AMD has a new entry-level RX 6000-series GPU, the $199 RX 6500 XT, which shaves off a considerable $179 from the company’s previous cheapest RDNA 2 GPU, the $379 RX 6600 XT released over the summer.
AMD is aiming the new Radeon RX 6500 XT at owners of older graphics cards (like the GTX 1650 or RX 570) who are looking for a wallet-friendly upgrade, promising modern features like FidelityFX Super Resolution (AMD’s AI-based supersampling technology) and an overall boost in performance compared to older GPUs.
The RX 6500 XT effectively cuts the specs of the pricier RX 6600 XT in half, offering 16 compute units, 4GB of GDDR6 RAM, a 2,610MHz game clock, and a 2,815MHz boosted clock, while drawing 107W of power.
AMD also announced a new RX 6400 GPU, which slots in below the RX 6500 XT in terms of overall power, but that model will be limited to pre-built OEM systems and not as a standalone consumer product.
Notably, both the RX 6500 XT and the RX 6400 GPUs are AMD’s first to use a 6nm process node for production — the other, more powerful RX 6000 series GPUs that AMD has previously released all still use an older 7nm process. The new production technology here could indicate that refreshes for the company’s more powerful cards could be coming down the line in the future, too, though.
The RX 6500 XT goes on sale on January 19th for a suggested retail price of $199 — as with the RX 6600 XT, AMD isn’t selling its own version of the RX 6500 XT, meaning you’ll have to pick one up from an AMD partner when the release date rolls around (and prices may be higher than AMD’s $199 estimate).