AMD Radeon RX 6600: Finally, a true 1080p graphics card
It’s finally happened. Well over a year after this generation of graphics cards kicked off, AMD is releasing the first true 1080p GPU of the lot with the Radeon RX 6600, which is being both announced and launched today.
Sure, the step-up Radeon RX 6600 XT ostensibly targets high-refresh rate 1080p gaming, but it’s massively overkill for gaming on a standard 60Hz monitor. And the rival GeForce RTX 3060 doesn’t offer enough GPU grunt for no-compromises 1440p, but Nvidia ladened it with a ludicrous 12GB of VRAM, which contributes to its sky-high street price.
The Radeon RX 6600 offers very good Ultra-quality 1080p gaming paired with 8GB of GDDR6 memory, a remarkably sane combination. Its $329 suggested price might raise an eyebrow at first blush; that matches the MSRP of the RTX 3060, and AMD’s card is both slower and packs 4GB less VRAM. But you’ll find the RTX 3060 going for $675 to $850 on Ebay, way above its official $330 MSRP. In fact, the Radeon RX 6600 XT sells for less than the RTX 3060 online despite being faster across the board—you can find it for $575 to $675 on Ebay.
Still, expect the Radeon RX 6600 to command a markup on the streets. But given all those pricing intricacies and the ongoing GPU shortage, AMD’s street price feels reasonable for the hardware on offer—even if being forced to pay well over $300 for great 1080p performance remains very unreasonable unless you have deep pockets or little patience.
SPECS, FEATURES, AND DESIGN
The Radeon RX 6600 sports a cut-down version of the Navi 23 GPU that debuted in the Radeon RX 6600 XT.
The new GPU features 28 compute units, compared to 32 in the Radeon RX 6600 XT (and 36 in the last-generation Radeon RX 5600 XT). More significantly, however, AMD neutered this lower-end GPU by greatly reducing the amount of power provided—132 watts,, makes the Radeon RX 6600 very power efficient.
