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

[beyondlogic]

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.

minimum psu is actually of rx 6600 is 450w for oem

https://www.amd.com/en/products/graphics/desktops/radeon/6000-series/amd-radeon-rx-6600.html

the rest recomend like a minimum of 550w psu depending on oem.

i assume they recomend it because it does get wild spikes of 250w

i agree its a bit pointless at there price points the rx 6500 xt is a good card if they get the 4gb to 80 pounds it will kick the aging 1030 out. the 8gb model should be close to 120-135 at most

 

[Metal Messiah.]

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).

That's not correct. TPU actually has a lot of wrong info listed on their specs database page. I've noticed this listed for several other old/new cards as well. Not just TDP value, but their specs as well.

The RX 6500 XT in itself requires a 400W PSU. https://www.amd.com/en/products/graphics/desktops/radeon/6000-series/amd-radeon-rx-6500-xt.html

Always check official specs page for any GPU, or reviews . https://www.techpowerup.com/review/powercolor-radeon-rx-6600-fighter/37.html

Minimum PSU Recommendation is 450 W by AMD, along with one 1x 8-pin cable.

https://www.amd.com/en/products/graphics/desktops/radeon/6000-series/amd-radeon-rx-6600.html

TPU review:

Gaming power draw of just 120 W is extremely impressive, especially considering the performance offered. The RX 6600 is the most energy-efficient graphics card we ever tested.

Minimum recommended PSU: 450 W

PCGamer:

The RX 6600 comes with a 132W TBP (total board power), and AMD recommends it be paired with at least a 450W PSU.

 

[thestryker]

got a link to that thats quite intresting

Not sure which part you're referring to, but AsRock updated the specs page to show PCIe 4.0 x4.

Intel ReBar workaround: https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-com...ove-gaming-performance-on-outdated-intel-cpus

As for older AMD boards supporting ReBar that's fairly standard through b450/x470 at least, but I only know of Asus specifically mentioning it. Some vendors also enabled support for Zen/Zen+, but that also isn't universal.

The joy of it being in the PCIe spec going back to 2.0, but never really being used until recently. Should have always been mandatory as everything even remotely modern should support ReBar without issue.

 

[beyondlogic]

Not sure which part you're referring to, but AsRock updated the specs page to show PCIe 4.0 x4.

Intel ReBar workaround: https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-com...ove-gaming-performance-on-outdated-intel-cpus

As for older AMD boards supporting ReBar that's fairly standard through b450/x470 at least, but I only know of Asus specifically mentioning it. Some vendors also enabled support for Zen/Zen+, but that also isn't universal.

The joy of it being in the PCIe spec going back to 2.0, but never really being used until recently. Should have always been mandatory as everything even remotely modern should support ReBar without issue.

from what i know i can confirm that as youve said b450 works. dunno if it works like ryzen 2600 from what i can find its suppose to work, though heard that its only 3000 will post about this later as i have a b450 and a ryzen 2600 tucked away somewhere may check and see if it works.

as for intel a hooky modified bios is a bit sketch if its from a trusted source it be better. honestly if it does work with intel's older chips its intel's best interest really just just add a unlock themselves. they would sell way more to older machine markets that way.

 

[logainofhades]

For $25 more, you can get a much faster RX 6600. This card is a waste of space.

 

[beyondlogic]

For $25 more, you can get a much faster RX 6600. This card is a waste of space.

yep but amd be like gotta shovel that crap somehow. honestly it be better if they could shrink these cards down into single slot and low profile give it some purpose.

 

[Avro Arrow]

That's not correct. TPU actually has a lot of wrong info listed on their specs database page. I've noticed this listed for several other old/new cards as well. Not just TDP value, but their specs as well.

The RX 6500 XT in itself requires a 400W PSU. https://www.amd.com/en/products/graphics/desktops/radeon/6000-series/amd-radeon-rx-6500-xt.html

Always check official specs page for any GPU, or reviews . https://www.techpowerup.com/review/powercolor-radeon-rx-6600-fighter/37.html

Minimum PSU Recommendation is 450 W by AMD, along with one 1x 8-pin cable.

https://www.amd.com/en/products/graphics/desktops/radeon/6000-series/amd-radeon-rx-6600.html

That's a good catch, I hadn't noticed that. Still, even 450W is really low these days with most people having 500W+ (with 650W probably being the most popular wattage). It still doesn't change that the RX 6500 XT is a terrible purchase, if only because of the RX 6600's existence.

 

[jlake3]

yep but amd be like gotta shovel that crap somehow. honestly it be better if they could shrink these cards down into single slot and low profile give it some purpose.

It doesn't come in an 8gb version, but that's basically the RX 6400.

 

[beyondlogic]

It doesn't come in an 8gb version, but that's basically the RX 6400.

Yes I know the Rx 6400 is even more cut down my point is they probly can make a Rx 6500 xt low profile the real question is why it isn't being done we have seen 4060 in small form factor with a 6 or 8 pin I forget which so it should be doable on a Rx 6500 xt even without hardware encoding if there small and cheap they can just drop them in old systems.

 

[jlake3]

Yes I know the Rx 6400 is even more cut down my point is they probly can make a Rx 6500 xt low profile the real question is why it isn't being done we have seen 4060 in small form factor with a 6 or 8 pin I forget which so it should be doable on a Rx 6500 xt even without hardware encoding if there small and cheap they can just drop them in old systems.

It was a laptop product they scrambled to pivot into a desktop product at the peak of the GPU shortage. AMD seemingly pushed it outside it's ideal power envelope to do that, and combined with the time and component crunch, I'd bet that AIBs weren't interested in doing additional design work or using more premium components to miniaturize it, especially since unnecessarily large coolers sell.

For a couple months it was the only card consistently in stock at MSRP, but once the market started to normalize it seems like AMD, AIBs, retailers, and buyers all lost interest. My local brick & mortar carries less variants than they used to, and according to the live inventory on their website they don't stock a whole lot of each one.

At this point, everyone is probably just trying to sell through whatever is left and be done with it. I'm guessing 8gb was a relatively easy change that looks good on the box and does help prevent the total performance cratering when the 4gb buffer is exceeded, but there just isn't enough demand to justify the redesigning and production line changes needed to turn it into a LP card.

 

[beyondlogic]

It was a laptop product they scrambled to pivot into a desktop product at the peak of the GPU shortage. AMD seemingly pushed it outside it's ideal power envelope to do that, and combined with the time and component crunch, I'd bet that AIBs weren't interested in doing additional design work or using more premium components to miniaturize it, especially since unnecessarily large coolers sell.

For a couple months it was the only card consistently in stock at MSRP, but once the market started to normalize it seems like AMD, AIBs, retailers, and buyers all lost interest. My local brick & mortar carries less variants than they used to, and according to the live inventory on their website they don't stock a whole lot of each one.

At this point, everyone is probably just trying to sell through whatever is left and be done with it. I'm guessing 8gb was a relatively easy change that looks good on the box and does help prevent the total performance cratering when the 4gb buffer is exceeded, but there just isn't enough demand to justify the redesigning and production line changes needed to turn it into a LP card.

im well aware of the cards history.
point is it can be cheaper.

smaller pcb
smaller cooler
doesnt have to be premium components to shrink down a card the overall design just has to be simple.

why would they need to change the production line they already make a rx 6400 lp that's hardly much different.

as for the memory change it depends from what i can recall there are only 2 spots for memory on the pcb
if the pcb can only address 2gb per spot then they may have to update the pcb anyway.

 

[TechyIT223]

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”

I guess they might be having some extra dies laying around, or maybe some defective chips from Navi 23 silicon so that they can use these dues to carve an 8GB sku in my opinion

 

[KnightShadey]

I thought there was a 6600M eGPU but I was thinking of the GPD G1 with 7600M XT.

There was, and it was one of the few SPARKLE colabs referenced in a previous discussion;

Sparkle Radeon RX6600 Thunderbolt eGPU review and teardown

Let a new GPU put a sparkle in your eye.

dancharblog.wordpress.com

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/sparkle-rx-6600-mini-gamestation.b10407

 

[KnightShadey]

Yes I know the Rx 6400 is even more cut down my point is they probly can make a Rx 6500 xt low profile the real question is why it isn't being done we have seen 4060 in small form factor with a 6 or 8 pin I forget which so it should be doable on a Rx 6500 xt even without hardware encoding if there small and cheap they can just drop them in old systems.

They already make a 6500LP for Dell, it's severely speed limited to fit in the typical power/heat of a half-height LP card.

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/del...raphics-card/apd/490-bjhy/graphic-video-cards

You could probably boost clocks a fair amount with a full single slot cooling solution, but could you maintain XT speeds reliably with that?

 

[beyondlogic]

They already make a 6500LP for Dell, it's severely speed limited to fit in the typical power/heat of a half-height LP card.

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-amd-radeon-rx-6500-4-gb-gddr6-half-height-pcie-40x4-2-dp-graphics-card/apd/490-bjhy/graphic-video-cards

You could probably boost clocks a fair amount with a full single slot cooling solution, but could you maintain XT speeds reliably with that?

Zero 6 pin probly can't clock that high probly stable clock 1600 or 1800 if boost is anything to go by it says 2000 for boost. Still price is outrageous.

Probly cost dell like 60-80 to make

 

[usertests]

There was, and it was one of the few SPARKLE colabs referenced in a previous discussion;

Seems like RX 6600M = RX 6600 (both having 1792 shader units), so there's basically no distinction between the names.

Anyway, the 6500 XT 8GB as disabled 6600(M) is hopium from beyondlogic. It's what AMD should do if they ever launch a 7500 XT though, just make it a cheaper and slower 7600, maybe with a 96-bit bus and 6 GB.

 

[beyondlogic]

Seems like RX 6600M = RX 6600 (both having 1792 shader units), so there's basically no distinction between the names.

Anyway, the 6500 XT 8GB as disabled 6600(M) is hopium from beyondlogic. It's what AMD should do if they ever launch a 7500 XT though, just make it a cheaper and slower 7600, maybe with a 96-bit bus and 6 GB.

Realistically probly won't happen yes it's a bit of hopium but it really depends if amd give oems a bit more options I can see someone more like biostar releasing something like that though they have a history at least with amds old stuff reusing older chips e.g fm2 chipset boards.