When AMD launched the Radeon RX 5600 XT in Jan, one of the questions gamers had was whether the new GPU was going to replace the RX 5700. Both GPUs are based on the Navi 10 die with an identical core count of 2,304 stream processors. Moreover, post-launch, most OEMs updated the VRAM speed to 14Gbps leaving the bus width as the primary difference between the two. The 5700 has a wider 256-bit bus and an 8GB buffer while the 5600 XT is limited to 6GB across a 192-bit bus similar to the RTX 2060.

RX 5600 XT RX 5700 RX 5700 XT Shaders 2,304 2,304 2,560 Base Clock ~1500MHz 1465MHz 1605MHz Game Clock 1665MHz 1625MHz 1755MHz Boost Clock 1750MHz 1725MHz 1905MHz Memory 6GB GDDR6 8GB GDDR6 8GB GDDR6 Memory Speed 14Gbps 14Gbps 14Gbps Bus Width 192-bit 256-bit 256-bit TDP 160W 180W 225W TMUs 144 144 160 ROPs 64 64 64 Price $269 $329 $379

As per AMD, the RX 5700 is still faster than the 5600 XT (despite the near-identical specs) and is better suited for 1440p gaming while the latter offers the best performance at 1080p ultra. In this post, we compare the two GPUs across 10+ games and see how they hold up at the ultra quality preset at 1080p and 1440p.

TestBench

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X

AMD Ryzen 9 3900X GPU: Radeon RX 5700 Reference|Sapphire Pulse RX 5600 XT

Radeon RX 5700 Reference|Sapphire Pulse RX 5600 XT Motherboard: ASRock X570 Taichi

ASRock X570 Taichi Memory: Trident Z Royal 8GB x 2 @ 3600MHz CL16

Trident Z Royal 8GB x 2 @ 3600MHz CL16 Power Supply: Corsair HX1000i

Corsair HX1000i All the titles except Wildlands were tested at 1080p and 1440p ultra.

AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT vs RX 5700: 1080p Gaming Benchmarks

At 1080p, the Radeon RX 5600 XT performs within 95% of the RX 5700 in most cases, with the deltas mostly staying in 2-5 FPS range. In Division 2 and Assassins’ Creed, there’s absolutely no difference between the averages of the two cards.

At 1080p, the Radeon RX 5600 XT performs within 95% of the RX 5700 in most cases, with the deltas mostly staying in 2-5 FPS range. In Division 2 and Assassins’ Creed, there’s absolutely no difference between the averages of the two cards. I suspect we’re running into a CPU bottleneck here, but that’s another matter altogether. We already did a test yesterday comparing the card to the NVIDIA RTX 2060. You can check that here:

Just have a look at this. Metro Exodus looks way, way better than Borderlands 3 and yet it yields a higher frame rate. Gearbox’s latest looter-shooter stutters like hell and runs like absolute garbage with unbearable frame times in the latter half of the test. Just goes on to show how far well-implemented optimizations go.

Metro Exodus looks way, way better than Borderlands 3 and yet it yields a higher frame rate. Gearbox’s latest looter-shooter stutters like hell and runs like absolute garbage with unbearable frame times in the latter half of the test.

The RX 5600 XT performs pretty badly at the Badass preset in Borderlands 3 with drops into the sub-30 FPS zone more than 10 times through the course of the benchmark. As such, it’s absolutely essential to drop the graphics settings down a notch. Considering how the game looks, this is far from acceptable. If a game like Metro that is another league altogether in terms of the visual fidelity runs better, then you can be sure that Gearbox is at fault here.

AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT vs RX 5700: 1440p Gaming Benchmarks

At QHD, the RX 5600 XT falls below 50 FPS in many games, but the 5700 manages to achieve nearly 60 FPS (on average) across 9 out of 11 games tested.

At 1440p, the Radeon RX 5700 gets to stretch its legs. As I’d suspected, there was indeed a CPU bottleneck at 1080p. At QHD, the RX 5600 XT falls below 50 FPS in many cases, but the 5700 manages to stay achieve nearly 60 FPS (on average) across 9 out of 11 games tested. It’s safe to say that for a smooth 1440p gaming, it’s better to opt for either the RX 5700 or the RTX 2060 Super. We did a comparison for these cards as well:

The same result is reproduced at 1440p. While the RX 5700 performs better than the 5600 XT in both games, Metro Exodus is playable on the latter. However, the same can’t be said for Borderlands 3. There are several FPS drops into the sub-20s in the second half of the benchmark essentially rendering the game unplayable on the 5600 XT.

Conclusion

As you can see, the RX 5600 XT is clearly made for high-end 1080p gaming while the 5700 is better suited for 1440p 60 FPS. While the former can still run most titles at QHD without any problems, you’ll run into VRAM bottlenecks in certain titles. Considering that the RX 5700 costs just ~$40-50 more, it’s a small price to pay for markedly smoother gameplay and a bit of future-proofing.