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AMD GPU 6600xt is now only $189. What it means for PC Gaming.

Miyazaki’s Slave

Gold Member
With all the noise Steam Deck made I still think Valve should revive Steam Machines... At least one or two SKUs at most instead of "everyone makes their own" with the advantage of pre-optimized settings and pre-compiled shaders ala Steam Deck
Valve is....finicky to say the least when it comes to their hardware support.

HoloISO provides almost all the positives of the steam deck with only a few drawbacks.

But I agree, having a consumer option that's "grab and go" would be nice, especially in the mid-tier performance range.
 

PaintTinJr

Member
1. Why would you get a K CPU for a budget build, and 2, even K CPUs are poor overclockers these days because of the high power usage vs low performance returns. Furthermore, components these days are clocked very close to their optimal levels out of the box. OC'ing is practically a dead hobby except for those looking to eek every last bit of performance out of their system but if you wanna do that, why would you by a budget CPU and motherboard? You need a high-end motherboard with VRMs that won't blow up when stressed.

Also, 980 Pro when you can get a 2TB SN850X for $120 or 970 Evo Plus for $100?

Your proposition isn't good because your balance is out of whack, starting with the completely useless K CPU on a budget build. You can also simply go with Ryzen. Again, OC'ing budget components in this day and age is utterly pointless.
You've missed the point of the K level CPU, or the z series mobo.

Without either you can't typically run a CPU and hold its clockspeed at 3.6Ghz - which is needed for high frame-rate gaming - and your clock options for memory are typically impaired, even without supporting the latest type (eg DDR5), as is the spec for PCIe a previous gen meaning games that stream data, or need to stream because of lack of VRAM do so over a slower interface and an interface that is shared by the NVME, which again typically supports an older throughput level from the forward looking ssd you'd prefer to buy.

Going with a K series CPU means that the base clock of the chip is suited to gaming even if paired with a non-z chipset motherboard, so the ability to "overclock" is a misnomer, it is really just the ability to clock chips like you would have in the past by staying at the factory defined turbo frequency.
 
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64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
Most people here rock a 4090
most VOCAL people. nightmare-slain nightmare-slain did a poll and the majority own a 3000/6000 series card. I own a 6650xt which is a tinge stronger than the 6600xt.

Besides that though, this is amazing!!! 2080 tier performance at under 200 is quite great, frankly. if this gets lower, we could make a build rocking this for around 500-600 dollars. I hope we get back to the days of budget ballers where a 500 doller PC would be enough to run many of the latest titles
 
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Crayon

Member
Valve is....finicky to say the least when it comes to their hardware support.

HoloISO provides almost all the positives of the steam deck with only a few drawbacks.

But I agree, having a consumer option that's "grab and go" would be nice, especially in the mid-tier performance range.

I've been using nobara from glorious eggroll. I like it a lot but I don't really know how it compares to holo.
 
Its 8gb of v-ram its enough for a budget card, u aint playing at 4k with it and u aint maxing games out.

Absolute useless argument.
It's not though, HUB did an RTX 4060ti 8GB VS 16GB of the same model at 1080p and the 1% lows on the 8GB version are really bad across the board in newer more demanding games (e.g. Calisto Protocol, RE4 Remake, Plague Tale requiem, etc.). Then there's the texture quality issues that Gaiff Gaiff pointed out like in Halo Infinite and Forspoken where much lower quality textures are loaded in instead of higher quality ones because the 8GB GPU is running out of VRAM. The 16GB GPU on the other hand powers through without a hitch.



So my question is, how do you guys expect for the 8GB 6600XT to play new current-gen games that will release 2-3 years from now if 8GB cards struggle with today's games?
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
With all the noise Steam Deck made I still think Valve should revive Steam Machines... At least one or two SKUs at most instead of "everyone makes their own" with the advantage of pre-optimized settings and pre-compiled shaders ala Steam Deck

I agree with this. But this time don’t farm the idea out to other companies. Keep it price friendly like Steam Deck.
 

Topher

Gold Member
With all the noise Steam Deck made I still think Valve should revive Steam Machines... At least one or two SKUs at most instead of "everyone makes their own" with the advantage of pre-optimized settings and pre-compiled shaders ala Steam Deck

Or just hand out licenses to their Steam OS software for free and let the open PC market run with it. Kind of like the Android approach.
 

Kenpachii

Member
It's not though, HUB did an RTX 4060ti 8GB VS 16GB of the same model at 1080p and the 1% lows on the 8GB version are really bad across the board in newer more demanding games (e.g. Calisto Protocol, RE4 Remake, Plague Tale requiem, etc.). Then there's the texture quality issues that Gaiff Gaiff pointed out like in Halo Infinite and Forspoken where much lower quality textures are loaded in instead of higher quality ones because the 8GB GPU is running out of VRAM. The 16GB GPU on the other hand powers through without a hitch.



So my question is, how do you guys expect for the 8GB 6600XT to play new current-gen games that will release 2-3 years from now if 8GB cards struggle with today's games?


As i said u aint playing ultra on a budget card, its enough.
 
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It sucks that stingy vram is being used to force obsolecence. You can get 16gb with a 6800 on amazon for under 450 now, though.
Yeah, the RX 6800 is probably the best bang for your buck right now if you can find one that is at a good price. Has the VRAM amount and compute power to stay relevant probably till the end of this gen in 2027-2028.
 

bad guy

as bad as Danny Zuko in gym knickers
As a die-hard PC gamer I recently upgraded to a RX6600 non XT some months ago. PC gaming is so much more than AAA games/graphics IMHO.

Graphics tech was easily sufficient 10 years ago to make amazing games. The point of diminishing returns has long been reached. There's no need for power hungry GPUs for some extra GFX fluff that doesn't add anything to the game and makes production times and budgets explode so that only massive scummy companies can make your new games.

I could easily afford a new 2000$ beast but it's not going to make my games better. It would run hotter, louder and consume more electricity. And I'd be adding more E-waste to the dump. As long as I hit 75fps (monitor does 75Hz) I'm good.
 
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Crayon

Member
Yeah, the RX 6800 is probably the best bang for your buck right now if you can find one that is at a good price. Has the VRAM amount and compute power to stay relevant probably till the end of this gen in 2027-2028.

Might look a little behind after the ps5 pro, but if you are buying two consoles a generation, the value proposition is uh..... halved.
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
As i said u aint playing ultra on a budget card, its enough.
No need for Ultra. A lot of the time, High settings+Highest textures (which you usually want) are enough to cripple 8GB at anything above 1080p. You usually want 10GB for 1440p. 8GB is fine for 1080p and even then, in some cases, it falters.
 
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Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Depending on the week, 6950 hold the "most bang for your buck" crown at the moment. The 6800/xt also great options of course.
Which is problematic in and of itself because you shouldn't have to fork $600 to get the best bang for your buck. Usually, the best value is at the entry and budget levels. $200 has typically been a good starting point for those looking for a decent current GPU for their PCs. RDNA2 cards are going to be three years old in just a few months. They shouldn't offer the best value anymore.
 

PaintTinJr

Member
It's not though, HUB did an RTX 4060ti 8GB VS 16GB of the same model at 1080p and the 1% lows on the 8GB version are really bad across the board in newer more demanding games (e.g. Calisto Protocol, RE4 Remake, Plague Tale requiem, etc.). Then there's the texture quality issues that Gaiff Gaiff pointed out like in Halo Infinite and Forspoken where much lower quality textures are loaded in instead of higher quality ones because the 8GB GPU is running out of VRAM. The 16GB GPU on the other hand powers through without a hitch.



So my question is, how do you guys expect for the 8GB 6600XT to play new current-gen games that will release 2-3 years from now if 8GB cards struggle with today's games?

I think the card will be fine if paired with high-end CPU/Memory/mobo/Storage with textures dialled back, but that sort of defeats the point when budget gaming PCs are usually built top heavy - with most of the budget going to a once in a while GPU purchase - so the reality of gamers having spent the budget on foundation parts to use integrated graphics for awhile and then upgrading to a budget AMD 6600Xt seems like a tiny niche of consumers buying and being able to get it to last the gen with it.
 

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
High settings+Highest textures (which you usually want) are enough to cripple 8GB at anything above 1080p. You usually want 10GB for 1440p. 8GB is fine for 1080p and even then, in some cases, it falters.
don't think you'll be playing high settings on a budget card either. Low-medium work too

So long as the game runs it runs.

All the arguments about getting a console if you're just going to buy a console equivalent PC are dumb too. You lose out on mods, (consistent access to) emulators, native backwards compat for all PC titles, many PC exclusive indie games, and a full working good PC too. It was never just about the power and better graphics, it's only one piece of the equation. The inconvenience of having to even jailbreak a console to get anywhere near this level of functionality isn't worth the ease of use for me.
 
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Buggy Loop

Member
Only games that would run out of VRAM are if you try to max + RT and then sprinkle frame gen on top, or a sad port. When Plague tale requiem at ultra 4K uses 6.2GB.. you’ll be fine for gen IF you use the 6600XT at its intended resolution and at console EQUIVALENT settings. Heavy RT is out of question.

I can’t think of a case where you would have VRAM problems. Even games that launched in shit state with memory leaks are mostly fixed.

It’s not ideal.. or you go with 6700XT when it’s on sales, personally it’s my recommendation typically, but that 6600XT price is prettt darn good.
 

Crayon

Member
Part of the reason I have no issues with this card is that I do have a PS5. It will run the few really heavy games coming out. Meanwhile, if I want to be all pcmr and "destroy" that ps5, it would take hundreds of dollars over my pc (~$600 currently) as it is.
 

Kenpachii

Member
No need for Ultra. A lot of the time, High settings+Highest textures (which you usually want) are enough to cripple 8GB at anything above 1080p. You usually want 10GB for 1440p. 8GB is fine for 1080p and even then, in some cases, it falters.

Again u don't play games on max / ultra settings or high settings if the card can't handle it.

I got a 3080, if ultra textures need 12gb of v-ram to function, the game isn't unplayable i just lower the textures 1 notch and have 100+ fps in games.

this whole "u can only play at the upper bracket of settings with a budget card" is idiotic. 8gb is by far enough.

And this whole console argument, consoles don't even run games at ultra settings to start with or max or high settings, they sit at medium solutions which sony even labels as original. As in general PC settings go far higher then what the console copy can offer. So comparing straight up one on one is stupid to say the least.

Also PC gaming is more then some unoptimized console ports nobody plays on PC anyway or console ports nobody plays. U will basically be able to play anything without issue's with a 6600xt from emulation to 1000's of pc games that are actually played on PC. But also those unoptimized console ports at settings u can't see differences anyway without zooming in by 400% frame by frame.

Honestly i play on a steam deck for a while and frankly low settings in PC games are practically already perfectly looking in 99% of the games, let alone medium.
 
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SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
It's not though, HUB did an RTX 4060ti 8GB VS 16GB of the same model at 1080p and the 1% lows on the 8GB version are really bad across the board in newer more demanding games (e.g. Calisto Protocol, RE4 Remake, Plague Tale requiem, etc.). Then there's the texture quality issues that Gaiff Gaiff pointed out like in Halo Infinite and Forspoken where much lower quality textures are loaded in instead of higher quality ones because the 8GB GPU is running out of VRAM. The 16GB GPU on the other hand powers through without a hitch.



So my question is, how do you guys expect for the 8GB 6600XT to play new current-gen games that will release 2-3 years from now if 8GB cards struggle with today's games?

8GB cards are not a good buy in 2023 if you are spending $400. But the value proposition here for a sub $200 card with a free $70 game that everyone and their mothers is going to buy is insane.

Obviously you will have to set back settings. But my OP specfiically mentioned the 1060 base that clearly had to make similar sacrifices last gen to get games running at 60 fps.
 

Zathalus

Member
You've missed the point of the K level CPU, or the z series mobo.

Without either you can't typically run a CPU and hold its clockspeed at 3.6Ghz - which is needed for high frame-rate gaming - and your clock options for memory are typically impaired, even without supporting the latest type (eg DDR5), as is the spec for PCIe a previous gen meaning games that stream data, or need to stream because of lack of VRAM do so over a slower interface and an interface that is shared by the NVME, which again typically supports an older throughput level from the forward looking ssd you'd prefer to buy.

Going with a K series CPU means that the base clock of the chip is suited to gaming even if paired with a non-z chipset motherboard, so the ability to "overclock" is a misnomer, it is really just the ability to clock chips like you would have in the past by staying at the factory defined turbo frequency.
This is not true, you can buy a non k (or x for AMD) and a B series motherboard and enjoy DDR5, high CPU clocks, and the PCIE 5 for the GPU.

Using a 13400f and B760 allows your CPU to sustain 4.1Ghz across all P-cores and 3.9Ghz across all E-Cores. No OC or heavy cooling required.

AMD is even more impressive, a 7600 (non X) with a B650e can sustain 5.2Ghz all core, once again no OC needed.

You can find all of the above for around $400 (including 32GB DDR5). Hell, you can nab a full fledged 7700x for that price as linked earlier in this thread:

 

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
This attempted point is pointless to this discussion.
your presence is pointless on this topic

Go Away GIF
 

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
Anyway, I'll concede that at $180 it is a great deal for what you get with that GPU. Likewise, that $400 7700X + Mobo + 32GB DDR5 is fire! Microcenter has some pretty insane deals no cap.
that is actually surprisingly great for a deal. still more expensive than a console and you're missing out on the case, PSU and storage but you'd be starting off on amazing specs.

plus 7700x gives a lot of headroom to upgrade to a better card later down the line without much hassle.
 
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PaintTinJr

Member
This is not true, you can buy a non k (or x for AMD) and a B series motherboard and enjoy DDR5, high CPU clocks, and the PCIE 5 for the GPU.

Using a 13400f and B760 allows your CPU to sustain 4.1Ghz across all P-cores and 3.9Ghz across all E-Cores. No OC or heavy cooling required.

AMD is even more impressive, a 7600 (non X) with a B650e can sustain 5.2Ghz all core, once again no OC needed.

You can find all of the above for around $400 (including 32GB DDR5). Hell, you can nab a full fledged 7700x for that price as linked earlier in this thread:

The info for the 13400f says otherwise direct from Intel's Ark, so a benchmark of a setup (with stock cooler) that thrashes AVX2 and uses 6 cores- like CoD heavy CPU settings do - and can sustain those frequencies would help convince me. Although when did getting no change out of £350 between CPU/mobo mean budget PC?
The z series mobos are the price of the B760 mobo that I saw in my search engine, so feels kind of moot if Intel have let them go outside spec to provide overclocking/fully unlocked power if the costs end up the same beyond budget PC.

The AMD offering looks pretty good, but given the market share, most people are typically in the market for Intel kit, hence why I used K and Z (which are intel related), so what I said is still true. A decent intel six-core CPU and mobo able to sustain 3.6Ghz across cores with support for Gen 4 PCIe and DDR5 isn't available - like was available in the past, when there was less tiers for CPU and mobo features and budget PCs really were budget.
 
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DaGwaphics

Member
I agree with this. But this time don’t farm the idea out to other companies. Keep it price friendly like Steam Deck.

I'm really surprised they haven't done this already. Focus on a nice budget friendly option, basically a console for steam.

I can see people with older PCs jumping in, they'd get to keep their old library and the games they add to it would be available if they jump back out to a more premium PC.
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
I'm really surprised they haven't done this already. Focus on a nice budget friendly option, basically a console for steam.

I can see people with older PCs jumping in, they'd get to keep their old library and the games they add to it would be available if they jump back out to a more premium PC.

I think Steam Deck is their main focus, but it wouldn’t surprise me if we got another Steam style “console” in the future.
 

Dream-Knife

Banned
It's not though, HUB did an RTX 4060ti 8GB VS 16GB of the same model at 1080p and the 1% lows on the 8GB version are really bad across the board in newer more demanding games (e.g. Calisto Protocol, RE4 Remake, Plague Tale requiem, etc.). Then there's the texture quality issues that Gaiff Gaiff pointed out like in Halo Infinite and Forspoken where much lower quality textures are loaded in instead of higher quality ones because the 8GB GPU is running out of VRAM. The 16GB GPU on the other hand powers through without a hitch.



So my question is, how do you guys expect for the 8GB 6600XT to play new current-gen games that will release 2-3 years from now if 8GB cards struggle with today's games?

HUB always has games that use more vram than my own testings. Not sure whats going on with them.
Might look a little behind after the ps5 pro, but if you are buying two consoles a generation, the value proposition is uh..... halved.
According to the leaks it's performance should be on par with a 6800 non-xt. AMD isn't releasing high end cards next gen.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
I think the card will be fine if paired with high-end CPU/Memory/mobo/Storage with textures dialled back, but that sort of defeats the point when budget gaming PCs are usually built top heavy - with most of the budget going to a once in a while GPU purchase - so the reality of gamers having spent the budget on foundation parts to use integrated graphics for awhile and then upgrading to a budget AMD 6600Xt seems like a tiny niche of consumers buying and being able to get it to last the gen with it.
I really dont think it needs to be paired up with a high end CPU. Storage and RAM dont make any difference whatsoever right now, maybe in the future, but as long as they get a somewhat decent CPU like the 3600, they should be fine with this GPU.

And the 3060 which is currently the second most popular card on the steam survey had a massive 10% market share as recently as March. That GPU isnt even as powerful as the 6600xt. Though its 12 gb variant might be, im not sure. But the 3060 equivalent cards are hardly niche in the PC place. the 1060, 1650, 2060 and 3060 are the top 4 cards on steam hardware surveys. They are easily the most popular. I can promise you, no one is pairing them up with $450 CPUs.

Besides, this whole vram nonsense only started this year with exceptionally poor ports like hogwarts, tlou and star wars. tlou and hogwarts have since been fixed. TLOU even fixed their medium textures which looked like ps2 era textures. surely that was not an 8GB vram issue.

I personally think its amazing that a double digit tflops GPU is under $200. Even the 3060 is still $260 and doesnt come with a free $70 game.
 

PaintTinJr

Member
I really dont think it needs to be paired up with a high end CPU. Storage and RAM dont make any difference whatsoever right now, maybe in the future, but as long as they get a somewhat decent CPU like the 3600, they should be fine with this GPU.

And the 3060 which is currently the second most popular card on the steam survey had a massive 10% market share as recently as March. That GPU isnt even as powerful as the 6600xt. Though its 12 gb variant might be, im not sure. But the 3060 equivalent cards are hardly niche in the PC place. the 1060, 1650, 2060 and 3060 are the top 4 cards on steam hardware surveys. They are easily the most popular. I can promise you, no one is pairing them up with $450 CPUs.

Besides, this whole vram nonsense only started this year with exceptionally poor ports like hogwarts, tlou and star wars. tlou and hogwarts have since been fixed. TLOU even fixed their medium textures which looked like ps2 era textures. surely that was not an 8GB vram issue.

I personally think its amazing that a double digit tflops GPU is under $200. Even the 3060 is still $260 and doesnt come with a free $70 game.
Well my workstation with a 12GB RTX 3060 in it has a old Xeon with a 2.8GHz base clock with 30MB L3 cache, 32 GB of RAM and ran CoD - when my nephew tested it the other week when visiting - between 60-90fps at full ultra settings at 1080p and his budget system with a mobo new enough to have rebar enabled, 8GB RT 6650XT i5-10400F/16GB RAM can't hold 1080p60fps with lowest CPU settings and GPU settings between high/medium using medium textures.

Going by my own benchmarks when I last reconfigured his PC I don't believe putting his card in my workstation would have held up at ultra settings and with that frame-rate,, but it would have worked better than his own setup, which really needs a Z mobo to get the best of his CPU to stop it dropping to the base clock, which isn't good enough with his his small L3 cache size IMO.
 
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Zuzu

Member
We are at tipping point in generation where consoles no longer provide best bang for buck.

An entry level pc ($700) will offer similar performance while do other stuff as well.

With next gen of entry level GPUs this gap will widen still, in favour of pc. Just like happened last gen with something like gtx1060 and ps4.

With the release of the PS5 Pro next year that may once again tip the scales of value back towards consoles and so reset the status quo. But it may be true that the baseline consoles are starting to lose their best bang for buck status.
 
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Leonidas

Member
Would have meant something if it was that price 2.5 years ago when the GPU market was really messed up.

It being that price now changes nothing. RDNA2 cards are last gen leftovers and have been up to 40% off for a while now. This is approaching 50% off what was an overpriced card to start with.
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
Or just hand out licenses to their Steam OS software for free and let the open PC market run with it. Kind of like the Android approach.
I think it would be the same then with Steam Machines, they need an advantage and fixed hardware with upgrades every 3 years or so would help adoption a lot, they could incentive devs to release optimized versions with compiled shaders for them, that would be amazing imo
 

Crayon

Member
I think it would be the same then with Steam Machines, they need an advantage and fixed hardware with upgrades every 3 years or so would help adoption a lot, they could incentive devs to release optimized versions with compiled shaders for them, that would be amazing imo

A steam deck console would be amazing. But I wouldn't buy it. Because I have a pc already. I think that's the main reason they will not do it. Not just competing with pc hardware but the ethos of it. Seems like it would be disruptive to the market and doesn't actually grow the number of steam users. Steam deck went into a nascent market and now there is deckard doing it again.

Now the linux part - That's a long con. They have taken a long time so far to release steamos3. I personally though it would be out within a month of deck launching. Safe to say they are taking as much time as they need to get that right. It will get better with updates no matter what but they are still thinking of that first impression.

I use linux already and I am going to install it and try it day 0 but it's unlikely I'm going to really switch the pc in the front room. I'm doing my own thing. It's for people on windows. Most people usage of their gaming pc: games, browser, discord...???? Use and office suite for school? I think that might be it. It will be good for some of those people. Better for some. Not that many, it's not going to sweep the world. Steam Deck has not really sold that many at all but it's changing perceptions. So one day, there might be an actual alternative even if it's just 10% of the steam survey.
 
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