Gamers aren't rushing to buy AMD's Radeon RX 6500 XT despite better availability

[nanoguy]

Why it matters: The launch of Nvidia’s RTX 3050 has been much more well-received than that of AMD’s RX 6500 XT, as shown by the arguably more positive reviews. The latter card isn’t flying off the shelves, so the Team Green offering has a good chance to steer gamers away — if the price is right.

The AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT is a strange product that launched at the most inopportune time with a sticker price that doesn't even qualify it as a cash grab. Despite Team Red’s good or bad motivations behind this deeply flawed graphics card release, its only achievement is that scalpers and cryptocurrency miners seem to have steered away from it.

Our own Steven Walton wrote a scathing review of the card, but his view is shared among other reviewers who also believe AMD has cut features and specifications too far. The RX 6500 XT was supposed to be an entry-level graphics card with enough power to deliver 1080p gaming at medium-high details without breaking the bank, but its technical limitations make it look bad even against the good old RX 580 — a less energy-efficient but more capable product.

A week after launch, the RX 6500 XT can’t be found at or near MSRP, which isn’t a huge surprise. If we go by Newegg listings, the Asus TUF version is the most expensive at $418.99 while the PowerColor offers the most affordable model at “just” $269.99. That’s a far cry from the $199.99 MSRP, and a ridiculous asking price for what is essentially a low end laptop GPU turned into a desktop graphics card that needs to be installed into a PCIe 4.0 slot to make it worthwhile.

Before the actual launch, AMD did promise to work closely with AIB partners to ensure a strong supply of the new cards. And since the Navi24 GPU is a relatively small chip measuring 107 sq. mm, the company can fit more of these into a wafer.

The biggest problem of the RX 6500 XT is that Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3050 is a better product in almost every way. Unlike AMD, Nvidia opted to use the more expensive GA106 silicon from the RTX 3060, paired it with double the amount of VRAM (8 gigabytes), and built it into a PCIe x8 card. It will likely be more expensive than the RX 6500 XT and may suffer from availability issues, but it’s also not particularly attractive to miners. Time will tell which company played its cards right, as gamers will vote with their wallets.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/93149-no-one-buying-amd-radeon-rx-6500-xt.html

 

[Irata]

The launch of Nvidia’s RTX 3050 has been much more well-received than that of AMD’s RX 6500 XT

Well, the card itself was well received, but the actual ‚Sorry, no card for you‘ launch ? That was a complete clown show.

I guess many reviewers must feel a bit dirty/used right now but I bet there won‘t be (m)any outrage videos like for the 6500XT.

Either way, the choice if you need a graphics card for gaming is still the 6500XT (if it fits your particular set up / use case) or 1050Ti / 1650 in the same price range. Stepping up there‘s the 6600.

 

[gigantor21]

The card is a waste of silicon that can barely hang with the older entry-level cards it would replace, so its not surprising.

 

[jdwii]

Gamers want what they will never get for the next 3 years easily and that is much better performance per dollar in the -500$ TRUE market for GPU's

Those days are gone

 

[envirovore]

Recall all cards both sold and unsold, and tear/melt them down for whatever materials can still be salvaged and reused out of them, and remove this piece of crap from existence.

 

[winjer]

Good. Better to not support e-waste.

 

[Irata]

Recall all cards both sold and unsold, and tear/melt them down for whatever materials can still be salvaged and reused out of them, and remove this piece of crap from existence.

Seems like nVidia did this pre-emptively with the 3050…

That would have been a nicer card had it ever been real (in terms of both price and a ailability) but now your sub $300 new card choice is either a 6500XT, 1050Ti or 1650. And compared to the alternatives in its price range it looks pretty decent, sadly.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

The Free Market has spoken!!!

 

[QuantumPhysics]

For the most part, AMD cards - specifically the Red Devils - have sat on Microcenter's shelves, practically ignored since December 2020. I think everyone buying has gotten it in their minds that they want Nvidia cards - most likely because of the perceived superiority and the documented driver update regularity.

 

[Dimitriid]

Hopefully this is a lesson Lisa and AMD take to heart: Play stupid games, win stupid prices.

 

[NightAntilli]

" the PowerColor offers the most affordable model at “just” $269.99. That’s a far cry from the $199.99 MSRP"

Uh... A 35% price hike is a very small increase compared to all the other price hikes that we've seen for the last two years.

 

[Dimitriid]

The card is a waste of silicon that can barely hang with the older entry-level cards it would replace, so its not surprising.

I actually would qualify this as "At USD 250 or more, this card is a waste..." etc.

If AMD wants to move them they should sell them at 100 bucks or so: they're still much better than the 1030s of the world and are a slight improvement for the 550 and such. Granted they're probably worst in the sense that they removed video encoding but hey if you need a "Get video out" GPU then a 6500xt at 100 bucks would be better than a 1030/710/210, etc.

 

[theruck]

The success of this card lies in the price. for $90 it would be a best seller

 

[Destrukshawn]

Get greedy, get spanked

 

[emmzo]

This is what happens when you try to sell trash. Nvidia`s 3050 won`t far any better. AMD and nVidia will soon be on their knees begging us to buy a 3080/6800 for 400 bucks.

 

[fps4ever]

And yet the alternative is an RTX 3050 that lets you game at 1080P medium settings for $300+ dollars. Or mine some coins. What an awesome choice we have.

 

[Roddybabes]

Well, the 6500 XT is the best seller at Mindfactory so at least the Germans like this card. For week 3: it's outselling Nvidia's 3070 Ti model, which is in 2nd spot, by almost 1.5x. One can rubbish the performance aspect of this card but the sales numbers don't lie.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/saw08z

 

[HardReset]

Topic for this "news item" is:
No one is buying AMD's Radeon RX 6500 XT despite better availability

And still I cannot find single word about actual SALES data ""

No wonder Techspot is hiring more staff...

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Well, the 6500 XT is the best seller at Mindfactory so at least the Germans like this card. For week 3: it's outselling Nvidia's 3070 Ti model, which is in 2nd spot, by almost 1.5x. One can rubbish the performance aspect of this card but the sales numbers don't lie.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/saw08z

When you have a whole 2 3070tis to sell, it's not hard to surpass that number.

 

[defaultluser]

For the most part, AMD cards - specifically the Red Devils - have sat on Microcenter's shelves, practically ignored since December 2020. I think everyone buying has gotten it in their minds that they want Nvidia cards - most likely because of the perceived superiority and the documented driver update regularity.

No, it's because much better featureset inside those drivers. I've been enjoying Fast Sync in game quite smoothly for years now on my HTPC's ancient GTX 960 (old games ran at closer to 60 at 1080p, while newer games still run smooth at 35 -40 fps with no tearing.)

If you want the same feature from AMD, then you need a new Freesync monitor (can't justify the upgrade cost to a C1 65" when my existing low-latency c7 [with 120 Hz 1080p mode] is still trucking along!)

I use the exact same feature on my GTX 1060 on games like Borderlands 3 on my TN 1ms gaming panel, and I can't tell the difference in latency between Fast Sync and Vsync off (but I can sure tell the difference of not having tearing)

 

[BoowieBear]

I don't know, I think AMD might have finally nailed it. The key to solving the supply problem is to make a card that absolutely no one wants to buy and it will be in stock!

 

[manbearboar]

6500 XT is a best seller at Mindfactory by a high margin.
It is a long awaited new product for sub 300$ market where 3050 won't arrive.

 

[Bamda]

I am glad that AMD got kicked in the nuts for this one. Really stupid idea!

 

[TechZel]

The 3050 is a paper launch, it's only purpose for existence is to make AMD look bad. Come on, it's the same die as the 3060, it was pretty clear Nvidia never intended to produce real quantities of this thing or that the MSRP was remotely a real number. How fake is it exactly? In Aus our eminent PC retailer starts the 6500 XT at $379 for dual fan models, while the 3050 starts at $609. And the 3050 hasn't even come in to stock yet, they are still "pre-order" while the 6500 XT has been fully stocked since launch. Amusingly, 1650s are still starting at $399 because Nvidia mindshare tax.

The 6500 XT looks like a slap in the face to anyone who has built a PC prior to 2020 but at least it's a real product, and it's the least worst option for those desperate for a GPU - any GPU - that can actually play games at 1080p

 

[supyo]

An insulting move on AMD's part. They probably believed their intentions were well-meaning, but this offering for $200 is like going back in a time machine from 2013. What a POS card. Pre-covid this would be an $89.99 sku at best.