Extra Memory

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT is equipped with 16GB of VRAM, an increase from the 8GB of VRAM in the RX 7600, which means that the additional cost is primarily attributed to the extra memory. However, the necessity of 16GB of VRAM on this card depends on individual requirements.

While 8GB has been the standard for VRAM for a while, there are games that demand more memory, even at 1080p. For instance, games like Cyberpunk 2077 already consume 8GB of RAM, and this trend is likely to continue with the release of new AAA PC games.

For individuals who want to play existing esports titles at 1080p, there’s no real need to pay extra for an additional 8GB of RAM. The RX 7600 will perform almost as well as the new RX 7600 XT.

AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT – Design and Specs

Unlike the AMD Radeon RX 7600, AMD did not release a reference board for the Radeon RX 7600 XT. This GPU is only available through aftermarket graphics card manufacturers such as XFX, Powercolor, and Sapphire.

Similar to the other GPUs in the Radeon 7000 series, the RX 7600 XT is built on the RDNA 3 graphics architecture. This generation introduces better ray tracing and AI accelerators built into the chip. However, these AI accelerators are intended for enterprise-level AI workloads like Stable Diffusion, rather than being used to boost FSR.

The RX 7600 XT features 32 compute units, the same as the RX 7600, which translates to 2,048 Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs). These compute units are slightly enhanced by a higher Game Clock, reaching up to 2,470MHz, as opposed to the RX 7600’s 2,250MHz. However, the higher clock speed comes with increased power consumption. The Radeon RX 7600 XT is rated for 190W total board power, while the original 7600 is rated at 165W.

During testing, the card peaked at 194W of power draw. The cooler on the PowerColor Radeon RX 7600 XT Hellhound was capable of handling the load, with temperatures peaking at just 68°C, which is lower than the Radeon RX 7600 using AMD’s own board design. With a TBP of just 190W, most versions of the graphics card are expected to remain cool, especially with customized fan curves.

However, due to the slightly higher power requirement, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT necessitates both an 8-pin and a 6-pin PCIe power connector. The card features 3 DisplayPort and 1 HDMI, similar to other AMD graphics cards of this generation.

AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT – Performance

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT is now available for $329, while the AMD Radeon RX 7600 starts at just $269, offering performance that is comparable, and sometimes almost matches what the 7600 XT can achieve, despite the additional 8GB of VRAM.

However, the RX 7700 XT is $449 and provides approximately 50% better performance at a 36% higher price. This makes it challenging to recommend the 7600 XT to anyone, as nearly equivalent performance can be obtained from a cheaper card, and saving up an extra $130 results in a noticeable difference in games.

That being said, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT is not a poor graphics card by any means; it simply does not justify purchasing this GPU when you could acquire the RX 7600 along with a full-priced game for the same cost.

For example, in Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p, the Radeon RX 7600 XT achieves 33 fps, while the RX 7600 achieves 28. However, the RX 7600 XT exhibits superior performance at 1080p, delivering 44 fps compared to the RX 7600’s 33.

While the RX 7600 XT performs well in certain games, not all games yield the same results. In Total War: Warhammer 3, the RX 7600 XT clocks 89 fps at 1080p, in contrast to the original RX 7600’s 83 fps, representing only a 7% difference in performance.

Even in synthetic benchmarks, the discrepancy is not particularly pronounced. In the 3DMark Speed Way test, for instance, the Radeon RX 7600 XT scores 2,050 points against the RX 7600’s 1,956, a mere 5% difference.

However, the outlook is much less favorable for the Radeon RX 7600 XT when compared to the $299 Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060.

Despite being $30 more expensive than the RTX 4060, the Radeon RX 7600 XT is slower most of the time, and the performance disparity significantly increases when ray tracing is enabled.

If you are in the market for a graphics card for 1080p gaming, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT will certainly get the job done. However, it is not a sensible choice when there are better alternatives available – from both AMD and Nvidia – at the same price.