1080p Gaming is Now More Expensive?
The Radeon RX 6600 XT is priced in the same category as the Radeon RX 5700 and Radeon RX 5700 XT, and those were positioned as 1440p cards. However, years later (in what should be a progression of moving performance forward) that same price point ($379) is now for the 1080p gaming card? Well, that’s not right.
Simply put, the Radeon RX 6600 XT should be price competitive with the Radeon RX 5600 XT it is replacing as the 1080p gaming card or the GeForce RTX 3060 of which it is competing. Instead of moving the industry forward on performance in a gaming segment, it’s gone backward. What was once the 1080p gaming experience at $279 is now $100 more at $379.
In addition, the Radeon RX 6700 XT, is now the 1440p gaming experience card at $479, moving it up from what used to be $399 with the Radeon RX 5700 XT to now $479 with the Radeon RX 6700 XT. The 1440p gaming experience has also for some reason jumped up $80-$100 in 2021.
- In 2019 the $379-$399 price segment used to be for 1440p gaming oriented video cards.
- In 2019-2020 the $279 price segment used to be for 1080p gaming oriented video cards.
- In 2021 the $479 price segment is now for 1440p gaming oriented video cards.
- In 2021 the $379 price segment is now for 1080p gaming oriented video cards.
Folks, we are moving backward, not forwards.
Analysis
Don’t get us wrong here, the Radeon RX 6600 XT is a phenomenal GPU, it’s great, it really is engineered great, and performs great. It’s efficient and provides a huge performance gain at near the same TDP as the Radeon RX 5600 XT. It provides new features and more VRAM. Our review found it to be a very powerful video card that not only did well at 1080p but surprisingly did not hit a wall at 1440p. It will actually make some gaming (with lower settings) at 1440p viable.
The Problem is the Price, not the GPU
Each generation’s performance is supposed to get faster at a specific price and performance segment. The Radeon RX 6600 XT should be replacing the Radeon RX 5600 XT, and it was a $279 video card. The Radeon RX 6600 XT at most should be competitive with the GeForce RTX 3060, which has an MSRP of $329. If the Radeon RX 6600 XT’s price was lowered to a base model price of $299, and partner overclocked models at $329, that would make a lot more sense.
There has been no improvement in the segment. The Radeon RX 6600 XT, being priced where it is at, realistically competes with the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti which is $399 MSRP. The RTX 3060 Ti destroys it in performance. The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti at $399 MSRP destroys the Radeon RX 5700 XT also at $399. NVIDIA gave us a big performance jump at this same price point, moving things forward, progressing forward from one generation to the next.
The better value is the RTX 3060 Ti realistically. Spend the extra $20 MSRP dollars and get better performance. All because the Radeon RX 6600 XT is overpriced. It’s just down the price, not the GPU.