MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT GAMING X 8G Video Card Review

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Gameplay Performance

We are going to focus on the 1440p gameplay performance with the MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT GAMING X video card.  The reason for this is that we want to really challenge the video cards, and show what their potential is.  We already know that at 1080p it will allow maximum gameplay settings.  The real question is, what kind of gameplay could they allow at 1440p, and by using this resolution we really find out how they differ and compare when pushed hard.    

We will include DLSS and FSR performance on the same graph in the games that are supported.  We will use DLSS on NVIDIA GPUs and FSR on AMD GPUs.  Ray Tracing performance will be shown on a separate page.  For video card comparisons we are using an MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT GAMING X 8G, EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 XC BLACK GAMING, and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Founders Edition.

Keep in mind throughout our performance evaluation that the Radeon RX 6650 XT is meant to replace the Radeon RX 6600 XT.  It is not meant to provide a substantial performance advantage, as it merely has a faster GPU clock speed and memory speed.  The real comparison is against the competition, and how it compares to the GeForce RTX 3060 and GeForce RTX 3060 Ti in performance for the price, and availability.  We have to include both NVIDIA GPUs to see where the Radeon RX 6650 XT sits.  We have simply included the MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT GAMING X 8G video card as a comparison data point to see how much the clock speed impacts gameplay performance.

Dying Light 2

Dying Light 2 was released in February 2022 on the PC and uses Techland’s C-Engine.  The game supports Ray Tracing, DLSS, and FSR.  We use the built-in preset to set “HIGH QUALITY” which sets the highest game graphics, without Ray Tracing.  We manually enable DX12 and ASYNC Compute.  For our benchmark, we are using a custom manual run-through at the end of the game hopping between rooftops, as well as free-roaming on the ground city level, as well as a forested area, in the daylight.

MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT GAMING X 8G Video Card Dying Light 2 Performance Graph

In Dying Light 2 we are playing the game at 1440p with the highest in-game settings, minus Ray Tracing.  The new MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT GAMING X video card provides somewhat playable performance around 50FPS average in the game.  This sits right on top of the MSI RX 6600 XT GAMING X as expected, it’s just a smidge faster, but offers no advantage over the 6600 XT it is replacing. 

What is interesting is the fact that it is definitely faster than the EVGA RTX 3060 XC BLACK GAMING video card, which is also a factory overclocked video card.  The new MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT GAMING X is 17% faster than the GeForce RTX 3060 and provides a much better gameplay experience in Dying Light 2. 

Overall, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is the fastest video card and provides a smooth 60FPS.  The Radeon RX 6650 XT is 14% slower than the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti.  However, overclocking the MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT GAMING X helps make up that difference toward the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti by quite a bit.  Overclocking has improved performance by 9% and the game is much smoother overall.  The Radeon RX 6650 XT is now only 7% slower than the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti.

Another thing that can greatly improve the gameplay experience at 1440p on all of these video cards is DLSS or FSR.  With the GeForce cards DLSS brings performance up to playable levels on all of them, even the GeForce RTX 3060 which is now at 60FPS.  FSR can also be used in this game and on all the AMD Radeon video cards FSR also makes this game very playable above 70FPS on all of them.  The new Radeon RX 6650 XT increases performance by 44% enabling FSR and performance is above 70FPS now.  This makes the game enjoyable at 1440p at the highest settings and performance is still faster than the GeForce RTX 3060 with DLSS.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction was released on PC in January of 2022.  This game uses the Ubisoft Anvil gaming engine and supports DLSS and multiple TAA options as well as a high-definition Texture Pack.  We are running the game at the highest graphics settings, at a fixed 100% resolution.  We will test with TAA, TAA 2X, and DLSS where supported.  We are using the built-in benchmark.

MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT GAMING X 8G Video Card Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Extraction Performance Graph

In Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction we are running the game at 1440p with the highest in-game settings, and TAA.  The MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT GAMING X video card is very playable at 1440p in this game providing 90FPS average gameplay.  It’s super smooth and playable at the highest settings.  This is just a couple of FPS faster than the Radeon RX 6600 XT, but nothing major as expected there.  It’s also exactly at the same performance as the EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 video card, both provide the same performance and level of gameplay. 

Compared to the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti we do find this video card the fastest in this game, at 117FPS.  The Radeon RX 6650 XT is 23% slower than the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti.  Overclocking the MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT has improved performance by 9% and that makes it nearly 100FPS average.  That does close the gap a bit. 

The NVIDIA GPUs can utilize DLSS in this game, and that does increase their performance quite a bit.  The GeForce RTX 3060 increases performance by 46% taking it up to 131FPS, beating the AMD GPUs when DLSS is used.  Unfortunately, there is no FSR support in-game.

Forza Horizon 5

Forza Horizon 5 was released on PC in November of 2021 and it uses the ForzaTech game engine. For our evaluation, we raise the in-game graphic settings beyond the “Extreme” preset to the maximum game settings. In addition to the “Extreme” preset we raise SSAO Quality to Ultra, Reflection Quality to Extreme, SSR Quality to Ultra.  We also disable MSAA and use FXAA. We test AMD FidelityFX Contrast Adaptive Sharpening (CAS) performance from the Resolution Scaling option. We utilize the built-in benchmark for testing.

MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT GAMING X 8G Video Card Forza Horizon 5 Performance Graph

In Forza Horizon 5 we are running the game at the highest, maximum custom settings at 1440p that the game can go.  We are pleased to find that the MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT GAMING X is very playable at 67FPS on average.  This is with the game at maximum settings, mind you.  Once again, we see that the Radeon RX 6650 XT is just a couple of FPS faster than the Radeon RX 6600 XT. 

In this game, the Radeon RX 6650 XT is beating the GeForce RTX 3060 by 20%.  That’s a pretty significant difference, and the game is much smoother throughout.  The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is once again the fastest video card, but the gap is not large.  The Radeon RX 6650 XT is only 9% slower here, which is not too far behind at all.  Overclocking the MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT GAMING X improves performance by 7% and brings us within a couple of percent of the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti now!  That’s right on its heels for performance.

Using CAS in this game helps to improve performance further if you need it.  CAS brings performance up to 77FPS on the Radeon RX 6650 XT, and into the ’80s overclocked or on the RTX 3060 Ti.  The RTX 3060 really needs CAS just to hit above 60FPS here.

Far Cry 6

Far Cry 6 was released in October of 2021 and uses the Dunia Engine. We utilize the built-in benchmark for testing. We have the HD Texture pack installed and turned on. We utilize the “Ultra” graphics preset which sets all options to the highest game settings. This game supports FSR upscaling.

MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT GAMING X 8G Video Card Far Cry 6 Performance Graph

In Far Cry 6, we are running the game at 1440p, the highest in-game graphics settings plus the HD Texture pack installed which definitely stresses VRAM capacity at 1440p.  With the MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT GAMING X video card, this game is very playable at these settings, around 82FPS on average.  This is just 1FPS faster than the MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT GAMING X.  It’s also 15% faster than the EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 video card.  The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is still the fastest video card, the MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT is 11% behind it.  Overclocking the MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT improves performance by 9% and brings it right on the heels of the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti.

Turning on FSR in this game greatly increases performance on every video card, bringing most above 100FPS of gameplay performance.  FSR improves performance on the MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT by 45%.  Interestingly the FSR performance of the MSI Radeon RX 6550 XT is much higher than the FSR performance of the MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT.  It appears the FSR performance is 14% faster.  Perhaps the faster clock speed and or memory speed is making a bigger impact as far as FSR performance goes versus the 6600 XT.  With the MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT overclocked, the FSR performance at 124FPS is the highest on this graph.

Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 was released in December of 2020 and uses the REDengine 4. We have the game patched to version 1.52 and perform a long manual run-through driving in the game’s open world. We test using the Graphics Preset option to set graphics settings, mainly “Ultra”.  This game supports DLSS and FSR.

MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT GAMING X 8G Video Card Cyberpunk 2077 Performance Graph

Cyberpunk 2077 is probably the most demanding game here still.  At 1440p and the “Ultra” graphics settings, we really find that every video card here struggles in this game.  Quite simply, none of the video cards, even the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti are playable at 1440p and “Ultra” settings without help like DLSS or FSR.  Scaling-wise, we see what we’ve seen from other games, the MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT GAMING X is just a bit faster than the MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT GAMING X and overall faster than the GeForce RTX 3060.  The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is the fastest video card, and overclocking does help performance on the Radeon RX 6650 XT.

The game doesn’t actually become playable on the MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT GAMING X until we enable FSR, which is now at 56FPS.  This is a 66% performance increase and this is what is needed to make the Radeon RX 6650 XT playable at 1440p and “Ultra” graphics.  With FSR, we find the Radeon RX 6650 XT is 19% faster than the GeForce RTX 3060 with DLSS.  The Radeon RX 6650 XT is playable, whereas even with DLSS the GeForce RTX 3060 is not. 

Overclocking the MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT improves performance with FSR up to 60FPS and the game is very smooth and enjoyable.  At this level of performance with FSR, it now matches perfectly with the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti with DLSS.  That’s right, both video cards offer a similar gameplay performance with their respective upscaling algorithms here.

Microsoft Flight Sim 2020 Game of the Year Edition

MS Flight Sim 2020 was released in August of 2020 but has received a big update in November 2021 called the Game of the Year Edition update. This brought with it support for the DX12 API which we have enabled for testing. We are utilizing the game’s “Ultra” preset for graphics settings and live terrain is enabled. We perform a manual run-through of an activity landing in New York with an outside view camera.

MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT GAMING X 8G Video Card Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 Game of the Year Edition Performance Graph

In Flight Sim 2020 we are running at 1440p and “Ultra” settings with full live photogrammetry enabled running in DX12.  The video cards are very closely grouped together at 1440p, which could indicate that even our Ryzen 7 5800X is bottlenecking performance somewhat in this game.  Though the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti pulls away pretty well at 50FPS.  Regardless, all the video cards are playable, even the GeForce RTX 3060 is playable in this game.  The MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT GAMING X is just a bit faster overall compared to the GeForce RTX 3060 and overclocking it certainly makes it more competitive. The Radeon RX 6650 XT is only 12% slower than the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti.  

Watch Dogs Legion

Watch Dogs Legion was released on the PC in October of 2020 and uses the Disrupt game engine. We utilize the built-in benchmark for testing. We have the HD Texture pack installed and enabled for testing. We use the built-in graphics preset of “Ultra” for testing. This game supports DLSS upscaling.

MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT GAMING X 8G Video Card Watch Dogs Legion Performance Graph

In Watch Dogs Legion we are running the game at 1440p and “Ultra” settings and we have the HD Texture pack installed to stress VRAM capacity.  In this game, the MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT GAMING X is just barely playable but is at a somewhat acceptable level of gameplay experience averaging 54FPS in this game.  It’s just 1FPS faster than the Radeon RX 6600 XT, but it is 20% faster than the GeForce RTX 3060 which is not playable without DLSS. Once you introduce DLSS, the GeForce RTX 3060 is playable at 60FPS, but without it the Radeon RX 6650 XT takes the lead.

Overclocking the Radeon RX 6650 XT really makes it much more playable near 60FPS, an increase of 9%.  The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is faster, and the Radeon RX 6650 XT is 17% slower than it.  The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti can also utilize DLSS in this game, and that brings its performance up to an incredibly smooth 80FPS.

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Brent Justicehttps://www.thefpsreview.com
Former managing editor of GPUs at HardOCP for 18 years, Brent Justice has been reviewing computer components since the late 90s, educated in the art and method of the computer hardware review, he brings experience, knowledge, and hands-on testing with a gamer-oriented and hardware enthusiast perspective. You can follow him on Twitter - @Brent_Justice You can sub to his YouTube channel - Justice Gaming https://www.youtube.com/c/JusticeGamingChannel You can check out his computer builds on KIT - @BrentJustice https://kit.co/BrentJustice

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