Sapphire Configures a Radeon RX 6500 XT With 8GB VRAM

Sapphire stunned us by saying a brand new Radeon RX 6500 XT configuration with 8GB of reminiscence. The previously entry-level graphics card now comes with double the unique mannequin’s 4GB quota. Nothing else has materially modified, the GPU and reminiscence efficiency specs are the principally similar, however we anticipate to see a worth bump with the extra VRAM. The RX 6500 XT does declare a spot among the many greatest graphics playing cards, largely due to its finances pricing, however we would a lot somewhat have a sooner GPU for a bit more cash.

The AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT had a troublesome time when it was launched, because it was fairly broadly dismissed as underpowered and under-featured. Nonetheless, it looks as if each Intel and Nvidia have sought to make it appear like a champ by releasing competing graphics playing cards just like the Arc A380 and RTX 1630 within the interim interval. AMD’s personal Radeon RX 6400 additionally makes the RX 6500 XT appear to be fairly a muscular providing.

After we examined the RX 6500 XT, reminiscence capability wasn’t our major concern. We famous that the specs and options had been lower too removed from the RX 6600 and above. There have been certainly considerations with the reminiscence configuration, nevertheless it was extra the 64-bit bus, not simply the 4GB. There have been additional considerations with utilizing a PCIe x4 connection — not horrible with PCIe 4.0, however a selected downside on older gen techniques with slower PCIe requirements — plus the restricted show connectivity (one HDMI and on DisplayPort), and at last the whole lack of {hardware} video encoding assist. In short, nobody was asking for extra VRAM, besides perhaps Sapphire’s advertising and marketing dept.

Above you possibly can see precisely what Sapphire has modified for its Pulse RX 6500 XT mannequin. The GPU max enhance clock pace is technically 1% sooner, however that might moderately be described as negligible.

Most individuals would you play trendy AAA video games on the 6500 XT with low-ish settings as a result of entry-level GPU, which additionally lowers the VRAM necessities. The bigger reminiscence capability might help in some video games with sure settings (like texture and shadow decision), however the GPU computational energy and reminiscence bandwidth will shortly develop into the bottleneck.

Sapphire tweeted (opens in new tab) that the brand new Pulse Radeon RX 6500 XT 8GB is on cabinets now. We have not been capable of finding one on the market, which implies we do not have a worth but. That can be a essential issue, contemplating the RX 6500 XT 4GB begins at $189 (opens in new tab), whereas the considerably sooner RX 6600 8GB begins at $279 (opens in new tab), and the bottom worth on a Sapphire RX 6500 XT 4GB is $199 (opens in new tab).

For reference, in our GPU benchmarks, the RX 6600 was 80% sooner than the RX 6500 XT at 1080p medium and over twice as quick at 1080p extremely, making it a much more succesful GPU general. That is as a result of it has 75% extra GPU cores and double the reminiscence interface width, that are each vital for real-world gaming efficiency. It additionally has an x8 PCIe interface, helps as much as 4 screens, and consists of full {hardware} video encoding assist.