Skip to main content

AMD RX 6650 XT vs. Nvidia RTX 3060: Spec comparison

An AMD Radeon RX 6500XT placed on a motherboard.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

It’s been over a year and a half since AMD introduced its RX 6000 series of GPUs, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that the company feels it’s time for a refresh. In the lower mid-range segment, AMD is introducing the RX 6650 XT to replace the 6600 XT, which is actually one of the newer RX 6000 GPUs to come out, having launched in August of last year. The RX 6650 XT is marketed toward gamers playing at 1080p just like the RX 6600 XT, and AMD is pitting it against Nvidia’s RTX 3060.

While we have the specifications and the prices of the 6650 XT, we don’t yet have our own benchmarks. Before then, we pitted the RX 6650 XT against the RTX 3060 to see how they stack up. The testing data below is AMD’s own, so don’t take it at face value.

Recommended Videos

Pricing and availability

Three graphics cards on a gray background.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

In most cases, hardware refreshes either lower prices, increase performance, or do a mixture of both. The RX 6600 XT launched at $379 last August, and the RX 6650 XT launches at $399, so it certainly isn’t a simple price cut. While AMD feels that its competition on the Team Green is the RTX 3060, which launched in February 2021 at $329, a much closer competitor is the RTX 3060 Ti, which launched in December 2020 at $399.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

However, the RTX 3060 Ti is generally not sold at $399, so AMD is focusing on the RTX 3060, which tends to sell for about $400-500 (at the time of writing). Keep in mind that AMD’s card will likely sell for above list price, too, so the RTX 3060 Ti comparison is fair.

Since 2020, MSRPs have been largely rendered meaningless by the GPU shortage, but the shortage seems to be nearly gone, as prices are dropping to near MSRP. At the moment, the 6650 XT has little to improve on in terms of availability. Although there is still a shortage, it’s not nearly as severe as it was last year.

Specs

Render of the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The RX 6650 XT is a little more expensive than the RX 6600 XT, and it comes with a slight spec bump to match. The RTX 3060 is also included in this spec comparison, but a direct comparison to the AMD cards isn’t informative and can be misleading.

RX 6600 XT RX 6650 XT RTX 3060
GPU Navi 23 Navi 23 GA106
Interface PCIe 4.0 PCIe 4.0 PCIe 4.0
CUDA cores/stream processors 2,048 2,048 3,584
Tensor cores N/A N/A 112
Ray tracing accelerators 32 ray accelerators 32 ray accelerators 28 RT cores
Base clock N/A N/A 1,320MHz
Boost clock 2,539MHz 2,635MHz 1,777MHz
Memory 8GB GDDR6 8GB GDDR6 12GB GDDR6
Bandwidth Up to 256GBps Up to 432GBps 360GBps
Memory bus 128-bit 128-bit 192-bit
TDP 160W 180W 170W

The 6650 XT has a slightly higher boost clock of 2,635 MHz, a 4% increase over the 6600 XT’s boost clock of 2,539. The refreshed model is also equipped with 18Gbps GDDR6 memory, up from the 16Gbps memory on the 6600 XT and other 6000 series GPUs. Otherwise, the 6650 XT  is identical to its predecessor: Same CUs, same amount of VRAM, and same amount of Infinity Cache.

Higher clock speed and memory bandwidth tends to translate to higher performance. However, these specs aren’t quite on the same level. Higher GPU clock speed usually translates to proportionally higher framerates, and since the clock speed is only up 4%, we would expect about that much more performance. By contrast, memory bandwidth can be a limit on performance if it’s too low, so while having high memory bandwidth is certainly a good thing, increasing bandwidth can only improve performance if there wasn’t enough in the first place.

Performance

Performance of the AMD RX 6650 XT.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Before we get into the data, we need to point out that it comes from AMD, as we have not yet conducted our own benchmarks. However, since this is a fairly simple refresh, we would expect the RX 6650 XT to lead the RX 6600 XT slightly, just based on the specs. And since we’ve already tested the RX 6600 XT against the RTX 3060, it’s pretty easy to judge if AMD’s benchmarks are realistic.

AMD provided us 1080p benchmarks from 16 games, showcasing the performance of the 6650 XT against the 3060 and the 6600 XT. These benchmarks were run on a system using a Ryzen 7 5800X3D (generally considered to be the best gaming CPU) and 16 GB of DDR4 memory at 3600MHz. In the table below, we compare AMD’s data to our own.

AMD’s Benchmarks: RX 6650 XT vs. RTX 3060 Our Benchmarks: RX 6600 XT vs. RTX 3060
Red Dead Redemption 2 +21% +5%
Fortnite +7% +4%
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla +37% +30%
Battlefield V +27% +13%

Before we compare our data to AMD’s, we need to know the difference between the RX 6650 XT and the RX 6600 XT. According to AMD’s own testing, it is consistently faster than the RX 6600 XT. At best, though, it was only 6.5% faster, and in most benchmarks, the lead was around 1-2%. The two GPUs practically have the same performance, so we can tell that AMD’s own benchmarks are quite favorable to their GPU, which isn’t surprising.

Since the MSRP of the RX 6650 XT is 5% higher than that of the RX 6600 XT, the bang for buck of both GPUs is about the same. According to AMD’s own benchmarks, not much is going to change with the launch of the RX 6650 XT, which is a little unusual for a refresh.

Where does the RX 6650 XT fit in?

The RTX 3060 installed in a computer.
Luke Larsen / Digital Trends

Since it’s nearly identical to the RX 6600 XT, the RX 6650 XT doesn’t really change the dynamic between AMD and Nvidia in the $300-400 segment. Perhaps it could be said that a refresh might improve graphics card supply and lower prices, but prices and availability have been improving for months, regardless of the RX 6000 refresh.

Users at r/BuildAPCSales, a subreddit that tracks good deals for PC parts and other related items, has spotted the RX 6600 XT being sold for less than MSRP, albeit including rebates. It’s hard to see how the RX 6650 XT will stand out in a market that is finally recovering from a severe shortage.

Matthew Connatser
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Matthew Connatser is a freelance writer who works on writing and updating PC guides at Digital Trends. He first got into PCs…
Nvidia says the RTX 5070 is as fast as the RTX 4090 — let’s look at the specs
The RTX 5070 in a graphic.

Nvidia made some stark claims with the announcement of its RTX 50-series GPUs. It promised double the performance with the best graphics card Nvidia has ever released, the RTX 5090, and it said outright that the more modest RTX 5070 could equal the performance of the last-generation king, the RTX 4090. That seems dubious, even with the hype surrounding the new hardware.

We can't officially confirm or deny such claims until the embargo lifts on reviews for these new cards, but for now, let's consider how the RTX 5070 lines up with the 4090, to give us an idea about what to expect.
Pricing and availability
The Nvidia RTX 4090 debuted in October 2022 with an at-the-time eye-watering price tag of $1,600. It's remained at around that level ever since, with some shortages spiking the price over $2,000 at times, depending on the version. As of late January 2025, however, the card is sold out almost everywhere, with only overpriced versions around $2,500 still available new, and second-hand versions selling for around $1,600.

Read more
AMD might’ve already lost the war with the RX 9070 XT
Various AMD RX 9000 series graphics cards.

It looks like I may have played myself again. I was genuinely excited about AMD's RX 9070 XT, but now, I'm starting to worry about its future. I always knew that the new AMD flagship wouldn't be able to compete against some of Nvidia's best graphics cards, but I had a lot of hope that it'd still be a great competitor for a number of other reasons.

I'm not doubting the performance of the RX 9070 XT. I have no reason to, as we don't know a thing about it -- and that's exactly why I'm worried. Not only are the GPUs still a complete mystery, but they've also reportedly been delayed. At this rate, I fear that AMD may have lost the war before it even started, and I'm not alone.
What's going on with RDNA 4?

Read more
Nvidia RTX 50-series GPUs: performance, specs, prices, availability
The RTX 5090 sitting next to the RTX 4090.

Nvidia has announced its new line of GPUs, the RTX 50-series -- and the first two are almost here, ready to rival the best graphics cards. We were already able to get our hands on the RTX 5090, which is why we now have a better idea of what these cards are capable of.

While we're still waiting for the RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti, and RTX 5070, we know that Nvidia is promising some huge leaps in performance, thanks to the new AI powers of DLSS 4. Here's everything you need to know about Nvidia's RTX 50-series.
RTX 50-series: pricing and release date

Read more