Conclusion
The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT has finally launched, and we got the chance to review a full retail XFX Speedster QICK 309 Radeon RX 7600 XT Black Edition video card. The XFX Speedster QICK 309 Radeon RX 7600 XT Black is a factory overclocked Radeon RX 7600 XT with a robust triple-fan cooling solution and thus has a price premium at $349.99 retail. 
In our review today, we took a look at performance at 1080p with maxed-out game settings and also pushed the video card to 1440p with maxed-out game settings to see if there were differences at the higher resolution. We compared it against the Radeon RX 7600 and GeForce RTX 4060 to see where it stands and tested everything from FSR upscaling to Ray Tracing. We have an overall impression that the XFX Speedster QICK 309 Radeon RX 7600 XT Black Edition is a great 1080p video card, offering Ultra settings at 1080p, and can even hang at 1440p, especially thanks to FSR upscaling. It has room to grow at this higher resolution, and with potential new games coming.
Radeon RX 7600 XT Musings
The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT is an interesting video card that is technically faster than the Radeon RX 7600, by way of a higher GPU clock speed, rather than a Compute Unit or Stream Processor or Cache difference. Instead, the Radeon RX 7600 XT simply boosts the clock speed and power of the Radeon RX 7600 and doubles the VRAM to 16GB. We must point out that there are factory overclocked Radeon RX 7600s available in retail, but of course with 8GB of VRAM only.     
The MSRP of the Radeon RX 7600 XT is $329 for stock-clocked models, and factory-overclocked models with more flair will cost you a bit more, such as the video card we reviewed today. This can affect the overall value when compared to the Radeon RX 7600. If we compare the Radeon RX 7600 XT’s reference MSRP of $329, then the pricing is 22% higher than the Radeon RX 7600. If we compare the pricing of the video card we reviewed today, then the pricing is 30% higher than the Radeon RX 7600. However, in our testing, the Radeon RX 7600 XT was not 22% or 30% higher in performance, nowhere near that. 
The Radeon RX 7600 XT may have a strong future in gaming performance, however. This could truly be a video card that ages like ‘fine wine’ if demands in VRAM from new game releases continue. For example, new games coming in 2024 and 2025 may tap into that 16GB framebuffer more readily at Ultra settings, exceeding the 8GB on the Radeon RX 7600, demanding more. Unreal Engine 5 games are indeed using more and more VRAM, and there are certainly several games out now on that engine, and more to come. 
The conclusion on the Radeon RX 7600 XT as a whole has to be said like this: Right now, the 16GB of VRAM on the Radeon RX 7600 XT may not affect performance for the resolutions and game settings that are playable on the Radeon RX 7600 XT. However, it’s possible this could change with future games in the 2024-2025 timeframe, as new games are released, pushing the envelope. Even at 1080p, if you want to run your games ‘maxed out’ in the future, moving past 8GB may be necessary. In the meantime, the performance advantage in gaming with the Radeon RX 7600 XT comes from the higher clock speed, which can make a 10% difference in gaming performance right now, making it more competitive at this price point. 
When it is all said and done, AMD deserves huge kudos for releasing a 16GB video card at the $329 price point. In a GPU generation where the lower end seems to many like it is eroding, or being neglected on performance and features, AMD just came in and knocked everyone upside the head and flipped the script on us all. 
Our only issue really is the naming of the Radeon RX 7600 XT. With the Radeon RX 7600 XT being based on the same die, same Compute Unit layout, and all, we aren’t sure if it fits the description of an “XT” variant. It doesn’t feel fast enough to be called an XT, it’s closer to the 7600 than that. Perhaps a more appropriate or fitting name should have been: ‘Radeon RX 7600 16GB Edition‘ as a more apt description for what it is, and what it delivers.
Final Points
The XFX Speedster QICK 309 Radeon RX 7600 XT Black Edition Video Card is great, it has a factory overclock that seems to boost performance beyond the reference spec. This factory overclock helps to position its performance better compared to the Radeon RX 7600. It does have a price premium of $349 but offers a factory overclock and robust cooling that works well and is quiet. The factory overclock pushes the Radeon RX 7600 XT further, and that helps create a better proposition against the Radeon RX 7600’s performance.
Overclocking 
In addition, we were highly impressed with the overclocking headroom on the XFX Speedster QICK 309 RX 7600 XT Black. Whatever has been done is working, because we managed to get a very high overclock on the GPU and memory, and we think the memory had more potential left, and maybe the GPU also with some Voltage. 
We did manage to hit 3GHz on the GPU in our testing, for the maximum clock speed without overclocking the memory, so we know the GPU can hit it some of the time. This is phenomenal, as the Radeon RX 7600 XT is already an overclocked Radeon RX 7600, it seems the XFX Speedster QICK 309 RX 7600 XT Black allows you to push it much higher. The XFX Speedster QICK 309 RX 7600 XT Black also kept the GPU cool, and we were able to leave the fans on automatic which was silent while gaming, and yet kept the GPU and memory well cooled.
Game Performance
Depending on the game, the XFX Speedster QICK 309 RX 7600 XT Black is playable at 1440p. Some games like Starfield, Alan Wake 2 Cyberpunk 2077, or Forspoken do need upscaling with FSR to achieve a smoother and playable experience. However, there are a few games that play just fine at 1440p without upscaling. The XFX Speedster QICK 309 RX 7600 XT Black does well at 1080p, every game is playable without upscaling. Turning on Ray Tracing is going to vary based on the game. In Alan Wake 2 you can play with Low Ray Tracing as long as upscaling is used, and the same is true for Cyberpunk 2077. Yet, some other games with light Ray Tracing may be playable without upscaling.
When we look at the XFX Speedster QICK 309 RX 7600 XT Black compared to the Radeon RX 7600 we find that it is about 10-11% faster, with some outliers. There are some games where it is less than 10% though, a lot less, into the lower single-digits, so it will depend on the game. When you add in the overclock, performance is boosted by about 7% more. 
When we compare the XFX Speedster QICK 309 RX 7600 XT Black performance to the GeForce RTX 4060, we do find that the XFX Speedster QICK 309 RX 7600 XT Black is faster in almost every game, but there are a couple where the RTX 4060 is faster. With the XFX Speedster QICK 309 RX 7600 XT Black overclocked though, it is faster in everything. The weak point again will be Ray Tracing, generally the RTX 4060 is stronger with Ray Tracing. But a game like Starfield was much faster on the XFX Speedster QICK 309 RX 7600 XT Black.
Power
We also have to bring up power and efficiency. The Radeon RX 7600 XT takes a lot more power to do what the GeForce RTX 4060 does with a lot less power. The RDNA 3 generation is not very efficient compared to the competition, and that is just the way it is. The XFX Speedster QICK 309 RX 7600 XT Black was sitting at about 193W board power, up from the Radeon RX 7600 by 16%. 
The GeForce RTX 4060 was at about 119W by comparison, and when we overclocked the XFX Speedster QICK 309 RX 7600 XT Black it shot up above 200W to 225W. However, the XFX Speedster QICK 309 RX 7600 XT Black’s cooling solution is very robust and keeps the GPU much cooler than the Radeon RX 7600 video card.
Overall
Overall, the XFX Speedster QICK 309 Radeon RX 7600 XT Black Edition Video Card makes sense at $349 we think. It has a factory overclock that makes the Radeon RX 7600 XT seem more appealing compared to the Radeon RX 7600 in performance advantages. It has a good cooling mechanism that keeps the GPU cool and quiet, even when overclocked. It has incredible overclocking headroom, again further increasing its performance advantages over the Radeon RX 7600 and making it seem more appealing. It also has 16GB of VRAM, so even with a price premium of $349, that’s still acceptable. 
Even at $349, this is still the cheapest video card with 16GB of VRAM. This will be beneficial for gaming in 2024-2025 most likely, and also pairs well with content creation workloads. Overall, the XFX Speedster QICK 309 Radeon RX 7600 XT Black Edition Video Card is a great all-arounder video card, which should stand the test of time at $349. 
