Conclusion
In this review, we have fully reviewed the MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT GAMING X 8G video card. This is the highest tier video card MSI produces based on the new AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT GPU. The Radeon RX 6600 XT is AMD’s new 1080p focused gaming GPU with an official MSRP of $379. Combined with its 32MB of Infinity Cache, the GPU can pull off great 1080p gameplay performance in today’s games, and even beyond that in some games.
MSI has two models in the US for the Radeon RX 6600 XT, the MECH series and the GAMING series. Both models have overclocked models. We reviewed the GAMING X series today, which has the latest MSI TWIN FROZR 8 thermal design and TORX FAN 4.0 design. It also has the highest overclock from MSI, but yet still has headroom for manual overclocking.
Performance
The MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT GAMING X performed very well at 1080p. It allows most modern games to be very playable and is only challenged in the most intensive Ray Traced scenarios. In games that support it, like Godfall, FSR can enable faster performance.
In Metro Exodus Enhanced at 1080p gameplay performance is challenging, but lowering the shading quality to Medium will allow a playable gameplay experience with Ray Tracing. Cyberpunk 2077 ran surprisingly well at 1080p with “Ultra” settings on the MSI RX 6600 XT. It was playable and even faster than the EVGA RTX 3060. Overclocking it made it much more enjoyable in this game at 1080p with the highest in-game settings. Unfortunately, you won’t be turning on Ray Tracing at 1080p in this game, unless you lower the in-game settings quite a bit.
Godfall and Dirt 5 showed that Ray Tracing can be used on the MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT GAMING X without detriment. The games are very playable with Ray Tracing turned on at 1080p in this video card, and improves gameplay. We also find that the MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT GAMING X is also a lot faster than the EVGA RTX 3060 in Godfall and Dirt 5 without Ray Tracing.
Watch Dogs Legion was very playable at 1080p at “Ultra” on the MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT GAMING X. It’s actually faster than the EVGA RTX 3060, and overclocking it takes it even further. Flight Simulator 2020 at 1080p is also very playable, and once again sits just above the RTX 3060. Horizon Zero Dawn is playable at 1080p and on par with the EVGA RTX 3060. Wolfenstein Youngblood at 1080p at the highest settings provides over 200FPS on the MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT GAMING X. Red Dead Redemption 2 is also playable at 1080p at the highest in-game settings.
Overclocking
Overclocking the MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT GAMING X was very easy using MSI Afterburner. While the Power Limit could only be taken up to 4%, the power tables are set as such that this didn’t hold it back while overclocking past the factory overclock. The video card already performed great out-of-the-box as it was. The default GPU frequency was not only over the gaming boost clock but also over the maximum boost clock. This video card provided a high level of GPU frequency from the get-go.
Overclocking was further enforced by setting the GPU clock up to 2820MHz and memory up to 18.4GHz. This yielded very high GPU frequencies while overclocking, around 2760-2780MHz. This is a very high overclock. In fact, it’s the highest overclock we’ve achieved on a Radeon RX 6600 XT to date. This overclock yielded an 8-11% performance increase, which is actually quite a bit. It made the video card incredibly competitive with a GeForce RTX 3060 and would be competitive with a GeForce RTX 3060 Ti.
Final Points
The MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT GAMING X 8G video card is an impressive video card from MSI based on the Radeon RX 6600 XT GPU. It is able to take the GPU to its maximum potential in clock speed, and memory performance. We achieved the highest overclock yet on a Radeon RX 6600 XT with this video card. This overclock resulted in very positive and noticeable performance improvements in all games. This video card dominates 1080p gameplay performance, and most of the time beats the GeForce RTX 3060 as well, sometimes by wide margins.
The MSI TWIN FROZR 8 thermal design keeps the video card very cool and quiet while gaming, and also while overclocked. The video card is not oversized and is the right size for many small cases. It should fit quite well and provide you a good 1080p gameplay experience in the latest games. If you are looking for a Radeon RX 6600 XT the MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT GAMING X will provide a fast, cool, quiet, and overclockable experience for 1080p gaming.
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