In the past two years, the high-end products of consumer-grade graphics cards have been updated repeatedly, but mainstream and entry-level graphics cards have been slow to move, and mainstream and entry-level players who want to assemble new PCs are suffering from the current graphics card premium, either increasing their budget or choosing graphics cards such as GTX 750 Ti that should be retired long ago. Finally, on the occasion of the Year of the Tiger, AMD launched the RX 6500XT graphics card for players to position the mainstream graphics card market, and the strong performance and people-friendly price are indeed good news for players. At the same time, the core AIB manufacturer Sapphire has also launched their non-public version of the product - Radeon RX 6500XT 4G D6 Platinum Edition OC, let's take a look at the comprehensive performance of this graphics card.
Familiar design
MC has reviewed a number of Sapphire RX 6000 Series Platinum graphics cards, so we are still familiar with the design of the Sapphire Radeon RX 6500XT 4G D6 Platinum Edition OC (hereinafter referred to as the Sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC). The overall color of this graphics card is black, and the front and back of the graphics card are designed with red lines to embellish it, and the red and black matching is also a popular e-sports color matching at present. And MC previously reviewed the Sapphire Radeon RX 6600 Platinum Edition, sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC also uses a short version design, the design of the entire graphics card is more compact, and the graphics card size is also smaller than the conventional dual fan graphics card, so the Sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC is more suitable for loading into the ITX chassis.
Compared with the frontal armor, the Sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC is more eye-catching in the design of the integrated metal backplane, such as the red line similar to the current waveform in the center of the back panel is more eye-catching, and the integrated metal backplane of this graphics card is also designed with many parallelogram cutouts, which is also used in its through-channel heat dissipation design. Sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC does not design RGB lighting effects, and those mainstream players who have a special love for RGB lighting effects may be disappointed in the eyes, but I believe that most mainstream players will pay more attention to the heat dissipation design and material level of this graphics card.
The video output panel of this graphics card is equipped with a DP connector and an HDMI connector.
The Sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC features a single 6Pin power supply.
Sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC Specifications
Production process: 6nm
Number of CU units: 16
Number of light chasing units: 16
Number of stream processors: 1024
Core frequency (game): 2685MHz
Boost: 2825MHz
Memory capacity: 4GB GDDR6
Memory width: 64bit
Memory bandwidth: 231.6GB/s
Unlimited cache capacity: 16MB
Video output interface: DP×1, HDMI×1
Recommended power supply: 400W
Reference price: 1649 yuan
Thermal design and PCB materials
Sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC features a dual-fan cooling design, each with a diameter of about 90mm and nine heat dissipation blades. After disassembling this graphics card, we can see that it is equipped with a pure copper heat dissipation base, which is basically the same area as the GPU, and is connected to the heat dissipation base with a large number of heat fins through two nickel-plated heat pipes. In addition, the video memory and power supply circuit parts of this graphics card are also equipped with thermal patches for cooling treatment. From our test experience, the thermal design of the Sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC has been able to fully meet the heat dissipation needs of its GPU, video memory and power supply circuits, as for the specific heat dissipation performance of this graphics card, we will focus on in the follow-up test.
This graphics card features a pure copper heat dissipation base and uses two nickel-plated heat pipes to connect a large number of heat fins.
In terms of PCB board, this graphics card adopts a 4+2 power phase design, and each phase power supply circuit is equipped with a closed inductor and a solid capacitor. Since the name has "OC", it means that the GPU frequency of the Sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC is slightly higher than the AMD recommended value, its GPU game frequency is 2685MHz, the GPU Boost frequency can reach 2825MHz, and this graphics card is also equipped with GDDR6 video memory from Samsung, with a total memory capacity of 4GB.
The graphics card features a 4+2 power phase design and is powered by two Samsung GDDR6 memory with a single 2GB memory capacity.
Performance testing
Sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC is a game graphics card that locates the mainstream market, and at present, mainstream players still run the game at 1080p resolution most of the time, so in the performance testing session, we will focus on testing the performance of this graphics card at 1080p resolution. However, as players have higher and higher requirements for game screen clarity, the price of 1440p resolution monitors has gradually become close to the people, and some mainstream players have also upgraded to 1440p resolution monitors.
With this in mind, we'll also look at whether the Sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC has the ability to provide players with a smooth gaming experience at 1440p resolution. Adhering to the principle of experiencing the essence of the game at the highest quality, we will still set all games to the highest quality. Considering that the Sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC supports ray tracing and FSR, we will also pick a few games in the game test session to see if this newly launched mainstream graphics card can run the light chasing game smoothly.
In terms of test platform, in order to eliminate the performance bottleneck, the processor we chose is AMD Ryzen™ 9 5950X, supplemented by DDR4 3600 32GB dual-channel memory, X570 motherboard and other hardware components. As a named counterpart graphics card, the AMD Radeon RX 5500XT should be among the lines of contrasting graphics cards. At the same time, we also selected the GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER and GTX 1650 as comparison graphics cards to see how the gaming performance of the Sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC is at the current level of mainstream graphics cards.
Test platform at a glance
Graphics card: Sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC
AMD Radeon RX 5500XT
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
Processor: AMD Ryzen™ 9 5950X
Memory: DDR4 3600 32GB dual channel
Motherboard: X570
3DMark graphics card theoretical performance test
Judging from the test results of 3DMark, the comprehensive performance of the Sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC has improved slightly on the basis of the RX 5500XT, especially in the 3DMark Fire Strike test scene, the sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC has a total graphics card score of more than 15,000 points, about 13% ahead of the RX 5500XT, while in the other 4 test scenarios, the performance of this non-public version of the RX 6500XT is leading the RX 5500XT about 3% to 6%.
Compared to competitor products, the Sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC has a significantly better graphics score than the GTX 1650, for example, in the 3DMark Fire Strike and 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme scenarios, the Sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC has a graphics card score that leads the GTX 1650 by about 60%, while in the 3DMark Time Spy and 3DMark Time Spy Extreme scenarios, The former has a performance advantage of about 40%. Compared to the GTX 1660, the RX 6500XT slightly leads in the graphics score of the three 3DMark Fire Strike test scenarios, but the GTX 1660 has a better graphics score in the two 3DMark Time Spy test scenarios.
Rasterized game performance measured
In the game performance testing session, we selected games such as Forza Motorsport: Horizon 5, PUBG: Battle Royale, and Far Cry 6 to examine the actual game performance of sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC in a rasterized environment.
The test results show that this non-public RX 6500XT graphics card can run some of the participating games at 1080p resolution and the highest picture quality, such as Assassin's Creed: The Hall of Heroes, Paladin VII, PUBG: Battle Royale and other 5 games with an average frame rate of 60fps, which is an absolutely smooth baseline. However, at 1440p resolution and the highest image quality, only the game "Galaxy Breaker" has an average frame rate of more than 60fps. In the test of "Dust 5", "Far Cry 6" and other games also hinted that sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC's graphics storage capacity is insufficient, it seems that this graphics card is still not suitable for running "Far Cry 6" and "Assassin's Creed: Temple of Heroes" and other games that are more sensitive to video memory capacity at 1440p resolution and the highest picture quality.
Compared with several other participating graphics cards, in the 10 games tested, the sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC vs. RX 5500XT test result is 6 wins and 4 losses, and we believe that the sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC has only half the video memory capacity of the latter should be the main reason for its loss. Compared with the AMD-guided contrast graphics card GTX 1650, the comprehensive performance of the Sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC can still maintain a significant lead.
Ray tracing and FSR testing
In this part of the test, we selected 5 games such as Dust 5 and Galaxy Cracker to examine the light chasing performance of the Sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC. Among them, Galaxy Cracker, Mysterious Island, and Far Cry 6 support FSR, so we set FSR to "high quality" mode for testing in these 3 games.
Judging from the results, the Sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC can run smoothly with Galaxy Rupturers and Mysterious Island at 1080p resolution and the highest picture quality, but the frame rate of the other 3 participating games can basically be described as unbearable, and we also saw that these 3 games have indicated insufficient memory capacity in the test. Therefore, we believe that the Sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC is more suitable for running some light chasing games with low or medium image quality requirements that do not have too high graphics performance requirements, and we strongly recommend that players turn on FSR (if supported).
Thermal performance and graphics card power testing
In the thermal design review session, we believe that the Sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC adopts a more efficient thermal design, and the actual test results of this graphics card also confirm our views. After 30 minutes of using the Furmark grill (open platform, 1080p resolution, off anti-aliasing), the GPU temperature of this graphics card is stable at 64°C, and the temperature is not high.
In terms of power performance, the power of the entire test platform in the baking process is about 210W, while the test results of NVIDIA PCAT show that the average power of this graphics card in the baking process is about 109W, which shows that the power of this graphics card is not high, and the 6nm production process is indispensable, while Sapphire officially recommends that players match this graphics card with a 400W power supply.
brief summary
Based on the test results of the Sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC, we believe that its performance is basically in line with our expectations. First of all, in terms of performance, this graphics card can easily run "PUBG: Battle Royale" and "Galaxy Cracker" at 1080p resolution and the highest picture quality, which do not require graphics performance, while more popular game masterpieces such as "Paladin VII" can also provide a smooth gaming experience of more than 60fps, and with the blessing of FSR, sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC also has the strength to smoothly run some light-chasing games.
The more solid heat dissipation design provides a strong guarantee for the smooth operation of this graphics card, so after half an hour of opening the platform grill, its GPU temperature can be stabilized at a low level of 64 ° C, so we have reason to believe that by loading it into the ITX chassis and equipped with a reasonable duct design, the GPU temperature of this graphics card can also be controlled below 80 ° C. Although the graphics card uses a dual fan design, the short board design makes it not large in size, so this graphics card can also be easily compatible with most ITX chassis.
What is more gratifying is that the initial price of this graphics card is only 1649 yuan, compared with other mainstream graphics cards on the market, the price of sapphire RX 6500XT Platinum Edition OC can be said to be very close to the people, so players who want to start mainstream graphics cards in the near future may wish to "start first".