Over the past couple of years, few pieces of PC hardware have been in more demand than GPUs. Unfortunately, finding many of these cards have been nearly impossible for most consumers due to ongoing computer chip shortages. However, this lack of supply has not stopped companies such as AMD from continuing to release new GPUs.
Recently, AMD held a press conference for CES 2022. As one of the largest electronics expos in the world, AMD had some big announcements at the event. In addition to revealing its new line of Ryzen 6000 laptop chips, the company unveiled a new GPU aimed at those looking for a more affordable gaming option.
Known as the Radeon RX 6500 XT, this GPU is the seventh installment in the RX 6000 series. While other options in the series boast more raw power, this card has a different sort of advantage. According to AMD, the card will retail for $199. This surprisingly low price makes the card the cheapest option from the RX 6000 series and much more affordable for gamers than higher performance and higher-priced cards such as the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT. For those interested in trying to purchase this card before it sells out, the RX 6500 XT is expected to release on January 19.
In addition to revealing the price point and release date, AMD provided some details on the performance of the upcoming card. Despite being a cheaper alternative to some of AMD’s powerhouse GPUs, the RX 6500 XT still packs a punch with 4GB of GDDR6 RAM and a 2.6Ghz game clock. Furthermore, the RX 6500 XT includes some of AMD’s newest technologies, such as RDNA 2 for hardware-based raytracing and FidelityFX Super-Resolution (used to boost image quality without sacrificing as much performance). Based on statistics provided by AMD, the company claimed that the card performs better at 1080p in most games compared to the Nvidia GTX 1650 and Radeon RX 570.
In other news regarding the latest GPUs, Nvidia recently announced that it would be releasing its own budget-friendly option. Known as the RTX 3050, this graphics card falls into roughly the same price bracket as the AMD RX 6500 XT. However, it is worth mentioning that it costs slightly more at a retail price of $269.
It will be interesting to see how these new cards shake up the GPU marketplace in the coming months. Hopefully, they might help curb some of the demand that has made finding a decent GPU extremely challenging for consumers over the past couple of years.
Source: IGN