AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT RDNA 2 Graphics Card Official – Navi 23 GPU, 2048 Cores, 8 GB Memory & Faster Than RTX 3060 For $379 US

AMD has officially announced its Radeon RX 6600 XT RDNA 2 graphics card based on the Navi 23 GPU. The 6600 XT is aimed at the 1080p gaming segment at a price of $379 US which positions it between the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 and RTX 3060 Ti.

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT graphics card is definitely going to be an interesting graphics card at its price and performance segment. Based on its naming convention alone, the card replaces the Radeon RX 5600 XT which featured more cores but was limited to 6 GB GDDR6 memory. In terms of performance alone, AMD promises up to 70% better performance which puts the card slightly ahead of the Radeon RX 5700 XT. But before we talk about that, let's talk specifications.

AMD RX 6600 XT Graphics Card Specifications

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT graphics card will be powered by the Navi 23 XT GPU which features 11.06 Billion transistors packed within a 237mm2 die. The GPU is not however the smallest chip in the RDNA 2 family as that title should belong to Navi 24 which should launch sometime later.

The Navi 23 GPU features 32 Compute Units with a total of 2048 stream processors which will be clocked at up to 2589 MHz. The card also rocks 32 MB Infinity Cache and features an 8 GB GDDR6 memory capacity running across a 128-bit wide bus interface at pin speeds of 16 Gbps for a total bandwidth of 256 GB/s.

The RX 6600 XT graphics card is powered by a single 8-pin power connector though that will vary depending on the custom model. The TBP for the card is rated at 160W which is 10W higher than the Radeon RX 5600 XT and 65W lower than the Radeon RX 5700 XT. Here you get to see the huge efficiency uplift that RDNA 2 architecture is able to deliver. Both the higher clocks and architecture-specific enhancements deliver a nice jump in performance while keeping the power draw lower vs RDNA 1.

AMD's list of highlighted features for the Radeon RX 6600 XT graphics card include:

AMD FidelityFX – Now supported by 50 titles and game engines, AMD FidelityFX is an open-source toolkit of visual enhancement effects for game developers available at AMD GPUOpen. Offering broad support on more than 100 AMD processors and GPUs, as well as on competitor GPUs, the new AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution upscaling technology delivers 2.4X higher performance on average in “Performance” mode at 4K across select titles compared to native resolution.

AMD Smart Access Memory – Unlocks higher performance when pairing AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series graphics with AMD Ryzen 5000 or select Ryzen 3000 Series Desktop Processors and AMD 500-series motherboards. Providing AMD Ryzen processors with access to the entire AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT high-speed 8 GB GDDR6 graphics memory can deliver a performance uplift of up to 11 percent on average in select titles.

AMD Infinity Cache – 32 MB of last-level data cache integrated on the GPU die reduces latency and power consumption to enable higher gaming performance than traditional architectural designs.

DirectX 12 Ultimate Support – Enables games to deliver mind-blowing visuals with real-time DirectX Raytracing (DXR), Variable Rate Shading, and other advanced features, elevating games to a new level of realism.

AMD Radeon Anti-Lag – Helps decrease input-to-display response times, making games more responsive and offering a competitive edge in gameplay.

AMD Radeon Boost – AMD Radeon Boost with support for Variable Rate Shading can provide up to a 48-percent performance increase in Warframe during fast-motion gaming scenarios by dynamically reducing image resolution or by varying shading rates for different regions of a frame, increasing framerates and fluidity, and bolstering responsiveness with virtually no perceptual impact on image quality.

AMD RX 6600 XT Graphics Card Pricing & Performance - Is It Worth it?

So coming to the value proposition of the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT graphics card, we now know that the card is indeed priced at $379 US which is $20 US cheaper than the RX 5700 XT's MSRP & $100 US higher than the Radeon RX 5600 XT's MSRP. It is clear that AMD is charging a very high premium for its RDNA 2 cards. This is a bigger price bump than AMD's RX 6700 XT which saw a $79 US jump over its predecessor (the RX 5700 XT).

AMD has shown the card to be faster than the GeForce RTX 3060 in several titles but we are talking about the non-Ti variant which is priced at $329 US (or $50 US cheaper than the RX 6600 XT), packs 12 GB GDDR6 VRAM, and has better ray-tracing capabilities along with an extended DLSS suite. The RTX 3060 could remain a strong offering in its price segment despite the launch of the RX 6600 XT & the RTX 3060 Ti should retain faster performance because the RX 6600 XT is 15% faster than the RTX 3060 on average whereas the RTX 3060 Ti is up to 25% faster on average. The performance is scaled as below:

RX 6600 XT - 15% Faster Than RTX 3060 For 15% Higher Price

RTX 3060 Ti - 25% Faster Than RTX 3060 For 20% Higher Price

It looks like in overall performance, the RTX 3060 Ti will be a better value as it would not only offer better raster performance but also better ray-tracing capabilities. AMD does keep the advantage in power efficiency as the RTX 3060 Ti is rated at 200W. Those currently running an RX 5600 XT or an older or lower performance graphics card should find the RX 6600 XT as a decent upgrade option but it's still a hard buy with two RTX 3060 series options in the market countering it.

Furthermore, we cannot guarantee if AMD partners will be able to offer the RX 6600 XT at its MSRP of $379 US as early listings have already shown over $600 US+ retail prices. With that said, AMD will have several custom models of the card available through its partners including triple-fan, dual-fan and Mini-ITX flavors. The card will be available at retail outlets on 11th August.

AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT Custom Models:

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060

AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT