AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT, RX 6750 XT and RX 6650 XT Review – Three quite hot irons with a bit more performance

MSI RX 6950 XT Gaming X Trio

All cards are exclusively factory overclocked this time, so there is no distortion of the gaps either. In Full-HD, the MSI RX 6950 XT Gaming X Trio is 5 percentage points ahead of the RX 6900 XT and thus between a GeForce RTX 3090 and RTX 3090 Ti. This card also maintains this position in WQHD, where it is even 7.4 percentage points ahead. In Ultra HD, however, it falls just behind the GeForce RTX 3090 because the 6.3 percentage point gain is not quite enough.

However, the card also buys the gain at the power socket. The up to 1.2 volts Vcore and the increased TGP catapult the card with 430 watts in gaming average into ranges that are also clearly above the in-house MSI RTX 3090 SUPRIM. But: You can achieve 6.3 percentage points more gaming performance in Ultra HD with only 4.2% more electrical energy, which is where AMD advertises the card itself. The much faster memory really has an effect here. However, you need almost 18 percentage points more energy for the 7.4 percentage points more performance in WQHD. Everyone must then agree this with themselves or not.

MSI RX 6750 XT Gaming X Trio

The smaller sister MSI RX 6750 XT Gaming X Trio is only 4.6 percentage points ahead of the in-house RX 6700 XT in the WQHD resolution announced by AMD and requires 23.7 percentage points more energy. This huge increase, just to be on par with the GeForce RTX 3070, is really out of proportion to the rather small gain in gaming performance. In Full-HD, it is also over 23 percentage points more electrical energy for a measly 3.9 percentage points more gaming performance.

You have to put a lot more effort into the cooling to dispose of the 50 watts more, which you don’t have to accept as a countervalue in normal gaming everyday life with the barely increased gaming performance. What was still within the bounds of reason in the RX 6950 XT is simply one thing here: crowbar tactics. Unfortunately, much does not always help. It’s a pity, but this card is actually somewhat superfluous in this form.

MSI RX 6650 XT Gaming X

Things hardly look better with the smallest of the three new cards. As a designated Full HD card, it only manages 3 percentage points more gaming performance while increasing power consumption by a whopping 16 percentage points. Since the card still performs quite well in WQHD, I’ll also do the math here. For 3.7 percentage points more gaming performance, 14.5 percentage points more energy is invested, which corresponds to 23 watts.

Yes, the card is quiet and cool, but it also needs the somewhat stronger cooler of the RX 6700 XT from the same manufacturer. Of course, this is not a disaster for MSI, because they already have all the parts in stock. However, the customer will also have to accept a higher price at the time of purchase, because the RX 6600 XT is EOL in all versions and will thus be completely replaced by the RX 6650 XT, while the bigger cards will at least continue to coexist in parallel.

Summary and conclusion

Let’s put it this way: the MSI RX 6950 XT Gaming X Trio is more than just a boozy collector’s item. It still has some advantage over an RX 6900XT in the resolutions where you are most likely to use it, as long as you can and want to accept the price and additional consumption. At least the ratio is still right. The case is a bit different for the MSI Radeon RX 6750 XT Gaming X Trio. AMD not only targets NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3070, but also plans a deep red counterpoint to Intel’s upcoming A770, which could be expected in exactly these performance regions, if the drivers finally perform properly.

But is this thick energetic wound plaster really necessary in this form? Since these two refresh cards are to be sold parallel to the “older” models, the customer can decide for himself what exactly he wants in the end. From this point of view, there is no need to complain, because everyone will know for themselves what they really need. Or at least think that they needs. But with the third card in the bunch, the case is somewhat different.

 

The MSI RX 6650 XT has no direct competitor in its class. The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is completely out of reach even with a nuclear ignition on the power plugs and the GeForce RTX 3060 without Ti is so unspeakably slow in direct comparison that it does not play a role at all and is also missing in the test for this reason. Thus, the Radeon RTX 6600 XT fills a gap without an opponent. Still. Because here, too, Intel could shove its blue foot in the door and get stuck if the red spies picked up on anything. So does AMD already know more, or is the doping just a precautionary measure against all possible eventualities? Who knows.

The “old” Radeon RX 6600 XT goes EOL and thus the RX 6650 XT is the sole successor. Unfortunately, this also means that a really efficient card disappears from the market, which is then replaced by something that only provides 3 to 4 percent more performance, but has to buy this gain at the socket quite expensively. So what is all this for? Exactly at this point I am a little perplexed, because it is a card that one really does not need. They could have been left as they were. A real pity.

However, all three tested cards did their job competently and are technically flawless, to be fair. It’s definitely not the technical implementation that’s to blame, as you’ll find the usual quality. But you really have to ask yourself if such highly energetic stunts aren’t a bit out of time. Sometimes less is simply more. Just as a thought-provoking impulse for a Green Line. 🙂

The cards were provided to igorsLAB by MSI under NDA for testing with the condition not to fall below the specified release date for the case of the respective NDA. There was no possible influence of the manufacturer on the test and the results, nor was there any binding obligation to publish them.