Power and Temperature
To test the power and temperature we perform a manual run-through in Cyberpunk 2077 at “Ultra” settings for real-world in-game data. We use GPU-Z sensor data to record the results. We report on the GPU-Z sensor data for “Board Power” and “GPU Chip Power” when available for our Wattage data. For temperature data we report the GPU (Edge Temp of the GPU) as well as Hot Spot (Junction Temperature) when available for our temperature data.
Looking at the GPU Chip Power as reported by GPUz, the GIGABYTE Radeon RX 6500 XT EAGLE 4G is an improvement upon the SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 5500 XT 4G. At 80W GPU Chip Power, it consumed 21% less GPU Chip Power than the RX 5500 XT. The GeForce GTX 1650 was the lowest on power, but it was also the slowest GPU here. For the performance level of the Radeon RX 6500 XT, its power usage is very efficient.
We are of course comparing three add-in-board partner custom video cards with custom cooling to each other. With that said, the RX 5500 XT did seem to get the warmest on GPU edge temperature, while the new Radeon RX 6500 XT was a little cooler in that regard. However, on the Hot Spot reading the GIGABYTE card was the hottest at 82c, while the SAPPHIRE PULSE was at 73c. It’s hard to tell right now if this is the nature of the 6nm RX 6500 XT ASIC at this time or bad cooling contact on GIGABYTE’s part. We’ll need more cards to compare to find out.