AMD is expanding its Radeon RX 7000 line of graphics cards based on RDNA3 GPUs. Another new product, the Radeon RX 7600 XT, is equipped with 16 GB of memory and will have a price tag of $329. The model received partially unexpected specifications.

Initially, there were assumptions that the Radeon RX 7600 XT would be equipped with 10-12 GB of memory and the corresponding bus configuration and certain changes in the GPU, but the developers decided to double the memory capacity of the base Radeon RX 7600 model with 8 GB, leaving the 128-bit backbone and the number of GPU computing units unchanged. At the same time, the GPU was accelerated – the operating frequency formula changed from 2250/2655 MHz to 2470/2755 MHz.

So, Radeon RX 7600 XT 16 GB is based on the Navi 33 chip with 2048 compute units, which also contains 128 texture modules and 64 rasterizers. The GPU has 32 MB of Infinity Cache. The GDDR6 memory chips operate at an efficient 18,000 MHz, which, combined with a 128-bit bus, provides a bandwidth of 288 GB/s. In this area, developers usually focus on increasing the capacity of the additional third-level buffer, which partially compensates for the modest performance of the ROM.

The increase in GPU operating frequencies and memory capacity has had an impact on power consumption. The Radeon RX 7600 XT 16GB will require up to 190 watts of power, while the base Radeon RX 7600 8GB needed 165 watts. However, this does not affect the organization of additional power – the video cards will be equipped with a single 8-pin connector.

In terms of performance, in cases where 8 GB of memory is sufficient, the increase will mostly come from the difference in GPU operating frequency. The available slide from the official presentation contains several examples for comparison. Only Forza Horizon 5 with ray tracing activated in RT Extreme and FSR2 modes shows a noticeable difference.

To humiliate the opponent, we chose the GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB model, which is significantly ahead of the newer models, but traditionally, the graphs show the indicators without correct scaling and starting point. Comparisons with the GeForce RTX 4060 8 GB will obviously already be seen in independent reviews.

AMD says that the Radeon RX 7600 XT 16GB is ready for 1440p gaming. Given the 16 GB of memory, this is true. The increased memory capacity will certainly avoid the situation with a lack of local buffer, but the overall capabilities of the Radeon RX 7600 will not always be enough for comfortable 1440p performance, especially in demanding projects. We have already seen something similar in the case of the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB, when the additional 8 GB had almost no effect on the video card’s performance. However, these are just preliminary conclusions that need to be confirmed in practice.

The Radeon RX 7600 XT 16GB has a recommended price of $329, which is $60 more than the Radeon RX 7600 8GB ($269). This is likely to be the most affordable AMD graphics card with 16 GB of memory on board. Detailed reviews of the video card’s capabilities will provide an answer to the practical feasibility of purchasing such a model.