I have long advised people I know looking at an entry level gaming PC since at least the GeForce 1xxx generation of cards that you will get a better value for your money with an AMD card over Nvidia from mid-tier on down. At the same time, when going upper tier to top of line, I continue to recommend Nvidia. There is no reason to buy Nividia at these tier of cards. None.
If I look at this generation‘s GPUs, AMD‘s lineup is somewhat lacklustre, starting from their RX 6700 XT. This is a case of being too aggressive with cuts, so much so that the NAVI 22 lost 50% of the CUs, as compared to the NAVI 21. And if we move downwards to NAVI 23, the lost of CUs is actually quite a lot smaller (20% lost). Of course AMD had to cut NAVI 23 further to segment their GPU markets to avoid cannibalising the sale/ attractiveness of their RX 6700 XT. Coming to the RX 6600 series, the duo are decent cards, but not really as attractive because AMD basically just slot the pricing of these cards between Nvidia’s pricing gaps. For example, the RX 6600 XT is slot between the RTX 3060 and 3060 Ti (a lot closer to the 3060 Ti), but performance wise, it is faster than the RTX 3060 @ 1080p, but reviews have shown that the gap is less than 10%. Of course the pricing is a mess due to shortages and a hot demand for Nvidia’s cards. So it painted a better picture for AMD when it comes to value. However as prices starts to trend downwards, that advantage is slowly waning. For example, in my country, I can start to find RTX 3060 that is cheaper than the RX 6600 XT. So ultimately, it really depends on how much you want to pay or what is your minimal requirement. But generally, I would say that while AMD’s RDNA2 is a big step ahead for AMD, however pricing is the key for their success. Assuming the RX 6700 XT cost as much as a RTX 3070, chances is that people will buy the RTX 3070. And this is what I am seeing in my country, where we can see RX 6700 XT cost as much as a RTX 3070/ 3070 Ti, and the RX 6900 XT cost as much as a RTX 3080Ti.
And lastly, I won’t even bother with the RX 6500 XT. Again, this is the case of an ultimate gimp where the card offers too little, came too late, and don’t help budget gamers stuck on PCI-E 3.0 systems.