

These would be an okay deal if they were around $100, but missing encoders, limited display output, and the 4 lane limitation makes it a poor alternative to the A310/A380/3050 6GB.

It's not, this is Navi 24 which is a completely different GPU. It was intended to be predominantly mobile (maybe workstation as well) which was changed to desktop amidst the crypto boom.

im aware its navi 24 im suggesting it could be a very crippled navi 23 mobile rx 6000m either that or it is a typo .

a310-a380 and a580 all have the weakness of sam or intels equivalent needing to be turned on

a580 did drop price so i wonder if this amds knee jerk reaction to that.

 

[mrtwonder]

Pretty weak GPU due to it's god-awful "64-bit" Memory bus width ! Not to mention the 4 PCIe Gen 4 lanes as well (I know this might not matter much for gaming), and only 16MB on-die SRAM for Navi 24.

But basically, Navi 24 was meant to be used as a Laptop/Mobile discrete chip. For desktop use as a gaming GPU it's even worse. It's doesn't matter if this card sports 8GB VRAM as well.

Expect poor/sub-par performance at least in some bandwidth-starved games, if not all.

But anyway, history repeats again. Because this isn't the first 6500 XT GPU with 8GB VRAM. Nope.

SAPPHIRE PULSE AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT. Released July 2022.

https://www.sapphiretech.com/en/consumer/pulse-radeon-rx-6500-xt-8g-gddr6

https://twitter.com/x/status/1551553081153921024

View: https://x.com/SapphireTech/status/1551553081153921024


Chinese brand PELADN also released their own variant last year in July, dubbed RX 6500 XT ARMOR.

https://www.ithome.com/0/709/340.htm

@Metal Messiah. - I made an account just to say you're awesome, I always read your responses. You should really be employed by Tom's if you aren't already. I've seen this in other businesses to be quite rewarding to have someone double-check the content before it goes out

 

[usertests]

im aware its navi 24 im suggesting it could be a very crippled navi 23 mobile rx 6000m either that or it is a typo .

a580 did drop price so i wonder if this amds knee jerk reaction to that.

I don't think AMD made the decision for ASRock to launch a 6500 XT 8GB. They did that on their own and the configuration is nothing new.

If there were a card being harvested from 6600M, they should just call it that, because "6500 XT" is poison since people have been loudly informed of the downsides of Navi 24. I found an Ali Express listing for a 6600M-based desktop GPU. I thought there was a 6600M eGPU but I was thinking of the GPD G1 with 7600M XT.

 

[thestryker]

im aware its navi 24 im suggesting it could be a very crippled navi 23 mobile rx 6000m either that or it is a typo .

The 8 lanes bit isn't correct it's just a regular Navi 24 GPU.

a310-a380 and a580 all have the weakness of sam or intels equivalent needing to be turned on

a580 did drop price so i wonder if this amds knee jerk reaction to that.

There are workarounds for ReBar support on Intel going back a ways, but has official support going back to 8th/9th Gen. AMD officially supports Zen 2+ on 500 series boards, but there are other prior boards that can potentially support it. That effectively means the amount of devices that can run an Arc card correctly is longer than that of the 6500 XT and everything that can run a 6500 XT can run an Arc card.

 

[Metal Messiah.]

if they can give it more memory e.g ram chips maybe they had to wire more lanes ?

Not necessary. The NAVI 24 die still sports the x4 interface. Not possible to have an x8 here. The page is having a typo.

Also, both the PELADN and SAPPHIRE PULSE AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT cards also sport 8GB VRAM, but they still have the PCI Express4.0 x4 interface.

 

[TechyIT223]

Why did asrock resurrect such an old GPU with more VRAM is just beyond me. There are many more good models better than this card.

 

[beyondlogic]

I don't think AMD made the decision for ASRock to launch a 6500 XT 8GB. They did that on their own and the configuration is nothing new.

If there were a card being harvested from 6600M, they should just call it that, because "6500 XT" is poison since people have been loudly informed of the downsides of Navi 24. I found an Ali Express listing for a 6600M-based desktop GPU. I thought there was a 6600M eGPU but I was thinking of the GPD G1 with 7600M XT.

im aware of the poison of that naming scheme the positive alot of the rx 6500xt can be had for under like 100 theres days either used or when on sale its like 100.

to me if feels like if these are defuncted chips that's most likely why it never got a new name though if they are they could have called it something like rx 6500 xts or something

 

[beyondlogic]

Why did asrock resurrect such an old GPU with more VRAM is just beyond me. There are many more good models better than this card.

simply put there selling when cheap enough i recon they are even making bank if they sell these for like 110.

that and simply they must still have a bunch of silicon chips of these laying around.

that or since they are a laptop gpu part they are getting the chips that cant scale down.

 

[beyondlogic]

Not necessary. The NAVI 24 die still sports the x4 interface. The page is having a typo.

Also, both the PELADN and SAPPHIRE PULSE AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT cards also sport 8GB VRAM, but they still have the PCI Express4.0 x4 interface.

i saw that still i will cling to a bit of hope until its official it be nice to see a company not follow everyone elses trend. i mean that's what used to set them all apart.

 

[beyondlogic]

The 8 lanes bit isn't correct it's just a regular Navi 24 GPU.

There are workarounds for ReBar support on Intel going back a ways, but has official support going back to 8th/9th Gen. AMD officially supports Zen 2+ on 500 series boards, but there are other prior boards that can potentially support it. That effectively means the amount of devices that can run an Arc card correctly is longer than that of the 6500 XT and everything that can run a 6500 XT can run an Arc card.

got a link to that thats quite intresting

 

[TechyIT223]

@Metal Messiah. - I made an account just to say you're awesome, I always read your responses. You should really be employed by Tom's if you aren't already. I've seen this in other businesses to be quite rewarding to have someone double-check the content before it goes out

+1. 👍

 

[TechyIT223]

simply put there selling when cheap enough i recon they are even making bank if they sell these for like 110.

that and simply they must still have a bunch of silicon chips of these laying around.

that or since they are a laptop gpu part they are getting the chips that cant scale down.

Yeah that sounds plausible

 

[Eximo]

Might be one of those situations where they had the excess memory modules. Wasn't there a slow down in the mid-range cards availability? They may be lacking GPUs to use up their memory and have opted to release a product rather than sit on stock.

 

[beyondlogic]

Yeah that sounds plausible

other reason they don't want to drop price again on the rx 7600 realistically that card should be 200 now.

the rx 6600 should be at 150.

instead there refreshing the rx 6500 xt to keep prices where they are. cause they have nothing in that gap.

i can see the rx 6500 xt 4gb getting price dropped to under 100

 

[beyondlogic]

Might be one of those situations where they had the excess memory modules. Wasn't there a slow down in the mid-range cards availability? They may be lacking GPUs to use up their memory and have opted to release a product rather than sit on stock.

there was but they also don't have anything to fill that 100-150 category or below either there isnt a rx 7500 xt.

 

[The Historical Fidelity]

Why did asrock resurrect such an old GPU with more VRAM is just beyond me. There are many more good models better than this card.

Probably because they were sitting on old stock and asked their sales department what they need to do to move these. Their response was probably “double the memory, most laymen consumers will think it’s a good card with 8 GB”

 

[Avro Arrow]

This is pretty useless and, ironically, the card that really kills it is the RX 6600 because it's vastly superior in every way:

VRAM:
RX 6500 XT - 4/8GB
RX 6600 - 8GB

VRAM Bus:
RX 6500 XT - 64-bit
RX 6600 - 128-bit

PCI-Express Interface:
RX 6500 XT - PCIe4 x4
RX 6600 - PCIe4 x8

Hardware Encoder:
RX 6500 XT - No
RX 6600 - Yes

Gaming Performance (according to TPU):
RX 6500 XT = 100%
RX 6600 = 165%

Cost:
RX 6500 XT = $170 (100%)
RX 6600 = $195 (115%)

So, for only 15% more money, you get 65% more performance along with all of the other benefits that come with the RX 6600. TechPowerUp says that the recommended PSU for the RX 6600 is only 300W which means that the RX 6500 XT isn't even worth it to avoid buying a new PSU (because 300W is about as low as it gets these days).

The RX 6500 XT should cost less than $100 with 4GB of VRAM and no more than $125 with 8GB because it's just that weak. I bought a Powercolor RX 6500 XT Gaming ITX for my mother's HTPC just because it can handle a 2160p display and that was an open-box special from last summer for $130. There's no way that I could see anyone buying this card for gaming as long as the RX 6600 exists.