26 JULY2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE389
THECRUCIALISSUEwith AMD’s latest
‘budget’ GPU, the Radeon RX 5500 XT
(Shopper385), was that at £200 it invited
comparisons with mid-range cards more
than it did rival budget models. The new
RX 5600 XT,thankfully, suffers no such
identity crisis. Knowing its ambitions as a
powerful yet affordable GPU for1080p
gaming, this PowerColor RedDragon version
is both priced and specced where you’d
probably expect it to be.
In fact, it’s incrediblyclosetoNvidia’s
GeForceequivalent, the GTX 1660 Ti (Shopper
377). Bothcost around £270 and have 6GBof
GDDR6memoryattheir disposal. With abase
clockspeed of 1,560MHzand aboost speedof
1,620MHz, theGTX 1660Tihas thefaster
cores, but theRX5600XThas many more of
them:2,304 to the Nvidia GPU’s 1,536.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
PowerColor’s customisations are
characteristically straightforward.There’s a
dual-fan cooler and aplain black metal
backplate, neither of which make foracard
that’s particularlyeye-catching in awindowed
case,but it’s nicelypractical.The fans are
only modestly noisyduringsustainedgaming
runs and don’tneedtorun at allfor lighter
loads, allowing forfully silentoperation.
The selection of displayoutputs is similarly
utilitarian: with three DisplayPorts andone
HDMI port, there’s nothing fancy such as
USBType-C connectivity,but formultiple
monitors this card will still do thejob.
Unfortunately,the coronaviruspandemic
derailed our testing plans, as we were unable
to rescue ourgraphicstesting PC from the
office before it was hastily shutdown. Instead
of the standalone card AMDwas goingto
send us,then,wedecided to use theRX5600
XT as it appears in thepre-builtPalicomp
AMD Orion (Shopper388). Keep in mind (and
forgive) this departure from usualShopper
testingprotocol,thoughit’satleast good
news forthe GPU itself: the AMDOrion’s
VERDICT
Asimpleyeteffective1080pcardthatrepels
competitionfromNvidia
GAMINGGRAPHICSCARD
Ryyzen 737 00Xpprocessor ismoreggamingg-
friendly than thestandard test rig’s Intel
Corei7-4770K,sothere should be less
bottlenecking in theCPU-sensitive Dirt
Showdown benchmark.
Sure enough, theRX5600XTblasted
through this particular Ultra-quality test,
averaging 180fps at 1,920x1,080 –its most
naturally inclined resolution–and goingonto
score 150fps at 2,560x1,440 and even 85fps at
3,840x2,160. It wouldn’tbefair to compare
these 1080p and 1440p results to thoseofthe
GTX 1660 Ti, whichwas tested with the Core
i7-4770K, butinthe 4K test specifically,the
GPUwould be more adefining factor than the
CPU –and here Nvidia’scard produced 76fps,
so firstblood goes to the Radeon.
GOING UNDERGROUND
Metro:LastLight Redux is so taxingon
graphics hardware that CPU bottlenecking is a
non-issue,sothisgame gives an even clearer
pictureofthe RX 5600 XT’spower advantage.
Using Very High settings and SSAA, it
managed avery respectable 71fps at 1080p
and 42fps at 1440p; both visiblysmoother
than the GTX 1660Ti’s 64fps and 36fps
respectively.Both cards lack 4K credentials in
moredemanding games,but the RX 5600XT’s
19fps at this resolution is at leastanother win
over the GTX 1660Ti, which produced 15fps.
Unexpectedly, givenpriorshowings, the
GTX 1660 Ti managed to slip ahead in Tomb
Raiderat1080p: on Ultimatequality,its
150fps just edgesthe RX 5600 XT’s145fps.
Otherwise,however,AMD remainedontop,
its GPUcruising to 102fps at 1440p and even
aplayable 53fps at 4K. While the GTX1660 Ti
was never farbehind, scoring 95fps at 1440p
and 47fpsrespectively,it’s
obvious at thispoint that
theRX5600 XT is the more
powerful GPU.
It’s more efficient, too,
albeit only slightly. Both this
GPUand the MSI-built GTX
1660 Ti modelwetestedhave
TDP valuesof130W,,buttheGTX 1660 Ti
maxedthisoutunderload.Bycontrast,theRX
560 0XTtendedtohoveraroundthe 12 0W
mark,andonlyeverpeakedat 126 W.
Thisleavestemperaturesastheonly
reasontochoosetheNvidiaGPU.It’sonly
ever asingle-digit difference,but the RX 5600
XT’s 44°C idletemperature,71°Ctypical load
temperature and 73°Cpeak temperature are
all toastier than what MSI’s card managed
with asimilardual-fan cooler.
GAME FOR MORE
Still, this is not an unduly hot GPUbyany
means, and you simplyshouldn’t giveupthe
RX 5600 XT’s performance advantage just to
save afew degreesCelsius.
However,there is one more common
thread betweenthe GTX 1660 Ti andthe RX
5600 XT,and it’s one that makes thelatter
somewhat less appealing. Both sit underthe
looming shadowofthe Radeon RX 5700,
which at just £20 more,represents nigh-
unbeatable value: it has an extra 2GBof
VRAM, andeven stickingto1080p,its
86fpsinMetro and 168fps in Tomb Raider
representbig steps upward.
If you’re looking to upgradeaFull HD
gaming system, you won’toutright regret
buying theRX5600XT, but unless you
desperately need that pair of tennersfor
something else,you might end up feeling like
you missedout on something even faster.
JamesArcher
POWERCOLOR
RedDragonRadeon
RX5600XT
★★★★★
£279•Fromwww.ebuyer.com
It sits under the looming shadowofthe Radeon RX5 70 0,
which atjust£20 more,represents nigh-unbeatable value
SPECIFICATIONS
Metro: Last Light
Dirt Showdown
To mb Raider
0% -50 Reference + 50 + 100
See page 100for performancedetails
GPUAMDRadeon RX 5600XT•MEMORY6GBGDDR6•
GRAPHICSCARDLENGTH240mm•WARRANTYTwo
yearsRTB•DETAILSwww.powercolor.com•PART CODE
AXRX 5600XT 6GBD6-3DHR/OC
180fps
145fps
71fps
