Radeon RX 5500 XT Launch Review Round Up

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Schro

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Looks like a solid card. Interesting there's an 8GB model, not sure if that's really useful at this performance level, but I guess it's a good option to have.
 
Priced even with Nv. This is the new normal people.

Snippet from The FPS Review:

"There is something we really need to discuss though, and that is the 8GB variant of the Radeon RX 5500 XT. The MSRP for this is set at $199, that’s a pretty big difference from the $169 pricing of the 4GB variant for just a simple VRAM capacity difference.

The problem is that the competition GeForce GTX 1660 is $199. Yet, in this review, it has been shown that Radeon RX 5500 XT GPU performs back-and-forth with GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER, not GTX 1660, which should naturally be faster. That’s going to potentially present a problem for the Radeon RX 5500 XT."

https://www.thefpsreview.com/2019/12/12/sapphire-pulse-radeon-rx-5500-xt-4g-oc-review/15/
 
Price/Perforance is actually worse than both NVidia, and AMD Polaris.

My thoughts are that AMD currently has little interest in selling these in volume, as Polaris cards are probably cheaper to build for similar performance, and the Navi chips are more needed for Windows Laptops and Apple computers where they can get more money for them, and in the case of Windows Laptops, open new markets.

Edit:
Videocardz review roundup:
https://videocardz.com/83712/amd-radeon-rx-5500-xt-review-roundup
 
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Auer said:
Priced even with Nv. This is the new normal people.

Snippet from The FPS Review:

"There is something we really need to discuss though, and that is the 8GB variant of the Radeon RX 5500 XT. The MSRP for this is set at $199, that’s a pretty big difference from the $169 pricing of the 4GB variant for just a simple VRAM capacity difference.

The problem is that the competition GeForce GTX 1660 is $199. Yet, in this review, it has been shown that Radeon RX 5500 XT GPU performs back-and-forth with GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER, not GTX 1660, which should naturally be faster. That’s going to potentially present a problem for the Radeon RX 5500 XT."

https://www.thefpsreview.com/2019/12/12/sapphire-pulse-radeon-rx-5500-xt-4g-oc-review/15/
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You left out this part of the quote.

Now, we haven’t actually tested the performance between the two yet, so this is just conjecture. But logically it makes sense. We will have to test this directly and see what happens, so stay tuned for that.
 
Gideon said:
You left out this part of the quote.

Now, we haven’t actually tested the performance between the two yet, so this is just conjecture. But logically it makes sense. We will have to test this directly and see what happens, so stay tuned for that.
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It was a snippet from the page I linked to. I left out a lot of things but provided a link.
 
Gideon said:
You left out this part of the quote.

Now, we haven’t actually tested the performance between the two yet, so this is just conjecture. But logically it makes sense. We will have to test this directly and see what happens, so stay tuned for that.
Click to expand...

It's not like there aren't another dozen reviews to check on that. 4GB and 8GB perform essentially identical, so the 8GB 5500XT does not catch the 1660. 4GB might present issues in a few games, but that won't make it catch the 1660.

GN tested 4GB vs 8GB 5500XT, and it was only in SOTR that 4GB choked.

Do note that the 4GB 1650 Super did NOT choke in SOTR, it apparently has better memory compression/utilization, making another nail in the 5500XT coffin, or at least until AMD drops pricing below NVidias.

 
Snowdog said:
It's not like there aren't another dozen reviews to check on that. 4GB and 8GB perform essentially identical, so the 8GB 5500XT does not catch the 1660. 4GB might present issues in a few games, but that won't make it catch the 1660.

GN tested 4GB vs 8GB 5500XT, and it was only in SOTR that 4GB choked.

Do note that the 4GB 1650 Super did NOT choke in SOTR, it apparently has better memory compression/utilization, making another nail in the 5500XT coffin, or at least until AMD drops pricing below NVidias.

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Lots of reviews, doesn't mean I trust every person that puts one up. I commented on it as I felt it was left out on purpose even tho I figured there is probably not a huge difference between a 4GB and a 8GB card your just paying for the extra memory. The 1650 Super and the 5500XT are pretty much identical, 1 will do better then the other depending on the game and priced the same. People got more choices and I see nothing wrong with that.
 
Gideon said:
Lots of reviews, doesn't mean I trust every person that puts one up. I commented on it as I felt it was left out on purpose even tho I figured there is probably not a huge difference between a 4GB and a 8GB card your just paying for the extra memory. The 1650 Super and the 5500XT are pretty much identical, 1 will do better then the other depending on the game and priced the same. People got more choices and I see nothing wrong with that.
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Until AMD drops prices, these cards have no reason to exist, as they are inferior to the competition in every way, and inferior to AMDs previous GPUs in almost every way.
 
At best, this is a meh. Start high and drop prices in 3-6 months once excess new polaris cards are all gone. The 8GB variants are mostly pointless at those prices of $220-250 (rgb variants looks like). So long as the 1660 Supers stay in stock and don't hyper inflate anymore they win the $230-250 realm. I don't think 8gb 550XT's are worth the extra money over 4gb variants or the 6gb 1660 at $200-210. At $225+ for the custom AIB they really aren't compared to the 1660 Super.

This is the old 2gb vs 4gb arguments of 2014-15 and then the 6gb vs 8gb of 2016. If you're going to keep the card for 2+ years, maybe the 8gb card is worth it now given new consoles this next year. Tis a mighty big if given the last 4-5 years. Why not buy cheap/used polaris and wait it out a year or two?

128bit cards for $170-200, up to $225+ for custom AIB cards with 8gb of ram. Welcome to the state of gpu's in 2019, soon to be 2020.
 
It is sad. I’ve had an RX 480 8GB for 3 years or so. Don’t need to own basically the same card again for almost the same price. Really disappointed in this launch.
 
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tdkuhl said:
It is sad. I’ve had an RX 480 8GB for 3 years or so. Don’t need to own basically the same card again for almost the same price. Really disappointed in this launch.
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These cards are not meant for you to upgrade from a 480, problem is they have moved that price point up quite a bit to upgrade. Both Nvidia and AMD seem to be in no hurry to offer you a nice jump in performance for a low price.
 
Good little boost for even rx 580 owners

Sell the card for 80 bucks and you've got a new one for $120.
 
Ranulfo said:
At best, this is a meh. Start high and drop prices in 3-6 months once excess new polaris cards are all gone. The 8GB variants are mostly pointless at those prices of $220-250 (rgb variants looks like). So long as the 1660 Supers stay in stock and don't hyper inflate anymore they win the $230-250 realm. I don't think 8gb 550XT's are worth the extra money over 4gb variants or the 6gb 1660 at $200-210. At $225+ for the custom AIB they really aren't compared to the 1660 Super.

This is the old 2gb vs 4gb arguments of 2014-15 and then the 6gb vs 8gb of 2016. If you're going to keep the card for 2+ years, maybe the 8gb card is worth it now given new consoles this next year. Tis a mighty big if given the last 4-5 years. Why not buy cheap/used polaris and wait it out a year or two?

128bit cards for $170-200, up to $225+ for custom AIB cards with 8gb of ram. Welcome to the state of gpu's in 2019, soon to be 2020.
Click to expand...

It's been that way for about 15 years. The FX 5700 Ultra, 6600GT , the 7600 GT, the 8600 GTS,

It then disappeared for a a few years (until Maxwell's amazing memory compression surfaced).

It's usually unleashed by brand new memory tech (GDDR3 for 6600 GT, GDDR5 for Maxwell, now GDDR6), combined with the latest in memory efficiency enhancements (GeForce FX was the first platform with memory compression, then they didn't seriously revise it until Kepler and Maxwell).

AMD has done well to catch up to Pascal with Navi. They only added memory compression starting with the 285.
 
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No one is gonna want a 1660 when you can have a XFX RX 5500 XT Thicc II Pro! For only $220!
 
Gideon said:
These cards are not meant for you to upgrade from a 480, problem is they have moved that price point up quite a bit to upgrade. Both Nvidia and AMD seem to be in no hurry to offer you a nice jump in performance for a low price.
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$300 for an RX5700 is a nice jump in performance for a low price.
 
ManofGod said:
$300 for an RX5700 is a nice jump in performance for a low price.
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Eh, 3 years later for a $25 price increase is not that exciting. Thats for custom AIB cards too. The reference 480s launched at 199/239 for 4GB/8GB.
 
Ranulfo said:
Eh, 3 years later for a $25 price increase is not that exciting. Thats for custom AIB cards too. The reference 480s launched at 199/239 for 4GB/8GB.
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Not really understanding what yuou mean there. The RX5700 is at least 2x the speed of the RX480, but most likely more than that. What did you expect in all seriousness, an RX5700 beater for less than $200?
 
ManofGod said:
$300 for an RX5700 is a nice jump in performance for a low price.
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Yeah it's not a bad upgrade by any means but it's more mid tier by price, I was talking more into line of the 5500 series. Like I said before if my 1080 blew up today I would buy a 5700XT to replace it.
 
ManofGod said:
Not really understanding what yuou mean there. The RX5700 is at least 2x the speed of the RX480, but most likely more than that. What did you expect in all seriousness, an RX5700 beater for less than $200?
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I expected the 5700 to top out at no more than $300, not start at $350 and work its way down 6 months later for some ok deals for AIB or $280 area reference cards. The 5700 is a Polaris replacement.
 
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Snowdog said:
It's not like there aren't another dozen reviews to check on that. 4GB and 8GB perform essentially identical, so the 8GB 5500XT does not catch the 1660. 4GB might present issues in a few games, but that won't make it catch the 1660.

GN tested 4GB vs 8GB 5500XT, and it was only in SOTR that 4GB choked.

Do note that the 4GB 1650 Super did NOT choke in SOTR, it apparently has better memory compression/utilization, making another nail in the 5500XT coffin, or at least until AMD drops pricing below NVidias.
Click to expand...

In the GDDR5 era, AMD needed a 256 bit bus to edge out Nvidias 192 bit bus. In the GDDR6 era, AMD should have a 192 bit bus to edge out nvidias 128 bit offering.
 
4GB vs 8GB test.

TLDW - Almost half the games choke a bit at 4GB while the other half are totally unaffected. Note that most of the games that choke on 4GB 5500, don't seem to choke on the 4GB 1650 Super, so NVidia does seem to have more efficient memory handling.

 
Another followup, on some of the reason for that choking. AMD equipped the 5500Xt with PCIe 4 X8, which on most MBs operates as PCIe 3 x 8, which means half the bandwidth. The 1650 has PCIe 3 x16, so it doesn't get slowed down.

Hopefully AMD don't screwup the 5600 like this:

 
From the same review as above, GG.

Screenshot - 12_23_2019 , 08_57_27.png
 
It should be noted for that slide, that is one of the few games where Intel system seemed to be affected. Most of the time there was no apparent impact on the Intel system.
 
tdkuhl said:
It is sad. I’ve had an RX 480 8GB for 3 years or so. Don’t need to own basically the same card again for almost the same price. Really disappointed in this launch.
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Yeah, Put me down for a solid "Meh". I don't game beyond 1080p and my $100 Ebay special 8GB RX580 card does a great job at that resolution.
 
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Dr. Righteous said:
Yeah, Put me down for a solid "Meh". I don't game beyond 1080p and my $100 Ebay special 8GB RX580 card does a great job at that resolution.
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Not sure why anyone would have expected anything other the meh if they already have a good card in their system. This is for future sales and for getting off the old process node.
 
ManofGod said:
Not sure why anyone would have expected anything other the meh if they already have a good card in their system. This is for future sales and for getting off the old process node.
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Past few years I've been in a long term "wait and see" mode. Right now even my old FX8150 does fine for 1080p gaming. I was really wanting to upgrade to at lest a Ryzen 7 mainly not for gaming but media productions. But the majority of that stuff I simply don't do anymore. The old FX system does fine at everything I currently throw at it. Really the main motivation for upgrading to a Ryzen was to go with a mATX and a small cabinet board for a smaller footprint. My current right is in a roll around 19" gear rack I use to have audio gear in. Takes up a lot of dang space. I don't see much value in 4k gaming on a flat screen; VR is the future for that. But VR is a bit to pricey for me right now. So for now Yeah, it is all a "Meh".
 
Poor mans AMD card why settle for less when you can marry Nvidia. When Ampere launches in 2020 the outdated AMD drivers will drive a person nuts.
 
ManofGod said:
Not sure why anyone would have expected anything other the meh if they already have a good card in their system. This is for future sales and for getting off the old process node.
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it's a terrible value. And will be outdated fairly soon, along with the rest of the Navi's. Future sales....

AMD is keeping their foot on the gas with CPU's, and falling asleep at the wheel with GPU's.
 
Auer said:
it's a terrible value. And will be outdated fairly soon, along with the rest of the Navi's. Future sales....
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Nah. It'll get a couple of years of life as a Polaris replacement, when it reaches the point that it is cheaper to produce than Polaris. There isn't much incentive for AMD to push them out now in volume, as they probably need the 7nm fab allocaiton for more important products.

Next year it can be re-branded as the 6500 with a clock speed bump and maybe all 24 CUs enabled.
 
Auer said:
it's a terrible value. And will be outdated fairly soon, along with the rest of the Navi's. Future sales....

AMD is keeping their foot on the gas with CPU's, and falling asleep at the wheel with GPU's.
Click to expand...
Hardly. AMD's recent GPU activity got Nvidia to lower prices AND add new features to their drivers. Some of which have been asked for a long time. And after AMD's major driver update a week ago, well they keep pushing the status quo. Everything is fine.
 
They are using the 24 CU parts for Apple. They are just using the defective parts that need to be cut down for the 5500 series.

They may as well just keep producing the RX 500 series and leave the 7 nm parts for the CPUs.

I’m just disappointed that 4 years later and price to performance really hasn’t changed. The Navi cards are nice, just overpriced. Just like the latest Nvidia parts.
 
Auer said:
it's a terrible value. And will be outdated fairly soon, along with the rest of the Navi's. Future sales....

AMD is keeping their foot on the gas with CPU's, and falling asleep at the wheel with GPU's.
Click to expand...

No, they are not falling asleep with GPU's, at all. They are doing development and research as time and money allow. Heck, they have only been on their new archtitecture for about 6 months and that is all. Not sure where you think the GPU's and Navi will be outdated soon, when they are no where close to be outdated in any fashion or manner.

The 5500XT are generally a very good value, for what you are getting. Also, the 5600XT will eventually be out and the 500 series will be dead, as far as new cards go. That said, I think anything below the 5700, except used cards, is probably not worth purchasing, anyways.
 
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