MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT Gaming X Review

W1zzard

on Aug 11th, 2021,

in Graphics Cards.

Manufacturer: MSI

(10 Comments) »

Introduction

The MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT Gaming X is the company's top custom-design graphics card based on AMD's latest DirectX 12 Ultimate GPU designed for the masses. The RX 6600 XT is for the vast majority of gamers still playing on Full HD (1080p) resolution, who can make do with a lean low-power GPU, especially in today's price-constrained environment. The RX 6600 XT can play any of today's games at 1080p with high-to-enthusiast details. Raytracing is also possible, as is FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) for even more performance. MSI combines this with its latest-generation Twin Frozr cooling solution optimized for low-noise, along with a couple of other premium bits.

The Radeon RX 6600 XT is based on the new 7 nm "Navi 23" silicon, the smallest yet from AMD that's based on its latest RDNA 2 graphics architecture. The RX 6600 XT maxes out this silicon with 2,048 stream processors, 32 Ray Accelerators, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. 8 GB is the standard memory size for this SKU, although it's running across a narrow 128-bit wide GDDR6 memory bus. AMD is running the memory at 16 Gbps, which works out to a raw bandwidth of 256 GB/s, but the real sauce here is the 32 MB of Infinity Cache memory on the GPU die, which lubricates the memory sub-system.

The MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT Gaming X brings with it the very latest Twin Frozr 8 cooling solution with a chunky dual-stack heatsink, TorX 4.0 fans with webbed impellers for axial airflow, heat-pipes that become cuboidal at the GPU contact base, and precise fin airflow control. MSI is also giving it the company's highest factory overclock for up to 2607 MHz boost clocks. Despite these, the typical board power remains at 160 W, and the card only needs a single 8-pin power input. MSI was unable to provide us an MSRP, but we're expecting realistic market pricing of around $680.

Radeon RX 6600 XT Market Segment Analysis
	Price	Cores	ROPs	Core Clock	Boost Clock	Memory Clock	GPU	Transistors	Memory
RX 5600 XT	$500	2304	64	1375 MHz	1560 MHz	1500 MHz	Navi 10	10300M	6 GB, GDDR6, 192-bit
RTX 2060	$500	1920	48	1365 MHz	1680 MHz	1750 MHz	TU106	10800M	6 GB, GDDR6, 192-bit
RX 5700	$750	2304	64	1465 MHz	1625 MHz	1750 MHz	Navi 10	10300M	8 GB, GDDR6, 256-bit
RTX 2060 Super	$650	2176	64	1470 MHz	1650 MHz	1750 MHz	TU106	10800M	8 GB, GDDR6, 256-bit
RX Vega 64	$600	4096	64	1247 MHz	1546 MHz	953 MHz	Vega 10	12500M	8 GB, HBM2, 2048-bit
RX 5700 XT	$800	2560	64	1605 MHz	1755 MHz	1750 MHz	Navi 10	10300M	8 GB, GDDR6, 256-bit
RTX 2070	$650	2304	64	1410 MHz	1620 MHz	1750 MHz	TU106	10800M	8 GB, GDDR6, 256-bit
RTX 3060	$550	3584	48	1320 MHz	1777 MHz	1875 MHz	GA106	13250M	12 GB, GDDR6, 192-bit
RTX 2070 Super	$700	2560	64	1605 MHz	1770 MHz	1750 MHz	TU104	13600M	8 GB, GDDR6, 256-bit
Radeon VII	$800	3840	64	1400 MHz	1800 MHz	1000 MHz	Vega 20	13230M	16 GB, HBM2, 4096-bit
RX 6600 XT	$650 MSRP: $380	2048	64	2359 MHz	2589 MHz	2000 MHz	Navi 23	11060M	8 GB, GDDR6, 128-bit
MSI RX 6600 XT Gaming X	$680	2048	64	2428 MHz	2607 MHz	2000 MHz	Navi 23	11060M	8 GB, GDDR6, 128-bit
RTX 2080	$750	2944	64	1515 MHz	1710 MHz	1750 MHz	TU104	13600M	8 GB, GDDR6, 256-bit
RTX 2080 Super	$800	3072	64	1650 MHz	1815 MHz	1940 MHz	TU104	13600M	8 GB, GDDR6, 256-bit
RTX 3060 Ti	$700	4864	80	1410 MHz	1665 MHz	1750 MHz	GA104	17400M	8 GB, GDDR6, 256-bit
RX 6700 XT	$770	2560	64	2424 MHz	2581 MHz	2000 MHz	Navi 22	17200M	12 GB, GDDR6, 192-bit
RTX 2080 Ti	$1100	4352	88	1350 MHz	1545 MHz	1750 MHz	TU102	18600M	11 GB, GDDR6, 352-bit
RTX 3070	$1000	5888	96	1500 MHz	1725 MHz	1750 MHz	GA104	17400M	8 GB, GDDR6, 256-bit
RTX 3070 Ti	$1100	6144	96	1575 MHz	1770 MHz	1188 MHz	GA104	17400M	8 GB, GDDR6X, 256-bit
RX 6800	$1300	3840	96	1815 MHz	2105 MHz	2000 MHz	Navi 21	26800M	16 GB, GDDR6, 256-bit

Packaging

The Card

MSI's RX 6600 XT Gaming X, a dual-fan design, manages to retain the "Gaming X" design language established with recent releases, which all were triple-fan designs. The dominating colors are black and various shades of gray. On the back, you'll find a high-quality metal backplate with a cutout to let airflow through.

Dimensions of the card are 28.0 x 13.0 cm, and it weighs 885 g.

Installation requires three slots in your system.

Display connectivity includes three standard DisplayPort 1.4 and one HDMI 2.1. Display and media capabilities are identical to the rest of the RDNA 2 family.

The card has one 8-pin power input. This configuration is rated for up to 225 W of power draw.

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 series doesn't support multi-GPU.

Teardown

MSI's thermal assembly uses four heatpipes to quickly transport heat from the GPU to the heatsink. The cooler also provides cooling for the memory chips and VRM circuitry. The thermal pads for the memory are 1.3 mm thick, and those for the VRM are 1.2 mm thick.

With the main cooler removed, we can see a metal bracket in the top left of the card for additional stability.

The backplate is made out of metal and protects the card against damage during installation and handling. The thermal pads on the back are 2.5 mm thick.

High-resolution PCB Pictures

These pictures are for the convenience of volt modders and people who would like to see all the finer details on the PCB. Feel free to link back to us and use these in your articles, videos or forum posts.