Mid-Range is Dead: AMD RX 6600 XT Review & Benchmarks (PowerColor Fighter)

AMD’s RX 6600 XT is fine. It’s alright, from a benchmarks standpoint, but it’s also a display of stagnation in a market that is easy to exploit. AMD’s 6600 XT has strayed from value.
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These benchmarks test the PowerColor AMD RX 6600 XT Fighter vs. the RTX 3060, RTX 3060 Ti, and other cards, including the 6600 XT vs. RX 580, GTX 970, RTX 3070, RX 6800, et al. Benchmarks look at rasterized gaming performance to find the best cards for 1080p, 1440p, and 4K, but also ray-traced performance (very briefly) in a few games. We also test for thermals, power consumption, and overclocking on the RX 6600 XT.

If you want to learn more about the specs and die changes in the RX 6600 XT, you can find that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDqOYXfwiik

Exploding PSUs aren’t stagnation, check those out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDqOYXfwiik

We also looked more positively at the OEM-only AMD R7-5800 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqYBCNJUy5E

RELATED PRODUCTS

The AMD RX 6600 XT launches August 11th and you will have been able to find them here on Amazon: https://geni.us/DXVT6
You can find the EVGA RTX 3060 on Amazon here: https://geni.us/sBCPYBG
You (might) be able to find the Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti here: https://geni.us/hX5CMV1

Like our content? Please consider becoming our Patron to support us: http://www.patreon.com/gamersnexus

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - AMD RX 6600 XT
01:54 - Community Sticker Shock
04:01 - Stagnation & How We Review Things
08:01 - PowerColor RX 6600 XT Fighter Thermal Benchmark
08:57 - Erratic PowerColor Fan Behavior
09:58 - RX 6600 XT Overclocking
11:02 - Shadow of the Tomb Raider 1080p RX 6600 XT Benchmarks
12:11 - Tomb Raider 1440p GPU Benchmarks 2021
13:01 - Tomb Raider 4K GPU Benchmarks
13:29 - Total War: Three Kingdoms (1080p, 1440p, & 4K) on 6600 XT vs. 5600 XT
15:07 - Red Dead Redemption 2 (1080p & 1440p) on RTX 3060 vs. 6600 XT
15:49 - Rainbow Six: Siege (1080p, 1440p, & 4K)
17:06 - Division 2 (1080p & 1440p)
17:36 - Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p
18:00 - Ray Tracing Shadow of the Tomb Raider (RX 6600 XT)
19:01 - Minecraft RTX at 1080p (RX 6600 XT)
19:32 - Power Consumption in Furmark
20:55 - Conclusion: (Temporary?) Death of the Mid-Range

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Host, Testing: Steve Burke
Additional Testing: Patrick Stone & Patrick Lathan
Video: Keegan Gallick

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100+ komentarze:

Gamers Nexus:

Check out the exploding power supplies! https://youtu.be/aACtT_rzToI
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SparkYo:

I'm pretty happy that AMD finally got around to making a $200 graphics card.
I'm just very disappointed they decided to charge $400 for it.

Lymer:

I understand Steve's issues - but in the market, I just found a new 6600XT that is £100 LESS that a 3060 - so it's a no brainer. I'm paying around 21% less for around 10% - 15% more performance. I looked into a 5600XT, and they were going to cost MORE than a 6600XT! (Lack of availability I guess) So it's made a great upgrade for my 580 👍

Ksan:

Well, In this market, where a 3060 is $900 to $1000 and I've been playing for 10 years on a Nvidia 560 TI. The RX 6600 XT looks Amazing, infact it looks so good that it is the card I bought and at a $450 price tag I saved $550. now I know this isn't the way things were in the past but sadly we are living in the present and this is the way things are. AMD made a card that the scalpers were not interested in but a gamer, like me, could get his hands on if he was willing to eat cans of tuna for a couple of months to save up for the card.

devilmikey00:

Thank you for the consumer approach. I do get tired of the "won't someone think of the corporations" mind set some tech channels and the fanbase get into. It makes my skin crawl, these companies would literally throw you under a bus if they could figure out how to monetize it and square away the legal trouble.

F!zZ®:

Ironically this the most affordable and available GPU in the current market.

Joshua C:

Thank you for having a consumer-focused viewpoint, Steve and team. Means a lot for all us plebs

bighammer:

I absolutely love that Steve gives sensible advice on upgrading our systems. We don’t NEED a new video card if we’re rockin older hardware.

Christopher C:

Given their behavior this past year, I really want to give the middle finger to both Nvidia and AMD. They’ve largely abandoned the mid range and budget segments, and I’m very much tempted to return the favor by buying from neither of those bastards.

Sonic Broom:

The mid-range should never be more than $250

MrMainak90:

The bigger problem is that the long term effect of this would possibly be this inflation would permanently drive the tiered card prices up. It would be a shame to see future mid range offerings being offered at 400 dollars while high end market starts north of 1000. I fear these orgs have already realized for a fact that this exhorbitant leaching would still fetch them customers in the longer run even after the pandemic. So they will keep up this practice to stretch their yoy margins. The days of pc as master race seems to be on the verge of an end, even a console at 900 dollars makes way more sense at this point.

Peti Gyurós:

Intel's 'thanks Steve' and 'back to you Steve' soundbites are hands down the best thing they've produced this year.

ShazAu8:

Thanks for including the 970 and 1060 in your benchmark results! Also, a big thank you for calling out the massive profits and bullshit excuses on pricing increases made by these companies. Yes, I need to upgrade, no I’m not going to run out and buy this. The poor value offered by both AMD and Nvidia mean I’ll keep making do.

Ivan Mihaylov:

At this point in time this card is sold at between 1/2 and 2/3 the price of a 3060, so it really is a no-brainer when it comes to value

RacingRalphEVO:

Well I didn't know that the 3060ti is an example of stagnation. Similar performance to the 2080 for 300$ less (MSRP of course...)

Multano Multano:

Actually a good thing, building PCs since 2000 and never seen companys opening the door for a competitor to enter the field like nvidia/amd are doing it right now by killing the 150-300$ Segment. Hope intel wont blew that opportunity and they release a card around 200$ that isnt too far off 3060/6600xt in terms of performance.

sj33:

The paradox is that somebody buying a lower end card probably needs that card to last longer than somebody in a position to buy higher end cards who is more likely to frequently upgrade. With that in mind, a lower end card without something like DLSS is a hard sell.

Joshua Harlan:

Steve: "We're gonna keep this one short"
Me: Checks the video length... That checks out.

DarKStaR:

It's really good to see the in-depth reviews and benchmarks by tech-channels, but the most important question is, Is there enough cards in the markets for gamers (for miner they have) both by NVIDIA and AMD, why can't they open recycle centers to deposit old cards and salvage the working components etc.. etc.. which can be salvaged. I believe this would seriously will help in decreasing the shortage. FAKE shortage

TechGamer 2001:

AMD is giving you the privilege of buying the RX 5700XT just a few years later for 20$ less of its release price but with slower VRAM due to the 128bit and slower bandwidth due to it only supporting 8X Pci-e sure it's fine if you use it on a gen4 device but it losses around 10-15% even more depending on the game if you pair it with a GEN 3 device it really is such amazing progress.

pyrophobia133:

AMD actually delivered on the price, I'm impressed

Timothy Gibney:

I remember in the good old days when a high end GPU would cost as much as a console and was scalded as rediculous. Now entry level cards cost almost as much as a console.

Zanibar Reyener:

I'm actually confused why aggressive fan curves are a bad thing, though being drunk like these I can see as weird. Though I guess I'm so terrified of components failing from thermal load because of past expensive failures from heat that noise levels are the least important factor for me.

Alien Kitten:

A small thing to keep in mind: this card is only x8 PCIE bandwidth so it will have a slightly better performance on PCIE gen.4 vs gen.3. You only tested on a gen.3 motherboard.

Merkin 101:

you have to realize that alot of ppl arnt upgrading from 30 series cards to a 6600 xt lol....like most of us have shitty gtx cards like 1650s and if you take that in consideration for example coming from a gtx 1650 a 6600 xt is massive esp for the price...

False Prophet:

I rarely keep a stock cooler, but I still find the pressure testing interesting, because it’s good to keep in eye on these manufacturers and hold them accountable for stuff the average consumer isn’t even aware is a problem

Adromelk:

>that rant at the end

This is exactly why I trust your team and Point anyone who's tech curious to this channel.

That being said, I know you're normally fairly stoic, I'd love to see some legit anger from you guys once in a while railing at this crap these companies are doing.

Cheers guys, if your team is ever in my area. Beers are on me.

jmich69:

Some of us do still care, Steve. I'm not saying you're wrong for your reasoning, just giving you some hope. I still tear into people for willingly putting $800+ into a secondhand $399 card. Sure, the market is bad, but if consumers collectively grew a pair and refused to purchase absurdly overpriced graphics cards, manufacturers wouldn't keep increasing profit margins.

besttech10:

I’ve watched quite a few reviews on this card and Steve’s conclusion is the best of all.

Dillon2013:

Sad to say this “bad value card” is the best valued card lol. I bought it I needed something to put in my rig.

bierrollerful:

Me, 2020: "Oh this 1660 Ti will be a nice stopgap."
Me, 2021: "Nothing is more permanent than a temporary solution."

YourSkyliner:

Note how consistently the 6600XT achieves a bit less than 2X the performance of an RX 580 for a bit less than 2X the price. AMD is now selling the exact same price to performance they did in 2017.

Gorrest Fump:

Shout out to AMD for once again showing they have zero interest in competition with Nvidia but rather complacency in their pricing tiers.

mapesdhs:

I miss the days of the GTX 460, when a good card was eventually just 115 UKP. Proper midrange as it once was.

For a while now my MO for upgrading beyond the used 1080 Ti I bought 2 years ago was to get something twice as fast which used a third less power and cost no more than 450 UKP. I think the seas will boil away before such a thing is going to exist. While waiting though my gaming interests have shifted as newer games have devolved into hand-holding nonsense, so now I don't need a speed increase, in which case something that was the same speed but used a lot less power would be appealing (ie. I care more about noise these days), but at these prices modern cards are a joke. In the UK the 6600 XT is around 430 UKP, ie. a staggering $600 US.

Bep Kororoti:

Love using the mouse mat, very aesthetically pleasing and does its job well. On my glas covered table the grip is not super reliable but on normal surfaces it's rock solid. Extremely solid product, I'm glad to have supported you with this!

Hannibal0098:

I remember when mid-range cards cost around $199. Good times.

Alan Estes:

I love the honesty Steve. This is why I keep coming back for all of your content.

Joseph Wall:

Thanks, Steve!

Are these poor value propositions all due to just stagnation or is inflation also playing a role?

Karl Karlsson:

Steve and team, thanks for this review. I still game in 1080. I'm still using the R9 290 and it does everything I need it to in the games I play

Sure, my power use is stupid when I push the GPU but I look at what I can get as an exchange, I would rather pay a few dollars more monthly than hundreds now

Again, thanks to you and the team for making relevant content

Craig:

Steve, you deserve props and patronage for your time and detail investment, honesty, and attention to consumer value, more than anything. Certainly more than nearly all of the other YT "reviewers" who at this point are as corrupt as long-serving congress members, and are little more than "influencer" shills for the companies that sponsor them and send them free shit. That you purposely stealth-buy products off the same market the rest of us do to ensure a company doesn't send you juiced samples is a testimonial in itself.

Das Auto:

Guess I'll stick to my 1070 for another year... or decade at this rate.

luziferius:

Those stabs in direction of Gigabyte are hilarious. For me, the benchmark numbers are mostly uninteresting, as I’ll probably buy the next GPU when my 1070 dies of old age in 10 years or so, but the sarcasm and roasting of bad products (which these deserve) gets me back here. It’s always bringing my a smile :)

ColonelAngus75:

After several months I finally "won" a newegg shuffle and it was this card the Powercolor Fighter RX 6600XT. It was priced at MSRP which while still overpriced I reluctantly paid it since I've been forced to use a Radeon HD 4850 since last November when my then current card bit the dust unexpectedly. While ten plus year old games can still be fun I'm ready to get back to playing more modern fare.

Nolan Winbun:

I appreciate your reviews and recommendations so much. You give so much value to this community

Michael Hoffmann:

Those fan curve issues kinda remind me of the issues with powercolor cards on the RX 5600 XT launch, though back then the issues where way more serious since the cards actually overheated quite badly due to the badly setup fan curve, so I guess they improved compared to that.

Chubbysumo:

Mid-range performance, premium price.

Frzao:

I NEVER would have thought that in 2021. I would see a GPU without a backplate again, unless it was a used one from 4 or more years ago...

Neil Ogaard:

Thank you for pointing out profits. I respect a company that overcharges and admits it more than one that lies straight to your face and makes excuses. AMD should have just quietly released this instead of trying to compare it to a 30, 20, and 1060 like we're all stupid and the 3060ti doesn't exist. Especially when _that_ card is a bad value but destroys this cashgrab.

Hans Wichmann:

Bought my Sapphire 5600xt bases on your reviews and best (at the time) bang for buck ratio, A year later still glad I listened to you! Now that prices are finally just starting to stabilize, again taking your comments to heart, I'll wait awhile probably until the next gen Ryzen is shaken out. As always nice piece Steve...

Jason Van Dyke:

Love your candor at the end! NVIDIA and AMD shouldn't have excuses to rip off their customers. What kind of company wants poor customer experiences to be their goal?

C. Z.:

Yep, mid-range is dead, and they killed it.

You've perfectly captured that feeling of exhaustion about the new graphics card of this generation. It's either going to be overpriced or you can't buy it.

Back in the day, that kind of bad value would make the release DOA. Literally everything will sell.

Super Étendard:

The 3060 Ti wasn't stagnation though, just 10% slower than 3070 while being 100 USD cheaper in MSRP. It was an improvement in performance for the same price compared to previous generation vs the 2070 Super, unlike this one that's essentially same performance for the same price as 5700XT.

Brad Fennell:

Sure shows the limitation of the small amount of infinity cache on this card. I bet if they increased it by 50% the card would be much closer to the 3060Ti

Aaron Winter:

What's impressive about the 6600 XT is performance per watt, though for most buyers that one doesn't really matter.

A Kar:

I've been a PC gamer since I first upgraded to a proper gaming card (I miss you, Geforce 2 GTS).

At this point in AU it actually appears better value for native 4k gaming to pay a slight premium on a scalper's PS5 than to pay these exorbitant prices for NVIDIA/AMD cards.

Jason Fullerton:

Me (Nov 2019): I'll pick up this RX580 for $160. That should do fine until next gen GPUs come out next year.
Me (2020): I can wait until the release of midrange cards.
Me (2021): Well, at least I won't be tempted to upgrade my 1080p 75 Hz monitor to 1440p any time soon.

Penfolduk001:

GM. I know it's not a consumer gaming product, but would be interesting to see how the new Nvidia RTX A2000 stacks against the rest of the RTX FE range.

Trekie47:

I miss the in depth partner model testing. I always found it very interesting, and helpful for purchasing new cards. It's a shame most dont have the same viewpoint though.

Josiah Galicia:

I'm usually happy with my performance with my GTX 1070 almost entirely because most of the AAA games coming out that are so demanding either don't interest me or are a pile of hot garbage. For me 1080p at high - max settings is all I care about.

Rhett Peereboom:

It makes me sad to see Steve this disappointed! We're all ready for some good tech, I hope it comes soon.. can't wait for the in-depth pressure testing etc of some excellent cards

Lidoe 1612:

This honestly gives me more hope for intel’s ARC gpus

Sasquatch Guy:

I love how power color makes a simple, sleek design

Funcrusher -:

GN Once again proving to be the best enthusiast channel on the internet.

Achiefment:

I got a preorder in on one of these. I’m still excited even after hearing your ending tangent 🤣. I swear I love how honest you are. F these companies but I got a 2GB RX550 that needs to go in the trash.

yooo l:

people thought amd is a company with nice prices, they love their customers, but they are not different than nvidia or intel, if they had the best gpus/cpus back in the time they would do the same shit like nvidia or like intel

dynastes:

Sadly I do not expect prices to drop for quite a long time to come. The current situation could even continue for years given that shortages go so far down the supply chain. And even if that is resolved and the pent up demand is slowly being satisfied, AMD and Nvidia could well be tempted to keep some portion of those inflated prices in place. I mean, people seem easily willing to pay twice the normal amount, in some cases even more. So, say a 50% increase should be pretty easily stomachable, right? We basically saw that with the last mining hype already.
Mind you, even suggested retail pricing for the RX 6600 XT is pretty steep for what is basically a FullHD card.

Shani Geine:

I had hope to buy a new GPU at the beginning of the year, now I have lost all hope until the RTX4000 series. You're right to say there is no enthusiasm about this generation of cards.
I'll keep my GTX1070 on medium/low and play games on PS5 in the meantime.
But my 6600k is getting seriously tired, I hope intel's 12th gen will be worth the 6 generations gap.

Scott Lawrence:

As always... great vid! Here is the real question though... where did you get that adjustable wooden bench/table that you stand behind in all your vids? Also how sturdy would you rate it? Is it something that just looks nice? Can you build on it? Game on it with the weight of a PC, monitor, and other gear on it? Please let me know. Thanks. -Scott

0 1:

I miss watching the detailed reviews of each model , I get that its a business but I really do miss it knowing every detail of the market.

equisetum:

The insane part is that if the price would be close to MSRP, I can sell my temporary GTX 1650 for almost 60% of 6600 XT value! I mean I know the prices are crazy, but in a normal world there is no way to get a 270$ worth of money from the gtx 1650, that is why I am seriously considering the 6600 XT if the prices won't go sky high. I have a feeling that at the end of the year the GPU prices might go up again.

Jock McBile:

I'm so glad you guys are for the Consumer. It doesn't happen as often, anymore.

It's Akile:

Spooky to see Low-mid GPUs price reach new heights when PS5 said to be braking even for a far more complex package of CPU,GPU,VRAM,PCIE4SSD. These Desktop GPUs must be using rare materials from a different dimension, explains the recent UFOs

Legacy Ivy Terascale:

when you upgrade, dont forget to check PSU requirements of the new card compared to the older one

CarNutz:

Looks like the 1060 won’t be dethroned as the most popular graphics card on the Steam Hardware Survey anytime soon.

Ξανδρος Peaches:

I'm curious if there's similar stagnation with the mobile market, laptops and such. I know they're basically impossible to properly benchmark, and I know GN doesn't delve into mobile products, but I'd be curious to see if that market segment is seeing similar pricing and progress issues, based on generational upgrades to product lines.

RX 580:

This is what I expected the 5500XT to be but it ended up having same performance as Rx 580
While This card has same performance as 5700 XT

khululy p:

I share the sentiment on these cards, as a gamer who is on a budget when it comes to disposable income, I used to be able my card for a few hundred every 4-5 years or so.
I am now playing still on 1080p and my 1070 still does fine for most games I play.
I would enjoy some RTX in the near future but as it is now the prices are just too darn high!
It is a pity because RTX is a really neat new development for consumer graphics and while it still looks a bit rough in it's implementation I still think it's interesting.

Matthew Galloway:

its twice as good as my old rx 580. It's holding its own in my favorite games.

Monetary6:

the fact that you guys have a compilation of gigabytes PSUs exploding is insane

Jame Gumb:

I would think a nice midrange card starts at €180-€200 and ends at €300, max €330.

At this point in time I would think that should run light to med games at 4K medium level.

Instead, they roll out midrange at over €400 and they end up costing around €650 in practice.

zycane:

Another year my rx580 has to pull through.

I remember the good old days, when you could get great price to performance, for 200 or less, and when 400 was the, "high end".

Cole Ciervo:

Wow! The 6600XT has 5700XT performance at the same exact price! Isn't progress great? :^)

Conza:

I think the conclusion and recommendation here, for buying a new GPU in general is the best and sharpest version of how it's previously been said, couldn't agree more.

phrag:

you guys are getting SO much mileage out of that ONE intel presentation, that freakin rules, never let them live that down, ever. under any circumstances. if anything, make a video of just them saying "thanks steve" and have it up on your channel. instant billion views.

Trinity Studios:

In my country this card would cost around $700 Usd now. Its crazy....

Years back you can get a high end 1080Ti or Vega 64 frontier edition with such money.

Rehan Patel:

Please do a rendering performance test with video editing and CAD softwares🙏 you're doing great work. Thank you for such detailed reviews of everything.

ACguernica:

I am glad you are so passionate about this. It's frustrating to see how much AMD and NVIDIA swamp us.

SteveAkaGoatpile:

so AMDs latest move is to release a Graphics card with exactly the same performance and price as the 5700XT except two years later. but the Chip is much smaller, cooler and cheaper to make.

derfreak:

There it goes downhill, all the good will from the community towards AMD. Zen 3 without a 200 USD/EUR six-core was the first move in that direction, RDNA2 pricing and availability was the next and this overpriced and artificially crippled 6600XT is the culmination point of their newfound greediness.

Mark H:

Cool, they came out with a card to match the performance of my 4-year-old card and priced at "only" $600 here in Canada.

Mark Mayhew:

Thanks for the review and educated take on this cards place in the market.

robb1324:

Thanks for always keeping it real GN team. 👊👊

Neko Tuga:

Gotta say that I'm sad about your decision about pressure testing, I found that specific part very interesting as it made me more aware of issues that could come with it and I enjoyed the content, but I do understand the reasoning.
As always, your content is great and I watch most videos, thank you so much for the insight into these cards.

Also, this is probably a very niche environment, but I'd love to get some data on how these cards fare on VR titles!
There is very little content on it and, if you think it's worth it, you could bring a set of new people to your videos by helping with this particular subject, even if it's just a short 10 to 20 seconds slide with a few metrics.

Thank you for all your work :)
It's very much appreciated and I learn a lot from it.

THE_SAM09:

I remember one rtx 3080 being in stock in September 2020, but it was one from a lesser known brand/'inferior product' and it was going for €950. I said nope, and decided to wait. Still waiting xd

HazySoulRebel:

Brutality honest as always. Guess I'll hold on to my 5500xt a bit longer still does what i need it to.

J.s.:

this card in the low 500s sells out quick. the ones still on shelves are closer to 600 now. nvidia's cards pricing is way worse.

OuKi:

AMD went from hero to zero with RDNA2 and Zen 3 price increase.

LazyGamer:

Well said Steve. It's good to have an advocate for us.

resident es:

It was actually available at launch close to msrp. It's not great but for someone looking to upgrade an old gpu it's okay.

Venom Vendue:

Wish it was the 199$ successor to the rx580 8gb, as it also was a midrange card for 1080p. Guess I'll just stick with my sapphire rx580 that I got for 90$ almost two years ago for a year or two more, till theres a better value to upgrade