AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT review: a 1080p natural – just don’t turn on ray tracing
In the ongoing fight amongst Computer graphics powerhouses AMD and Nvidia, it is frequently effortless to emphasis in on the most powerful cards. Which is the most effective at 4K, with all the things cranked up to Ultra, and ray tracing activated? And, I necessarily mean – why not, it is fun, right? Pretty much all people would enjoy to travel a Bugatti. But the truth, we know, is that a great deal of folks are wanting for that nice middle floor: a graphics card which is heading to supply wonderful gaming general performance in just the confines of their individual set up, and devoid of breaking the bank.
It’s this classification in which playing cards like the not too long ago-unveiled AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT reside. This is AMD’s reply to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 and 3060 Ti, battling it out at the entry-stage issue of the sector – under the $400 mark at RRP. Sure, I know it is still incredibly complicated to get these playing cards at RRP – but we have to think the marketplace will finally normalize, and so we proceed to review them at their common price instead than the scalper-inflated expenses.
So, where does the RX 6600 XT sit amongst its rivals in that terrific entry-degree pantheon? Well, it is form of slap bang in the center, which could be specifically what some want.
What I indicate by that is that in assessments we’ve run, the RX 6600 XT often just squeaks previous the RTX 3060 – with body amount boons of anyplace from 5% up to as substantially as 15%. This arrives with a number of noteworthy caveats, on the other hand.
1st of all there’s the price tag – at RRP ($379/£329), the RX 6600 XT is $50 extra costly than the RTX 3060 – so you have to evaluate up if that effectiveness raise is worthy of the excess outlay for you. Then there’s the possibility of the 3060 Ti, which turns the tables again in Nvidia’s favor for a additional excess $20 or so.
The other major caveat is ray tracing. Nvidia has those people custom ray tracing cores that it’s accomplished so a lot boasting about – and they undoubtedly do make a change. In each individual ray tracing match we examined (Metro Exodus, Cyberpunk 2077, Manage), the 6600 XT was outperformed by the two of the Nvidia playing cards of a similar class. Consider ray tracing out of the equation, on the other hand, and AMD’s featuring outperforms the RTX 3060 in numerous conditions and at an absolute minimum amount, or at the very least matches up to Nvidia’s exertion.
Like I stated, it is a card of caveats. You can fortunately operate items like Gears 5 and Hitman 3 on Extremely options and get perfectly in extra of 100fps. A hop to a far more powerful open up-environment affair like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and I even now observed a good 60fps. Regulate is in the former class, about 100fps, with out ray tracing activated – but it plummets to below 60fps with that snazzy lighting turned on. It’s there in which the hole amongst this card and Nvidia’s widens – and not in the proper route.
All of this tests was accomplished at 1080p, but a very similar photo is painted at 1440p also – just slice 30% minimum off the figures. Bumping to higher resolutions benefits implies dropping ray tracing until you’re ready to accept some extremely bumpy general performance, also – but the identical is broadly genuine appropriate across this course. Make no mistake that this is a 1080p card very first and foremost – that is the resolution in which you can enjoy body costs in excess of 60fps on modern-day games – but if you’re inclined to acknowledge body fees that may well dip a very little beneath 60, this is a fully legitimate 1440p card, as well. I’d generally propose it for 1080p, nevertheless.
The layout of the card you get will change depending on the seller, of system, but they’re frequently talking all equivalent to the card we tested, which is from XFX: a few admirers and a rather chunky design that truly feels a minor outsized, presented the electrical power amount of the card. That usually means that cooling won’t be a trouble, on the other hand – and in addition, the card only involves a 500W PSU, marking it as 1 of the least expensive-attract selections on the industry for fashionable gaming.
This is a fantastic card. It’s teetering on terrific, nevertheless, relying on your capability to swallow the field-extensive cost creep on GPUs this type of class entry-amount was all around fifty percent the cost a ten years ago. That creep is an market-extensive deal, although – and when in comparison to its friends, the Radeon RX 6600 XT is proof that AMD is at last beginning to match up to and just take the combat to Nvidia.
Where by the Nvidia playing cards have the gain is in some of these shiny new characteristics. Ray tracing is obviously a issue, however it also undoubtedly is not the most significant precedence for any person in the sector for an entry-degree, 1080p-initial card. Even if you put that to just one facet, even so, Nvidia is also boasting capabilities like its Broadcast suite and DLSS. The latter is particularly significant, as in supported games, turning DLSS on will make the 3060’s frame rates streak from guiding the 3600 XT to decently ahead. AMD has its own edition of the latter, FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) – and it appears promisingly strong – although eventually it is even now behind DLSS, playing catch-up both equally in terms of supported online games and the high-quality of the upscaled impression it gives.
How do you experience about these new-fangled bells and whistles, then? We’ve manufactured quite distinct in earlier evaluations that we do charge a ton of what Nvidia is accomplishing with its RTX collection GPUs – and the green is evidently ahead of the crimson in those people terms. But as a belt-and-braces graphics card seeking at raw performance, the RX 6600 XT is in advance of the RTX 3060 – it’s a improved-value card overall. You’ve received excellent 1080p general performance and good 1440p effectiveness. Start to variable in ray tracing and DLSS and points get unsightly, having said that – particularly if the 3060 Ti is within just your rate array.
The RX 6600 XT feels like a stepping stone of a card, in a sense. It’s a beautifully respectable selection, and for these whose Personal computer gaming instances match its attribute set, it is effortless to propose as first rate price. At the very same time, this card does have the whiff of a single phase in a greater story – that of AMD step by step fighting again and turning into competitive with AMD the moment again. It is a stage in the correct way, far too. In the recent GPU current market wherever you have to take what you can uncover in stock, I would not dissuade any one desperate for an enhance from picking up this card – but if I’m being honest, what I really want to see is where by the AMD & Nvidia war is at in one more technology.
