AMD has launched the RX 6500 XT, a $200 graphics card that actually costs around $200 in 2022. Erm, if you can find one, at least. Early signs on the secondhand market show prices closer to $400 due to the GPU shortage, and it looks like AMD made too many concessions with this release to earn a spot among the best 1080p graphics cards.
Hardware Unboxed calls it the worst graphics card release in two decades, and Linus Tech Tips says it’s a GPU for the desperate. I’m still waiting on a sample for my own testing, but the benchmarks that are out now paint a clear picture: The RX 6500 XT doesn’t look like a good graphics card.
There are a number of reasons why, which I’ll dig into at the bottom of this article. For now, all you need to know is that the RX 6500 XT is often outclassed by graphics cards that are several years old, and even at inflated secondhand prices, those cards should offer better features and performance. Here are three overpriced graphics cards you should buy instead of the RX 6500 XT.
AMD RX 5500 XT 4GB
Yes, the last-gen version of the RX 6500 XT is a better option, even at its inflated prices. This card launched in 2019 for just under $200, and you can find secondhand models on eBay for around $200 to $250. That’s for the 4GB model, which is still better than the RX 6500 XT. The 8GB model is more expensive and performs better, clocking in around $300 on the secondhand market.
It looks like the RX 5500 XT performs about as well was the RX 6500 XT, trading blows up or down by a few frames depending on the game. The issue with the RX 6500 XT is bandwidth, so although it should theoretically perform better than the RX 5500 XT, it doesn’t appear to in practice.
You’re giving up hardware-accelerated ray tracing by going with the older card, but none of AMD’s current-gen cards are great with ray tracing anyway. It’s more expensive, technically, though I imagine the RX 5500 XT will sell for less once the initial stock of RX 6500 XT has made its way into the hands of scalpers.
Nvidia GTX 1070
If you want a pure performance play, the Nvidia GTX 1070 is for you. The card launched in 2016 for around $400, and in 2022, you can find secondhand options between $300 and $400. That’s not terrible given how inflated prices are right now, even for a graphics card that’s five years old.
You’re looking at anywhere from a 20% to 50% performance improvement over the RX 6500 XT depending on the game. In addition to a performance uplift, the GTX 1070 offers twice the amount of video memory for more intense workloads. It doesn’t have ray tracing or Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), but those aren’t too important when stacked against the RX 6500 XT.
