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The AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT is an entry-level GPU that directly competes against the RTX 3050. The GPU is a spiritual successor to the popular RX 5500 XT. It is much faster than the last-gen equivalent and packs a better value proposition.
The 6500 XT is one of the cheapest cards you can buy right now. The graphics card has dropped to less than $200, a price bracket in which Nvidia has no competing products.
Thus, many gamers are considering this GPU for their next budget gaming rig. However, there are a few factors to consider before you purchase the 6500 XT. Let's analyze the specs and performance of the GPU and check whether it's worth the money.
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Is the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT the best option for budget gamers?
Specs
The AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT is not an impressive card on paper. The GPU is based on a small 107mm² Navi 24 GPU. Under its hood, the die packs 1,024 shading units, 64 Texture Mapping Units (TMUs), 32 Render Output Units (ROPs), and 16 RT cores.
The card packs 4GB of GDDR6 memory that is based on a narrow 92-bit bus. The GPU has a memory bandwidth of 143.9 GB/s.
The card is quite underwhelming in terms of specs. Based on the calculations, the GPU has a theoretical performance of 5.765 TFLOPs. It is slower than the GTX 1650 Super, an entry-level option from a couple of generations ago. The GPU loses to the RX 590 as well, a mid-tier GPU based on the GCN 5th generation architecture.
Performance
Although the RX 6500 XT isn't an impressive card on paper, it nails the relative performance meter. Nvidia is yet to discontinue the GTX 1650 and the 1650 Super video cards, but both of them are quite pricey, even three years after their release.
A quick look at Newegg reveals that the GTX 1650 starts from around $170, which makes it slightly costlier than the 6500 XT. The Super variant is priced at over $380.
Thus, the RX 6500 XT fills the sub-$200 gap effectively. The GPU packs the latest features like hardware-accelerated ray-tracing and improved performance in upscaling technologies like FSR.
This, coupled with its low price, makes it a solid deal for gamers looking to build a cost-effective gaming setup.
Other options to consider
The GPU has limited competition. Nvidia has practically abandoned the sub-$200 bracket, and the only viable option in a similar price range is the beefier RX 6600.
The RX 6600 starts from around $240. For about $80 or more, it offers about 69% more performance, according to TechPowerUp's GPU performance aggregates. The card is also faster than the Nvidia RTX 3050, which costs around $300.
Conclusion
The AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT is a solid option, especially considering its price. Since it has no competitors, it is a no-brainer for gamers on a budget.
