Review Sapphire Radeon RX 6600 XT Pulse Review: Compact and Just as Fast

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-Fran-

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One super important point about Sapphire cards: they have upsampling built in into TRIXX. It may not be FSR or DLSS, but you can upscale ANY game you want through it using the GPU. I have no idea how it does it, but you can.

Other than that, this card looks clean and tidy. Not the best looking Sapphire in history, as that one goes to the original RX480 Nitro+ IMO. What a gorgeous design it was. I wish they'd use it for everything and get rid of the fake-glossy plastic garbo they've been using as of late.

Regards.
 
JarredWaltonGPU

JarredWaltonGPU

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Yuka said:
One super important point about Sapphire cards: they have upsampling built in into TRIXX. It may not be FSR or DLSS, but you can upscale ANY game you want through it using the GPU. I have no idea how it does it, but you can.

Other than that, this card looks clean and tidy. Not the best looking Sapphire in history, as that one goes to the original RX480 Nitro+ IMO. What a gorgeous design it was. I wish they'd use it for everything and get rid of the fake-glossy plastic garbo they've been using as of late.

Regards.
Click to expand...
Wow! It's almost like you ... didn't read the review. LOL

I talk quite about about Trixx Boost and even ran benchmarks with it enabled at 1440p, FYI.
 
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TheAlmightyProo

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Yuka said:
One super important point about Sapphire cards: they have upsampling built in into TRIXX. It may not be FSR or DLSS, but you can upscale ANY game you want through it using the GPU. I have no idea how it does it, but you can.

Other than that, this card looks clean and tidy. Not the best looking Sapphire in history, as that one goes to the original RX480 Nitro+ IMO. What a gorgeous design it was. I wish they'd use it for everything and get rid of the fake-glossy plastic garbo they've been using as of late.

Regards.
Click to expand...


iirc that RX 480 Sapphire Nitro (did they do this in 580 too?) is the one with all the little holes in it and otherwise straight lines etc. I also seem to recall swappable fans, but could be wrong...
But yeah, it was a beaut, my fave design at the time, and I'd have so gone for one if I hadn't decided on a 1070 (Gigabyte Xtreme Gaming) as a safer bet holding 2560x1080 for longer before needing to drop to 1080p. That said, I've always liked Sapphires and eventually got one this year (6800XT Sapphire Nitro+ SE @3440x1440) and I'm absolutely not disappointed in that or my first full AMD CPU in 16 years (5800X) Sure, not so great at RT and FSR needs to catch up and catch on but I have maybe 2-3 games out of 50 I'd play that'll make use of either, no great loss yet until they become more refined and ubiquitous imo. It runs like a dream and cool too. Assuming AMD keep up or overtake the next gen but one, I'd be happy to buy Sapphire again.
 
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TheAlmightyProo

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JarredWaltonGPU said:
Wow! It's almost like you ... didn't read the review. LOL

I talk quite about about Trixx Boost and even ran benchmarks with it enabled at 1440p, FYI.
Click to expand...

Trixx looks like a damn good app tbh. Having a Sapphire 6800XT Nitro+ SE I could be using it but omitted doing so... I dunno, maybe cos it's already good enough at 3440x1440?
However, I do have a good gaming UHD 120Hz TV (Samsung Q80T) waiting to game from the couch (after an upcoming house move) which might do well with a little boost going forward as I'm not even thinking of upgrading for at least 3-5 years and after the first iterations of the 'big new things' have been refined somewhat.

So thanks for spending some time on that info and testing with it on. I might've ignored or forgotten it but knowing it's there as a tried and tested option is good to know.
 
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TheAlmightyProo said:
Trixx looks like a damn good app tbh. Having a Sapphire 6800XT Nitro+ SE I could be using it but omitted doing so... I dunno, maybe cos it's already good enough at 3440x1440?
However, I do have a good gaming UHD 120Hz TV (Samsung Q80T) waiting to game from the couch (after an upcoming house move) which might do well with a little boost going forward as I'm not even thinking of upgrading for at least 3-5 years and after the first iterations of the 'big new things' have been refined somewhat.

So thanks for spending some time on that info and testing with it on. I might've ignored or forgotten it but knowing it's there as a tried and tested option is good to know.
Click to expand...
FWIW, you can just create a custom resolution in AMD or Nvidia control panel as an alternative if you don't have a Sapphire card. It's difficult to judge image quality, and in some cases I think it does make a difference. However, I'm not quite sure how Trixx Boost outputs a different resolution via RIS. If you do a screen capture, it's still at the Trixx Boost resolution, as though it's simply rendering at a lower resolution and using the display scaler to stretch the output. Potentially it happens internal to the card's output, so that 85% scaling gets bumped up to native for the DisplayPort signal, but then how does that use RIS since that would be a hardware/firmware feature?

Bottom line is rendering fewer pixels requires less GPU effort. How you stretch those to the desired output is the question. DLSS and FSR definitely scale to the desired resolution, so that Windows+PrtScrn capture images at the native resolution. Trixx Boost doesn't seem to function in the same way. ¯\(ツ)/¯
 
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InvalidError

InvalidError

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logainofhades said:
No bling and few extras isn't exactly a con, nor is its performance, at higher resolutions, as it was marketed as a 1080p card.
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Performance at higher resolution is definitely a con since in a sane GPU market, nobody would be willing to pay anywhere near $400 for a "1080p" gaming GPU with a gimped 4.0x8 interface and 128bits VRAM in a healthy market. This is the sort of penny-pinching you'd only expect to see on sub-$150 GPUs. On Nvidia's side, you don't see the PCIe interface get cut down until you get into sub-$100 SKUs like the GT1030.

As some techtubers put it, all GPUs are turd sandwiches. The 6600XT isn't good for the price, it is just the least worst turd sandwich at the moment if you absolutely must buy a GPU now.
 
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logainofhades

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Price aside, the card was advertised as a 1080p card, and the 6600xt does 1080p quite well. I don't understand the gimped interface either, but AMD promised 1080p, and delivered. Prices are stupid, and will be for quite some time, as many are saying 2023, before this chip shortage ends.
 
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-Fran-

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I have to wholeheartedly agree with InvalidError there: it's so sad we're now giving these cards a pass because there is no competition and among the already-stupidly-priced parts, this is the cheapest that gets the job done for most gamers.

One small thing to kind of praise AMD over this one is their 6600XTs have been really close to MSRP and consistently lower than nVidia's competition. So, in other words: "this is a turd sandwich, but a nice turd sandwich" XD

And apologies to everyone we come back to that same topic, but it's really hard not to 8(

Regards.
 
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artk2219

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I posted this elsewhere but if you live near one, microcenter has regularly had them in stock when ive been in over the past few weeks, atleast the two atlanta area ones and the one in kansas city, they have an actually at MSRP Powercolor Fighter RX 6600XT that theyve been selling, not an amazing card but hey you could possibly find one. They actually make sense as an upgrade or side grade if you have something between a GTX970 \R9 290 and a RX 5700 (xt), 2070 (super), 1080 ti. You can buy one, sell your current card, and either have a nice discount (get it for roughly what its MSRP should be), pay nothing, or make a profit while increasing your performance or staying roughly the same and getting a more efficient card with a new warranty. If you decide to sell something around a GTX 1070 or 1080, the upgrade basically costs you nothing as those cards are valued roughly the same as a new RX 6600 XT, but a solid 40 - 50% slower, even with its 128bit bus.
 
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r7litepro

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Admin said:
The Sapphire RX 6600 XT Pulse performs just as well as other cards and runs cool and quiet. It eschews bling in favor of a lower starting price, though finding one in stock remains difficult.

Sapphire Radeon RX 6600 XT Pulse Review: Compact and Just as Fast : Read more
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like. btw plz TAKE ALL AMD / NVIDIA -thirsty- GPUS, undervolt them to 120W max TGP and pit them against the KING > GTX 1060. I want to see how that goes. im tired of this efficient 180 200 300w gpus
 
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InvalidError

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logainofhades said:
I don't see it as a brag, just stating what it is targeted for. Yes prices suck, but that's the state of affairs, right now. Everything costs more.
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Prices may have risen but 100% higher prices for "1080p" gaming is 400% above the general level of covid-related inflation. This is mostly greed at every level of the supply chain wanting to cash in on the component shortages, not actual costs.
 
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