AMD Radeon RX 5500XT 8GB GPU Review: GPU That Spits Fire Quietly

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AMD is a renowned player when it comes to producing affordable GPUs and CPUs. The company recently unveiled the Radeon RX 5500XT, which is a mid-tier 1080p gaming card based on 7nm architecture with either 4GB or 8GB V-RAM. It is the successor to the Radeon RX 480, which was based on 14nm architecture.

 

Rating:
4.0/5

AMD Radeon RX 5500XT 8GB GPU Review: GPU That Spits Fire Quietly

Compared to the RX 480 GPU based on 14nm, the 7nm-based RX 5500XT consumes 30 percent less power with a performance boost of 12 percent. The RX 5500XT retails for Rs. 14,990 (excluding GST) in India and we have been testing this GPU from the last few days. Here is what we think of the RX 5500XT and how it fairs against its competition.

Technical Specifications

Technical Specifications

  • Compute Units 22
  • Stream Processors 1408
  • 5.2 TFLOPS (up to)
  • Game Clock in MHz (up to)1717
  • BoostClock in MHz (up to)1845
  • Memory 4GB / 8GB GDDR6
  • Memory Speed 14 GBPS
  • Total Board Power 130W
System Configuration

System Configuration

  • Operating System: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
  • CPU: 7th Gen Intel Core i7-7700 Quad-Core @3.6GHz
  • RAM: HyperX Fury 16GB (8GBx2) 2133MHZ DDR4
  • Storage: WD Green 120GB Internal SSD
  • Motherboard: Asus Prime 7270-K
  • Supply: Corsair VS650 Thermal Solution: Corsair H60
What's New?
 

What's New?

The Radeon RX 5500XT is based on AMD's RDNA architecture with support for PCIe 4.0. The company claims that the GPU is optimized for E-sports games like PUBG and Fortnite with options to directly stream using AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 edition.

This GPU will be available on machines from Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, and many other OEMs. The one that we are reviewing is from PowerColor and it leverages the dual-fan technology.

Design And Form Factor

Design And Form Factor

The AMD Radeon RX 5500XT GPU from PowerColor is pretty light in weight and it has a dual-fan design for an optimal cooling solution. As per the I/O, it has a single HDMI port, single Display Port 1.4, and a DVI port.

As per the general observation, the fan is not that loud even while playing games and it is a great thing to say about a mid-tier GPU. However, when it comes to build quality, the plastic body used by PowerColor feels a bit cheap.

Price Comparision

Price Comparision

The AMD Radeon RX 5500XT GPU retails for Rs. 12,999 and Rs. 14,999 for 4GB and 8GB V-RAM model, respectively. If we look at the competition, the Nvidia GTX 1650 also costs almost similar in India. AMD's offering is efficient, as it is built on 7nm.

The performance of the RX 5500XT is quite similar to the RTX 2060 Super. With this GPU, one can easily build a gaming rig under Rs. 50,000 that can handle most of the AAA titles at 1080p with over 60fps of performance.

Benchmark Performance

Benchmark Performance

We ran PCMark 10, 3DMark, and Unigine Heaven benchmark on the RX 5500XT GPU and here are the results. With an average FPS of 84.2 on Unigine Heaven (based on DirectX 11), it re-affirms the fact that the GPU is capable of handling DirectX 11 based games without any issue.

Gaming Performance

Gaming Performance

We fired up some of the newly released and some classic AAA titles to test out the guts of this new GPU. Our list of titles includes GTA: V, Need For Speed, Crysis 3, Shadow Of The Tomb Raider, and The Division. In all these games, the GPU performed well at 1080p and we did not notice any sort of overheating whatsoever.

When the device was idle, the power consumption of the GPU was well under 25W. And while playing games, the average GPU utilization was around 75 percent with a power consumption of 85W.

Crysis 3 Game Performance

Crysis 3 Game Performance

This is a DRX11-based game and with the graphics set to high, we were able to get an average FPS of 99 at 1080p and 66 at 1440p. This is one of the high-graphics demanding games of its time and we did not face any issue while playing this game.

GTA: V Gaming Performance

GTA: V Gaming Performance

On GTA: V we were able to get 96fps on 1080p and 62fps at 1440p resolution. The overall gaming performance using the RX 5500XT was pretty smooth and we were also able to enable some AMD specifics to further improve the overall performance of the game. With around 96fps, the game looks smooth and roaming around the Los Santos felt good.

NFS Payback Gaming Performance

NFS Payback Gaming Performance

This is the only racing game that we tried and the results did surpass our expectations, especially at 1440p. The GPU was able to handle 2K gaming with an average FPS of more than 60. Playing this game at 1080p felt even smoother, as the average FPS was around 90.

The Division 2 Gaming Performance

The Division 2 Gaming Performance

The Division 2 is one of the recent titles that we tested and the card did some good job, especially at 1080p. We noticed an average FPS of 62 with the maximum graphics settings and toning down the graphics did help in boosting the overall frame rate.

The Shadow Of The Tomb Raider Gaming Performance

The Shadow Of The Tomb Raider Gaming Performance

The Shadow Of The Tomb Raider is even more demanding compared to the Division 2. On this title, we got an average FPS of 62 at 1080p and 49fps at 1440p. Do note that the GPU does not support real-time ray tracing and this benchmarking was done with the normal settings.

Verdict -- Go For It

Verdict -- Go For It

If you are looking to build a machine for 1080p gaming, then the Radeon RX 5500XT seems like the right choice. Other than the boost in performance, it is also much efficient. This makes your PC run cooler and quieter compared to the RX 480.

However, do note that this is a full-size tower and the card is pretty big. Make sure to get a full-sized tower that has enough space to house the GPU and maintain proper airflow for optimal performance.

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