RX 5600 XT Review

In case you don’t know, XFX is a division of PINE Technology Holdings Limited, a leading manufacturer and marketer of innovative solutions for the worldwide gaming technologies market founded in 1989 and their HQ based in Singapore. PINE designs, manufactures, and distributes high-performance video graphics technology and computer peripherals. And this time we will be taking on RX 5600 XT Review.

AMD is making quite some waves with their Ryzen 3000 series CPUs which are fabricated on a 7nm process node. This is not all as their Radeon division has also been working on new graphics architecture and they have released their new architecture named as RDNA and their new Navi (10) series of the graphics cards are based on RDNA architecture and fabricated using 7nm process.

RX 5600 XT Review

The new RDNA architecture is optimized for efficiency and programmability while offering backward compatibility with the GCN architecture. It still uses the same seven basic instruction types: scalar compute, scalar memory, vector compute, vector memory, branches, export, and messages. However, the new architecture fundamentally reorganizes the data flow within the processor, boosting performance and improving efficiency. Following SKUs are released in new Navi 10 family:

• Radeon RX 5700 XT
• Radeon RX 5700
• Radeon RX 5600 XT
• Radeon RX 5600
• Radeon RX 5500 XT
• Radeon RX 5500

There is also a 50th-anniversary edition of the RX 5700 XT. Engineered from the ground up with superior performance and power efficiency, RDNA is the architecture powering AMD’s 7nm gaming GPU, delivering 1.25 performance per clock compared to the previous 14nm processors1. Equipped with GDDR6 memory and featuring PCI Express 4.0 support, RDNA architecture is ready for the new generation of games.

RDNA Architecture is hyper-efficient with less latency, power, bandwidth needed to enable quality gaming experiences. Efficiently energetic, RDNA architecture runs faster with lower power consumption than ever before. Built on the 7nm FinFET process allows up to 1.5 performance per watt when compared to previous 14nm processors. With an improved graphics pipeline, RDNA Architecture is designed to decrease latency and render your games faster.

Stream to the world and consume the latest and most demanding content with dedicated 4K encode and 8K decode Radeon Media Engine built into the RDNA architecture that will handle any codec.

Today, we will be taking a look at the RX 5600 XT Review from the XFX. This particular version is named as XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC III Ultra. This rx 5600 xt review graphics card is based on Navi 10 and features 32 compute units with 2304 shaders clocked at 1660MHz with the boost clock of 1750MHz.

The XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC III Ultra packs 6GB GDDR6 Micron Memory chips clocked at 1500MHz having a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s with a bud width of 192 bit. One of the salient features of the Navi 10 and new RDNA architecture is the support for the PCIe 4.0 which enables two times the bandwidth compared to PCI Express® 3.0. Here are the salient features of the XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC III Ultra:

• RDNA architecture
• Advanced 7nm GPU
• PCI Express 4.0 Support
• Radeon Image Sharpening
• FidelityFX
• Radeon Anti-Lag
• Microsoft® Windows® 10 Support
• Microsoft® DirectX™ 12 Support
• 7nm Technology
• AMD Virtual Super Resolution (VSR)
• AMD Relive
• AMD FreeSync 2 HDR
• AMD Frame Rate Target Control (FRTC)
• AMD Eyefinity multi-display technology
• AMD Radeon Adrenalin Software 2020
• AMD WattMan
• HDMI 2.0b
• Displayport 1.4 w/ DSC
• Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio Support
• Up to 6 displays supported, (may require the use of MST Hubs)
• OpenGL 4.5 Support
• OpenCL Support
• Item:                    RX 5600 XT Review
• Manufacturer:      XFX
• Price:                   Check Price on Amazon
• Availability:         Texon-Ware

XFX AMD Radeon Specifications

XFX AMD Radeon Packaging and Unboxing

The graphics card is shipped inside a cardboard box with an outer packing box made of the paperboard. The packing theme is of the black and red colors.

There is minimalist yet crucial information printed here. The variant is THICC 3. I think 3 here refers to the number of fans included in the cooling solution. U nomenclature is showing that it is Ultra variant among the other variants from the manufacturer. 6GB GDDR6 and PCIe 4.0 support are prominent at the bottom.

The salient features of the Navi 10 graphics processor are printed on the right side which includes FidelityFX, FreeSync2 HDR, Image Sharpening, and Anti-Lag. RDNA is highlighted here as well. Additional features are summed up at the bottom.

A white color sticker is pasted here showing the Part No, Serial No, UPC bar codes. The card is made in China.

The minimum system requirements include:

• PCIe compliant motherboard with one x16 dual-slot
• 450W or Greater PSU
• 4GB RAM (Recommended is 8GB)
• 64-bit operating system

There is a brown color cardboard box inside the outer packing box.

Inside this rx 5600 xt review cardboard box, there is an accessory box and the graphics card which is covered inside an anti-static container.

Radeon RX 5600 Contents

Following is included:

• XFX Radeon RX 5600 XT THICC III Ultra Graphics Card
• Installation Guide
• Warranty Guide
• 8-pin power cable
• 6-pin power cable

Radeon RX 5600 Closer Look

The XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC III Ultra is based on Navi 10 graphics processor. It has 10300M transistors using 7nm technology having a die size of 251mm². It packs 64 ROPs and 144 TMUs. We have 2304 shader units. The Pixel fill rate is 112 GP/s and the Texture fill rate is 252.0 GT/s.

It has 6GB of GDDR6 VRAM from Micron rated at 1500MHz clocks using 192-bit bus width having a bandwidth of 288 GB/s. It supports PCIe 4.0 bus interface with backward compatibility. This is a factory overclocked card as the reference design has a game clock of up to 1375MHz with a boost clock of up to 1560MHz. AMD is using Game Frequency terminology which is specified as the expected clocks when running under the typical gaming applications, set to typical TGP (total graphics power).

Actual individual game clock results may vary. From the statement it looks like AMD is referring to the boost clock but then looking at the specifications we see that boost clock is mentioned separately like in our case the Game Clock is 1660MHz whereas the Boost Clock is 1750MHz. This is kind a blurry statement and may cause confusion. In Navi 10, the clocks are dynamically adjusted given the power of the graphics processor.

AMD is saying that this is their best 1080P graphics card rivaling to the Nvidia’s RTX 2060. The pricing of GeForce RTX 2060 starts at Rs.64000/- in the local market whereas Texon-Ware is selling the AMD rival solution in Rs.59500/- If this graphics card performs near to the RTX 2060 level, it would definitely be a winner with this pricing.

Looking at the NewEgg for the international pricing, the two fans solutions in GeForce RTX 2060 starts at $319 whereas the two fans solutions in RX 5600 XT start at $269. Local pricing seems to be in check.

It is time to take a closer look at the design of the graphics card followed by the results of the gaming and synthetic benchmarks. The XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC III Ultra is a dual-slot design with a behemoth size to it. It has a dimension of 326x148x44mm. This card has a length of 326mm so keep that in mind. Also, it has a height of 148mm which is above the usual standard.

The XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC III Ultra packs Power sensor as well. This is where we have taken the maximum power draw of the card.

Let’s take a look on the shroud side of the graphics card. We have an all matte black color scheme. The shroud is made of hard plastic material and is quite sturdy. The shroud itself has a simple design with curve insets on the upper and lower borders. The XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC III Ultra packs three fans.

The unique design aspect here is the different size fans. The middle fan is 100mm whereas the other two fans are 90mm in size. Each fan has 11 impellers that have a shiny reflective coating. There is a copper-colored XFX sticker pasted in the center of each fan. The circular portion of the shroud encompassing these fans also has a shiny reflective coating.

These fans feature Zero DB Auto Load technology in which the fans will stop spinning at a set temperature value. As soon as this junction value is crossed the fans will start spinning to the speed depending upon the Auto or user’s defined fan curve. There is no LED lighting effect on this rx 5600 xt review graphics card.

The cooling solution on the XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC III Ultra comprises of copper GPU and Memory cooling components, copper composite heatpipes, an open airflow design backed by three powerful fans for improved thermal performance.

Let’s take a look at the top side of the graphics card. This section of the graphics card has almost a total open airflow design to ensure maximum ventilation. One can spot the aluminum fins and copper heat pipes. The power connectors are more inset than being on the top side. This shows that the cooling solution is covering and extending the PCB height.

The heatsink seems to consist of two fin stacks joined together. The left side fin stack has a smaller size and is covering the GPU and VRAM area whereas the right side’s fin stack has a larger surface area and is covering the entire PCB on that side including the power delivery circuitry.

There seems to be a single large size copper plate covering the GPU and the VRAM chips. This plate is then contacted by the 4x copper composite heatpipes which have 6mm thickness. The heatsink is making contact with the MOSFETs using the thermal pads.

I really wish I could tear the card apart to see what is underneath! Since this is actually a retail unit, not a review sample, I am not allowed to do that from the source.

Looking closely to the portion towards the backside of the card, we can see the cutouts in the shroud telling us that XFX has focused almost everywhere on the open airflow design.

The XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC III Ultra has a solid metallic black color backplate. There are cutouts in the angular fashion on the backplate. These are there for ventilation. From what it looks like, there is no thermal pad between the metal backplate and the PCB which would have been a nice touch.

There is a large size XFX brand name in the middle of the backplate which is shiny and reflective. The area towards the front side of the graphics card has a plastic made shroud as the metal backplate does not run the entire length of the card. There is a white color sticker pasted on one of the spring-loaded screws for the GPU socket. Warranty will void if this sticker is tampered or removed. A serial number sticker is pasted as well here.

A 4-pin connector in white color is on the right side of the PCB at the bottom. This is powering the fans of the card. It is PWM as the speed is regulated based on the thermal sensor of the GPU.

This rx 5600 xt review graphics card is using an 8-pin and a 6-pin power connector. The combined power draw of these two connectors is 225W. Adding 75W from the PCIe connector would make the power draw of 300W for this graphics card. Each connector has a blue color LED light on the backside of the PCB which lights up when powered on.

Looking closely at the area having the power connectors, we can spot a slider button. What this could be for? A simple answer is that the XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC III Ultra comes with Dual BIOS and the user has been given the option to switch between both BIOSes.

I personally prefer the dual BIOS design as it gives more flexibility if something goes wrong with BIOS, the user can switch to the second BIOS and the card will still work. These are labeled as Performance and Quiet. I could not find any useful information on the XFX website and in the manual regarding which side of the switch has which BIOS.

The XFX should address this. On its default position, the Performance BIOS is loaded which is with aggressive fans’ speed but still silent!

Looking at the card from the front side, we can see closing sort of design like both sides of the shroud are closing here. This looks quite pleasant and is perfectly executed. There are cutouts on both sides of the shroud which are protruding enough to cover almost everything except the terminating composite copper heatpipes.

Following connectivity options are available at the user’s disposal:

• 1x HDMI port 2.0 b
• 3x DP port 1.4 HDR

The XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC III Ultra supports Dual Link and features outputs with Digital Stream Compression 1.2a which offers a single-cable visually lossless 4K/240Hz, 4K/120Hz/HDR or 8K/60Hz/HDR experience.

Due to limitation from the source, I did not open the card to take a look at the PCB and the power delivery system. The XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC III Ultra seems to have 8 power phases.

Testing

Following is the information regarding the test system and drivers that I have used to test this graphics card:

• Intel i7 8700k @ 5.0GHz
• Asus Strix Z390-E Gaming Motherboard
• Ballistix Elite 16GB kit @ 3000MHz
• Noctua NH-U14S
• HyperX 120GB SSD
• Seagate Barracuda 3.5” 2 TB HDD
• Thermaltake TP iRGB 1250W Titanium PSU

Drivers

• Nvidia driver 442.19 For COLORFUL GeForce GTX 1650 Super NB-4G-V
• Nvidia driver 417.71 for GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 2060
• Nvidia driver 411.70 For ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2070 OC
• Nvidia driver 398.35 for GeForce GTX (Pascal) graphics cards
• Nvidia driver 417.71 for GeForce GTX 1080 [Required for Battlefield V]
• Nvidia driver 430.86 for other GeForce GTX 1600 Series cards
• Nvidia driver 430.86 for ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2080 OC and ZOTAC GeForce RTX 2070 Amp Extreme
• Nvidia driver 431.60 for GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 2070 Super Gaming OC 8G
• AMD driver Adrenalin 2019 19.4.3 for the Radeon RX 570 and RX 580.
• AMD driver Adrenalin 2020 Edition 20.1.3 for XFX Radeon RX 5500XT Thicc II Pro
• AMD driver Adrenalin 2020 Edition 20.2.2 for XFX Radeon RX 5600XT Thicc III Ultra

Monitoring Software

MSI Afterburner 4.62 was used to monitor and record the FPS for the games without in-built benchmarks. Three runs per game per API per resolution were made and average is being shown on the graphs. The tough ordeal for the tester! For the tweaking EVGA Precision X1 was used.

Synthetic Benchmarks

Following synthetic benchmarks have been used:

• 3DMark Fire Strike
• 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme
• 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra
• 3DMark Time Spy
• 3DMark Time Spy Extreme
• Unigine Superposition

Games

Following games have been benched:

• Ashes of the Singularity [DX11, DX12]
• Battlefield 1 [DX11, DX12]
• Battlefield V (DX11, DX12, DXR]
• Metro Last Light Redux [DX11]
• Metro Exodus [DX11, DX12, DXR]
• Assassin’s Creed Origin [DX11]
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider [DX12]
• Grand Theft Auto – V [DX11]
• Final Fantasy – XV
• Far Cry 5 – [DX11]
• Middle Earth – Shadow of War [DX11]
• The Witcher 3 [DX11]
• DOOM [Vulkan]
• Wolfenstein II The New Colossus [Vulkan]

Synthetic Benchmarks

In all three Fire Strike benchmarks the XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC III Ultra is sitting above the GeForce RTX 2060.

Here, we have an opposite situation as compared to the Fire Strike series of the tests.

The graph of the Unigine Superposition is sorted on the 1080p Extreme preset. Again, we are seeing this card lacking behind the GeForce RTX 2060.

Gaming Benchmarks

The XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC III Ultra is aimed at 1080P Ultra gaming. Despite that, we have tested this graphics card for gaming performance at 1440P and 2160P to keep up with our graphs format. We will only be focusing on the 1080P gaming performance and comparing the gain over the GeForce RTX 2060 which we have reviewed earlier.

A side note on the driver part, the driver side of these cards still needs improvement for better stability as I have seen a few glitches during the testing.

Battlefield 1 DX11

The performance difference is 9.33% between both cards on 1080P.

Battlefield 1 DX12

The performance difference is 10.06% between both cards on 1080P.

Battlefield V DX11

The performance difference is 3.20% between both cards on 1080P.

Battlefield V DX12

The performance difference is 8.47% between both cards on 1080P.

Metro Last Light Redux

The performance difference is 24.46% between both cards on 1080P.

Metro Exodus DX11

The performance difference is 9.74% between both cards on 1080P.

Metro Exodus DX12

The performance difference is 0.54% between both cards on 1080P.

Ashes of the Singularity DX11

The Ashes of the Singularity was the very first title with the DX12 and I have tested the game with DX11 and DX12 using the game’s in-built benchmark. The FPS score in the graphs is the average of all benches.

The performance difference is 4.86% between both cards on 1080P.

Ashes of the Singularity DX12

The performance difference is 6.67% between both cards on 1080P. This is the first game where the XFX RX 5600 XT THICC III Ultra actually gains a lead.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider DX12

The performance difference is 6.38% between both cards on 1080P.

Assassin’s Creed Origin DX11

The performance difference is 20.00% between both cards on 1080P.

DOOM Vulkan

In DOOM the graphics cards are pulling a better FPS on 1080P and even at 1440P. The true performance potential and gain can be checked at 2160P resolution as only the 4k testing will provide a better reference point. The XFX Radeon RX 5600 XT THICC III Ultra is doing a good job on higher resolution.

Far Cry 5 DX11

The performance difference is 5.26% between both cards on 1080P.

Final Fantasy XV Benchmark

The Final Fantasy XV benchmark outputs the result in terms of the score instead of the FPS.

Grand Theft Auto – V DX11

Grand Theft Auto – V does not have any graphics quality Presets. I have used maximum settings where and what available with 4x MSAA.

The performance difference is 21.67% between both cards on 1080P.

Middle Earth: Shadow of War DX11

The performance difference is 16.5% between both cards on 1080P.

The Witcher 3 DX11

The performance difference is 17.48% between both cards on 1080P.

In terms of the overall gaming performance, the XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC III Ultra is behind the GeForce RTX 2060 in a margin range of approximately 5 to 9% except for a few titles where the margin is actually quite large i.e over 15%.

Boost Clocks Benchmark

Now that we have taken a look at the gaming and synthetic benchmark results, it is time to take a look at the maximum boost clocks.

The XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC III Ultra has boosted to 1760MHz though it was for the fraction of the second and never hit that figure again during my testing. The average were in 1730s with the lowest dip of 1680MHz.

Power Consumption and Thermals

Power Consumption

To measure the power draw, I am taking a different route as HWInfo64 shows the GPU Power (if there is a sensor on the board) and this is exactly what I have been showing on my graphs instead of the overall system power draw. To monitor the maximum power draw, I am using The Witcher 3 at 1080P run of 60 minutes and then record the reported maximum power draw from the HWInfo64.

The PC was set to idle for like 15 minutes before the gaming session. This way any user can check their graphics card for power consumption easily.

With 147W of power draw, this card is definitely offering a better power efficiency.

Thermal Performance

I am not using Furmark or any other stress app for thermal performance checking. Instead, the reported temperatures are actually from the gaming session using The Witcher 3 at 1080P resolution for a minimum of 60 minutes. MSI Afterburner is used to record the temperatures during the gaming session. The XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC III Ultra was idling at 30°C. On stock clocks, it maxed to 73°C.

The temperature is a bit high for my taste as the card was tested on the open-air test bench setup. Once inside the chassis, the temperature is likely to be more than this and is depending upon the multitude of the factors particularly the airflow configuration of the chassis. Keep in mind that this testing was done on the Performance BIOS.

Conclusion

Our first take on the Navi 10 graphics card [technically the second take!] is with the XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC III Ultra which is apparently the highest variant in their Pro lineup. The graphics card is based on AMD Radeon 2nd Gen Navi 10 graphics processor fabricated on 7nm and featuring the new RDNA architecture. It has 10300M transistors using 7nm technology having a die size of 255mm². It packs 64 ROPs and 144 TMUs.

We have 2304 shader units. The Pixel fill rate is 112 GP/s and the Texture fill rate is 252.0 GT/s. It has 6GB of GDDR6 VRAM from Micron rated at 1500MHz clocks using 192-bit bus width having a bandwidth of 288 GB/s. It supports PCIe 4.0 bus interface with backward compatibility. This is a factory overclocked card as the reference design has a game clock of up to 1375MHz with a boost clock of up to 1560MHz.

This rx 5600 xt review card has 1x HDMI 2.0b port, 3x DP 1.4 HDR ports with impressive support for outputs with Digital Stream Compression 1.2a which offers a single-cable visually lossless 4K/240Hz, 4K/120Hz/HDR or 8K/60Hz/HDR experience.

The XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC III Ultra has a dimension of 326x148x44mm (LxHxW). This is a dual-slot design with a length of 326mm. Do take into consideration the dimension of this behemoth card while planning your build.

The card supports and features AMD Anti-Lag, FildelityFX, Video Streaming up to 8k, PCIe 4.0 support, Radeon FreeSync2 HDR, Radeon Boost, Radeon VR Ready Premium, Radeon Rays Audio + True Audio Next, Async Compute, Radeon Image Sharpening, DX12 (12_1) to name a few.

The XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC III Ultra has a sleek and beautiful shroud finished in the matte black color resulting in an elegant design which speaks for itself. The cooling solution features the copper GPU and Memory cooling components, copper composite heatpipes, and an open airflow design for improved thermal performance. The card features triple fans with the middle fan of 100mm size while the rest are 90mm in size.

All fans are PWM controlled and they feature Zero DB Auto Load function to stop spinning at lower temperature values (factory defined) and will automatically start spinning as soon as the pre-defined junction value is crossed. There is a single copper plate covering the GPU and VRAM chips. The heat is then carried out using 4x 6mm copper composite heat-pipes into a large size fin stack of the aluminum fins.

There is a solid metal backplate with XFX branding. The overall design focuses on the open airflow aspect for maximum ventilation. The XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC III Ultra features dual BIOS which is my personal favorite feature on any such card. There is a switch on the top side of the PCB to switch between the Performance and Quiet BIOS modes. The default is the Performance mode.

This unit comes with the Performance BIOS already updated hence I could not check the performance difference between the original stock BIOS against the Performance BIOS. The card takes power using an 8-pin and 6-pin power connectors making the total power draw of 300W.

So, where does this card stand? Performance, Price, Efficiency, and Warranty, are among the top factors which I take into consideration as these are more relevant and play a significant role in the final decision on pulling the trigger. In the overall gaming performance, the RX 5600 XT 6G was behind the GeForce RTX 2060 6G in a margin range of approximately 5 to 9% with the exception of few titles where this margin was quite a high crossing over the 15% (depending upon the title).

Remember, the drivers still need to be improved for better stability and I am hoping that AMD will do that as they have been rocking with their drivers support. This drivers instability can hit the performance factor. This performance level of the RX 5600 XT is coming at a much better efficiency of 147W as compared to the 194W of the other camp’s competitive offering. The next thing is the pricing.

The local pricing of the XFX RX 5600 XT THICC III Ultra is Rs.59500 as compared to the starting price of GeForce RTX 2060 to be Rs.64,700/- XFX is offering 3 years of warranty on these cards whereas Texon-Ware is offering 1.5 years local warranty. In terms of the local warranty, the offering is lacking in the competition.

The XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC III Ultra can handle the 1080P Ultra gaming without a hiccup and it is doing it with better efficiency and slightly better pricing (local). Did I mention the card was dead silent even under full load and extensive gaming! Now, you know 😉

I am thankful to Texon-Ware for giving me the opportunity to review the XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC III Ultra graphics card.

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