AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT Review: But Why?

[Steve]

The refreshed Radeon RX 6650 XT is simply an overclocked 6600 XT with faster memory. That's not big news, but what does make a difference is that the RX 6600 series is down near the MSRP.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/review/2461-amd-radeon-6650xt/

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I notice that almost no one does Battlefield 2024 comparisons.

Therefore, I'm forced to focus on Cyberpunk comparisons.

From what I've seen, Cyberpunk requires brute force and a lot of CPU/ GPU/ VRAM to get desirable framerates.

 

[Dimitriid]

It's lucky for AMD than the 3060 it's still above MSRP otherwise they would have never gotten away with even thinking about the price bump on the 6650xt.

Then again Eth's still in the toilet so even with the lhr algorithm defeated I suspect the 3060 will actually find it's way to lower prices, maybe not MSRP low but certainly *under* the 6650xt that doesn't really manages to justify the extra cash with a significant enough lead on performance for the extra money.

 

[Burty117]

I notice that almost no one does Battlefield 2024 comparisons.

You are one of about, five people that actually play the game? No point concentrating on a game no one plays.

 

[Achaios]

QUOTE
as they're essentially doing it already with the 6600 XT now available for just above the $380 MSRP
UNQUOTE

Hey Steve:

1. 6600 XT Official MSRP in the EU is 369 Euros.

2. The cheapest 6600XT here in Greece, the PowerColor Radeon RX 6600 XT 8GB GDDR6 Fighter Κάρτα Γραφικών PCI-E x16 4.0 με HDMI και 3 DisplayPort

costs 445,79 EUR.

That would be 76.8 EUR more expensive than MSRP. This hardly qualifies as QUOTE JUST ABOVE UNQUOTE.

https://www.skroutz.gr/s/32803534/PowerColor-Radeon-RX-6600-XT-8GB-GDDR6-Fighter-Κάρτα-Γραφικών-PCI-E-x16-4-0-με-HDMI-και-3-DisplayPort-AXRX-6600XT-8GBD6-3DH.html

In case you do have a look at this link, note that there are scammers who sell for slightly less than 445,79 EUR but they don't have cards to deliver and ppl often lose their money.

This 445,79 EUR pricing is the cheapest price quote for an 6600XT that comes from a shop that actually has the card physically there in stock and will dispatch immediately when they receive the payment electronically.

 

[Endymio]

The author of this article fails to understand the "S" in MSRP stands for "suggested". And if a manufacturer can't meet demand for their product, the best thing they can do for consumers is raise the MSRP. That prevents shortages, and removes the incentive for scalpers to get involved. No product sold at its equilibrium price is ever scalped.

 

[Irata]

Thanks for your - as usual - thorough review. Looking at the actual product I do feel bad for your wasting your time on reviewing it.

Your sub heading ‚ But Why?‘ is an apt summary for the 6x50…. can we even call it ‚refresh‘ ?

Either way, I have no idea what AMD were thinking (or smoking) here to think this was worth anyone‘s while, including their own.

I kinda understand the 6950X if only from an ‚e-pen‘ perspective but that‘s about it.

The only thing that imho would have made sense is a 6750XT that performs at a level where it could replace the 6800 plain vanilla but that did not happen.

 

[Sausagemeat]

You are one of about, five people that actually play the game? No point concentrating on a game no one plays.

That’s not true, it actually has an large user base. On steam alone (it’s also on GOG) it has 12000 peak players today with a peak of 830,000.

I myself have played it for 100 hours or so.

 

[Endymio]

I have no idea what AMD were thinking (or smoking) here...

I suspect they were thinking they would sell every one they could make, at a higher margin than the cards they replace. And you know what? I bet they're right.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

I thought the refresh was going to utilize the GDDR6X memory....I must have dreamt it.

The 6650XT is only a 2-3% faster than the 6600XT.
The 6750XT is around 5-7% faster than the 6700XT.
The 6950XT is around 7-10% faster than the 6900XT.

The refresh isn't that impressive, but if you think about it, they're about as good as the Ti models from Nvidia when you compare them to the non-Ti models.

The 3070 vs the 3070Ti - about 5% performance difference.
The 3080 12GB vs the 3080Ti - about 5% performance difference.
The 3090 vs the 3090Ti - about a 7% performance difference.

 

[Burty117]

That’s not true, it actually has an large user base. On steam alone (it’s also on GOG) it has 12000 peak players today with a peak of 830,000.

I myself have played it for 100 hours or so.

You've added too many Zero's. In the last 24 hours, it peaked at 2,264.

Battlefield™ 2042 - Steam Charts

An ongoing analysis of Steam's player numbers, seeing what's been played the most.

steamcharts.com

Battlefield 1/5 have quadruple or more the player count.

Even Battlefield 4/3 have similar numbers to 2042...
There's even been dedicated articles about how 2042 is empty and many complaints of servers being filled with bots more than actual players.

 

[m3tavision]

Really odd how you chose to not test the reason for the refresh, or even mention it. Then cap the system with ddr4-3200...!

These cards have higher freq and meant to feature AMD's Smart Access Memory (SAM) and all the newer games.

Lastly, none of the games listed are even of pro/competitive games where frame-times even matter.

 

[scavengerspc]

"But why?"

Because it is appreciably faster than the RTX 3060 and averages $40 cheaper.
That's why.

 

[Sausagemeat]

You've added too many Zero's. In the last 24 hours, it peaked at 2,264.

Battlefield™ 2042 - Steam Charts

An ongoing analysis of Steam's player numbers, seeing what's been played the most.

steamcharts.com

Battlefield 1/5 have quadruple or more the player count.

Even Battlefield 4/3 have similar numbers to 2042...
There's even been dedicated articles about how 2042 is empty and many complaints of servers being filled with bots more than actual players.

You've added too many Zero's. In the last 24 hours, it peaked at 2,264.

Battlefield™ 2042 - Steam Charts

An ongoing analysis of Steam's player numbers, seeing what's been played the most.

steamcharts.com

Battlefield 1/5 have quadruple or more the player count.

Even Battlefield 4/3 have similar numbers to 2042...
There's even been dedicated articles about how 2042 is empty and many complaints of servers being filled with bots more than actual players.

Not sure what you’re smoking mate. The numbers are clear as day on the steam charts website, 12k players peak today for an 18 month old single player game is healthy. Cyberpunk is a hugely popular game which has had huge sales and player counts in the past for a single player game. Claiming nobody is playing it is just flat out false.

 

[rrwards]

Not sure what you’re smoking mate. The numbers are clear as day on the steam charts website, 12k players peak today for an 18 month old single player game is healthy. Cyberpunk is a hugely popular game which has had huge sales and player counts in the past for a single player game. Claiming nobody is playing it is just flat out false.

View attachment 88325

Bruh no one you quoted is talking about Cyberpunk 2077

 

[Burty117]

Not sure what you’re smoking mate. The numbers are clear as day on the steam charts website, 12k players peak today for an 18 month old single player game is healthy. Cyberpunk is a hugely popular game which has had huge sales and player counts in the past for a single player game. Claiming nobody is playing it is just flat out false.

View attachment 88325

I'm not smoking anything, you on the other hand, whatever it is, has impeded your ability to read.

 

[Sausagemeat]

I'm not smoking anything, you on the other hand, whatever it is, has impeded your ability to read.

The peak player count of cyberpunk 2077 is 12k. I’ve even sent a screenshot. Just admit you were wrong and be done with it…

 

[Shadowboxer]

I'm not smoking anything, you on the other hand, whatever it is, has impeded your ability to read.

Lmao, I just looked at the steam charts site and Cyberpunk has 12.5k peak players. Apparently its you who cant read.

Cyberpunk has more players than most games in these benchmarks. No idea why you have the delusion than no one is playing it.

 

[Burty117]

We were talking about Battlefield 2042. My original comment and my reply to you were all Battlefield 2042.

Nothing to do with Cyberpunk, absolutely incredible....

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Lmao, I just looked at the steam charts site and Cyberpunk has 12.5k peak players. Apparently its you who cant read.

Cyberpunk has more players than most games in these benchmarks. No idea why you have the delusion than no one is playing it.

I fail to see why it's important to know how many people play a game for a benchmarking article. The benchmarks used are designed to give a wide variety of recent games that vary in many ways. Some are more GPU dependent, some are more CPU dependent, some favor AMD and others favor Nvidia....who cares how many people play a game that was or wasn't benchmarked.

 

[RudyBob]

You are one of about, five people that actually play the game? No point concentrating on a game no one plays.

I won't bring up Hexen 2 then

 

[zamroni111]

Rdna2 exists only to maintain presence and pressure nvidia pricing.
Amd would prefer to use that manufacturing capacity to produce the much more profitable epyc server cpu.

 

[Lounds]

Hi Steve great article/review as always.
I wonder if you had chance to test the 6650XT with the latest drivers in Watch dogs legions to see if this 13% claim is true? Also 24% increase for Crysis Remastered.

 

[Alfatawi Mendel]

But Why? Probably because it handily beats it's Nvidia competitor (RTX3060) , for the same price. Since FSR 2.0 nullifies Nvidia's DLSS advantage - It's easily the better purchase.

 

[Sausagemeat]

We were talking about Battlefield 2042. My original comment and my reply to you were all Battlefield 2042.

Nothing to do with Cyberpunk, absolutely incredible....

Lmao you are changing the goalposts. Your original comment claimed nobody was playing Cyberpunk 2077 and that was pure bullshit. Just swallow your pride and admit you were wrong...