Back in 2016, Nvidia released the GTX 1070, a Pascal-based GPU marked as a 1080p powerhouse at a price tag of USD 379. I’m using a ASUS ROG Strix 1070 GPU in my current gaming rig, having bought it at a secondhand price tag of USD 215 back in June 2020. The same card is going for USD 400 now in the secondhand market. With regards to the 1070’s level of performance, it has allowed me to play games at 1080p at high or ultra settings at 60 FPS.

Navi 23 GPUS

Just before Christmas, an opportunity came from AMD to review a couple of graphics cards featuring their latest Navi 23 GPUs that were released earlier this year, the RX 6600 and the RX 6600 XT. These GPUs are performance GPUs aimed at 1080p gaming par excellence.

  • RX 6600 XT – 2048 shader units, 128 texture mapping units, 64 ROPS, 32 raytracing acceleration cores, 8GB GDDR 6 memory. Launch price: USD 379 (Amazon)
  • RX 6600 – 1792 shader units, 112 texture mapping units, 64 ROPS and 28 raytracing accelearation cores, 8 GB DDR 6 memory. Launch price: USD 329 (Amazon)

The RX 6600 card provided is the Sapphire Pulse RX 6600 Gaming 8GB, whereas the RX 6600 XT is the Gigabyte RX 6600 XT Gaming OC Pro 8GB.

Benchmark Baseline

I decided to take both of the cards out for a spin on several benchmarks, using my GTX 1070 as a baseline. The benchmark rig specs are as follows:

  • AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, B550M Aorus Elite Motherboard, 32 GB RAM, ASUS ROG STRIX GTX 1070, Cooler Master Q300L Casing
  • Test Cards: Sapphire Pulse RX 6600 Gaming 8 GB and Gigabyte RX 6600 XT Gaming OC Pro 8GB
  • Benchmarks: 3D Mark Time Spy, Final Fantasy XIV – A Realm Reborn, Deus Ex Mankind Divided, Forza Horizon 5

Installation

The Sapphire Pulse proved easy enough to install into my rig with the Q300L casing. However, the Gigabyte card proved a challenge due to its triple-fan 2.5-slot height. I had to remove my Wi-Fi card just to fit the GPU in. That would be a point to note for those who are installing the card into a small case or a MATX board.

3D Mark Time Spy

Final Fantasy XIV – A Realm Reborn

Deus Ex Mankind Divided

Forza Horizon 5

Scarcity Pricing

Having tested the cards for over a week, I’ve no doubt that these cards perform as expected at 1080p on high/extreme at around 60 FPS. There may be some titles that require some tweaking, such as Halo Infinite, but these are cards that you can be happy about. The main concern now would be on pricing and value.

With 4K and 1440p gaming being the norm for PC gaming along with the fact that AMD manufactures both the CPU and GPU for the 4K capable Sony PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X, 1080p gaming should be a cinch and can be provided for cheap. But these are odd times with a double whammy from both the pandemic AND crypto mining, and with the resulting GPU scarcity, there’s really nothing good below USD 300 regardless of how AMD or Nvidia would price their GPUs.

The RX 6600 has now a street price of around USD 600, whereas the RX 6600 XT has a street price of USD 750. Those are pretty steep prices for anyone looking to build a rig, easily eclipsing what traditionally would constitute the most expensive piece of equipment in a rig: the CPU + motherboard combo.

Final Thoughts

Should one be able to get over the pricing, there’s a question on which GPU to get? The full fat Navi 23 RX 6600 XT or the cut-down RX 6600? You technically wouldn’t go wrong with either for 1080p but the savings of USD 150 just by going with the RX 6600 can be a boon if your budget is tight.

But what about an entirely different approach? The Xbox Series S (Amazon) at USD 300 is a bargain for anyone looking for an entry point into gaming.