AMD has launched a refresh of their current Radeon graphics lineup, and we have six reviews for you today: Sapphire RX 6950 XT Nitro+ Pure, MSI RX 6950 XT Gaming X Trio, Gigabyte RX 6950 XT Gaming OC, ASUS RX 6750 XT STRIX OC, MSI RX 6750 XT Gaming X Trio, and MSI RX 6650 XT Gaming X.

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT is very similar to the Radeon RX 6600 XT: It's based on the same 7 nanometer Navi 23 graphics processor with 2048 GPU cores and 8 GB of GDDR6 memory. The only changes are that the memory chips are now of the faster 18 Gbps variety, up from 16 Gbps, and that the GPU clocks have been increased slightly. The MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT Gaming X is a factory-overclocked custom-design that increases the GPU clocks even further, to 2523 MHz, compared to a reference speed of 2410 MHz.

Averaged over our test suite at 1080p resolution, we find the Radeon RX 6650 XT 5% faster than the RX 6600 XT—I expected more to be honest. NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3060 is now 13% slower than AMD's offering, but the RTX 3060 Ti is still faster, 10% ahead. AMD's own Radeon RX 6700 XT is 13% faster. Considering there is no "close" fight with other NVIDIA SKUs, the Radeon RX 6650 XT doesn't change the balance of power in this segment. Just like the Radeon RX 6600 XT, the RX 6650 XT is a fantastic choice for all 1080p gamers that still remains affordable. The added horsepower of the RX 6650 XT will give you a few more FPS, which could be useful in reaching 60 FPS at 1440p, but the RX 6650 XT ultimately is a card for Full HD gaming unless you're willing to sacrifice some graphics details.

The same holds true for ray tracing. While the card has full support for ray tracing, the performance cost of enabling the technology makes it a somewhat difficult choice because you'll either have to reduce details settings quite a bit or use upscaling technologies like FSR or RSR to gain back the lost performance—both are compromises that result in image quality loss. I'm not convinced I'd be willing to make such a tradeoff for the limited fidelity gains offered by ray tracing. While NVIDIA does offer better RT performance, I don't think it's much of a deal in this segment because you'll probably be gaming with RT off most of the time anyway.

We almost got used to seeing excellent cooler designs from MSI, and the Gaming X is no exception. Noise levels are whisper-quiet with only 27 dBA, and temperatures are still outstanding, reaching only 64°C. Keeping the Radeon RX 6650 XT cool seems to be a non-issue thanks to MSI's great thermal design. It's great to see that idle fan stop has become a standard capability nowadays, and the MSI Gaming X will shut off the fans in idle, desktop work, and internet browsing.

Power consumption of the RX 6650 XT is a good deal higher than the RX 6600 XT, and for surprisingly small performance gains. The MSI Gaming X consumes 190 W during gaming, and the RX 6600 XT only 160 W—a 19% increase for 5% extra performance. In terms of efficiency, this means the card loses 15% and moves from a top efficiency spot into the middle of our test group. A big deal for enthusiasts is that AMD has locked power limit adjustments completely. The power limit slider range goes from -10% to 0%, a spit in the face of overclockers.

AMD has announced a $400 MSRP for the Radeon RX 6650 XT, which is extremely competitive and would make the card the price/performance king of the whole market. I feel a more realistic price point at this time is $450, which is still very good; the only noteworthy competitors in terms of price/performance are used RTX 2060, RTX 2070 and RX 6700 XT graphics cards. The NVIDIA RTX 3060 feels expensive with $430 at lower performance, and the RTX 3060 Ti is just too expensive with $570. MSI wasn't able to provide us with any pricing, but I suspect the RX 6650 XT Gaming X will go for $500, which is a lot of money. The factory overclock can definitely not justify a price increase, but the better cooler could be worth something if you value low noise; however, I don't think I'd spend more than an additional $30 for it. There are also plenty of Radeon RX 6600 XT cards out there that have decent coolers, and if you are willing to spend a little bit more, the RX 6700 XT or even a used RTX 2070 could suddenly be an option. If the Radeon RX 6650 XT ends up reaching its actual $400 MSRP, the card could disrupt NVIDIA's sales in that segment or force them to bring down their prices.