Introduction

Radeon RX 5500 XT Market Segment Analysis Price Shader

Units ROPs Core

Clock Boost

Clock Memory

Clock GPU Transistors Memory GTX 1650 $150 896 32 1485 MHz 1665 MHz 2000 MHz TU117 unknown 4 GB, GDDR5, 128-bit RX 570 $110 2048 32 1168 MHz 1244 MHz 1750 MHz Ellesmere 5700M 4 GB, GDDR5, 256-bit RX 5500 unknown 1408 32 1670 MHz 1845 MHz 1750 MHz Navi 14 6400M 4 GB, GDDR6, 128-bit RX 5500 XT $170 1408 32 1717 MHz 1845 MHz 1750 MHz Navi 14 6400M 4 GB, GDDR6, 128-bit Sapphire RX 5500 XT 4 GB

Pulse $180 1408 32 1737 MHz 1845 MHz 1750 MHz Navi 14 6400M 4 GB, GDDR6, 128-bit RX 5500 XT 8 GB $200 1408 32 1717 MHz 1845 MHz 1750 MHz Navi 14 6400M 8 GB, GDDR6, 128-bit GTX 1650 Super $160 1280 32 1530 MHz 1725 MHz 1500 MHz TU116 6600M 4 GB, GDDR6, 128-bit RX 580 $160 2304 32 1257 MHz 1340 MHz 2000 MHz Ellesmere 5700M 8 GB, GDDR5, 256-bit GTX 1060 3 GB $170 1152 48 1506 MHz 1708 MHz 2002 MHz GP106 4400M 3 GB, GDDR5, 192-bit GTX 1060 $210 1280 48 1506 MHz 1708 MHz 2002 MHz GP106 4400M 6 GB, GDDR5, 192-bit RX 590 $180 2304 32 1469 MHz 1545 MHz 2000 MHz Polaris 30 5700M 8 GB, GDDR5, 256-bit GTX 1660 $210 1408 48 1530 MHz 1785 MHz 2000 MHz TU116 6600M 6 GB, GDDR5, 192-bit GTX 1070 $300 1920 64 1506 MHz 1683 MHz 2002 MHz GP104 7200M 8 GB, GDDR5, 256-bit RX Vega 56 $270 3584 64 1156 MHz 1471 MHz 800 MHz Vega 10 12500M 8 GB, HBM2, 2048-bit GTX 1660 Super $230 1408 48 1530 MHz 1785 MHz 1750 MHz TU116 6600M 6 GB, GDDR6, 192-bit GTX 1660 Ti $280 1536 48 1500 MHz 1770 MHz 1500 MHz TU116 6600M 6 GB, GDDR6, 192-bit

The newest kid of the block for gamers is the Radeon RX 5500 XT from AMD. We got our hands on a Sapphire RX 5500 XT 4 GB Pulse graphics card to explore the most affordable custom-design rendition of the GPU. The RX 5500 XT is targeted at the DIY retail channel (standalone graphics cards you buy at a store or online). It comes in two variants, 8 GB and 4 GB. Besides memory size, the two variants have identical specifications. The RX 5500 series was originally announced back in October, and since then, the company prioritized shipping the RX 5500M and RX 5500 (desktop) to OEMs, with no retail availability in sight.The RX 5500 series is based on AMD's second 7 nm "Navi" family GPU, the "Navi 14." This chip has all of the generational newness in the form of the RDNA graphics architecture, GDDR6 memory, PCI-Express gen 4.0 support, and the entire software feature set of the RX 5700 series. AMD is stabbing at the crucial sub-$200 market with the RX 5500 series, promising full-detail AAA gaming at 1080p and bleeding edge e-Sports gaming. The company is expected to phase out the "Polaris" based RX 570 and RX 580 with the introduction of the RX 5500 series, as the new cards are designed for the same use case, but with improved power and noise characteristics thanks to 7 nm.The Radeon RX 5500 XT surprisingly does not max out the "Navi 14" silicon, which physically features 24 RDNA compute units. The RX 5500 XT has the same 22 compute units as the RX 5500 we reviewed last month. What's more, it even has the same GPU and memory clock speeds with up to 1845 MHz boost and 14 Gbps (GDDR6-effective) memory. The only contraption that currently maxes out "Navi 14" is the Radeon Pro 5500M found exclusively on the Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch.The RX 5500 XT is configured with 22 RDNA compute units amounting to 1,408 stream processors, 88 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 128-bit wide GDDR6 memory interface. The 4 GB variant uses four common 8 Gbit memory chips, but the 8 GB variant uses segment-first 16 Gbit chips. AMD rates the typical board power of the RX 5500 XT at 130 W, which is perhaps the biggest dividend of the switch to 7 nm.The Sapphire RX 5500 XT 4 GB Pulse we're reviewing today sticks to AMD-reference clock speeds and has a design focus on low gaming noise. The Pulse features a proper aluminium fin-stack heatsink with a copper base-plate and three heat pipes spreading heat across the fin stack and also offers a few premium features, such as idle fan-stop, dual-BIOS, and a metal backplate. Sapphire is pricing the Radeon RX 5500 4 GB Pulse at $180, a minor $10 premium over the $169 AMD baseline.