Sapphire Revises its Pulse RX 6500 XT with a New 8GB VRAM Variant!

With the launch of next-gen graphics cards likely only 2-3 months away, I think most would’ve been forgiven for thinking that in terms of the Radeon 6000 series, everything at this point was pretty much done. – Following a Twitter post by Sapphire, however, they’ve certainly given the market a bit of a late surprise as they have confirmed the release of a newly released Pulse Radeon RX 6500 XT that features 8GB of VRAM.

And just in case you’re not aware, this is twice as much memory as on the original version!

Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 6500 XT

Given that the Radeon RX 6500 XT represents (basically) the entry-level GPU solution from the Radeon 6000 series, this announcement from Sapphire is more than a little surprising. It’s no exaggeration to say that pretty much everyone assumed that revisions and releases from this current generation were all completed.

With that being said though, with this new design now featuring 8GB of VRAM, double the original 4GB (albeit, still on the same 64-bit memory bus), many would argue that this is how much the memory the 6500 XT should’ve come with in the first place! – I mean, let’s be honest, 4GB seemed more than a little nuts for a new GPU release in 2022!

What Do We Think?

Other than the VRAM, this newly revised Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 6500 XT also features a slighter higher boost clock speed than the original design (2855 MHz – Up 30 MHz) and a slightly higher TBP of 130W (maximum theoretical power consumption basically). – Otherwise, however, everything else has remained pretty much the same. – This is, however, undoubtedly an exceptionally interesting announcement. Albeit mostly, as above, because it has come so late in the day for current-gen designs.

While there are still question marks as to how much this new revised 6500 XT will cost (not to mention whether other AIB partners may decide to do this themselves), fingers crossed, Sapphire will look to, more or less, keep the same pricing structure as the original.

Put simply though, there could be a brand new entry-level king here!

What do you think? Are you surprised that the 6500 XT has been revised to 8GB of VRAM? Does this make the GPU a slightly more tempting option for you? – Let us know in the comments!