Introduction
Review - MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT Gaming X
We review the all-new MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT Gaming X. Aimed at Full HD gaming with 8GB framebuffer and a price of roughly 399~449 USD the card is released today. AMD's rDNA 2 desktop graphics card line, the Radeon RX 6000 series, was released towards the end of 2020 and continued into 2021. The year 2022 is roughly halfway and AMD now revamps its RDNA 2 graphics card portfolio with a new family of graphics cards. All are rehashed and thus reconfigured products and that means this is not a new generation of cards, but rather an incremental improvement based on the same RDNA 2 architecture. The main difference here is the usage of quicker memory. All three graphics cards include up to 18Gbps GDDR6 memory chips, up from 16Gbps on non-50 versions. Some AIBs will configure the 6650 XT at 17.5 Gbps though with OC models configured at 18 GBps. All graphics cards also use a comparable GPU seen from their predecessor but will arrive with increased memory and boost/game clock rates. As such the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT will sit above the Radeon RX 6900 XT, and the Radeon RX 6750 XT will sit above the Radeon RX 6700 XT. of course the Radeon RX 6650 XT will sit above the Radeon RX 6600 XT. Consider this to be AMD's own 'SUPER' however without any big advancements as the shader and RT count remain identical. The lineup is intended to provide performance enhancements ranging from 5-to-10%, and memory will play a significant role in meeting these performance objectives. Once again, the new lineup would be as follows:
- Radeon RX 6950 XT: 5120 SPs, 16GB GDDR6 (18Gbps), 256-bit bus, 335W TBP
- Radeon RX 6900 XT: 5120 SPs, 16GB GDDR6 (16Gbps), 256-bit bus, 300W TBP
- Radeon RX 6750 XT: 2560 SPs, 12GB GDDR6 (18Gbps), 192-bit bus, 250 TBP
- Radeon RX 6700 XT: 2560 SPs, 12GB GDDR6 (16Gbps), 192-bit bus, 230W TBP
- Radeon RX 6650 XT: 2048 SPs, 8GB GDDR6 (18Gbps), 128-bit bus, 180 TBP
- Radeon RX 6600 XT: 2048 SPs, 8GB GDDR6 (16Gbps), 128-bit bus, 160W TBP
This week we'll have a wide selection of graphics cards from that new 6x50 series to show you. In this particular review, we'll look at the MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT Gaming X. It is MSI's more premium graphics card in this very mainstream class and segment, despite the fact that it is substantially simpler than a high-end model, and so only comes close to living up to its designation. For example, the reputable Twinfrozr / Gaming-X cooler was decreased from three Axial fans to two. Aside from the lower length, the cooler's design is nearly identical to that of its bigger sibling. Anyway, before we get into the review, let's start with some images and a short architectural overview.