The RX 6600 XT in its natural environment
The latest AMD add-in board, the Radeon RX 6600 XT, was introduced in the final week of July and we were lucky enough to spend our weekend with the attractive new card. The RX 6600 XT is the first card to feature the Navi 23 GPU based on RDNA 2.0’s 7NM architecture. The die size of the Navi 23 is 5.5% smaller than the Navi 10 and almost 40% smaller than Nvidia GA104 which is the GPU featured on the RTX 3060 Ti. The AMD RX 6600 XT is also much less power-hungry than the Navi 10 based RX 5700 XT with a TDP of 160 W vs. 225 W for the 5700 XT. This is important as consumers, as well as governing bodies, are pushing for greater power efficiency.
AMD’s new RX 6600 XT is targeted at customers who are gaming at 1080p resolutions, AMD reports that 2/3rds of gaming monitors sold are native 1080p. That resolution remains a sweet spot in the gaming market. However, the board was generating such strong framerates at 1080P we decided to include higher resolutions in our testing.
The Navi 23-based AIB features 2048 cores within 32 compute units and runs at 2.63 GHz, and has 8GB of GDDR6 memory. The RX 6600 XT is set up to compete with Nvidia’s Ampere-based RTX 3060 and RTX 3060 TI AIBs. One of the most popular AIBs of all time, the GTX 1060 can still be found in thousands of gaming PCs around the world. AMD and Nvidia are banking on those gamers upgrading. The GTX 1060 can no longer run most of the newer popular games much above 40 FPS at 1080p and does not offer features such as ray tracing. AMD reports that the new RX 6600 XT can outperform the GTX 1060 by 2× and can run some of the most demanding games on the market at 60FPS at 1080p.
We stacked the Radeon RX 6600 XT up against two proven winners, the RX 5700 XT and Nvidia’s 3060 TI.
| AIB | RX 6600 XT | RX 5700 XT | RTX 3060 TI |
| GPU | Navi 23 | Navi 10 | GA104 |
| Cores | 2048 | 2304 | 4864 |
| Game Clock | 2359 | 1755 | 1665 |
| Memory GB | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | GDDR6 |
| Memory Clock | 2000 | 1755 | 1750 |
| Power | 160 | 225 | 200 |
| Die Size | 237 | 251 | 392 |
| Price | $379 | $399 | $399 |
| Release Date | August 2021 | July 2019 | December 2020 |
| AIB specifications | |||
The test suite we used included the following games, we added AMD FX Super Fidelity to our benchmarking for the first time where available. Godfall and Evil Genius 2 both support FidelityFX.
| Time Spy | Port Royal |
| Metro: Exodus | Godfall |
| Evil Genius 2 | Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | Wolfenstein: Youngbloods |
| Chernobylite | |
| Test suite | |
Our testbed is based on an Intel Core-i9 10900K running at 3.7 GHz, in a Gigabyte Z490 AORUS Master with 16 GB of RAM. We tested games at the highest pre-set graphic settings (Ultra/ Uber) at 4K, 1440P, and 1080P. We originally were not going to test at 4K but given all three boards were performing well at less demanding resolutions we turned it up.
Here at JPR we compare boards using the Pmark. We do not just look at raw FPS but factor in an AIB’s power consumption and MSRP. The Pmark equation is:
 |
| RX 6600 XT | RX 5700 XT | RTX 3060 TI | |
| Average FPS | 100.6 | 98 | 110 |
| Avg. FPS w/ Fidelity FX Ultra Quality | 135 | 125 | 153 |
| TFLOPS | 10.6 | 9.75 | 16.2 |
| Power | 160 | 225 | 200 |
| MSRP (at launch) | $379.00 | $399.00 | $399.00 |
| Pmark variables | |||
Comparison of the three add-in boards using Pmark of FPS, FPS with Fidelity FX enabled as well as TFLOPS.
| RX 6600 XT | RX 5700 XT | RTX 3060 TI | |
| Pmark FPS | 166 | 109 | 138 |
| Pmark w/ Fidelity FX Ultra Quality | 223 | 140 | 192 |
| Pmark TFLOPS | 17.5 | 11 | 20 |
| Pmark comparison | |||
Pmark results comparison FPS
The RTX 3060 TI enjoys a 9% FPS advantage over the RX 6600 XT, however, the power efficiency of the new Radeon gives it a higher score on the Pmark scale.
Pmark results with Fidelity FX Ultra Quality enabled
FidelityFX allows all add-In boards to deliver faster and higher quality framerates at more demanding resolutions, even for boards targeting the mid-range. Again, the RTX 3060 TI delivers more raw power than the RX 6600 XT, but the power efficiency gives the new RX6600 XT a slight edge. Technologies such as DLSS and FidelityFX are game changes for midrange AIBs, when enabled the software allows AIBs playable framerates at resolutions as high as 4K.
Pmark comparison TFLOPS
The RTX 3060 Ti TFLOP output outpaces both Radeon AIBs.
The RX 6600 XT out of the box
AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT will be available on August 11, 2021. AMD board OEMs ASRock, ASUS, BIOSTAR, Gigabyte, MSI, PowerColor, SAPPHIRE, XFX should all be releasing their version of the new mid-range AIB at an expected MSRP around $379.
What do we think?
The first RDNA 2.0 based AIBs provide the consumer with an attractive option. The RX 6600 XT performs brilliantly at its targeted 1080P resolution but provides quality framerates into 4K. In Godfall, for instance, the RX 6600 XT was pumping out over 60 FPS at 1440P, and over 80 when FidelityFX was enabled. 84 FPS and 85 FPS in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and Red Dead Redemption 2, respectively.
The power efficiency of the Navi 23 is a complete upgrade over the Navi 10 based cards. The RX 6600 XT only requires an 8-pin connector versus an 8-pin and a 6-pin for the RX 5700 XT and RX 6700 XT. This is a game-changer, especially for those with smaller power supplies in their PCs. Hopefully, the RX 6600 XT is attractive enough to late-adapting gamers to entice them to finally upgrade to an AIB that is modestly priced yet can provide features such as ray tracing and solid fps at higher resolutions. With the supply chain coming back online and the slowdown in crypto we expect to see this AIB remain available to consumers, at least through the summer.