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 or Package Temp) as well as Hot Spot (Junction Temperature) when available for our temperature data.
Since we are comparing two very similar AIB video cards, the MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT GAMING X and the MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT GAMING X this is about as close to the best power comparisons you can make. What we find is that the GPU Chip power is up 16W on the MSI RX 6650 XT over the MSI RX 6600 XT or 11% more GPU Chip power. Overclocking the video card increases that another 7W or 4%.
This is all under the GPU Chip power of the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, but above the GeForce RTX 3060. The scaling in performance seems to match the Wattage, so nothing seems inefficient here. What we find is that all three GPUs are pretty well efficient for what they provide.
The MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT GAMING X is a custom video card, with a custom thermal cooling design from MSI. It has a GPU temperature of 62c and Hot Spot temp of 79c. The MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT GAMING X runs 5 degrees cooler on the GPU temp due to the lower clock speed but interestingly has a higher Hot Spot temp. These temps are overall cooler than the EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 XC BLACK GAMING, which is also a custom video card, and the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti which is a Founders Edition.
When we overclocked the video card, we had the fans at 100%, and the temps were very well kept at 50c/67c. However, the fans at 100% were not required for this overclock, you could get away with the fans on automatic for this overclock. The fans were quiet in automatic, and even as they ramped up to game speeds, they were not loud. We feel the TWIN FROZR 8 thermal solution is doing more than an excellent job and is not holding back the overclocking potential at all. It’s a robust and capable cooling solution.
GPU-Z Sensor Data
The first two screenshots of GPU-Z above are at Default, and the second two screenshots of GPU-Z are at Overclocked.