AMD’s new graphics card with… wait for it… 4GB of VRAM!
Radeon RX 6500 XT. © AMD.
In a 2020 blog post, AMD claimed that 4GB of VRAM was obviously inadequate for modern PC gaming and that it could cause countless issues for users, ranging from error messages to sluggish framerates. Well now, AMD is releasing a new graphics card, the RX 6500 XT for US$ 199 with… 4GB of VRAM. Meanwhile, the blog post with AMD’s categorical verdict mysteriously disappeared from its site (but the Internet has a long memory...).
Yet it seems that AMS’s statements in 2020 were completely justified given the new card’s unanimously negative reviews in tech media. Reviewers point out that performance is roughly the same as the card’s immediate predecessor, the RX 5500 XT – a card released in late 2019 at a lower price and with more video outputs. Performance is on par with a 2016 Nvidia GTX 1060. Jarred Walton of Tom’s Hardware notes: “Let’s be frank for a moment: I think AMD went too far cutting down the features, particularly on the memory configuration.” He adds: “Of the six games with ray tracing that we tested […] only one qualified as even remotely playable: Fortnite. And even it wasn’t without trouble.” When they tell you that 4GB isn’t enough...
⇨ The Verge, Tom Warren, “AMD hides, then restores claim that 4GB of VRAM is ‘not enough’ just as it launches a 4GB GPU.”
⇨ The Verge, Sean Hollister, “AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT meta-review: even desperate gamers should think twice.”
2022-01-19
