XFX Radeon RX 6600 XT Speedster MERC 308 Evaluation

The other day we took an appearance at AMD's RX 6600 XT, a GPU alternative targeting high-refresh price 1080p gaming. Today, we're still taking a look at the RX 6600 XT, nevertheless this time around it's the XFX version. The XFX RX 6600 XT Speedster Mercury 308 Black is among the AIB choices offered to purchasers today, as AMD isn't launching a recommendation board at the minute. With a list price of $419, how does the Merc 308 Black stack up, and also does it do enough to justify 1080p gaming at a premium?

Requirements

• Architecture: RDNA 2.0
• Memory: 8GB GDDR6
• Memory Bus: 128 little bit
• Memory Bandwidth: 256 GB/s
• Base Clock: 2188 MHz
• Game Clock: 2428 MHz
• Boost Clock: 2607 MHz
• Memory Clock: 16 Gbps
• Shielding Devices: 2048
• Texture Units: 128
• ROPs: 64
• Calculate Unites: 32
• RT Cores: 32
• Infinity Cache: 32 MEGABYTES
• I/O: 1x HDMI 2.1; 3x DisplayPort 1.4
• Optimum Digital Resolution: 7680 x 4320
• Rate: $419 Suggested Retail Price

First Impressions

Like I have actually stated in rather much every AMD card review so much, I truly value hostile looking GPUs. The XFX Mercury 308, nevertheless, looks a bit a lot more basic compared to the edgier style of the 6000 series reference cards, and even the outrageous edges we see with the MSI variation we examined formerly. I do not dislike it, however it really feels regular, reminding me of the THICC version I reviewed formerly from XFX. It's a legendary look that fits the XFX line well, also if I like more hostile looking GPUs, personally.

I do appreciate the illumination around the logo design on the side, while the backplate sporting activities the Merc 308 logo design as if it were spray-painted by a first-class graffiti musician. As well as while I really feel the shroud around the framework of the Merc 308 is a bit ordinary, I do value the silver trim accentuating the sides and the fan wells.

The Merc 308 sports three 80mm GPU followers to maintain the card cool under pressure. Additionally, the GPU as well as memory on the 308 are cooled using a nickel-plated copper plate which is linked using 4 6mm warm pipelines. The card is additionally designed to enable optimum air flow through the card itself to assist keep the Merc 308 cool.

Because the Merc 308 is an RX 6600 XT, it obviously makes the most of every one of the features that feature the RDNA 2 design like Radeon Chill, Anti-Lag to help those competitive gamers, Radeon Boost (on sustained titles), along with Radeon's latest introduction to the FidelityFX suite of technologies, Super Resolution (FSR). I clarified FSR extra in information in my previous 6600 XT review, which you can look into right here if you're interested.

While there is no recommendation 6600 XT offered, we do have referral specs. The Merc 308 is a factory overclocked version of the referral 6600 XT, seeing an increase in all of its clock speeds, with its base clock seeing an increase from 1968MHz to 2188 MHz, in addition to the Increase clock seeing an uptick from 2589 MHz to 2607 MHz. GPUs today are clever sufficient to increase the boost clock when needed, and also we saw the clock rates increase to a height of 2628 MHz throughout our screening.

XFX RX 6600 XT Merc 308 Benchmarks

To benchmark the 6600 XT, we placed it through its paces utilizing a mix of artificial and video gaming tests, both normal rasterization along with using equipment increased real-time ray tracing on sustained titles.

Our test bench corresponds the one utilized in the previous 6600 XT testimonial, and also we have actually included both the AMD cards around the 6600 XT, including last generation's 5700 XT, in addition to the closest Nvidia competitors in the 3060 and also the RTX 3060 Ti.

Test Bench

• CPU: Intel i7-10700K @ 3.8 GHz (Increase Clock approximately 5.1 GHz).
• Cooling: Corsair 100i 240mm Fluid Colder.
• Motherboard: Gigabyte Aorus Z490 Ultra.
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance 32GB @ 3200MHz.
• Storage: Intel 760p 2TB M. 2 NVMe, ADATA Falcon 1TB M. 2 NVMe.
• PSU: RM 850X 850W.
• Case: Lian Li 011 Dynamic.

As mentioned in our previous RX 6600 XT testimonial, it is very important to keep in mind that as we are using an Intel powered gear, we are unable to give criteria for the RX 6600 XT if we were making use of AMD's Smart Gain access to Memory. We very advise checking out other evaluations would certainly be able to offer this information to obtain a more clear photo, specifically if this is something your rig has the ability to take care of.

XFX RX 6600 XT Merc 308-- Artificial Criteria.

For synthetic screening, we transformed once again to 3DMark's suite of DirectX 12 as well as 11 tests, Time Spy as well as FireStrike. As the RX 6600 XT is billed as a 1080p card, we selected the basic variations of these examinations versus their Ultra variants, and unless or else noted we utilized default settings.

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As we can see in Time Spy, the XFX Merc 308 hangs in there with the MSI Gaming X 6600 XT, though the last does pull in advance both in General and also Video rating. It is additionally regular with what we see compared to last-gen's 5700 XT defeating both 6600 XT cards here across the board. Even though Nvidia's RTX 3060 does hang back the 6600 XT in the test, the $399 MSRP RTX 3060 Ti Owner's Edition card pulls ahead of the 6600 XT by fairly a bit.

In the DX11 FireStrike standard, we see similar outcomes with the MSI 6600 XT pulling in advance of the XFX offering in all of the data factors. The XFX RX 6600 XT Merc 308 does have an excellent proving versus the 5700 XT, along with hangs with the 3060. Though once again, we see the 3060 Ti draw in advance of the AMD offering.

XFX RX 6600 XT Merc 308-- Pc Gaming Criteria.

For games, we opted to examine an array of both APIs as well as game engines, from _ Watch Dogs Myriad's _ Anvil Next, to the lovely Decima Engine powering Guerilla Games' _ Horizon Zero Dawn _. These benchmarks do mirror normal rasterization tests. We will have our ray tracing ideas listed below. Unless or else specified, each test was run utilizing the highest in-game predetermined for each title at both 1080p, the target resolution for the 6600 XT, in addition to 1440p.

When possible, our examinations made use of an in-game benchmark tool to supply as constant a canvas for the card to be executed its paces. The exception below is Treatment's _ Control , which has no in-game device. For its test, we ran with the notoriously demanding Hallway of Doom in a circuit, pushing the card as long as we can in the process. For _ Last Dream XIV , we made use of the _ Shadowbringers _ criteria considering that the _ Endwalker _ test is too current for us to ensure it's as consistent as feasible to include in this test. We will hopefully be confident in the outcomes quickly in order to include it in the future tests causing its November release.

For _ Anno 1800 _, we evaluate both indigenous resolution along with placed AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution with its pacing. While _ Anno _ does not feature DirectX Ray Tracing, it does permit gamers to squeeze out some efficiency making use of FSR, so we ran the test utilizing the Well balanced preset intending to see the high quality of the technique in supplying a near-native discussion while additionally supplying a performance rise.

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When comparing both 6600 XT's on offer, the outcomes are practically similar in spots. The one major difference is _ Assassin's Creed Valhalla , with the XFX 6600 XT seeing a 15% increase in efficiency over the MSI variation at 1080p. This outcome is a lot more down-to-earth when testing 1440p in the title. The XFX card likewise holds an edge at 1080p in _ Watch Dogs , but it's not as aggressive, appearing at 67 FPS contrasted to the MSI's 60 FPS standard.

Contrasted to the 5700 XT, the XFX actually delays behind on average, seeing the MSI RX 5700 XT Video gaming X squeeze out a (unquestionably within the margin of error) 1% better performance. Contrasted to the competition, we see the XFX RX 6600 XT Merc 308 kip down 5% even more performance on ordinary compared to the EVGA RTX 3060 Black. Nonetheless, when compared to the following card in Nvidia's line-up, the RTX 3060 Ti, the Merc 308 is not exactly the most competitive. The 3060 Ti sees a 20% increase in performance at 1080p typically over the AMD card. This is highlighted in titles like _ Control _ which sees the 3060 Ti take the 6600 XT to task with a framerate average of 97 to 68, specifically, a whopping 42% rise over the AMD card.

XFX RX 6600 XT Merc 308-- Ray Tracing Benchmarks.

For ray tracing, we start points off again with 3DMark's synthetic screening suite bringing the Port Royal benchmark to bear. AMD's 6000-series is the very first for the firm to include equipment acceleration for ray tracing. While the amount of RT cores the 6600 XT is curtailed compared to its RDNA 2 brother or sisters, it's still feasible to enable ray tracing on the card ought to in video games that sustain the modern technology.

Similar to the remainder of the 6000 series, the 6600 XT lags behind Nvidia's 30-series cards. These 30-series cards are the 2nd generation of cards from Nvidia to include hardware acceleration for ray tracing. Even contrasted to the less costly RTX 3060, the 6600 XT really feels behind from the start right here.

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When looking at pc gaming efficiency, that trend virtually continues with the exemption of Counterplay's _ Godfall _. The looter-slasher performs quite well on AMD's cards, and as one of minority titles that includes both ray tracing as well as assistance for FidelityFX Super Resolution, it kips down some legally excellent numbers.

Nevertheless, also here we see the Nvidia cards pull ahead, especially considering that FSR isn't unique to AMD cards.The modern technology is platform agnostic and can additionally operate on Nvidia's cards. Even the cheaper RTX 3060 turns in greater outcomes at 1080p with FSR Well balanced selected, bringing in an uptick of 7% even more efficiency.

When looking at various other ray tracing applications, the RX 6600 XT really feels hit or miss out on. _ Watch Dogs Legion _ and also its substantial and costly application of ray traced reflections is properly unplayable on AMD's 6600 XT with ray tracing readied to ultra, and even _ Control _ battles to keep a usable framerate. This is more hindered by the reality that most ray tracing-capable games don't yet sustain FSR, while the huge variety of those video games include Nvidia's Deep Understanding Super Tasting strategy making many ray tracing-enabled video games usable on Nvidia cards.

XFX RX 6600 XT Merc 308-- Thermals And Also Sound.

Like the MSI RX 6600 XT Gaming X before it, the Merc 308 is legitimately peaceful. It aids that the card never obtains also warm, though also with 3 followers it does run a little bit higher than its MSI relative.

While the numbers below are perfectly appropriate, the GPU never ever damages 80 C, coming to a head at 77 C in _ Control _. Even under lots, however, the Merc 308 Black never ever sounded loud, its 3 followers spinning silently to keep the card as amazing as it can under lots. It's rejuvenating, as gamed without my headphones to evaluate out the ambient sound and also truthfully my laptop on my workdesk was much louder running Microsoft Word (which might be create for worry on my laptop computer, truly). If you obtain this card and also you're worried regarding noise, don't be.

Final Words And Also Conclusion.

The XFX RX 6600 XT Mercury 308 Black is, fairly, not a poor card. It performs the short on package, high refresh-rate 1080p gaming, and offers an entry path for some 1440p pc gaming. Nevertheless, the RX 6600 XT suffers from an achilles' heel out of eviction: its cost.

Failing to remember for a 2nd the existing silicon lack and also rise in cost to materials we've seen since the Covid-19 Pandemic began in 2014,, $419 is simply too expensive for 1080p pc gaming even in an ideal market where most of cards readily available will certainly go to its retail cost. This is noticable when you consider the rate compared to the list prices of its closest competitors. With a 27% boost in cost over the Nvidia's RTX 3060's retail rate of $329, the meager 5% even more efficiency on average is a little bit of a buzzkill. Furthermore, taking into consideration the Owner's Edition of the RTX 3060 Ti is competitively priced at $399, 4% cheaper with 20% more efficiency typically, it makes the RX 6600 XT feel very improperly positioned in the market.

This is, obviously, assuming you can find any one of these cards at their retail rate.

Pair this with the reality that in ray tracing applications the RTX cards will have typically much better efficiency as well as there is such a running start with DLSS, AMD's ray tracing and FSR-enabled offering feels much less suited to stand out in the future. This might alter as even more games embrace FSR, but now the RX 6600 XT doesn't feel located to really be a card that can suffer somebody for the future.

The XFX RX 6600 XT Mercury 308 Black is fairly not a poor card. If you are searching for high-refresh rate 1080p gaming, it does that and after that some. It's an attractive card as well, as well as will look excellent in your gear thanks to its sleek layout as well as silver trim highlighting the curves of the card.

However, it's actually difficult to advise 1080p at such a premium price, particularly as 1440p and also 4K become a growing number of conventional (as well as consoles nowadays can offer 4K experiences for simply a little bit much more ahead of time). The XFX RX 6600 XT Speedster Merc 308 Black isn't a bad card. It's simply a tough one to advise.