AMD set to release Radeon RX 6600 XT for $379

by Tarinder Sandhu on 30 July 2021, 04:31

Tags: AMD (NYSE:AMD)

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AMD came back into the high-end PC graphics fold with the Radeon RX 6800, 6800 XT and 6900 XT boards late last year. Plagued by acute stock shortages and consequently inflated pricing instigated by etailers and scalpers alike, getting your hands on RDNA 2 hardware - even the cheaper RX 6700 XT - has been expensive and frustrating in equal measure.

Supply is very slowly catching up with demand, and it's to this background that AMD launches the Radeon RX 6600 XT. Built on a specific, smaller die and optimised for high-framerate 1080p gaming first and foremost, let's delve into the vital specs.

Premium Navi cards from AMD

 
Radeon RX 6900 XT
Radeon RX 6800 XT
Radeon RX 6800
Radeon RX 6700 XT
Radeon RX 6600 XT
Radeon RX 5700 XT
Launch date
December 2020
November 2020
November 2020
March 2021
August 2021
July 2019
Codename
Navi 21
Navi 21
Navi 21
Navi 22
Navi 23
Navi 10
Architecture
RDNA 2
RDNA 2
RDNA 2
RDNA 2
RDNA 2
RDNA
Process (nm)
7
7
7
7
7
7
Transistors (bn)
26.8
26.8
26.8
17.2
11.1
10.3
Die Size (mm²)
519
519
519
336
237
251
Full Implementation of Die
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Hardware Raytracing
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Infinity Cache (MB)
128
128
128
96
32
No
Compute Units
80
72
60
40
32
40
Processors
5,120
4,608
3,840
2,560
2,048
2,560
Texture Units
320
288
240
160
128
160
ROP Units
128
128
96
64
64
64
Boost Clock (MHz)
2,250
2,250
2,105
2,581
2,589
1,905
Game Clock (MHz)
2,015
2,015
1,815
2,424
2,359
1,755
Peak GFLOPS (SP)
23,040
20,736
16,166
13,215
10,605
9,750
Memory Type
GDDR6
GDDR6
GDDR6
GDDR6
GDDR6
GDDR6
Memory Size (GB)
16
16
16
12
8
8
Memory Clock (MHz)
16,000
16,000
16,000
16,000
16,000
14,000
Memory Bus (bits)
256
256
256
192
128
256
Max Bandwidth (GB/s)
512
512
512
384
256
448
PCIe Support
Gen 4 x16
Gen 4 x16
Gen 4 x16
Gen 4 x16
Gen 4 x8
Gen 4 x16
Power Connectors
8+8
8+8
8+8
6+8
8
6+8
TBP (watts)
300
300
250
230
160
225
GFLOPS per watt
76.8
69.1
64.66
57.46
66.28
43.3
Launch MSRP
$999
$649
$579
$479
$379
$399

Radeon RX 6600 XT Analysis

AMD uses what is known as the Navi 23 die for this card. Purposely designed for the mid-range segment, the 237mm² footprint and 11.1bn transistors is comfortably smaller than Navi 22 present on RX 6700 XT. Unlike previous generations where AMD has adopted a desktop-first strategy, this silicon is already present in the laptop-optimised Radeon RX 6600M GPU and will be present, in a similar form, on the infotainment systems in upcoming Tesla cars. How's that for a segue.

Back on track, there's nothing startling here. A reduction in transistors is met by commensurate cuts in horsepower. RX 6600 XT follows the same general configuration as other, more powerful Big Navi cards, so 32 compute units provide 2,048 shaders, an associated 128 texture units, and as there's one raytracing accelerator per CU, 32 of those, as well.

The biggest hit, arguably, is to the Infinity Cache, which drops from the 96MB present on the RX 6700 XT to just 32MB here. AMD says the card's 1080p sweetspot doesn't require a heap of Infinity Cache, but we have reservations because the board memory throughput is relatively weak. You see, this card carries a 128-bit bus allied to 8GB of GDDR6 memory operating at 16Gbps, leading on to only 256GB/s of potential bandwidth.

AMD also cuts the GPU-to-PC interface in half, to PCIe 4.0 x8, though this will not have much impact upon performance. Scaling down the die and power-burning components offers a 160W total board power. There is no Made By AMD reference board for this generation and we expect partners to release multiple models spanning the 160W-200W range. Hopefully most will make do with a single 8-pin power connector, though we're sure, in typical gusto, some will go for a 300mm board with dual 8-pin.

Potential Performance

We cannot provide our internal performance numbers for a little while. Up until then you'll have to do with some AMD-produced slides that paint the RX 6600 XT in a naturally favourable light.

With baked-in Smart Access Memory smarts, AMD reckons this new card is around 40 per cent quicker than the last-generation Radeon RX 5600 XT and around 15 per cent faster than rival GeForce RTX 3060 from Nvidia. In other words, it's considered an FHD120 or QHD60 card when all the bells and whistles are turned on. AMD says there are no crypto-related limiters on RX 6600 XT. Perusing the specs, particularly the memory, suggests its hash rate won't be stellar.

We have no major qualms with how AMD has gone about building this mid-range GPU - it has the necessary guts to hit the desired frame rate - but we're concerned that a mid-range card now starts at $379 (£349). Expect partner-overclocked model to begin at £400, assuming etailers don't charge a premium... and that figure feels rather expensive for a solution primed for 1080p. Looking back towards the Radeon RX 5700 XT, which came in at around $399, we can ask the question whether has AMD made enough performance and feature gains over the intervening two-year period?

Let's be clear, the state of affairs is such that AMD knows it will sell out of every card in quick-fire fashion because demand still vastly exceeds supply, and AMD, as a company, is all about maximising profit.

Partner cards will be available from August 11. What do you think? Does Radeon RX 6600 XT make sense at £350+? Let us know in the forums.



HEXUS Forums :: 31 Comments

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So, about 1080ti performance, again. That seems quite a crowded segment, so fingers crossed the street prices start to come down before long.
BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

So,at least £325?? Since AMD does not ship reference models to the UK,it means the streetprice is probably going to be higher. The RTX3060TI FE costs £369. Better rasterised performance and better RT performance too.



15% better performance would put the RX6600XT around 85% in that chart,or slightly better than an RX5700XT.

Also,where are the qHD figures?? There is less cache than the RX6700XT,so it might fall behind relative to that too.

AMD PREMIUM branding to the max. AMD didn't want to be know as the “budget brand” well certainly they are not anymore! That is the Nvidia FE.
More mediocre crumbs from the table.
Both AMD and Nvidia have participated in price fixing.

The best case scenario here is, they're using global and economic factors as a guise, to allow them to set an even higher rrp. Hopefully this increase is in anticipation of hurting Intel launch with “price cuts”, while still making a killing.
DanceswithUnix
So, about 1080ti performance, again. That seems quite a crowded segment, so fingers crossed the street prices start to come down before long.

Been nice to have a bit more infinity cache & memory,like 12GB.