The Bottom Line
Introduction
AMD has just simply not stopped this year, like, at all.
We're here again with yet another RDNA 2-powered graphics card, with the lowest-end member of the RDNA 2 silicon in the new Radeon RX 6600. AMD's new Radeon RX 6600 graphics card is another notch below the just-released Radeon RX 6600 XT, but it still maintains its 8GB of GDDR6 memory.
AMD's new Radeon RX 6600 has 28 Compute Units and 1792 Stream Processors, with the GPU Game Clock at up to 2044MHz and the GPU Boost Clock up to 2491MHz. There's the same 8GB of GDDR6 memory on the Radeon RX 6600, the same framebuffer as the Radeon RX 6600 XT, with 32MB of Infinity Cache and a 132W TBP.
It's not going to be a 4K gaming powerhouse, but the same RDNA 2 magic is here -- as too is the same TSMC 7nm node. This means we have some gigantic performance uplifts over previous-gen GPU architectures like the Vega GPU architecture and its HBM2 memory. The new Radeon RX 6600 beats the Radeon RX Vega 64, and does it using far, far less power and running way, way cooler.
AMD is aiming directly at NVIDIA and its GeForce RTX 3060 with the new Radeon RX 6600, with AMD's new RDNA 2-powered Radeon RX 6600 edging out the GeForce RTX 3060. NVIDIA plays around with VRAM amounts on its cards, so keep in mind.
- AMD Radeon RX 6600: 8GB GDDR6
- AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT: 8GB GDDR6
- AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT: 12GB GDDR6
- AMD Radeon RX 6800: 16GB GDDR6
- AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT: 16GB GDDR6
- AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT: 16GB GDDR6
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060: 12GB GDDR6
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti: 8GB GDDR6
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070: 8GB GDDR6
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti: 8GB GDDR6X
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080: 10GB GDDR6X
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti: 12GB GDDR6X
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090: 24GB GDDR6X
NVIDIA made a bit of a mess with the VRAM amounts on its GeForce RTX 30 series cards, with the lower-end GeForce RTX 3060 featuring 12GB... versus just 10GB (albeit, faster GDDR6X memory) on the GeForce RTX 3080. AMD is at least keeping 8GB on the Radeon RX 6600, without dropping to 4GB or 6GB.
As for the price, we're looking at AMD's new Radeon RX 6600 having an MSRP of "$329" but who knows if you'll ever see it for that price. I doubt you will, but that's the price AMD has provided. The GPU situation is completely out of control right now, but as I've said in previous reviews: if you're happy with the price of the Radeon RX 6600, we'll see later on in the review if it is worth it.
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Everything You Need to Know About The RX 6600
The RDNA 2 architecture gets spread a little thinner here to make the Radeon RX 6600, with the same 11.1 billion transistors that was used on the Radeon RX 6600 XT. There's cut down 28 Compute Units here on the RX 6600, compared to 32 Compute Units on the RX 6600 XT while there's 1792 Stream Processors, down from 2048 Stream Processors.
AMD is still using 32MB of Infinity Cache on the Radeon RX 6600, with the same 8GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit memory bus and PCIe 4.0 x8 connector. The board power is just 132W, down 28W from the Radeon RX 6600 XT and its 160W TBP. Not too damn bad at all there, AMD.
1080p gaming is where AMD is aiming with the Radeon RX 6600, and when compared against the GeForce RTX 2060, the new RDNA 2-powered Radeon RX 6600 holds its own. We have 79FPS average in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, 142FPS average in Battlefield V, 95FPS average in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, 136FPS average in F1 2021, and 114FPS average in Hitman 3 -- not bad at all.
Even in something like Cyberpunk 2077 we have 70FPS average at 1080p on the Radeon RX 6600, and 145FPS average in Resident Evil Village. Very, very nice results there.
AMD marketing
Far Cry 6 and DEATHLOOP just launched, with 91FPS average at 1080p in Far Cry 6 on the Radeon RX 6600 and 85FPS average in DEATHLOOP. Once again, that's not damn bad at all -- but do keep in mind, many of these results are with Smart Access Memory enabled.
One of the biggest things for me is the performance-per-watt side of the Radeon RX 6600, especially if you consider how bad the performance-per-watt was with the Radeon RX Vega 64.
Wrapping up the Radeon RX 6600: 100FPS+ average in AAA g names, 1.3x the performance-per-watt versus the GeForce RTX 3060, and 2x faster in some games with FSR enabled and on Performance Mode on the Radeon RX 6600.
Detailed Look
XFX has some great retail packaging for its custom Radeon RX 6600 Speedster SLICK 210 graphic card.
The same goes for the dual-fan look of the card, which looks very similar to the XFX RX 6600 XT version of the card, and that's not a bad thing. There's some bigger differences at the top of the card, where the XFX RX 6600 XT Speedster MERC 310 has the fantastic "Radeon RX 6600 XT" branding at the top.
Still, it's one of the better looking cards from the top -- not much happening at the bottom here. We have a dual-slot custom Radeon RX 6600.
The same display output configuration is here: 3 x DisplayPort 1.4 and 1 x HDMI 2.1, all capable of 4K 120/144Hz and 8K 60Hz.
Test System Specs
Latest upgrade:
Sabrent sent over their huge Rocket Q 8TB NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSD, which will be my new Games install SSD inside of my main test bed.
I've got a new upgrade inside of my GPU test bed before my change to a next-gen test bed, where I will be preparing for NVIDIA's next-gen Ampere graphics cards and AMD's next-gen RDNA 2 graphics cards.
Sabrent helped out with some new storage for my GPU test beds, sending over a slew of crazy-fast Rocket NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSDs. I've got this installed into my GPU test bed as the new Games Storage drive, since games are so damn big now. Thanks to Sabrent, I've got 2TB of super-fast M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD storage now.
Anthony's GPU Test System Specifications
I've recently upgraded my GPU test bed -- at least for now, until AMD's new Ryzen 9 5950X processor is unleashed then the final update for 2020 will happen and we'll be all good for RDNA 2 and future Ampere GPU releases. You can read my article here: TweakTown GPU Test Bed Upgrade for 2021, But Then Zen 3 Was Announced.
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3800X (buy from Amazon)
- Motherboard: ASUS ROG X570 Crosshair VIII HERO (buy from Amazon)
- Cooler: CoolerMaster MasterLiquid ML360R RGB (buy from Amazon)
- RAM: G.SKILL Trident Z NEO RGB 32GB (4x8GB) (F4-3600C18Q-32GTZN) (buy from Amazon)
- SSD: Sabrent 2TB Rocket NVMe PCIe 4.0 M.2 2280 (buy from Amazon)
- PSU: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 1200W (buy from Amazon)
- Case: InWin X-Frame 2.0
- OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Professional x64 (buy from Amazon)
Benchmarks - Synthetic
3DMark Fire Strike
3DMark has been a staple benchmark for years now, all the way back to when The Matrix was released and Futuremark had bullet time inspired benchmarks. 3DMark is the perfect tool to see if your system - most important, your CPU and GPU - is performing as it should. You can search results for your GPU, to see if it falls in line with other systems based on similar hardware.
3DMark TimeSpy
Heaven - 1080p
Heaven is an intensive GPU benchmark that really pushes your silicon to its limits. It's another favorite of ours as it has some great scaling for multi-GPU testing, and it's great for getting your GPU to 100% for power and noise testing.
Benchmarks - 1080p
Assassin's Creed: Valhalla is the latest game to be inserted into our benchmark suite, with Ubisoft Montreal using its AnvilNext engine to power the game. It scales really well across the cards, and has some surprising performance benefits with AMD's new Big Navi GPUs.
You can buy Assassins Creed: Valhalla at Amazon.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.
You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of War at Amazon.
Metro Exodus is one of the hardest tests that our graphics cards have to go through, with 4A Games' latest creation being one of the best looking games on the market. It is a serious test that pushes GPUs to their limits, and also features RTX technologies like DLSS.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the latest games to join our graphics card benchmark lineup, with the game built using the Foundation engine as a base, the same engine in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Eidos Montreal R&D department made lots of changes to the engine during the development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to make it one of the best-looking games out right now.
1080p Benchmark Performance Thoughts
AMD is able to match its previous-gen flagship Radeon RX 5700 XT with its new RDNA 2-powered Radeon RX 6600 in Assassin's Creed Valhalla at 1080p, beating the Radeon RX Vega 64 without a problem here, too. The card gets smashed in Shadow of War and Metro Exodus -- matching the Radeon RX Vega 64 and Radeon RX 5600 XT in Metro Exodus with 24FPS average.
Benchmarks - 1440p
Assassin's Creed: Valhalla is the latest game to be inserted into our benchmark suite, with Ubisoft Montreal using its AnvilNext engine to power the game. It scales really well across the cards, and has some surprising performance benefits with AMD's new Big Navi GPUs.
You can buy Assassins Creed: Valhalla at Amazon.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.
You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of War at Amazon.
Metro Exodus is one of the hardest tests that our graphics cards have to go through, with 4A Games' latest creation being one of the best looking games on the market. It is a serious test that pushes GPUs to their limits, and also features RTX technologies like DLSS.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the latest games to join our graphics card benchmark lineup, with the game built using the Foundation engine as a base, the same engine in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Eidos Montreal R&D department made lots of changes to the engine during the development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to make it one of the best-looking games out right now.
1440p Benchmark Performance Thoughts
Commendable performance in an AMD Radeon friendly game like Assassin's Creed Valhalla, with 58FPS average -- 61FPS for the RX 6600 XT, and 62FPS for the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti. Not bad. Shadow of War still has the Radeon RX 6600 spitting out 73FPS average, just shy of the Radeon RX Vega 64 and its 78FPS.
Benchmarks - 4K
Assassin's Creed: Valhalla is the latest game to be inserted into our benchmark suite, with Ubisoft Montreal using its AnvilNext engine to power the game. It scales really well across the cards, and has some surprising performance benefits with AMD's new Big Navi GPUs.
You can buy Assassins Creed: Valhalla at Amazon.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.
You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of War at Amazon.
Metro Exodus is one of the hardest tests that our graphics cards have to go through, with 4A Games' latest creation being one of the best looking games on the market. It is a serious test that pushes GPUs to their limits, and also features RTX technologies like DLSS.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the latest games to join our graphics card benchmark lineup, with the game built using the Foundation engine as a base, the same engine in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Eidos Montreal R&D department made lots of changes to the engine during the development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to make it one of the best-looking games out right now.
4K Benchmark Performance Thoughts
Don't buy the Radeon RX 6600 for 4K gaming, but if you rewind the clock and get inspired by AMD's marketing campaign for Vega and HBM2 and its possibilities... well, the Radeon RX 6600 spits out 30FPS average in Assassin's Creed Valhalla at 4K while the previous-gen flagship RX Vega 64 is 1FPS behind at 29FPS.
Power Consumption & Temps
What's Hot, What's Not
What's Hot
- RDNA 2 scales so well, down into the RX 6600: AMD has solid footing on every level with the RDNA 2 architecture, from the lofty enthusiast flagship heights with the Radeon RX 6900 XT down to the new Radeon RX 6600. The RDNA 2 architecture shines and scales the entire way.
- 8GB GDDR6 memory: We could've had a lower-end card with 4GB or 6GB of GDDR6, but the larger 8GB of GDDR6 ensures that you can play new AAA games at 1080p with high-resolution textures. Alternatively, you could play older games with FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) enabled on Quality, and have 8GB of GDDR6 memory at the ready.
- Fantastic performance-per-watt: If you compare the marketing hype for the Vega GPU architecture now 5 years ago, the new RDNA 2 architecture is totally revolutionary compared to Vega. We have fantastic performance across the board against the Vega 64, with the new RX 6600 kicking some 1080p gaming ass.
- Single PCIe power connector: AMD has a 132W TBP on the Radeon RX 6600, with the custom XFX Radeon RX 6600 Speedster SLICK 210 requiring just a single 8-pin PCIe power connector
What's Not
- GPU availability: This isn't AMD's fault and nor is it the fault of XFX, but man does the pricing situation suck right now... and that's nothing new for 2021.
Final Thoughts
AMD fills out its RDNA 2 desktop GPU range with the Radeon RX 6600, offering 8GB of GDDR6 and fantastic 1080p gaming performance that is only amplified with features like FSR.
If we rewind the clock back to the Vega GPU architecture when you needed 300W of power to get the same performance that the RDNA 2 architecture, and TSMC's impressive 7nm node, to require far less than 150W of power for the GPU. You're able to play huge AAA titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone at up to 100FPS average, all for less than 150W.
AMD is competing directly with the GeForce RTX 2060 with its new Radeon RX 6600 in its marketing material, where it is around 23% faster on average at 1080p -- but the RTX 3060 and RTX 3060 Ti will be better competitors. If you're playing games with NVIDIA DLSS support, then the GeForce RTX 3060 or RTX 3060 Ti are a no-brainer.
However, if you can't find one of those cards right now and happen to be able to buy the Radeon RX 6600... would you buy it? That is up to you, as the price is going to be wildly different across the planet, considering graphics cards are at their most crazy pricing cycle ever.
From a GPU standpoint, the Radeon RX 6600 is a great card -- it shows just how far AMD has come since the Vega GPU architecture. We have a card that is more than capable of delivering 1080p 60FPS in the latest games, or 1080p 120FPS in popular esports titles -- and other games if they support FSR.
I will note: AIB samples are radically different with the Radeon RX 6600 compared to the Radeon RX 6600 XT. I was overflowing in Radeon RX 6600 XT samples, where with the RX 6600 there is the only card here in my hands today being the XFX RX 6600 Speedster SLICK 210. Some AIBs are not even sampling the Radeon RX 6600.
Wrapping up, the custom XFX Radeon RX 6600 Speedster SLICK 210 is a fantastic 1080p gaming GPU. Single 8-pin PCIe power connector, whisper-quiet operation: the perfect upgrade from an older-gen GPU with today's features.