AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT Specifications
Dies and Cost
The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT GPU is based on the new NAVI 23 XT die. This is still based on the AMD RDNA 2 architecture, the same as the rest of the Radeon RX 6000 series GPUs. It, therefore, does support Ray Tracing and AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution FSR. This smaller NAVI 23 die with a die size of 237mm2 and 11.1B transistors means AMD can fit more dies per wafer, and more dies total overall. It will mean fewer defects, and when there are defects, more chips yielding overall compared to bigger dies. That means potentially more availability for GPUs to me and you.
However, there are other factors that affect the overall availability of video cards today you should be aware of. The cost of video card memory has risen and is rising, as well as demand. Another area that has been pretty bad these days is the cost of raw materials like copper, and plastics, and other metals that go into making the entire video card itself. Shortages due to demand, and higher prices of materials do add up. Therefore, while these GPUs should have better yields, the entire package needs to be taken into consideration for cost.
Hardware Specifications
The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is a 7nm FinFET TSMC made GPU based on RDNA2. It has 32 CUs (Compute Units), 2048 Stream Processors, 64 ROPs, and 128 TMUs. The Infinity Cache has been cut down to only 32MB, versus 96MB on the Radeon RX 6700 XT and 128MB on the Radeon RX 6800/XT. This is important because the memory bus has also been cut way down to 128-bit, versus 192-bit on the 6700 XT. This means 1440p could be a challenge. It does support AMD Smart Access Memory.
The game clock is set at 2359MHz and the boost clock at 2589MHz. Therefore the clock speeds are pushed pretty high to the capabilities of this architecture. The video card has 8GB of GDDR6 at 16GHz. The memory bandwidth is 256MB/s, and with the 32MB of Infinity Cache hopefully, this is enough to make 1080p perform well. The overall TDP is only 160W (reference spec) and MSRP is $379, which is high for a 1080p video card.
Specs Comparison
| Radeon RX 6600 XT | Radeon RX 6700 XT | Radeon RX 6800 | Radeon RX 6800 XT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPU | NAVI 23 RDNA2 | NAVI 22 RDNA2 | NAVI 21 RDNA2 | NAVI 21 RDNA2 |
| Infinity Cache | 32MB | 96MB | 128MB | 128MB |
| SPs | 2048 | 2560 | 3840 | 4608 |
| ROPs | 64 | 64 | 96 | 128 |
| TMUs | 128 | 160 | 240 | 288 |
| RT Cores | 32 | 40 | 60 | 72 |
| Game Clock | 2359MHz | 2424MHz | 1815MHz | 2015MHz |
| Boost Clock | 2589MHz | 2581MHz | 2105MHz | 2250MHz |
| Memory | 8GB GDDR6 | 12GB GDDR6 | 16GB GDDR6 | 16GB GDDR6 |
| Bus | 128-bit | 192-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit |
| Frequency | 16GHz | 16GHz | 16GHz | 16GHz |
| Bandwidth | 256GB/s | 384GB/s | 512GB/s | 512GB/s |
| TDP | 160W | 230W | 250W | 300W |
| MSRP | $379 | $479 | $579 | $649 |
Radeon RX 5600 XT Upgrade?
The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is supposed to be the successor to last year’s Radeon RX 5600 XT. However, the Radeon RX 5600 XT launched at a price point of $279. The Radeon RX 5600 XT was also positioned as a 1080p gameplay experience video card.
Therefore, a year later, here in 2021, the Radeon RX 6600 XT is also being positioned as a 1080p gameplay experience video card, but now costs $100 more expensive at $379. You can compare the specifications of both video cards below.
Radeon RX 5600 XT vs. Radeon RX 6600 XT
| Radeon RX 5600 XT | Radeon RX 6600 XT | |
|---|---|---|
| GPU | NAVI 10 RDNA | NAVI 23 RDNA2 |
| Infinity Cache | — | 32MB |
| SPs | 2304 | 2048 |
| ROPs | 64 | 64 |
| TMUs | 144 | 128 |
| RT Cores | — | 32 |
| Game Clock | 1375MHz | 2359MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1560MHz | 2589MHz |
| Memory | 6GB GDDR6 | 8GB GDDR6 |
| Bus | 192-bit | 128-bit |
| Frequency | 12GHz | 16GHz |
| Bandwidth | 288GB/s | 256GB/s |
| TDP | 150W | 160W |
| MSRP | $279 | $379 |
The Radeon RX 6600 XT has the addition of being able to run Ray Tracing as it has Ray Tracing cores, which the Radeon RX 5600 XT does not. This is a new ability the Radeon RX 6600 XT will have over the Radeon RX 5600 XT. The Radeon RX 6600 XT fully supports DirectX 12 Ultimate. The new Radeon RX 6600 XT also has 8GB of GDDR6 memory VRAM onboard compared to the RX 5600 XT’s anemic 6GB. This increase in VRAM should help in modern games at 1080p perform well at high settings and not get bogged down. The Radeon RX 6600 XT also supports PCI Express 4.0.
Conclusion
The Radeon RX 6600 XT graphics card is here and will be available in add-in-board partner form. Pricing will be dictated per manufacturer, so it will vary as there will also be several SKUs from manufacturers with different factory overclocks and cooling solutions. We received two video cards prior to the launch today, which is a good indication that this time there might be better availability of video cards to purchase.
On paper, the Radeon RX 6600 XT sounds like a worthy upgrade in terms of hardware specifications to the Radeon RX 5600 XT. It provides new features like Ray Tracing, and more VRAM to make 1080p gaming a happier experience. It is positioned as a 1080p video card, though has a high price ceiling for such a gaming segment. It should, however, provide an efficiency upgrade, and provide more performance for a roughly similar TDP.
Our big questions are how it compares to the competition, and how it compares to the Radeon RX 5600 XT and Radeon RX 5700 XT. We also wonder if it does have any muscle to pull off 1440p gaming, or will it be crippled by the smaller Infinity Cache? We are going to tackle all of these questions in our review on August 11th.