AMD surprised everyone when they released the Radeon RX 5XXX-series graphics cards and these graphics cards provided very competitive pricing to the NVIDIA RTX-series graphics cards.
It is true that NVIDIA has unmatched high-end graphics cards like GeForce RTX 2080, GeForce RTX 2080 Super, and GeForce RTX 2080 Ti but anything below these three graphics cards is now in danger due to competition from AMD.
We have reviewed the best rx 5600 XT models currently available in the marketing along their pros and cons.
ASUS is one of the biggest manufacturers of graphics card variants and their cards have a huge market share. The company is known to provide top-notch variants, where there is no compromise on looks, performance, and durability.ASUS ROG STRIX RX 5600 XT follows the same design that was followed for the RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT.
This design was also seen in the high-end RTX-series graphics cards and it is good to see this design in the RX 5600 XT and unlike RX 5500 XT ROG STRIX design, the company has decided to use a tri-fan cooling solution.
The graphics card is fairly long and measures at 11.9 inches, which is even more than the previous generation and that is why you should make sure that your case supports this graphics card or else you will have to change your casing at the very least.
The graphics card provides RGB lighting that is quite similar to the previous generation ROG STRIX graphics cards, i.e. it is present at the front of the fan shroud and the back-plate. Since most people use the graphics card horizontally, the RGB lighting at the back-plate looks really cool, since there is a big ROG logo cutout there. The graphics card does support ASUS AuraSync, which means that you can synchronize the graphics card’s RGB lighting with other components that support ASUS AuraSync.
The designs of the ASUS ROG STRIX graphics cards have always been complex and provided beautiful RGB lighting in combination with an exquisite fan shroud. The price of ROG STRIX variants is usually towards the higher side but the performance boost and the beautiful looks are very justified.
Speaking of overclocking, AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT graphics cards are not very good at overclocking and there are minimum gains when overclocking the core beyond 1750 MHz, while the memory is not really cooperative as well.
Summary:
ASUS ROG STRIX RX 5600 XT is one of the best variants of AMD RX 5600 XT and if you are willing to spend a little higher on this variant, you get a slight performance boost, a huge thermal boost, and also dazzling aesthetics. The power delivery of the graphics card is also best and unlocks whatever overclocking potential RX 5600 XT is capable of.
Still, the performance difference is not as much as you would see in some other graphics cards. The temperatures, on the other hand, are among the best variants and you should not worry about the graphics card dying from high temperatures at all. The beautiful RGB lighting can be synchronized with other components, allowing you to enhance the looks of your gaming rig.
MSI is a company that is quite similar to ASUS when it comes to graphics cards and in fact, there are many other similarities in both companies as well, as both of them manufactures laptops, PCs, and other CPU components. MSI RX 5600 XT GAMING X is one of the best variants of RX 5600 XT by MSI that is only second to GAMING Z edition, which provides slightly higher clock rates.
MSI has completely changed the design of their GAMING X line up for the red team, which, in my opinion, does not look as good as the new silver-colored design that is used for the RTX series graphics cards. It surely does not look bad but the absence of RGB lighting at the front and rather boxy design makes it somewhat inferior. The fan shroud uses gray and black color with a slight touch of red. The grey area has a brushed texture that makes it quite decent.
There is RGB lighting at the top of the graphics card, where the RGB lighting on the MSI logo can be customized through the software. The back-plate of the graphics card is not as impressive as the ROG STRIX variant and uses a mixture of brushed and plain texture with gray color.
The size of the graphics card looks a lot smaller than the ROG STRIX variant but it is quite close in length, at 11.7 inches and the reason for this is that the height of the graphics card is quite high which makes the card looks small.
The performance of this graphics card is quite similar to the ROG STRIX variant, as the graphics card operates on same core clock rates, i.e. 1750 MHz boost clock. The memory clock rates are also similar at 1500 MHz, leading to 288 GB/s of memory bandwidth.
Summary:
MSI RX 5600 XT GAMING X is a high-end variant by MSI that is priced somewhat higher than most other variants but provides higher performance and cooler looks. The graphics card is clocked at the same frequencies that you would find in the best variants of RX 5600 XT and there is noticeable improvement in performance after overclocking as well.
The graphics card uses 2 x 8-pin connectors, which is a bit strange, as even a single 8-pin power connector should be more than enough for a 150-watt TDP graphics card. With temperatures of the graphics card staying under 65 degrees, you can enjoy your games without any worries.
SAPPHIRE has come a long way when it comes to graphics cards and now their graphics cards are considered one of the best among other AMD vendors.SAPPHIRE PULSE RX 5600 XT is a very well-balanced variant of RX 5600 XT and it tries to provide high performance while keeping the additional bells and whistles to the minimum.
First of all, the design of the graphics card is completely different from the previous generation PULSE variants and the graphics card now provides gaming looks along with a boxy design. The backplate of the graphics card also looks quite gaming-oriented.
The RGB lighting of the graphics card, however, is not improved and only the SAPPHIRE logo at the top is RGB-lit, which can be customized through the software utility provided by SAPPHIRE. Since this is not a high-end graphics card, the looks are still impressive and should be better than most of the budget PC builds.
The graphics card requires a single 8-pin power connector, which seems very feasible and most power supplies provide at least one 8-pin power connector or two 6-pin power connector which can be joined together with a converter. As for the I/O ports, the SAPPHIRE PULSE variant provides 1 x HDMI port and 3 x DP ports, just like the rest of the variants.
Now when it comes to clock rates, this graphics card is really impressive. It is the fastest out-of-the-box graphics card that comes with 1750 MHz boost clock rates and 1750 MHz memory clock rates.
Summary:
Overall, SAPPHIRE PULSE RX 5600 XT is an amazing graphics card that tries to keep the best of both worlds. This graphics card provides cool gaming looks while featuring high clock rates for both the core and memory, resulting in higher performance than most cards.
The RGB lighting of the graphics card could have been better but the current one is not so bad too. The thermal performance of the graphics card was although more than good previously but due to the latest BIOS, it is one of the coolest variants of RX 5600 XT.
PowerColor is also an exclusive vendor for AMD, just like SAPPHIRE and designs graphics card variants for AMD only.PowerColor Red Dragon RX 5600 XT is also a balanced variant of RX 5600 XT while te flagship variant from the company is Red Devil edition.
The looks of both variants are completely different as well, where the Red Dragon variant focuses on clean and decent looks and the Red Devil variant provides beastly and gaming looks. To be honest, we liked the looks of the Red Dragon variant more because it seems like the company overdid it with the Red Devil variant.
The graphics card does come with a back-plate but it is not as fancy as the previous variants. It does provide brushed texture though, which looks fairly good. There is no RGB lighting in the graphics card, which can be found in the Red Devil graphics card though.
There is PowerColor written at the top of the graphics card. Overall, the looks of the graphics card are somewhat similar to the MSI GAMING X, as that variant provides clean looks as well, however, this variant is a lot smaller than MSI GAMING X and measures at 9.45 inches, making it the smallest card on the list.
This means that if you are looking for a graphics card that you could install in your small mid-tower casing, there is a big chance that PowerColor Red Dragon RX 5600 XT will be compatible with your system.
The graphics card requires only a single 8-pin power connector, just like the SAPPHIRE PULSE variant. The I/O ports are also the same, with 1 x HDMI port and 3 x DP ports.
The clock rates of this graphics card are quite different from other variants. The core of the graphics card is clocked at 1620 MHz, which makes it 60 MHz faster than the reference card but the memory of the card is clocked at 1750 MHz, making it 250 MHz faster than the reference card.
Conclusion
Conclusively, PowerColor Red Dragon 5600 XT is one of the cheapest variants on the list, that tends to provide similar performance. The looks of the graphics card are although not as competitive as previously mentioned graphics cards, it is still better than old-styled graphics cards. Still, this graphics card is somewhat cheaper than other variants, which is a great piece of news for those who are short on budget but still want to get their hands on RX 5600 XT.
XFX RX 5600 XT THICC III Ultra is the last on our list and the reason for this is that it comes at a hefty price while the features are not justified for this price. The graphics card offers a tri-fan design and it is the longest card among all the variants listed here and measures at 12.83 inches.
The looks of the graphics card are very impressive and it looks quite premium, although there is no RGB lighting in this graphics card. Among the three fans, the central one is bigger than the other two, which looks a bit strange at first.
The shiny rims of the fans look attractive and the backplate of the graphics card provides many vents for good airflow. Most of the material is plastic which feels shabby at the touch but other than that there is no compromise on looks
The power requirements of the graphics card are the same as that of the ROG STRIX variant, as it uses 1 x 8-pin connector and 1 x 6-pin connector. Also, the I/O ports are same as other cards, with 1 x HDMI port and 3 x DP ports.
The clock rates of the graphics card are the same as other high-end variants, i.e. 1750 MHz, while the memory is clocked at 1500 MHz, that is the same as that of reference card. You can overclock the graphics card but the thermal features of the graphics card are not so good and memory overclocking is not so good as well.
Conclusion
All-in-all, XFX RX 5600 XT THICC III Ultra is a premium-looking variant, that comes with good clock rates but fails to provide good thermals due to inefficient cooling.
The price of the graphics card is although more than most variants, the performance is not justified and the plastic build does not feel good to the touch as well. Moreover, the absence of RGB lighting feels prominent and the company could have provided RGB lighting at this price easily.
There are a lot of factors which you should check before going for a particular variant of a graphics card and that is why we have compiled all those factors so that you can choose the best-suited variant for your system. Let’s have a look at the details below.
Cooling Solution
The most important factor when choosing a variant of a graphics card is the cooling solution. The reason for this is that the graphics cards these days highly rely on powerful cooling solutions and if the graphics card board is not coupled with a high-end cooling solution, it will suffer from high temperatures, ultimately limiting the performance. This phenomenon is particularly amplified due to the latest overclocking technologies, i.e. NVIDIA GPU Boost, etc, which dynamically increase the clock rates of the graphics cards based on temperature readings. This can even be found in AMD graphics cards and these RDNA-based graphics cards are quite dependant on temperature readings.
Among AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT variants listed in this article, ASUS ROG STRIX variant is definitely the one that provides the most advanced cooling solution while MSI GAMING X, and SAPPHIRE PULSE variants are quite close. The XFX THICC III Ultra, on the other hand, is the worst on the list but still, it does not mean that it is the worst variant among all variants.
Price
The price of a variant of a graphics card is also very important if you are not willing to spend a lot of money. Usually, high-end variants are priced a lot higher than the regular variants and offer better cooling solutions, premium features like RGB lighting, back-plate, etc. All these features, however, are not completely proportional to the performance and you might not be able to gain as much performance as you would spend on a higher-priced variant.
On the other hand, if you want premium features and want a graphics card that runs cooler than others and has a longer life, it would be a better idea to invest in a high-end variant, even if the apparent advantages seem very low.
ASUS ROG STRIX variant is priced the highest on the list, closely followed by XFX THICC III Ultra and MSI GAMING X, while SAPPHIRE PULSE and PowerColor Red Dragon focus on price to performance ratio.
Factory Clock Rates
One of the most important factors in making the decision of buying a particular variant of a graphics card is the factory clock rates. Most of the high-end variants come factory-overclocked, which means that their clock rates are increased by default and they provide better performance than regular variants. This goes for both the core clock and memory clock, although only the best variants usually come with memory overclocking and most of the cards focus on the core clocks only.
This also affects the TDP of the graphics card and the temperatures but usually, those graphics cards provide custom cooling solutions that are easily able to handle high TDP.
Among the variants listed in this list, all of the variants of RX 5600 XT come with 1750 MHz core clock except PowerColor Red Dragon, which comes with 1620 MHz core clock, that is slightly higher than the stock core clock of RX 5600 XT. When it comes to memory, it is the other way around and only the PowerColor Red Dragon and SAPPHIRE PULSE come overclocked with memory at 1750 MHz, while other graphics cards are clocked at 1500 MHz.
Form Factor
The form factor of a graphics card is a property that is very important to some people while holding a little value in front of others. The reason for this is that the physical compatibility of a graphics card is greatly dependant on your casing size and if the casing is not compatible with the graphics card variant, you won’t be able to install the graphics card.
When it comes to AMD RX 5600 XT variants, XFX THICC III Ultra is the largest variant on the list with the length around 13 inches, closely followed by ASUS ROG STRIX and MSI GAMING X variants, while PowerColor Red Dragon is the smallest variant on the list, followed by SAPPHIRE PULSE variant.
Power Delivery
The power delivery is the decisive factor in buying a graphics card if you are an enthusiast-grade gamer. A lot of people these days run their graphics cards overclocked and without a good power delivery, you won’t be able to overclock your graphics card by a lot.
Most of the high-end variants usually have a strong power delivery and you can easily overclock them but sometimes the BIOS limitations do not allow a lot to be achieved.
All of the variants of RX 5600 XT listed here provide good enough power delivery to allow you to unlock their true potential, however, ASUS ROG STRIX, MSI GAMING X, and SAPPHIRE PULSE variants are at the top.
Aesthetics
Aesthetics of the graphics cards matter a lot these days because a lot of people use casings with glass side panels and the components inside the case are directly visible from the outside. The most prominent factor in aesthetics is the RGB lighting and the look of the fan shroud, although the presence of a beautiful back-plate greatly enhances the beauty as well.
Among the AMD RX 5600 XT variants listed here, ASUS ROG STRIX is the most beautiful variant and MSI GAMING X also looks pretty good. The XFX THICC III Ultra provides those beastly looks thanks to its big size while SAPPHIRE PULSE and PowerColor Red Dragon provide simplicity and decent looks.
Conclusion
We have listed some of the best variants of RX 5600 XT in this article and also expressed views on how you should judge a variant. We hope that this article will be of great use to you and also gave you general information about graphics cards so that you can buy graphics cards in the future without any problem and hard effort.
There are a lot of factors which you should check before going for a particular variant of a graphics card and that is why we have compiled all those factors so that you can choose the best-suited variant for your system. Let’s have a look at the details below.
Which RX 5600 XT is the best?
Sapphire Radeon Pulse RX 5600 XT is the best RX 5600 X. Sapphire is well known among the gamers as one of the best manufacturers of AMD GPUs and there RX 5600 XT with beautiful fan shrouds, highly overclocked and great cooling makes it the top pick.
Is the RX 5600 XT good?
RX 5600 XT is a beast performer at 1080p ultra setting gaming and 1440p medium setting. The overclocked Sapphire RX 5600 XT has also beaten RTX 2060 while using less power. It’s a tough card to beat with its 300$ price tag.
What is the RX 5600 XT equivalent to?
Rx 5600 XT is equivalent to Nvidia’s RTX 2060. However, the overclocked Rx 5600 XT can even beat RTX 2060. Plus Rx 5600 XT costs way less than RTX 2060.
Is 550w enough for RX 5600 XT?
The 550w power supply is more than enough for RX 5600 XT. Even if you are making a gaming rig it only requires 350w.
I have been fond of computer technology for a long time, ever since childhood, and was always meddling with various hardware and software. With graduation in computer engineering from a recognized university like NUST was a dream come true and enabled me to pursue my dreams in swift ways. Currently, I am working for various websites as a hardware reviewer and content writer.
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