How Much Does it Cost?
The AMD reference or stock versions of this cards launched with an MSRP of around £259.99, while Gigabyte is launching the Gigabyte RX 7600 Gaming OC with a premium price of £309.99, which still makes it one of the more affordable cards on the market right now, at least in terms of new cards, but the real issue facing these cards is the unwaving price to performance ratios of the last generation.
Overview
So there we have it. The age old argument of spend more, get more, though that doesn’t translate to value for money, and that’s what we’re all about. As we saw in the the launch day review, it’s clear that the older RDNA2 based RX 6600 is the superior card if you’re on a budget. However, that isn’t going to last forever, as stock will get snapped up by consumers looking for a cheaper and more competitive option. Of course, once that’s gone, the prices of these new GPUs will start to drop, and I suspect soon enough, the price to perofrmance ratio will make these new cards much more competitive in the long run. You eather leap on the 6600 now or you wait for the price of the 7600 to drop.
Obviously if you do want the latest technology, and a bit more futureproofing, especially as AMD will be officially launching FSR3, then it’s a pretty clear choice that the 7600 in either MSRP form or the Gaming OC is the only choice at the moment. Whether the Gaming OC is worth it over the Sapphire, it’s a bit trickier, as performance is very very similar.
The Gaming OC does deliver some decent cooling performance though, and long-term, that does have some appeal to me as I will likely be pushing the card pretty hard for long periods, but again, it just comes down to money.
I think it’s fair to say these new cards are actually quite good, there’s really nothing inherently wrong with them, there’s just more bang for your buck if price and rasteristaion performance are your only metric. That obviously puts a $50 premium in the firing line for many, but again, the card is well made, runs nice, and does cool itsself better, so I’m certainly not implying the premium isn’t justified.
There’s room to make the PC gaming space something awesome again, and while they’re not perfect, the 7600 cards land as the most affordable brand new GPUs on the market right now, and that is something that’s hard to ignore after a few years of unsustainable high prices.
