Radeon RX 6600 XT vs. GeForce RTX 3060: Tested in 30 Games

[Sausagemeat]

I see posts like this all the time, and always find them baffling. I just sold an RX-480 for more than I paid for it, and bought a 6600 XT at just over MSRP, at Micro Center. I would never pay more than MSRP, but considering what I got for my old RX-480, it was doable. My RX-480 was rock solid for years and years, as were the drivers. I never once had a single issue. And my new 6600 XT runs perfectly. And I once owned a computer business, in which I sold hundreds of AMD products, and never had a problem with any of them. I have to wonder what people are doing wrong, to have such problems with AMD products.

Let me explain. It’s not people doing it wrong, it’s AMD. Radeon software support is simply awful, you are incredibly lucky to never have an issue. Most of the issues I have are acknowledged on the AMD website. Some of them since 2016 with no fix. Many issues take time for AMD to acknowledge like the black screen bug, which remains unfixed.

Nvidias drivers are far better although people still have issue with both and some people will have no issues. Just because you don’t have any problems does not mean others don’t.

AMD support is worse than Nvidias. This is a fact. And the primary reason why AMDs market share is declining and their cards sit on shelves at MSRP whilst people way way above MSRP for Nvidia.

 

[Adhmuz]

And to add to that, the more people buy at prices far above the MSRP the more they're teaching AMD and Nvidia to raise their prices 200% for next gen products anyway: if there's still unprecedented demand at those prices it means people can and will buy at those prices so why would they release at half the money for the next gen products then?

Maybe not the full price increase but I maintain that a huge bump to the MSRP prices for next gen is almost a given.

I've got to think at least if they raised the MSRP officially it might negate the profit of scalpers, although the consumer still doesn't win in this scenario at least the companies selling the products get to make the money themselves instead of this scumbag society. It would also help deter miners as recouping profits would take far longer.

Maybe we'll just have to accept that this is the new reality and cost of PC gaming, the days of affordable GPUs could be a thing of the past.

 

[Dimitriid]

Tbh, maybe I don‘t know what I‘m missing, but the driver software suite is pretty nice and the built in recording functions are also OK. Now that there are several driver install options, I decided to go for the medium option (kid now uses OBS), I.e. the driver with gui but without add ons.

The card does what it‘s supposed to do, the software is hassle free (hw recommendations are stupid though) and…what else is there.

nVidia studio sounds interesting, but it‘s nothing I need and NAAF said it didn‘t work as advertised for him.

Either way, not sure what I‘m supposed to be missing out on.

I think it does comes down to game optimization and Nvidia exclusive features like DLSS (Or Gameworks in the past for fancy hair, etc.) but if I was to entertain the notion that someone thinks both DLSS and Shadowplay are simply far better than AMD equivalents, it's still 10% more money, 10% less performance and at the time of posting, arguably worst availability.

 

[Beerfloat]

I don't usually do this since such comments don't have much value, but I have to ask you. What is the "AMD GPU experience" to you? And I want you to be serious about it.

The AMD GPU experience equals disappointment.

I'm not interested in exhaustively detailing exactly how every single time during the last 20 years, starting with R200, whenever I once again bought into the hype from reviewers saying that this time ATI/AMD had the better card, I would stumble across some broken/incompatible/missing feature or functionality that ruined the experience for me. Most people are once bitten twice shy, but I tried again and again to look for the upside. My last device is Vega, and I'm about 3 years away from beginning to trust AMD GPUs again.

 

[BSim500]

Actually most games from 10 years ago are unplayable today.

Skyrim and Bioshock Infinite are "unplayable in 2021"? What planet do you live on?...

 

[pcnthuziast]

I'm happy enough with the 3060. Didn't pay msrp, but at the time of purchase a little over 500 didn't hurt too much. lol 12gb is nice to have and there have been a few scenarios where I've seen usage exceed 8. RE Village for example I play at 4k (60% scale) with every single setting maxed and frame rate drops below 60 sometimes, but is mostly over and I don't experience any hard hitches or rolling stutters.

 

[psycros]

Reading this as my new 3060-equipped PC arrives. I would've went 6600 XT but literally every other site says its inferior.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

It's nice to see some comparison charts close together, but there isn't anything new here that isn't already known.

6600XT > RTX 3060 below 4k.
Both cards aren't really ideal 4K cards anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

If 6600XT cards can be found for under the current 3060 prices, you'd be a fool to pass it up if you are in need of a solid 1080p gaming card. Or if you saw both cards on the shelf and they were priced the same, I'd still probably lean to AMD since the card does perform better (for the most part) at 1080p and 1440p. However, I wouldn't spend over $400 on either one and ideally both should be at the $300 price point, but we all know that won't ever happen.

I don't really see the 6600XT anywhere, since I hear they're a good card for mining on....not that the hashrate they produce is anything super exciting, but the low power rate for mining is attractive.

 

[punctualturn]

Nice showing on AMD part and glad that at the very least, it was recommended as a better buy.

Funny how out of the blue, RT is now a thing that is a plus even on these GPUs', when Steve himself has said over and over that the performance hit on all GPUs is simply not worth over the little eye candy they offer.

And since you have to mentioned DLSS several times as a plus for Nvidia, how about you point out that the main reason it exist is to lock you into nvidia and also how thats nvidia MO.

I respect all reviewers that actually point that out as a negative, instead of a positive or at the very least, use it as a warning, like this guy:

I know, is not a review, but he called them out.

Anyways, this AMD GPU seems to be good overall, except for the stupid MSRP and lack of getting one at that price.

Edit Want to clarify something, I dont not think, neither call Steve a nvidia shill. Simply wondering why the narrative about RT changed.

 

[Sausagemeat]

And since you have to mentioned DLSS several times as a plus for Nvidia, how about you point out that the main reason it exist is to lock you into nvidia and also how thats nvidia MO.

DLSS does not "lock you into Nvidia" in any way shape or form. No game requires DLSS to work. If I buy an Nvidia card I can easily replace that with a card from another manufacturer if I play games that support DLSS.

You just dont like DLSS because its something that AMD doesnt have that actually helps gamers.

 

[Kosmoz]

The AMD GPU experience equals disappointment.

I'm not interested in exhaustively detailing exactly how every single time during the last 20 years, starting with R200, whenever I once again bought into the hype from reviewers saying that this time ATI/AMD had the better card, I would stumble across some broken/incompatible/missing feature or functionality that ruined the experience for me. Most people are once bitten twice shy, but I tried again and again to look for the upside. My last device is Vega, and I'm about 3 years away from beginning to trust AMD GPUs again.

I used nvidia for the last 10 or more years, but lets count just the last 5 years with GTX 1060 and 1080, until I bought 1.5 months ago the RX 6700 XT.

I had my share of black screens, CTDs and other kinds of issues with nvidia drivers (never with the GPU itself) over the years, some drivers were worse, some better. But overall was a good experience.

After 1.5 months with RX 6700 XT is mostly a good experience too, but I did find 2 games with issues: Horizon ZD (which you can see in the patch notes, not fixed even today, but then again nvidia has some old issues not fixed for months too) and The Medium.

HZD crashes all the time on all drivers except on the launch drivers for RX 6700 XT, those work without problem. It's a strange thing for sure, but I finished it in 2020, so it's not important for me, but I can see for those that want to play and have the latest drivers too.

The Medium crashes at one point 2-3 hours into the game, without fail. I cannot pass that point at all and I did not find any solution. Since it's not really such a great game, again I don't care much.

So far these issues are acceptable, but if after 1 or 2 years of using this AMD GPU I find out that 10 games don't work on RDNA2, then I will be pissed too. I don't expect this though, I expect them to get better and better. Having intel as a 3rd competitor is going to make all of them do better.

This is just my experience, both nvidia and AMD have software issues, more or less. I don't know how things were before RDNA2, just from reading on the net, but not 1st hand experience.

 

[Puiu]

The AMD GPU experience equals disappointment.

I'm not interested in exhaustively detailing exactly how every single time during the last 20 years, starting with R200, whenever I once again bought into the hype from reviewers saying that this time ATI/AMD had the better card, I would stumble across some broken/incompatible/missing feature or functionality that ruined the experience for me. Most people are once bitten twice shy, but I tried again and again to look for the upside. My last device is Vega, and I'm about 3 years away from beginning to trust AMD GPUs again.

I'm sorry but I just don't believe what you said. The whole "I tried it a million times" just smells of fake, and I can tell from a glance as someone who used GPUs from both AMD and NVIDIA for both work and personal enjoyment.

 

[Irata]

I'm sorry but I just don't believe what you said. The whole "I tried it a million times" just smells of fake, and I can tell from a glance as someone who used GPUs from both AMD and NVIDIA for both work and personal enjoyment.

The ‚I‘ve used every single GPU that AMD has made in the last 10 years and every single one made my PC unusable“ statement has become a meme by now.

 

[Beerfloat]

I'm sorry but I just don't believe what you said. The whole "I tried it a million times" just smells of fake, and I can tell from a glance as someone who used GPUs from both AMD and NVIDIA for both work and personal enjoyment.

Ok, don’t. You asked. It doesn’t matter. I have given enough chances for the time being, heck come to think of it actually even started further back before 3D cards with the ATI VGA Wonder and Mach32 cards, and none of your happy-go-lucky oh but my card has been great, oh you must’ve been using it wrong tales mean **** to me. Market share speaks volumes and I’ll continue to dissuade hapless users from falling for these stinkers.

 

[pildorman321]

No power figures? I wonder why? both are crap. but the 3060 has 16 lanes, and 4 extra gb. the 6600 xt is a scam.

 

[Norsiiii]

So the good thing about the 6600XT is that it is unwanted and thus available.

Given these marginal differences you might as well go with the safe bet, Nvidia.

Wait, what?! You think that the 6600XT is unwanted and unnecessary, but that the less powerful, worse performing and more expensive 3060 isn't?

How on earth can you read an article that categorically demonstrates that the 6600XT performs better at a cheaper price, and still come away with the farcical idea that the 3060 is a better buy?

 

[Red34jfp]

I don't understand this comparison, when the non XT version of the 6600 will come out, against which GPU will you compare it? The ugly 3050ti seen in laptops? The 6600XT is positioned to supposedly take the 3060ti, not the 3060.

 

[TechZel]

Here I am on a 6700 XT using beta Radeon drivers that are unsupported on my beta version of windows 11, dual monitors with mismatched refresh rates and a VR headset for most of my gaming. Not a single issue to report. Previously on my 5700 XT, I had my secondary monitor black screen once ever in the almost two years of ownership.

I did however RMA three 6800 XTs because apparently Sapphire's quality control has gone to absolute hell this generation. And one of those faulty cards would have absolutely appeared to be driver issues to your average user. I switched to an XFX card and it's been just as rock solid as my old GTX 780 was, which is quite impressive IMO given the very niche combination of hardware and unsupported driver/OS I'm throwing at it.

Makes me wonder how much of the supposed driver issues on AMD have really been because of poor AIB manufacturing.

 

[TechZel]

No power figures? I wonder why? both are crap. but the 3060 has 16 lanes, and 4 extra gb. the 6600 xt is a scam.

So the 3070 Ti which also has 4GB less VRAM than a 3060 is what exactly?

And who cares about the lanes if you're not utilising them. Actual performance numbers matter, not whichever arbitrary number you've chosen because it's bigger on one manufacturer's spec sheet than the other.

 

[Irata]

No power figures? I wonder why? both are crap. but the 3060 has 16 lanes, and 4 extra gb. the 6600 xt is a scam.

If you are wondering why - figures are in the original 6600 XT review. System power consumption numbers are (load / idle): 322/58W for the 6600XT (lower than the 5600XT) and 359/65 for the 3600.

Nice showing on AMD part and glad that at the very least, it was recommended as a better buy.

Funny how out of the blue, RT is now a thing that is a plus even on these GPUs', when Steve himself has said over and over that the performance hit on all GPUs is simply not worth over the little eye candy they offer.

And since you have to mentioned DLSS several times as a plus for Nvidia, how about you point out that the main reason it exist is to lock you into nvidia and also how thats nvidia MO.

I think mentioning DLSS and nVidia‘s RT advantage is fair as long as they also mention SAM and the hardware scheduler / lower driver overhead advantage Radeon GPU have which is a big plus for weaker / quad core CPU.

 

[rmcrys]

So many comments, so many opinions, nice.

1) those who don't *need* right to buy a GPU, wait. As soon as the new gen comes, the present generation will get cheaper. I would say: let the new gen for scalpers / mining freaks, and get a decent priced rtx 30x0 / 6600 XT for you.

2) those who really need a new GPU: do you plan to use RT/DLSS? (Which I would) them buy an NV card (perhaps you find a RTX2070 or Ti version which fits your needs?); if you play "pure" then go AMD

3) don't fool yourselves, mining is the pure guilty for such demand / lack of supply / 2-3x higher prices. Mining damages hardware, energy, increases pollution, electronic garbage and prices are impossible for private users. And what for? Currencies that no-one uses and on a near future will get you only dark net products. Very nice for d. dealers, ransom, etc.... Sadly a lot but that cr.p currencies and damage real world uses.

 

[Puiu]

Ok, don’t. You asked. It doesn’t matter. I have given enough chances for the time being, heck come to think of it actually even started further back before 3D cards with the ATI VGA Wonder and Mach32 cards, and none of your happy-go-lucky oh but my card has been great, oh you must’ve been using it wrong tales mean **** to me. Market share speaks volumes and I’ll continue to dissuade hapless users from falling for these stinkers.

You didn't answer what I asked, you just dodged the question and the spit out the name of a very old GPU. Should I be "impressed" by your knowledge of current AMD GPUs?

This is why I said that you are lying and it's pretty obvious.

 

[Beerfloat]

You didn't answer what I asked, you just dodged the question and the spit out the name of a very old GPU.

Where is the dodge?
You said you wanted to know what the AMD GPU experience means to me. The answer was earnest, entirely on point, and based on considerable actual experience.

Should I be "impressed" by your knowledge of current AMD GPUs?\

I wasn't aware that the point of your question was for me to impress you.

This is why I said that you are lying and it's pretty obvious.

That's curious because none of it is a lie.
Baseless accusations because my experiences don't fit your narrative is where you cross over into toxic fandom.

 

[Strawman]

Skyrim and Bioshock Infinite are "unplayable in 2021"? What planet do you live on?...

If Skyrim and Bio Infinite are "most games" then sure.

 

[Beerfloat]

Wait, what?! You think that the 6600XT is unwanted and unnecessary, but that the less powerful, worse performing and more expensive 3060 isn't?

How on earth can you read an article that categorically demonstrates that the 6600XT performs better at a cheaper price, and still come away with the farcical idea that the 3060 is a better buy?

Because that is my opinion. How is that unclear?

By the way, did you happen to notice the subtitle of this article, which talks about 'the best GPU you can buy today'?
Yes, you can buy it, because it isn't exactly flying off the shelves. Which is hardly surprising, given that the 6600XT is not a particularly good card. You might recall this same reviewer giving it a 60/100 score last month.