Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

AMD bolsters Navi with new $279 RX 5600 XT graphics card at CES 2020

By

The Radeon RX 5600 XT becomes the newest member of the Radeon family at CES 2020.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

AMD’s mid-range division of its Navi graphics card line has some new reinforcements. Following the debut of the entry-level RX 5500 XT in December 2019, AMD has now unveiled its RX 5600 XT, which the company is heralding as the ultimate 1080p gaming card. Although a welcome addition to the lineup, this debut was far from surprising, as multiple leaks over the preceding weeks told us almost everything to expect from the new card.

Recommended Videos

Although we don’t have third-party benchmarks to give us a true idea of what this new card is capable of, by the numbers at least the 5600 XT slots neatly into the existing lineup of 5000-series GPUs — just between the 5700 and 5500 XT. Although its core and clocks are very near that of the 5700 (especially if you factor in overclocking from third-party manufacturers and gamers) the memory configuration is distinctly different.

Related
RX 5700 XT RX 5700 RX 5600 XT RX 5500 XT
Stream processors 2560 2,304 2,304 1,408
Base clock 1,605MHz 1,465MHz 1,235MHz 1,607Mhz
Game clock 1,755MHz 1,625MHz 1,375MHz 1,717MHz
Boost clock 1,905MHz 1,725MHz 1,560MHz 1,845MHz
Memory 8GB GDDR6 at 14 Gbps 8GB GDDR6 at 14 Gbps 6GB GDDR6 at 12 Gbps 4GB/8GB GDDR6 at 14 Gbps
Memory bus 256-bit 256-bit 192-bit 128-bit
Memory bandwidth 448GBps 448GBps 288GBps 224GBps

With just 6GB of GDDR6 (2GB less than the 5500 XT) at 12Gbps and a 192-bit memory bus, the 5600 XT has 288GBps of memory bandwidth, 35% less than the 5700. That’s where AMD has looked to curtail its performance to make it a more middle-road GPU, though it could mean that memory overclocking yields the most impressive results with this new midrange graphics card.

Radeon RX 5600 XT performance on AAA gaming titles compared to Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
Radeon RX 5600 XT performance on AAA gaming titles compared to Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti. Credit: AMD Image used with permission by copyright holder

AMD compared the RX5600 XT against Nvidia’s GTX 1660 Ti, and the Radeon performed with at least 10 frames per second better than its rival on titles such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, The Division 2, and Gears of War 5. According to AMD’s own benchmarks with these AAA game titles, the Radeon RX 5600 XT edges ahead of its rival by at least 10%. The Radeon graphics card also leads its rival in eSports gaming as well, beating the GTX in titles such as Fortnite.

The AMD RX 5600 XT won’t have a reference model, so although AMD prices it at $279, it may be slightly more expensive for most add-in board partner models. A wide array of models from manufacturers like MSI, ASRock, Gigabyte, Asus, and Powercolor, among others, will debut worldwide starting on January 21.

Additionally, AMD announced that its desktop-class RX5700 and 5600 graphics line will also be coming to mobile, with the 5600m and 5700m for laptops arriving in the first half of 2020.

This wasn’t the only AMD GPU we heard about during its press conference though. There was also a hint of the long-awaited “Nvidia Killer,” otherwise known as “Big Navi.” That should use the Navi 21 GPU, which by all reports is absolutely massive. AMD claims its performance will equal or exceed the Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti, which is an exciting prospect.

But as usual, Nvidia is waiting in the wings to pull the rug out from under AMD’s GPU announcements. Keep an eye on Digital Trends’ dedicated CES page for all the latest news from this year’s biggest tech show (so far).

Follow our live blog for more CES news and announcements.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale
Evergreen writer
Jon Martindale is a freelance evergreen writer and occasional section coordinator, covering how to guides, best-of lists, and…
An AMD RX 9060 XT with 16GB would ruin Nvidia’s second-hand market
Several AMD RX 9000 series graphics cards.

I know, I know we're all hopped up about the RX 9070 XT and 9070 launch -- I know I am. But looking beyond the potential big win AMD is on for with its first RDNA4 graphics cards, I'm also particularly excited about the potential for the rumored 9060 XT. Not because it'll be cheaper again -- it will be -- but because it might have up to 16GB of VRAM. That's going to wreck Nvidia's long-term second-hand card market, which could have a much greater impact on AMD's market share over the long term.

It's all just rumors for now, and some of my colleagues are much less excited by this than I am, but I think there's some real potential here for this little card to be a game changer.
Hitting the VRAM wall
Video memory, or VRAM, has been a front-and centre feature of graphics card spec sheets for generations, but it's started to matter a lot more in recent years. While flagship graphics cards have exploded in their VRAM quantities, with the 5090 now offering 32GB, most mainstream cards have been getting by with less. It was only a couple of generations ago that the flagship RTX 3080 only had 10GB of VRAM, and outside of the top few models, you'll still see 12GB, 10GB, or even 8GB.

Read more
AMD RX 9060 XT might not be the Nvidia-beating GPU we first thought
The RX 7600 XT graphics card on a pink background.

A new leak tells me that AMD's RX 9060 XT may repeat the same mistake as the RX 7600 XT, all the while missing out on a chance to win against rival Nvidia. While AMD's RX 9060 XT may not compete against some of the best graphics cards, it's going to be a mainstream card, which is great news for gamers. The downside, as is often the case, might lie in VRAM.

As shown in this listing filed with the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), Acer has just registered several new trademarks for its upcoming GPUs. This includes the Acer Predator Bifrost RX 9060 XT OC in two variants: One with 8GB VRAM and one with 16GB.

Read more
Best graphics cards you can actually buy right now
AMD's RX 7700 XT in a test bench.

If you've taken even a cursory glance at the graphics card market lately, you've probably put your head your hands in despair. It's rough out there right now, with Nvidia's new RTX 50-series cards impossible to find and outrageously overpriced on second hand markets, and it's last-generation RTX 40-series all but sold out and no-longer in production. AMD's best alternatives are likewise absent while we await the impending launch of the RX 9070 and 9070 XT -- and we have everything crossed they'll be available in good quantities.

But if your PC just died or you don't want to be an early adopter of a new GPU that could melt your power connectors, what are you supposed to do? While second-hand cards are always an option, it's a tricky one to recommend since you never know what those cards were used for, or even if you're actually buying a box trying to lure in scalper bots.

Read more