AMD had been lagging quite a ways behind Nvidia for many years. Every adoration of their cards had been struggling to catch up to their team green counterparts.
The driver support from Team Red had also not been entirely up to the mark. However, AMD’s competitive prices made it the card of the masses.
In the last couple of years, however, AMD has been hard at work as its driver support has improved along with its power efficiency. The best of the best cards still belong to team green; however, AMD has given it tough competition.
If you are someone in the market looking for an AMD GPU and are confused between the AMD 6600 XT vs. 5700 XT, then read this article carefully as I have written this article after a lot of work testing both cards in my test bench to give you a conclusive answer. So without further ado, let us get right into our comparison between these two team red cards.
Technical Specifications:
| GPU Name | AMD RADEON RX 6600 XT | AMD RADEON RX 5700 XT |
|---|---|---|
| Stream Processors | 2048 Units | 2560 Units |
| Base Clock | 1968 MHz | 1605 MHz |
| Game Clock | 2359 MHz | 1755 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 2589 MHz | 1905 MHz |
| Video Memory | 8GB GDDR6 | 8GB GDDR6 |
| Bus Width | 128-bit | 256-bit |
| Architecture | RDNA 2.0 | RDNA 1.0 |
| Process Size | 7 nm | 7 nm |
| Power Draw | 160W | 225W |
| Recommended PSU | 500W | 550W |
Testing Setup:
- OS: Windows 10 Pro
- CPU: Ryzen 9 5900X
- Motherboard: ASUS ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Hero
- CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4
- GPU 1: RADEON RX 5700 XT 8GB
- GPU 2: RADEON RX 6600 XT 8GB
- RAM: 32GB DDR4 3800Mhz
- Storage: SSD 2x SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2 2280 1TB
- Power Supply: CORSAIR RM850i 850W
6600 XT vs 5700 XT: Gaming Benchmarks (1080p Ultra)
The benchmarks we have done were all at 1080p with the settings cranked up to Ultra so we can get the best eye candy with the best frame rates.
#1: Cyberpunk 2077
The first game I tested was Cyberpunk 2077, in which the 6600 XT gave me an average frame rate of 68 FPS with a 1% low of 59 FPS and a 0.1% low of 56 FPS. Then, switching to the 5700 XT, the average frame rate dropped to 61 FPS with a 1% low of 52 FPS and a 0.1% low of 46 FPS.
From these results, it is safe to say that Cyberpunk 2077 is fully playable; however, if you do not mind turning down a few settings, the frame rate will increase even more.
#2: Microsoft Flight Simulator
Moving on to the game, which has made my dream of flying around the world without a pilot’s license come true, Microsoft Flight Simulator gave me an average of 57 FPS on the 6600 XT with a 1% low of 51 FPS and 0.1% low of 43 FPS.
The 5700 XT lost a few frames giving me an average frame rate of 52 FPS with a 1% low of 48 FPS and a 0.1% low of 47 FPS. To get over 60 frames per second, the ultra settings should be lowered to high.
#3: Red Dead Redemption 2
Now moving on to our Cowboy simulator and my favorite game from the last decade, Red dead Redemption. Again, both of the cards were almost identical in performance. The 6600 XT cranked out 77 frames per second with a 1% low of 56 FPS and a 0.1% low of 59 FPS.
The 5700 XT did one frame better at an average of 78 frames per second with a 1% low of 59 and a 0.1 % low of 58 FPS.
#4: Hitman 3
Both cards made easy work of Hitman 3 as the average frame rates from both cards crossed three figures, as this game was optimized well for AMD cards. The 6600 XT cranked out an impressive 111 FPS on average, with a 1% low of 87 and a 0.1% low of 91 frames per second.
On the other hand, the 5700 XT gave me an average frame rate of 100 with a 1% low of 90 FPS and a 0.1% low of 67 FPS.
#5: Horizon Zero Dawn
Horizon Zero Dawn has come a long way after multiple patches and fixes since its release on PC. However, in its current state, it works very well, and it shows during my tests with the 6600 XT that it gave me an average frame rate of 84 FPS with a 1% and 0.1% low of 74 FPS.
The 6600 XT’s older brother, the 5700 XT, lagged slightly with an average frame rate of 79 with a 1% low of 71 and a 0.1% low of 64 FPS.
More comparisons:
6600 XT vs 5700 XT: Pricing And Availability
The silicon shortage from the past two years had affected graphics card availability, and mid-rangers like the 6600 XT and the 5700 XT were selling for upwards of 500 dollars, which is much more than their MSRP.
Things, however, have calmed down, and prices are back to normal now. Both of these cards can be bought very easily, new and used. The MSRP for the 6600XT is $380, while the 5700XT is $399.
However, both of these cards can be had at a lot lower in the used marketplace. I scoured through eBay listings and found both selling for as low as $250, which I believe is an excellent price keeping the value it provides in mind.
6600 XT vs 5700 XT: Video Outputs And Ports
The 6600 XT has three DisplayPort 1.4 and a single HDMI 2.1 port, which I believe is more than enough for a card in its category. In addition, the Three display outs will allow you to connect three monitors simultaneously.
The 5700 XT, on the other hand, allows you to connect four monitors as it has three DisplayPort 1.4 and a solitary HDMI 2.1. Unfortunately, both cards do not have a VGA or a DVI port, so older monitors are incompatible with these cards.
6600 XT vs 5700 XT: Clock Speeds And Memory
The 6600 XT has 8GB of GDDR6 Video memory on a 128-bit bus with a bandwidth of 256 GB/s. On the clock speed front, this card has an idle base clock of 1968 MHz which can boost up to 2589 MHz during gameplay. The memory clock is 2000 MHz.
The 5700 XT also has 8 GB of GDDR6 video memory; however, it has a wider 256-bit memory bus and a higher bandwidth of 448 GB/s. The card base clock is at 1605 MHz, which boosts to 1905 MHz during gameplay. The memory clock is 1750.
6600 XT vs 5700 XT: Ray Tracing And Features
If you are considering buying any of these cards for Ray tracing, then you should quit this article and look for higher-end RTX cards suited to ray tracing. However, if you want a feel of ray tracing, then the 6600xt may be for you.
During my testing, Cyberpunk 2077 and Watch dogs legion supported 6600 XT ray tracing; however it tanked, the frame rates dropping to below 30 frames per second which is borderline unplayable. The 5700 XT, on the other hand, has no support for Ray tracing.
6600 XT vs 5700 XT: Temperatures And Power Consumption
AMD cards have been notoriously power-hungry cards and used to require bulky power supplies to get them to run. Things, however, have changed somewhat, and nowadays, AMD cards are very efficient.
The 6600 XT has a TDP of 160W with a suggested PSU of 450/500 Watts. To be safe, I ran it on a 650-watt Corsair power supply.
The 5700 XT, on the other hand, is somewhat more power-hungry as it has a TDP of 225 watts and requires a power supply of at least 550 watts.
On the temperature side of things, both these cards stayed at 65 degrees centigrade during my benchmarks, which is very good for a single fan card.
My Final Thoughts On It!
Well, this sums up my comparison of the 6600 XT vs 5700 XT. Both of these cards are good cards, no doubt; however, if I were to choose one of them, I would always go for the 6600 XT with my eyes closed.
Apart from the slight edge in performance that the 6600 XT has over its older brother, the 5700 XT has a lower TDP, making it more efficient and producing less heat. This higher efficiency also leads to a higher life span and lower degradation.
