Gamers are in for a treat! AMD has officially released their newest graphics card for 1080p gaming - the Radeon RX 5600 XT, which will allow gamers to crank up those settings in most games for $279. This card will be replacing AMD's previous 1080P champ - the Radeon RX590, which was based on the older Polaris architecture. The RX 5600XT initial competitor was the NVIDIA GTX1660Ti. But, a BIOS update moments before the release boost its performance. This allows it to challenge NVIDIA’s RTX2060. Without further ado, let’s dive right in!
▲The RX 5600XT uses the same GPU as the RX5700, which has 36 compute units and 2304 stream processors. The main difference is that the VRAM buffer and memory bandwidth have been cut back to 6GB and 192 bits bus compared to the RX5700 8GB VRAM and 256 bits bus. The RX5600XT uses the Navi 10 XLE core. The GPU game and boost clock mentioned on this slide isn't representative of the new frequencies we received with the new BIOS since it is from AMD's CES 2020 presentation.
The recent BIOS update we got before the embargo lift is AMD’s response to NVIDIA’s RTX2060 MSRP price cut to 300 USD. This update boosted our SAPPHIRE PULSE RX5600XT sample stock clock from 1375MHz to 1615MHz and boost clock from 1560MHz to 1615Mhz. The GDDR6 now runs at 14Gbps from the previous 12 Gbps. The TDP has also been increased from 150W to 160W. The card takes an 8 pin power connector to get its juice.
▲Compared to the Radeon RX 590, which was the pinnacle of the Polaris architecture, the RX 5600XT offers 42% more performance while using 33% less power which results up to 2.1X performance per watt.
▲AMD emphasizes that 1080P is still the mainstream resolution with over 20 million 1080p monitors shipped since 2016. The top 3 graphics cards used on Steam are 3+ years old, which is why 1080P is still hugely popular as it is currently relatively easy to run.
▲AMD states that the GTX1060, which is the most used graphics card on Steam, delivers subpar 1080p gaming performance. The GTX1060 cannot deliver a steady 60fps at 1080p max settings in these 4 AAA games tested. It also cannot achieve a steady 90fps in popular esports titles such as Apex Legends and Fortnite.
▲AMD claims that the RX5600XT offers ~ 55% more average performance than the GTX1060.
▲The RX5600XT main competitor will be the GTX1660Ti since they are in the same price segment. AMD is confident that the RX5600XT will be able to offer up to 20% more performance on average than the GTX1660Ti in AAA games at 1080P ultra settings. It will also offer up to 10% more performance on average than the GTX1660Ti in mainstream e-sport titles.
▲When going against the GTX1660 Super OC, which is replacing the GTX1660TI in this price bracket, AMD states that the RX 5600XT will deliver up to 15% more performance on average in AAA titles. They also state that it will deliver up to 5% more performance on average in mainstream e-sport titles compared to the GTX 1660 Super OC.
▲The RX5600XT AIB (Add-In Board) partner models will be available on January 21st, 2020.
▲AMD will also be introducing the RX 5600 lineup in all sorts of form whether it is graphics cards for the DIY market, OEM implementing it into their systems or the RX5600M on various laptops.
▲AMD outline, in this slide, which graphics card is meant for which market segment.
▲AMD claims that their cards offer better performance than its competitors in each of the targeted market segment.
▲The RX5600XT MSRP is 279 USD. AMD assures that it can offer the ultimate 1080p AAA and e-sports gaming experience with the card delivering up to 80 FPS and 120 FPS in their respective category. With the latest features and optimizations from the new Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition, AMD promise the crowd the ultimate Radeon gaming experience.
AMD is not a stranger about making changes to their products after their competitors announce a new product or lineup. After Nvidia announced their RTX 20 Super lineup back in July 2019, AMD has lowered its RX 5700 series lineup prices to be more competitive.
This time, on RX5600XT launch day, AMD Radeon GM Scott Herckelman posted a tweet with only the word “Jebaited” in it - hinting at something nefarious for their competitor’s RTX 2060 price drop.
▲After the RX5600XT announcement, Nvidia has decided to reduce their RTX 2060 MSRP to 300 USD in hopes to take a slice of the sales. But, AMD launched a new bios for the RX 5600 XT moment before launch. This raises the graphics card clock speed and power limit. When we compared this new bios v.s. the old one, we found out the improvement to the core clocks to be pretty substantial. While the new bios is not as restrictive as before, it has also given a new voltage cap to the RX5600XT which is now 985 mV. Compared to the RX5700XT voltage cap which is 1200 mV, this new cap is relatively low.
▲Under the RDNA architecture, numerous new features have been implemented through AMD's Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 edition such as Radeon Anti-Lag, Radeon Boost, RIS image sharpening, etc...
▲Sapphire uses its own Dual-X Cooling Technology dual fan design on this card which supports their smart fan stop technology.
▲The backplate here provides structural support to the PCB, preventing it from deforming.
▲For display output, the card offers 3 display port 1.4 and 1 HDMI port 2.0b which can let you hook up to 4 monitors.
▲This card features a dual BIOS switch - a silence mode and a performance mode.
▲Sapphire employed a 4+1 phase VRM for the GPU. 1 phase for the VDDCI and another one for the VRAM. The VRAM is composed of six Micron 1GB GDDR6 chips.
▲On the back of the PCB, we can see Sapphire used an International Rectifier IR35217 PWM controller for the VRM. This controller can control at most a 6+2 phase VRM configuration.
▲The copper baseplate makes contact with the GPU and VRAM. The PWM controller and VRMs make contact with the heatsink via thermal pads.
▲For the heatsink, Sapphire used a three 6mm nickel-plated copper heat pipe throughout the fin stack.
Two 95mm fans are used to provide silent but efficient airflow to the heatsink. These fans also use Sapphire's quick-disconnect design, which allows the fans to be connected with a clip-in connector and a screw to secure it in place, for easy hassle-free maintenance when you need to clean your graphics card.
▲Sapphire has used some thermal pad on the inside of the backplate where the PWM controller and VRMs are to help with heat dissipation.
What we are testing
Windows 10 Pro 1909
AMD Radeon driver 20.1.1
NVIDIA Geforce driver 441.87
Games settings are set 1080P at max settings.
Ambient room temperature is 25 degrees Celsius.
▲For video decoding, 8K decoding was an easy task for the RX 5600 XT.
▲In our 3DMARK testing, the RX5600XT wins in all of our Firestrike runs but lags slightly behind when it comes to our Time spy DX12 runs.
▲The RX5600XT is ahead of the RTX2060 in 4 of our 5 games tested while lagging behind 6FPS in average in Gears 5.
▲In our FurMARK burn test, the RX5600XT performs well without getting too hot. It hits 71 degrees Celsius under 100% load and consumes about 235W.
At an MSRP of 279 USD (8,400 NTD), the AMD Radeon RX5600XT performed well in our testing. While it was initially meant to against the GTX1660Ti / GTX1660 Super OC, Nvidia dropped the price of its raytracing capable RTX2060 to 299 USD (9,000 - 10,000 NTD) to better contend against the RX5600XT. But, the RX5600XT new BIOS gives it quite a noticeable performance boost, therefore offering more bang for the buck. The updated RX5600XT even beats the RTX 2060 in most of our testings.
Since the RX5600XT is newer hardware compared to the 1-year-old RTX 2060 which has been optimized for most games, we hope that future driver updates and optimization can bring out the most out of this graphics card. Under the new 7nm manufacturing process and RDNA architecture which powers Sony's and Microsoft's next-gen consoles, we should expect better performance over time which gamers should take into account when purchasing a new card.
English ver. Editor XMA
