If you are looking for a modern-day budget graphics card with low power consumption for eSports or mid-level 1080p gaming then AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT is a nice option to consider. It is also one of the better options available for use in small form factor PCs whether for gaming or work. Even though RX 6500 XT does not offer significant improvement over the older RX 5500 XT and is being heavily criticized by tech reviewers because of its crippled memory and PCI-Express bandwidth, RX 6500 XT still can be a viable option for someone who wants satisfactory 1080p gaming performance, lower power consumption and do not want that much features. Moreover, it is a decent card to buy during times of GPU Shortages when other options are not available or if the competitors’ prices are super inflated during those times. When it comes to gaming performance then you can expect RX 6500 XT to perform similar to GTX 1650 SUPER and RX 5500 XT. In some games, it can take the lead while in some it can lag behind them slightly. The overall performance of RX 6500 XT is almost like GTX 1650 SUPER, a budget graphics card from Nvidia based on the Turing GPU architecture.
Radeon RX 6500 XT is the first graphics card in the world to be built on the 6nm manufacturing process and uses Navi 24 GPU. The card is powered by RDNA 2 GPU architecture and has got 1024 Stream Processors. The card comes with 4GB GDDR6 memory (64-bit wide) that runs at 18Gbps and produces a memory bandwidth of 144GB/s. The card does support PCIe 4.0 interface but the PCIe lanes are limited to x4 only. This is the main drawback of this card because if you have a motherboard that supports PCIe 3.0 then the card will run at PCIe 3.0 x4 only which can lead to performance loss in some games, especially the latest ones. So, it would be much better to use RX 6500 XT with a motherboard and CPU that include the support for PCIe 4.0. When it comes to features then the card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, Vulkan graphics APIs but does lack hardware encoding that includes 4K H264 Encode, H265/HEVC Encode, and even AV1 Decode is not supported. HDMI 2.1 is supported but RX 6500 XT cards come only with two display outputs. The power consumption of the card is rated at 107W which is on the lower side. There are only selected custom models of RX 6500 XT available and if you want the best affordable RX 6500 XT models for your budget or SFF gaming PC then below I am listing those models with their specifications and other details.
Best Value RX 6500 XT Cards
PowerColor Fighter Radeon RX 6500 XT
[Runs Cool & Quiet, Compact Design, Semi-passive Cooling]
PowerColor Fighter Radeon RX 6500 XT is one of the best RX 6500 XT cards in the market having a competitive price. The card is slightly overclocked as it comes with a GPU Boost Clock of 2820 MHz, a 5MHz more than the reference. For cooling, the card uses an aluminum fins heatsink with two copper heatpipes. The heatsink is cooled by two 80mm fans that come with dual ball bearings for increased lifespan. The Mute Fan Technology provides semi-passive cooling for super silent operation. The fans get turned off when the temperature falls below 60 °C during low load and they start automatically when the temperature threshold limit is crossed during intensive gaming or when running high GPU loads.
The card is quite compact as it features a dual-slot design and is only 191mm in length. Moreover, the card is pretty silent and also runs very cool. For power, the card requires one 6-pin PCIe connector and a 400W PSU is recommended by the manufacturer. Display connectivity options include one DisplayPort 1.4 and one HDMI 2.1 port. Overall, a very good RX 6500 XT model that you can go for without any second thought.
| PowerColor Fighter Radeon RX 6500 XT Specifications | |
| Stream Processors | 1024 |
| GPU Clock | 2820 MHz Boost |
| Memory Clock | 18 Gbps |
| Memory Size | 4GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Interface | 64-bit |
| Bus Interface | PCI Express 4.0 (x4) |
| DirectX | 12 |
| OpenGL | 4.6 |
| PCI-E Power Connector | 6-pin x 1 |
| Output Ports | DisplayPort 1.4 x 1, HDMI 2.1 x 1 |
Buy PowerColor Fighter Radeon RX 6500 XT
XFX Speedster QICK 210 Radeon RX 6500 XT
[Great Looks, Semi-passive Cooling, Silent & Low Temperatures, Metal Backplate]
I think XFX Speedster QICK 210 AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT Core Gaming Graphics Card is the best-looking RX 6500 XT card that comes at an attractive price and offers very good overall performance. The card is slightly overclocked and has got GPU Boost Clock of 2825 MHz which is only 10MHz more than the reference boost clock of RX 6500 XT. The cooling system on the card comprises an aluminum fin heatsink with two copper heatpipes and dual 95mm fans. The Zero DB fan system keeps the fans shut off (Zero RPM) during low loads and when the GPU load rises the fans start automatically to keep the temperature in check. The fans are silent and also the card runs very cool even under full GPU load during gaming or running GPU intensive software.
The black shroud of the card with a textured holes pattern looks very stylish and gives the card a premium look. The card also comes with a metal backplate that protects the card during handling and provides rigidity. On the dimensions side, the card is on the compact side as it is 233mm in length and uses a dual-slot design. The minimum PSU requirement is 400W and the card uses a single 6-pin PCIe connector for auxiliary power. Display connectivity options include DisplayPort 1.4a and HDMI 2.1 port. I think it is the best overall RX 6500 XT card that has got everything under its belt. Highly Recommended!
| XFX Speedster QICK 210 Radeon RX 6500 XT Core Gaming Specifications | |
| Stream Processors | 1024 |
| GPU Clock | 2825 MHz Boost |
| Memory Clock | 18 Gbps |
| Memory Size | 4GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Interface | 64-bit |
| Bus Interface | PCI Express 4.0 (x4) |
| DirectX | 12 |
| OpenGL | 4.6 |
| PCI-E Power Connector | 6-pin x 1 |
| Output Ports | DisplayPort 1.4 x 1, HDMI 2.1 x 1 |
Buy XFX Speedster QICK 210 Radeon RX 6500 XT
Compact RX 6500 XT
PowerColor Radeon RX 6500 XT ITX
[Super Compact Design, Semi-passive cooling]
If you are looking for a super-compact RX 6500 XT card for SFF build then PowerColor Radeon RX 6500 XT ITX is the best option available. This small form factor graphics card is only 165mm in length and features a dual-slot design. The cooler on this card consists of an aluminum heatsink with two copper heatpipes and a single 90mm fan with dual ball bearings. The Mute Fan Technology ensures silent operation (0db noise) as it stops the fan from spinning during low GPU load and starts them again when the GPU load and temperature increase. The card requires a single 6-pin PCIe connector for power and a 400W PSU is recommended for it. Display connectivity options include DisplayPort 1.4 port and HDMI 2.1 port.
| PowerColor Radeon RX 6500 XT ITX Specifications | |
| Stream Processors | 1024 |
| GPU Clock | 2815 MHz |
| Memory Clock | 18 Gbps |
| Memory Size | 4GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Interface | 64-bit |
| Bus Interface | PCI Express 4.0 (x4) |
| DirectX | 12 |
| OpenGL | 4.6 |
| PCI-E Power Connector | 6-pin x 1 |
| Output Ports | DisplayPort 1.4 x 1, HDMI 2.1 x 1 |
Buy PowerColor Radeon RX 6500 XT ITX
Other RX 6500 XT Models
Some other good RX 6500 XT models that may want to check out.
- Gigabyte Radeon RX 6500 XT Eagle 4G [Budget Model]
- Gigabyte Radeon RX 6500 XT Gaming OC 4G [Triple Fan Model]
See also:
- RTX 3050 vs GTX 1660 SUPER vs RX 6500 XT Comparison
- RX 6500 XT vs GTX 1650 SUPER vs RX 5500 XT Comparison
Need Help?
If you have any queries regarding RX 6500 XT then do let me know in the comment section below.
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