AMD RX 6500 XT vs. 6 used GPUs | Is it really THAT bad?

Comparing the controversial AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT graphics card against cheaper, older GPUs and more powerful options at the same price point in 2022

Whether or not your PC is up to scratch for PCIe 4.0, you are likely going to be disappointed by the RX 6500 XT in one way or another. The 4GB VRAM, the limited memory bandwidth, the lack of encoding and video outputs all combine to make a pretty lousy experience for gamers on a budget. In this video, I'm investigating whether the RX 6500 XT is really worse than cards which preceded it, and whether there's a better way of spending your money.

00:00 Intro
00:36 Is it really THAT bad?
01:43 The fault in our cards
04:03 If not the RX 6500 XT, then what?
06:21 RX 6500 XT vs. used GPUs: Performance
15:10 RX 6500 XT vs. used GPUs: Value
18:49 The Bottom Line

Still interested in the RX 6500 XT? The cheapest UK price is on Amazon:

NimeZ drivers (third-party option for older AMD cards that are no longer officially supported):

GPUs covered:
RX 6500 XT
RX 480
R9 Fury X
R9 290
GTX 1070
GTX 980 Ti
GTX 970

Games featured:
God of War
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade
Forza Horizon 5
Halo Infinite
Cyberpunk 2077
Splitgate
Call of Duty: Vanguard
Fortnite
Battlefield 2042
Call of Duty: Warzone
Control Ultimate Edition
Horizon: Zero Dawn

S P E C S
(Affiliate links)

*PCIE 3.0 Test rig (the MPG PC)*

*PCIE 4.0 Test PC (the MVP PC)*

P A T R E O N

O T H E R V I D E O S

A D S
The following links are affiliated. Everything costs the same to you, but I get a commission. Please only click these links if you want to help me out!

G E A R
Audio:

Video:

C O N T A C T
Twitter/Insta @IcebergTop10s

#radeon #scalperpandemic #graphicscard

[MartindeBoer]

Nice video and analysis. I have a bought a RX 6500 XT and even after watching your video, I am happy with my purchase. The framerates are simply good enough. You have again proven that point. I play games only occasionally, so that doesn't warrant a more expensieve new graphics card like the RTX 3050 or the Radeon RX 6600. I have paired it with an Intel I5-11400, so I can use the PCI-Express 4.0 bus, which makes the card work as intended. I don't need to record anything, I am not into streaming. And I only use 1 monitor. So for me this card is absolutely fine.

[alcatraz]

The Rx 480 was way ahead of its time for 200$ back in 2016, you could play an imaginable game at 1080 ultra settings

[raresmacovei]

Not that I am necessarily defending the 6500 XT, but Control has a problem with loading textures by default. You need a mod to fix it. Not the card's fault.

HZD also has a problem with AMD and 4 GB GPUs. Not the 6500 XT especially. ALL 4 GB AMD GPUs. It just loads lower quality textures for some reason. Can't tell if it's a game or driver issue.

[livingthedream]

Don't forget that many Fury GPUs can be massively undervolted to knock off some serious watts, I managed to undervolt from 1.250v to 1.130v while holding stock 1050mhz and according to HWinfo64 I knocked my core peaks from 280w to 210w! I'm sure if drop the clock speeds I can go even lower!

[andreilee]

Awesome video Iceberg! Excellent comparison of the new vs. used market for budget GPU buyers these days.

[Spark_Plug]

There are many reason i love from rx 6500xt:
1. The card is sold at reasonable price and not being inflated by scalper (although people said it's overpriced, it's better than used vga being sold more expensive than this with worst performance)
2. Very efficient. From your video, the card rarely draw over 100watts and it still achieve over 60 fps on most games. Certainly very appealing for people with expensive electricity in their country
3. Nobody want it. From scalper to miner, even the reviewer saw this card as garbage while the actual performance isn't that bad, thus making the stock readily available.

[yourmuma]

cool video. All the others channels just show how new gpu are better but for a budget viewer I really appreciate these videos

[IcebergTech]

UPDATE!
As of now, AMD have issued a new legacy driver for the R9 290, R9 Fury X and other GCN 1, 2 and 3-based GPUs. This doesn't appear to be a U-turn by AMD, as the cards are all still considered "legacy" products, but it is still a welcome update- especially for those uncertain about installing third-party drivers

[THC]

Oh how I looked forward to this card, after researching and dreaming about the RX 5500 XT I figured this card would be that but with ray tracing. Then details started coming out. 4 GB VRAM, PCIe 4.0 x4, no video encoders. And the glimmer of hope that the 6500 XT gave me just fizzled out. It could’ve been the perfect upgrade to my RX 460 if it was just a sequel to the RX 5500 XT +ray tracing. But my RX 460 could encode video, and therefore capture gameplay with my friends, the 6500 XT can’t. My RX 460 was already a 4 GB ROG STRIX variant, and at least had an x8 PCIe connection where my motherboard currently only has PCIe 3.0. This card was one of the many disappointments of the gpu shortage/scalper pandemic. Let’s hope the RX 7500 XT, if there is one, is everything this card should have been, at least an x8 connection, options for 8 GB, and especially video encoders. No leftover laptop gpu nonsense.

[eskimo]

My issue is its inconsistency, it's just all over the place. Nice vid though :)

[Woodwerker]

I bought this card recently for $79.00 at Microcenter - open box item which was totally new. It is a great bargain card for that price.

[MisterTonyG]

Underrated channel, keep up the good work. I'm not in the market for a card as my RTX 2070 does the job at 1440p.

My previous card was an Rx 480 4gb and that card was and still is great bang for the buck. It's a shame that prices are all over due to Crypto and everything else. I bought that Rx 480 used in 2017 for $100. Resold it for $100 in 2020 when I picked up my RTX 2070. I could have taxed the person as everyone was selling 480s for $200 but I figured I would give him a good deal, I didn't need the extra $100 that badly.

[billmcfadden]

Here in Canada, paying the same price for a 3 generation old GPU is a no go. Any improvement over my old card is worth the price and they are actually starting to go on sale here.

[Jeymez]

rx 6500 xt owner here, i just wanna say all the points you made are valid, but let me add this.
if your coming from a GTX 1050 like me, then what i wanna say is, if you can afford it go ahead and try and see if you can build a new PC. that's what i decided to do,

so here's my full build, except for the case and power supply, didn't need to buy a new case and my power supply is 750 watt 80 plus gold. so i have more than enough headroom.

Intel Core i5 12400 12th gen lga1700 - price i paid = 175 at Microcenter
16gb Corsair ram - price 79
Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 6500 XT - price i paid = 200 at Microcenter
motherboard MSI Pro Z690-P LGA1700 Intel 12th gen - price i paid = 150

total cost for the build = $604 dollars. i already have a 256gb solid state as a boot drive, and i have a 2TB WD for storage. so didn't need to buy that, and also Intel 10th, 11th, and 12th gen motherboards are pci 4.0 compatible, can't say for sure on 10th gen but it is on 11th and 12th gen. so that is my build from my previous PC FX 8320 and GTX 1050, but im still keeping that PC for older games. the only thing i did was i bought the 1660 as a replacement for the 1050.

okay so why build a new PC and grab the weakest GPU instead of an RX 6600 or RTX 3060, because i wanted to future proof myself. by building a new PC, i can worry about getting a better card later. i just got a PS5 and i still have an Xbox One X, so those can fill a gap. ill be getting a Series X at some point, so if you don't max out the settings i been able to play some games in 1080p. if you turn the resolution down to 1600 by 900p you can actually turn up some setting from medium to high you can get pretty good fps.
yes it's not the best the card you can buy, but you can certainly do worse. atleast with this card it gets you in the door and it is an up to date card, but im not recommending this build.
if you want to build something similar but you don't feel like waiting for the next cards from Nvidia and Radeon to come, well my suggestion would be the 3060ti or the 6600 XT, now honest opinion the 3070 or 6700 XT if you can afford it that would be the route to go from a 1060 or 580. i only grabbed the 6500 for now as a stop gap, but everything else is all built for the future.

now one little tip to those of you that do decide to buy the 6500, yes it has HTPC, so if your a channel on YouTube, you won't be able to record. however there's always ways of getting around that, im not much of a channel so it's not a deal-breaker for me, and the little gameplays i do i use the Xbox through Elgato Capture to stream through OBS.

[BeefLettuceAndPotato]

Here early and can't wait to watch.
Also love to see the 6400 as well, especially for SFF builds.

[shadow]

Very good review but one thing is missed that was not taken into consideration. when the 6500xt came out a 480 was $300, and 1070 even more. inflation in the USA since these cards came out including Tariff prices makes them about 35% more expensive. 5 years ago this would have been a $150 card and it's unfortunate AMD has to try to sell a card in this climate. even now as prices are coming down the closest competitors are just now starting to compete. 5 months ago this card was a godsend for many people needing a GPU. Today unless you have to buy new it doesn't make as much sense but this card actually gave people a product to buy. I built a $700 test system with this card to resell 4 months ago and it was very impressive(pared with an 11400). I did not get the texture issues in halo that you did, I wonder if it is a newer driver bug. I'm glad to see prices coming down and cards to be affordable again.

[jellyd]

It is now approx 150 euros. Which is less than 150 dollars. There ends some of the arguments against the card.

[mikee-wfnd]

used miner msi 470 online purchased made it through the stay at home years, played pc emulators all day and even watch Netflix , weTV and iQiyi every night. AMD rx gpu series are good value in some pc related apps.

[RaphaelSwinkels]

good video! happy to hear you mentioned the nimez drivers, but it was short and people have short memory span, would be nice if you had a link or so.. people are lazy sorry, i aint i know where to get them but.. not everyone. good informative video not only hating on the bad gpu 6500xt but good benchmarks and drivers to prove the difference

[konstantinlozev]

Thankfully, the Rx 6600 took the place of Rx 6500 in terms of pricing. So, no reason to go lower than Rx 6600. Unless sub-200 USD.
In which case I think Rx 5700xt for USD 150 or GTX 1070 for USD 100 are fine options.