When AMD introduced the Radeon RX 6600 XT just a few months in the past, it was positioned as the perfect 1080p gaming card, with the potential to supply first rate 1,440p efficiency in sure video games. Now there’s the lower-tier RX 6600 and the story is just about the identical — besides, , worse. I suppose the existence of an “XT” card implies a extra mainstream model ultimately. But after testing out the RX 6600 for the previous week, I’m nonetheless questioning who this card is for.

Of course, that is a tricky query to reply when the GPU market is so unstable and card costs fluctuate wildly. AMD says the RX 6600’s steered retail worth is $329, in comparison with $379 for the 6600XT. But given the worldwide chip scarcity and resellers hungry for extra GPUs, these costs are purely conceptual. In the actual world, the 6600XT now sells for upwards of $600 (and in some instances near $800!). The 6600 can also be competing in opposition to the RTX 3060, which additionally has an MSRP of $329, however is now promoting between $800 and $1,020. So a lot for price range GPUs.

Pros

• Fast 1080p efficiency
• Cool beneath load

Cons

• Lackluster ray tracing
• Upscaling tech is restricted
• Fewer options than NVIDIA playing cards
• Volatile pricing

AMD, an organization with a popularity for creating budget-friendly playing cards that packed an honest punch, most likely wished to remain true to its roots. But until it will probably assure a worth near MSRP, the RX 6600 simply appears misplaced in at the moment’s gaming panorama. As you may see in our testing, it is a succesful 1080p gaming card. But its ray tracing efficiency is horrible, and it will probably’t make the most of NVIDIA’s DLSS expertise, which makes use of AI to spice up efficiency.

I’ll be sincere, I did not actually anticipate a lot from the RX 6600 from the beginning. Under the hood, its RDNA 2 structure is powered by 28 compute models and 1,792 stream processors, a noticeable step down from the 6600XT’s 32 CUs and a pair of,048 stream processors. There’s additionally a critical velocity distinction: the cheaper card has 2,044 MHz recreation clock and a pair of,491 MHz enhance, in comparison with 2,359 MHz whereas gaming on the 6600 XT and a 2,589 MHz enhance. Both playing cards have 8GB of GDDR6 RAM, however the 6600’s reminiscence bandwidth is 34 GB/s slower at 224 GB/s.

Given these specs, I predicted the RX 6600 can be an honest 1080p card and never a lot else. And for probably the most half, that is what my testing proved: It reached a strong 120FPS in Destiny 2 whereas taking part in in 1080p with maxed out graphics. Once I pushed the sport to 1,440p, although, it fell to 80fps. That sample held true for just about all the pieces I examined. Hitman 3’s benchmark reached a decent 138fps in 1080p with graphics settings cranked to the utmost, however solely 94fps in 1,440p.

If you have received an AMD Ryzen 5000 CPU (or some 3000 fashions), the RX 6600 will probably be a slight improve due to Smart Access Memory. That’s a function that mainly lets your CPU instantly tackle your entire video card’s RAM, and it is one thing you may’t use in any respect should you’ve received an Intel CPU. I had SAM enabled on my testing rig, which was powered by a Ryzen 7 5800X and 32GB of RAM, in case you have been questioning.

Both the Radeon RX 6600 and 6600 XT had a tough time competing in opposition to their NVIDIA counterparts in our benchmarks. The RTX 3060 Ti reached 11,308 in 3DMark Time Spy, whereas the 6600 XT hit 9,872 and the 6600 trailed behind with a rating of 8,521. I did not have an RTX 3060 on-hand to check, however 3DMark’s verified benchmarks with similar systems present scores of round 10,000.

Ray tracing was additionally a misplaced trigger with the 6,600 — simply flipping on ray traced reflections in Control slowed the sport to a meager 35fps. Without ray tracing, it was no less than playable in 1080p, hitting between 60 and 70fps. Now Control is a notoriously powerful recreation on GPUs, however no less than NVIDIA playing cards let me get first rate framerates with ray tracing due to DLSS, which makes use of AI processing to upscale the sport from a decrease decision. AMD’s various expertise, FidelityFX Super Resolution, is not supported in Control but. That answer can also be cross-compatible with NVIDIA playing cards, so you will not want a Radeon GPU to make the most of it — which once more makes me marvel, why would you get the RX 6600 as an alternative of the 3060?

I might see it being a worthwhile card for a really particular gamer: Someone who has a small case and does not wish to improve past a 450 watt energy provide. The RX 6600 has a complete board energy demand of 132 watts, in comparison with 170 watts on the RTX 3060. That’s a significant motive why it runs so cool, reaching solely round 70 celsius beneath load (the 3060 sometimes runs between 70 and 75 celsius when burdened). Still, I am unable to think about that somebody who desires to shell out $329 for a GPU (and realistically a lot extra), would restrict themselves primarily based on a weak energy provide.

PC improve is one which’ll final you for years, and, sadly, I am unable to think about that’ll be true of the RX 6600. Solid 1080p efficiency is a pleasant function to have at the moment, however 1,440p screens are getting cheaper and video games have gotten extra demanding. Who is aware of if the 6600 will be capable to deal with a flagship title in just a few years even at 1080p. And if you find yourself upgrading to a 1,440p, ultrawide, or 4K display screen over the subsequent few years, you may must improve instantly.

The Radeon RX 6600 could possibly be an honest contender if the GPU market stabilizes and AMD pushes the worth under $300. But for now, it’s a misfire that solely is sensible should you can’t get your palms on an RTX 3060.