AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT launches January 21

The launch year 2019 was an active one for AMD, on all fronts. In terms of graphics cards, the Navi era began with the summer launch of the Radeon RX 5700 series, which ended the same autumn with the entry-level Radeon RX 5500 XT cards. However, the two product series left a price and performance gap in AMD’s lineup, something that is filled by the Radeon RX 5600 XT.

With the RX 5600 XT, AMD is aiming for gaming at a resolution of 1,920 × 1,080 pixels, and in terms of specifications, it is a scaled-down variant of the Navi 10 XL circuit. The common heritage can be seen in the specifications, which in several respects correspond to the big sibling Radeon RX 5700. The number of computing units (CU) ends up in common 36, which results in 2,304 stream processors.

The similarities continue with the same number of texture units and raster units, and it is only in the memory configurations that the major differences become apparent. The Radeon RX 5600 XT is equipped with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory, which is connected via a 192-bit memory bus.

The Radeon RX 5700 is comparatively equipped with a 256-bit memory bus. The memory speed is also lower, 12,000 MHz compared to 14,000 MHz on the RX 5700. This corresponds to about 36 percent lower memory bandwidth, but 29 percent higher than the little brother RX 5500 XT.

Clock frequencies also take a step down. AMD’s presentation from CES does not mention the base frequency, which according to previous reports should be 1,235 MHz. The playing frequency ends up at 1,375 MHz while the boost frequency goes up to 1,560 MHz, which is 250 MHz and 165 MHz lower than the Radeon RX 5700 respectively.

When it comes to performance, AMD is targeting competitor Nvidia Geforce GTX 1660 Ti for 1080p gaming. The comparison is made in a number of game titles, where the results range from 10–20 percent in AMD’s favor. Both graphics cards are at the same level in terms of price, but since Nvidia’s GTX 1660 Super is at a lower price level and only slightly worse performance, comparisons about price and performance in the price range are easily messy.

Radeon RX 5600 XT also supports Freesync, where AMD during CES introduced a categorization that shows what capacity compatible screens achieve. The standard level is complemented by Premium and Premium Pro, where both levels mean that the screen can maintain at least 120 Hz in 1080p resolution and supports the Low Framerate Compensation (LFC) technology. The Premium Pro level adds HDR support.

In terms of TDP level, the Radeon RX 5600 XT is 150 W, compared to 180 W in the RX 5700. Since the specifications and also the TDP level are so close to each other, partner manufacturers will probably have the opportunity to reuse product designs for Radeon RX 5700 products. AMD is not launching any reference cards this time, but is relying entirely on partner companies.

The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT launches on January 21. The target price will be USD 279, corresponding to approximately SEK 3,400 including VAT.

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