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Navi 10 for the masses: a quick overview of custom AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT graphics cards
A look at custom AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT models. A last-minute BIOS update boosted frequencies and performance, but also increased power consumption.
The Radeon RX 5600 XT went on sale yesterday, and almost all of AMD's partners managed to introduce their custom versions of the new card by then. But if you've been following the news, things didn't go as smoothly as AMD hoped. In response to the RX 5600 XT's launch, NVIDIA dropped the price of its popular GeForce RTX 2060 from $349 to $299, making it a slightly better value than AMD's new offering.
⤢ ВІДКРИТИAMD, the "red" giant, gave the green light for a last-minute BIOS update right before the Radeon RX 5600 XT's launch, boosting the card's base frequencies. This made all prepped marketing materials obsolete before sales even began.
Here are all the custom Radeon RX 5600 XT models released as of January 22, 2020:
⤢ ВІДКРИТИAMD Radeon RX 5600 XT | Number of fans | Card dimensions (Length x Width x Height) | Frequencies (Game /Boost) | GDDR6 memory speed | Supplemental power connectors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ASRock PG D2 OC | 2 | 24.0 x 12.7 x 5.3 | 1495 / 1620 MHz | 12 Gbps | 8-pin |
ASRock PG D3 OC | 3 | 29.1 x 12.7 x 5.3 | 1560 / 1620 MHz | 12 Gbps | 8-pin |
ASRock CLD D OC | 2 | 24.0 x 12.7 x 5.3 | 1460 / 1620 MHz | 12 Gbps | 8-pin |
ASUS ROG STRIX OC | 3 | 30.4 x 13.0 x 5.4 | ? / 1640 MHz | 12 Gbps | 8-pin + 6-pin |
ASUS TUFX3 OC | 3 | 28.3 x 11.6 x 5.4 | ? / 1640 MHz | 12 Gbps | 8-pin |
GIGABYTE GAMING OC | 3 | 27.9 x 11.4 x 4.9 | 1560 / 1620 MHz | 12 Gbps | 8-pin |
GIGABYTE WF OC | 2 | 22.8 x 11.8 x 4.1 | ? | 12 Gbps | 8-pin |
MSI GAMING X | 2 | 29.7 x 14.0 x 5.8 | 1460 / 1620 MHz | 12 Gbps | 8-pin + 8-pin |
MSI GAMING | 2 | 29.7 x 14.0 x 5.8 | 1420 / 1600 MHz | 12 Gbps | 8-pin + 8-pin |
MSI MECH OC | 2 | 23.1 x 12.7 x 4.6 | 1420 / 1600 MHz | 12 Gbps | 8-pin |
MSI MECH | 2 | 23.1 x 12.7 x 4.6 | 1375 / 1560 MHz | 12 Gbps | 8-pin |
POWERCOLOR Red Dragon | 2 | 24.0 x 11.8 x 4.0 | 1560 / 1620 MHz | 14 Gbps | 8-pin |
POWERCOLOR Red Devil | 2 | 24.0 x 11.8 x 5.2 | 1660 / 1750 MHz | 14 Gbps | 8-pin + 6-pin |
POWERCOLOR OC | 2 | 23.0 x 9.8 x 4.0 | 1560 / 1620 MHz | 12 Gbps | 8-pin |
SAPPHIRE PULSE | 2 | 25.4 x 13.5 x 4.7 | 1615 / 1750 MHz | 14 Gbps | 8-pin |
XFX THICC II PRO | 2 | 28.0 x 14.8 x 4.4 | 1560 / 1620 MHz | 12 Gbps | 8-pin |
XFX THICC III PRO | 3 | 32.6 x 14.8 x 4.4 | 1615 / 1750 MHz | 12 Gbps | 8-pin + 6-pin |
XFX THICC III Ultra | 3 | 32.6 x 14.8 x 4.4 | 1660 / 1750 MHz | 12 Gbps | 8-pin + 6-pin |
Given that the Radeon RX 5600 XT is essentially a cut-down version of the Radeon RX 5700, models with an 8+6-pin or, even better, an 8+8-pin supplemental power connector will be a more advantageous purchase. Theoretically, this setup offers the potential to overclock your graphics card to RX 5700 frequencies, which would be impossible with a single 8-pin connector.
Among cards with 8+6 or 8+8-pin power, XFX's THICC III PRO and THICC III Ultra are noteworthy. The PRO runs at 1615/1750 MHz (game/max boost), while the Ultra has the highest GPU frequency: 1660/1750 MHz (game/max boost). Neither card, however, has received the new BIOS with 14 GHz GDDR6 memory yet. This makes the POWERCOLOR Red Devil, with its 1660/1750 MHz (game/max boost) GPU and 14 GHz memory, a more compelling choice. Another interesting option is the SAPPHIRE PULSE. Its GPU frequencies are slightly lower, but SAPPHIRE's build quality is generally solid enough to likely push clocks higher than the factory settings. The SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 5600 XT clocks in at 1615/1750 MHz for the GPU and 14 GHz for the memory.
It's important to note that all AMD partners are expected to release updated BIOSes with increased chip and memory frequencies soon. However, since not all firmware updates are available right now, the cards mentioned above currently offer a better value proposition against their competitors.
Our colleagues at TechPowerUP have already benchmarked the SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 5600 XT with both the new and old BIOS. Below, you can check out their performance findings in Battlefield 5, FarCry 5, and Rainbow Six Siege, or even better, head over to TechPowerUP's site for the full review.
⤢ ВІДКРИТИ
⤢ ВІДКРИТИ
⤢ ВІДКРИТИOn average, the new firmware adds about 10% performance to the RX 5600 XT, which is quite a decent boost. However, it's also important to remember that as frequencies increase, so does the card's power consumption:
⤢ ВІДКРИТИUltimately, the Radeon RX 5600 XT is an interesting and powerful graphics card, though its launch was somewhat overshadowed by the necessary BIOS update – a task not always straightforward for the average user.
Source: VideoCardz, TechPowerUp
