SAPPHIRE RADEON RX 6650 XT NITRO+ Review

How Much Does It Cost?

This isn’t the most expensive card on the market, not by a long shot, but it has a higher price tag than the RX 6600 XT that this card is based on; coming in at around $399/£399. For that, this card offers roughly a 2-4% increase in performance on average for a price increase of about 5% over the 6600 XT, but this isn’t a reference card, and with this card you’ll be expected to pay a price premium over the reference price. When we account for that in our calculations we see that 2-4% performance increase for what is about a 15% higher cost. Yikes.

Overview

I’m going to be honest with you here. The performance increases gained over the 6600 XT are very slight. So slight, in fact, that you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the cards in any instance of real-world gaming performance. I’d like to remind you that this card is being treated as a refresh and is meant to replace the 6600 XT in the market, and it comes at a higher cost. I would have much preferred to have seen this replace the 6600 XT fully, in terms of the card, its performance and the pricing. At least then you’d feel like you’re getting something more, but for the same money.

I’m not going to sugarcoat this, this card feels pointless. For what is essentially identical performance as far as the real world is concerned, you are paying a higher price for a card that is almost at the end of its life before it even began. On top of that, I was hoping performance would at least be on par with NVIDIA’s 3060 Ti, but maybe I’m asking too much, though they both launched for the exact same price, so I don’t think I am to be honest.

Should I Buy One?

To be as honest as possible I’m going to repeat myself here. This card feels kind of pointless. If you want bang for buck, this card is not the way to go. It’s more money for pretty much no actual gain; if you want extreme performance then you are looking entirely in the wrong tier of GPU, I’d recommend taking a look at our review of the new RX 6960 XT if you want pure performance out of a card, because that has it, in droves, and for everything in between, it just seems NVIDIA have the ticket. As for the question of if you should buy one? Well… No, you shouldn’t, there are no ifs or buts about it, this card just isn’t worth it unless you were planning to buy a 6600 XT anyway and simply can’t find one. If you need a card as soon as possible, then choose a better priced card with similar performance. If you aren’t in desperate need for a new GPU and just want an upgrade, then I would actually recommend waiting; prices are falling and signs are pointing to the possibility of a new generation of GPU coming soon(ish), and with competition between team red and green on the rise and with team blue almost ready to step into the ring on the desktop GPU side of things, we can probably expect next gen to be quite exciting for pc enthusiasts.