RADEON 5500 XT 8GB
AMD’s new $200 GPU goes for gaming gold
AMD’S RETAIL Radeon RX 5500 XT series of graphics cards is here, bringing additional options to the budget and mid-range market. AMD’s Navi architecture hasn’t changed, although Navi 14 does cut the potential number of compute units from a maximum of 40 down to a maximum of 24—with the 5500 XT enabling 22 of those CUs. There are two versions of the 5500XT; the only difference is the VRAM and a $30 increase in price.
The 5500 XT 4GB card matches up against the GTX 1650 Super, and the two are effectively tied in performance. The 8GB card, meanwhile, has to take on the GTX 1660, and Nvidia’s card has the same number of GPU cores: 1,408. The problem for AMD is that Nvidia’s GPU cores tend to perform a bit better overall. At least the TDP is about the same—120W versus 130W won’t matter either way.
There’s little difference in features to speak of. Technically, Nvidia’s GTX 1660 can enable ray tracing in games that support it. In practice, the 1660 isn’t fast enough to make ray tracing worthwhile. There are other facets of performance, but overall the two sides are evenly matched in the mid and lower markets.
There’s also a jump in generational pricing, especially with current prices. The RX 590 launched at $279; today, you can get that same card for $179. It uses more power, but performance is going to be very similar to the RX 5500 XT 8GB. Which brings us to the real question: How does the RX 5500 XT 8GB perform?
At 1080p medium, there’s no real benefit to the 8GB RX 5500 XT compared to the 4GB model. The RX 5500 XT is also tied with the GTX 1650 Super in overall performance, but the GTX 1660 is about 5 percent faster. Running medium quality at 1080p isn’t really the goal if you’re going to pay extra for the 8GB card, however.
Stepping up to 1080p ultra starts to favor the 8GB model over its sibling, though it’s only a 7 percent improvement on average. The difficulty AMD faces is that at 1080p, even at maxed-out quality, there isn’t a ton of games that truly need more VRAM. And of the games that do, none of them seems to need more than 6GB. That means, once again, that the GTX 1660 costs as much as the 5500 XT 8GB, but performs about 5 percent better.
At 1440p ultra, the 5500 XT 8GB shows its largest lead yet relative to the 4GB card. It’s now 12 percent faster, but we’re also looking at average performance across the test suite of 45fps. Every game still stays above 30fps, which means performance is generally better than current consoles. Lighter esports games, such as CS:GO and Overwatch, should be viable at 1440p.
As a general rule, we advise people not to skimp on VRAM. Yes, it costs more for the higher VRAM models, and performance doesn’t always improve a lot with the extra memory. Except when it does, and then you could end up very disappointed that you cheaped out on your graphics card, and now have to turn down some settings. The RX 5500 XT 8GB is a continuation of that recommendation; you can save $30 by purchasing the 4GB model, but long-term, we don’t think that’s the best plan.
Ultimately, AMD’s Radeon RX 5500 XT series is a reasonable offering. It’s not clearly superior to other options, but it’s also not clearly worse. If you’re looking to buy a new graphics card, whether as an upgrade to an existing PC or as part of a new gaming build, it’s worth a look. Performance of the 5500 XT 8GB is basically equal to the outgoing RX 590, while using about 100W less power. But if you’re not set on AMD, look to the GTX 1660 or 1660 Super. –JARRED WALTON
AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT 8GB
MEMORABLE Solid 1080p performance; efficient Navi architecture; plenty of VRAM.
FORGETTABLE Slower than GTX 1660; higher generational pricing.
$200, http://amd.com