AMD’s 6 nm RX 6500 XT and RX 6400 are due to launch next month

AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT and 6400 graphics cards have leaked, but is 4 GB of GDDR6 memory enough?

Thanks to Videocardz, specifications for AMD’s upcoming Radeon RX 6500 XT and RX 6400 graphics cards have leaked onto the web, giving us a look at AMD’s low-cost Radeon RX 6000 product line.

Rumour has it that these new graphics cards will be amongst AMD’s first 6 nm products, though at this time it is unknown whose 6 nm technology is getting used to create these GPUs. Our bet is TSMC, though this has not been verified.

These two GPUs will be based on AMD’s Navi 24 silicon, which is 141 square mm. This is smaller than AMD’s 7 nm Navi 14 silicon, which was used to create AMD’s RX 5500 XT. This makes AMD’s RX 6500 XT much smaller than its predecessors, despite using a similarly sized lithography node.

With their Navi 24 silicon, AMD is targeting the mobile GPU market, OEM system builders, and budget-oriented desktop gamers. AMD’s RX 6500 XT should be available from OEMs, though AMD’s smaller RX 6400 is said to be an OEM only product.

Given these leaked specifications of AMD’s RX 6500 XT, AMD’s newest RDNA 2 product will replace graphics cards like AMD’s RX 580 within AMD’s product stack, despite the RX 6500 XT’s lack of an 8 GB model.

Is the RX 6500 XT worse than the RX 5500 XT?

With 22 RDNA compute units on AMD’s RX 5500 XT and 16 RDNA 2 compute units on AMD’s leaked RX 6500 XT, it isn’t exactly clear-cut which GPU is better for gamers. While RDNA 2 GPUs contain support for the full DirectX 12 Ultimate feature set, AMD’s RX 6500 XT has six fewer compute units than its predecessor, and a memory bus size that is half as large. This limits the RX 6500 XT to a frame buffer size of 4 GB, which is half that of AMD’s RX 5500 XT, which is available with 4 GB and 8 GB models.

While AMD’s inclusion of a 16 MB Infinity Cache and faster GDDR6 memory (16 Gbps VS 14 Gbps) will (at least partially) make up for the RX 6500 XT’s bandwidth shortfall, it is hard to see AMD’s RX 6500 XT beating its predecessor in all workloads. This makes the upgrade from the RX 5500 XT to the RX 6500 XT a mixed bag.

To deliver more raw compute performance than an RX 5500 XT, AMD’s RX 6500 XT need to deliver high core clock speeds. High clock speeds are likely for this SKU given its use of 6 nm lithography and its relatively high (rumoured) 107W power limit. We’re expecting a game clock of 2500 MHz, perhaps higher.

The RX 6500 XT is going to be a hard sell

AMD’s RX 6500 XT is going to be a hard sell for AMD. It’s 4 GB frame buffer is small by today’s standards, and AMD’s prior marketing efforts have already highlighted the benefits of graphics cards with larger frame buffers. 

The good news is that a 4 GB frame buffer is too small for the most profitable cryptocurrency mining operations, and that factor alone should help keep the pricing of these graphics cards low. That said, this 4 GB frame buffer will be a problem for gamers, not just miners. 

This graphics card will require many gamers to lower the texture settings of their games, or make other settings changes that will reduce the load on this GPU’s VRAM. With tweaking, this GPU should be a solid performer, but it is hard to not see this GPU;s frame buffer as a huge compromise. 

You can join the discussion on AMD’s rumoured 6 nm RX 6500 XT and RX 6400 graphics cards on the OC3D Forums.