AMD’S RETAIL R a d e o n R X 5 5 0 0 X T s e r i e s o f
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 XTIs extra memory worth the added cost?
AMD Radeon RX
5500 XT 8GB
8
VERDICT AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT 8GBMEMORABLE Solid 1080p
performance; efficient Navi
architecture; plenty of VRAM.
FORGETTABLE Slower than GTX 1660;
higher generational pricing.
$200, http://amd.comSPECIFICATIONSGPU Navi 14
Lithography 7nm
Transistor Count 6.4 billion
GPU Cores 1,408
Texture Units^88
ROPs 32
Core/Boost Clock 1,670/1,845MHz
Memory Capacity
& Type
8GB GDDR6
Memory Speed 14GT/s
Memory Bus 128-bit
TDP 130
Display Connectors DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.08GB. 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 alot 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 WALTONBENCHMARKSAMD Radeon R X 5500 X T 8GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super
Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 (Avg fps) 61/40 70 / 45
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Avg fps) 45/35 53 / 42
Far Cry 5 (Avg fps) 83/57 95 / 65
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Avg fps) 70/46 85 / 56
Middle Earth: Shadow of War (Avg fps) 58/39 81 / 54
Metro Exodus (Avg fps) 46/36 53 / 40
Total War: Warhammer II (Avg fps) 54/40 71 / 54
Best scores are in bold. Our test bed consists of an Intel Core i7-8700K, 16GB of G.Skill DDR4-3200, an MSI MEG
Z390 Godlike, and a 1TB Samsung 970 Evo M.2 SSD. All games are tested at their highest graphical profile with
AA turned on, at 1080p and 1440p respectively.in the lab
78 MAXIMUMPC MAR 2020 maximumpc.com