CES 2020: AMD Announces the Radeon RX 5600 XT for $279
The Latest Navi GPU Launches January 21st
On stage at CES 2020 AMD has announced the latest graphics card in the Navi family, the Radeon RX 5600 XT. Based (we assume) on Navi 10, this is essentially a 6GB variant of the Radeon RX 5700, with lower clocks to help differentiate it from its bigger sibling. (It looks like the leaks were accurate.)
Here are the specs for the desktop Navi family, with this new RX 5600 XT right in the middle of things:
| AMD Navi GPUs | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RX 5500 | RX 5500 XT | RX 5600 XT | RX 5700 | RX 5700 XT | |
| GPU | Navi 14 | Navi 14 | Navi 10 | Navi 10 | Navi 10 |
| Compute Units | 22 | 22 | 36 | 36 | 40 |
| Stream Processors | 1408 | 1408 | 2304 | 2304 | 2560 |
| Base Clock | 1500 MHz | 1500 MHz | 1130 MHz | 1465 MHz | 1605 MHz |
| Game Clock | 1670 MHz | 1717 MHz | 1375 MHz | 1625 MHz | 1755 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1845 MHz | 1845 MHz | 1560 MHz | 1725 MHz | 1905 MHz |
| Texture Units | 88 | 88 | ? | 144 | 160 |
| ROPs | 32 | 32 | ? | 64 | 64 |
| Memory | 4GB GDDR6 | 4GB/8GB GDDR6 | 6GB GDDR6 | 8GB GDDR6 | 8GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Data Rate | 14 Gbps | 14 Gbps | 12 Gbps | 14 Gbps | 14 Gbps |
| Memory Interface | 128-bit | 128-bit | 192-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit |
| Memory Bandwidth | 224 GB/s | 224 GB/s | 288 GB/s | 448 GB/s | 448 GB/s |
| Transistor Count | 6.4B | 6.4B | 10.3B (?) | 10.3B | 10.3B |
| Die Size | 158 mm2 | 158 mm2 | 251 mm2 (?) | 251 mm2 | 251 mm2 |
| Process Tech | 7 nm | 7 nm | 7 nm | 7 nm | 7 nm |
| TDP | 110W | 130W | 150W | 185W | 225W |
| Launch Price | (OEM) | $169/$199 | $279 | $349 | $399 |
The Radeon RX 5600 XT’s 2304 core count is identical to the non-XT version of the RX 5700, and is suggestive of a product that can take advantage of Vega 10 dies that don’t quite hit the higher clocks of the RX 5700 (unless these clock speeds are an artificial limitation, which would make this an nice overclocking option).
This 36 CU Navi 10 GPU has been paired with a cut-down memory bus, as the move from 8GB to 6GB also entails a drop from a 256-bit to a 192-bit interface. This 192-bit GDDR6 memory is also clocked lower, at 12 Gbps, down from 14 Gbps from previous Navi GPUs.
So how competitive will this new RX 5600 XT be? Obviously we need to wait for independent testing to see how it will stack up to the competition and existing AMD products, but for now AMD has provided their own look at performance. At the event a couple of slides were shown with the RX 5600 XT pitted against an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, including this one featuring some recent titles at 1080p / max settings (no system configuration info was provided):
Very impressive results here for AMD, to be sure, and the most important aspect of this particular result is the matching $279 asking price of the GTX 1660 Ti. I will point out that NVIDIA seems destined to drop the 1660 Ti’s MSRP considering their own GTX 1660 SUPER launched late last year with similar performance at only $229, but we can only speculate on that.
Pricing will be the key, as usual, with this GPU launch for AMD. While it’s safe to assume the RX 5600 XT will handily outperform the lower-cost RX 5500 XT, but at $279 its performance may not be as attractive as it could be with RX 5700 cards selling for as little as $299 (though typically $319+ at e-tail).
AMD is launching the the Radeon RX 5600 XT on January 21, with the usual AIB partners set to offer their versions of this new GPU, including SAPPHIRE, which has a product page up now for their PULSE version.
$279 definitely seems out of line. RX5700 models have sold for as low as $289. Even at $299 (like in your link), it would be crazy to NOT spend an extra $20 the additional RAM, bandwidth, and clocks.