AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT, 6750 XT And 6650 XT Deliver Faster Memory And Clocks To Gamers
First there were three, then another, then another, and so forth until there were eight. We're talking about the Radeon RX 6000 series of desktop graphics cards, which spans the Radeon RX 6400 on up to the Radeon RX 6900 XT. Or at least that was the case yesterday. Today there's a new top SKU, the Radeon RX 6950 XT, along with two other refreshed RDNA 2 parts.
This doesn't come as a mystery considering the wealth of leaks and rumors leading up to today's official announcement. However, we can now put the speculation to rest and report on confirmed and finalized specifications. Arguably the biggest upgrade is faster memory—the new Radeon RX 6950 XT, Radeon RX 6750 XT, and Radeon RX 6650 XT each wield 18Gbps memory chips, versus 16Gbps on the Radeon RX 6900 XT, 6700 XT, and 6600 XT.
AMD also goosed the clocks on all three models, so in addition to more memory bandwidth, we're also looking at higher pixel fill rates and a bump in both single precision (FP32) and half precision (FP16) compute performance. The net result is a bit better gaming performance for not a lot more money (we'll get to pricing in a moment).
AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT Specs And 4K Gaming Performance
Starting with the Radeon RX 6950 XT, it's based on the same RDNA 2 architecture as the Radeon RX 6900 XT and is manufactured on the same 7-nanometer node. The makeup of the GPU is unchanged—26.8 million transistors, 80 compute units (5,120 stream processors), 80 ray accelerators, 128 ROPs, 320 TMUs, 128MB of Infinity Cache, and 12GB of GDDR6 memory.
What's different, however, is AMD juiced the Game and Boost clocks to 2,100MHz and 2,310MHz, respectively, up from 2,015MHz and 2,250MHz. This results in 23.65 TFLOPS of FP32 (versus 23.04 TFLOPS) and 47.31 TFLOPS (versus 46.08 TFLOPS) of FP16 performance. It also boasts a peak texture fill rate of 739.2 GT/s, up from 720 GT/s.
The memory bus remains the same at 256-bit, and combined with the faster memory speed, memory bandwidth gets pushed to 576 GB/s, up from 512 GB/s. And the effective bandwidth with Infinity Cache now goes up to 1,793 GB/s, up from 1,664.2 GB/s. AMD also increased the total board power (TBP) to 335W (versus 300W).
AMD is pitching the Radeon RX 6950 XT as delivering the best performance per watt and performance per dollar (bang for buck) for 4K gaming. To that end, AMD claims it is faster than a GeForce RTX 3090 in a wealth of games such as Fortnite, Doom Eternal, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Metro Exodus, and others.
AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT Is Built For 1440p Gaming
The Radeon RX 6750 XT refresh is likewise similar in specs to the Radeon RX 6700 with 17.2 billion transistors, 40 CUs (2,560 stream processors), 40 ray accelerators, 64 ROPs, 160 TMUs, 96MB of Infinity Cache, and 12GB of GDDR6 memory. However, it's similarly juiced like the other two new cards.
AMD nudged the Game clock to 2,495MHz (up from 2,424 MHz on the Radeon RX 6700) and the Boost clock to 2,600MHz (up from 2,581MHz). This yields up to 13.31 TFLOPS of FP32 and 26.62 TFLOPS of FP16 performance, up a touch from 13.21 TFLOPS and 26.43 TFLOPS, respectively. Likewise, the peak texture fill rate increases to 416 GT/s (up from 413 GT/s). The TBP is a little higher here as well, at 250W versus 230W.
The move to 18Gbps memory chips tied to the same 192-bit bus results in 432GB/s of memory bandwidth, up from 384GB/s, and an effective bandwidth with Infinity Cache of 1,326GB/s, up from 1,278GB/s. These are more substantial gains than the FP32/FP16 and pixel fill rate bumps.
According to AMD, the Radeon RX 6750 XT is generally faster than NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3070 at 1440p gaming, though it depends on the title. We'll have a review of the Radeon RX 6750 XT soon, so stayed tune for in-depth look at performance and how it compares to the competition in our own testing.
AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT Arrives For Gaming At 1080p
Last on the RDNA 2 refresh list is the Radeon RX 6650 XT, and the story is similar to the other two new cards. Compared to the Radeon RX 6600 XT, it's rocking the same GPU with 11.1 billion transistors, 32 CUs (2,048 stream processors), 32 ray accelerators, 64 ROPs, 128 TMUs, 32MB of Infinity Cache, and 8GB of GDDR6 memory.
We're looking at modest clock gains here as well. AMD pushed the Game clock to 2,410MHz (up from 2,359MHz) and the Boost clock to 2,635MHz (up from 2,589MHz). This results in 10.79 TFLOPS of FP32 and 21.59 TFLOPS of FP16 performance (up from 10.6 TFLOPS and 21.21 TFLOPS, respectively), and a max texture fill rate of 337.3 GT/s versus 331.4 GT/s.
The upgraded 18Gbps memory shuttles data through the same 128-bit bus, giving the new card 280GB/s of memory bandwidth (up from 256GB/s) and 468.9GB/s of effective bandwidth when factoring in the boost provided by Infinity Cache (up from 444.9GB/s). And once again, we're looking at a relatively small increase in TBP to 180W from 160W.
According to AMD's internal testing, the Radeon RX 6650 XT generally smokes the mobile GeForce RTX 3060 at 1080p gaming.
All of AMD's comparisons are based on enabling Smart Access Memory, with Radeon Super Resolution numbers thrown in as well. Where AMD appears to have the biggest advantage, however, is in pricing.
AMD lists the lowest online retailer pricing for each SKU in its entire lineup, including today's three new additions, versus the competition. If pricing and availability hold steady, the Radeon RX 6950 XT at $1,099, Radeon RX 6750 XT at $549, and Radeon RX 6650 XT at $399 will be attractive options, especially when paired with an AMD Ryzen build.
All three cards should be available now. Additionally, AMD is updating its Radeon Raise the Game bundle. Gamers who purchase a qualifying Radeon graphics card from a participating vendor starting today will receive a code to redeem for free games later in the quarter. Bundles will include Saints Row and Sniper Elite 5, with more games to be announced leading up to the launch of the promotion.
Lastly, AMD also announced the first games to support its FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0 technology. The initial list of games include Farming Simulator 22, Forspoken, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and others. Then on May 12 of this year, Deathloop will join the fray.
