Before the test: A first look at the MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT Gaming X

AMD presented the Radeon RX 6600 XT, the new entry-level model in the RDNA-2 generation, at the end of July. The graphics card is said to cost $ 379 and be faster than the Radeon RX 5700 XT and GeForce RTX 3060. ComputerBase is currently testing whether this succeeds using the MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT Gaming X and it looks like this.

The Gaming X is for the time being the “premium model” from MSI in this class, even if it is much simpler with an entry-level graphics card than with a high-end model, so it only relatively lives up to the premium claim. For example, the well-known Gaming X cooler has been shortened, instead of 3 axial fans, 2 are left. Apart from the shortening, the design of the cooler is very similar to the larger offshoot. The same cooler was also used on the MSI Radeon RX 6700 XT Gaming X and was not convincing there. But there it also had to tame 210 watts.

Even with OC there is only 1 × 8 pin

On the Radeon RX 6600 XT Gaming X it is less, albeit more than the official 130 watt TGP (GPU + memory) and 160 watt TBP (complete graphics card) that the cooler has to dissipate – but the editors are not allowed to go any further at this point go into detail, the same goes for the rest of the details. From the pictures it is already clear: With an 8-pin PCIe connector, up to 225 watts are in compliance with the specifications.

If you want to find out more details about the Radeon RX 6600 XT, including technical details and your own AMD benchmarks, you should take a look at the announcement. How good the Radeon RX 6600 XT and the MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT Gaming X will really be, ComputerBase will clarify in a test no later than the market launch of the graphics card on August 11th.

The Radeon RX 6000 models in comparison Radeon RX 6900 XT Radeon RX 6800 XT Radeon RX 6800 Radeon RX 6700 XT Radeon RX 6600 XT Architecture RDNA 2 GPU Navi 21 Navi 22 Navi 23 Process TSMC N7P Chip size 519 mm² 336 mm² 237 mm² transistors approx. 26.8 billion 17.2 billion 11.1 billion compute units 80 72 60 40 32 FP32-ALUs 5,120 4,608 3,840 2,560 2,048 RT acceleration Yes Game clock 2,015 MHz 2,015 MHz 1,815 MHz 2,424 MHz 2,359 MHz Maximum Boost clock 2,250 MHz 2,250 MHz 2,105 MHz 2,581 MHz 2,589 MHz FP32 performance 20.6 TFLOPS 18.6 TFLOPS 13.9 TFLOPS 12.4 TFLOPS 10.6 TFLOPS FP16 performance 41.3 TFLOPS 37.1 TFLOPS 27.9 TFLOPS 24.8 TFLOPS 21.2 TFLOPS texture units 320 288 240 160 128 ROPs 128 96 64 memory 16 GB GDDR6 12 GB GDDR6 8 GB GDDR6 memory speed 16 Gbps memory interface 256 bit 192 bit 128 bit memory bandwidth 512 GB/s 384 GB/s 256 GB/s Infinity Cache 128 MB 96 MB 32 MB IC bandwidth 2.0 TB/s 1.5 TB/s 0.92 TB/s L2 cache 4 MB 3 MB 2 MB TBP 300 watts 250 watts 230 watts 160 watts slot – Connection PCIe 4.0 × 16 PCIe 4.0 × 8 DirectX 12 Ultimate Yes RRP 999 euros 649 euros 579 euros 479 US dollars 379 US dollars

ComputerBase has the MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT Gaming X received from AMD for testing. The graphics card was made available under NDA. The only requirement was the earliest possible publication time. The manufacturer did not exert any influence on the test report, and there was no obligation to publish it.