AMD RX 6600 Review ft. ASUS and Gigabyte

1. Introduction2. ASUS RX 6600 Dual3. Gigabyte RX 6600 Eagle4. Testing Methodology5. 3DMark Fire Strike & Time Spy6. 3DMark DirectX Raytracing7. Assassin's Creed Valhalla8. Control9. Cyberpunk 207710. Days Gone11. F1 202112. Gears 513. Hitman 314. Horizon Zero Dawn15. Red Dead Redemption 216. Resident Evil Village17. Total War Saga: Troy18. Watch Dogs: Legion19. Performance Summary (12-Game Average)20. Cost Per Frame Analysis21. Ray Tracing - Cyberpunk 207722. Ray Tracing - Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition23. Ray Tracing - Resident Evil: Village24. ASUS Dual vs Gigabyte Eagle25. Clock Speed26. GPU Temperatures27. Acoustics28. Noise-Normalised Temperatures29. Power Draw: 1080p30. Power Draw: 1440p31. Power Draw: 2160p (4K)32. Performance per Watt: 1080p33. Performance per Watt: 1440p34. Performance per Watt: 2160p (4K)35. Total System Power Draw36. Overclocking37. Closing Thoughts38. View All Pages

Following on from the launch of the RX 6600 XT back in August, today AMD has announced its newest GPU, the RX 6600 (non-XT). Using a cut-down version of Navi 23 silicon, AMD claims the RX 6600 offers ‘powerhouse performance for 1080p', with the company's first-party data showing this new GPU trading blows with Nvidia's RTX 3060. Today we put this new GPU through its paces, comparing it to a range of both current and previous-generation graphics cards.

As with the RX 6600 XT, there's no AMD reference design for the RX 6600, instead AMD is relying on its board partners to come up with their custom designs. Today's review focuses on two such cards – the ASUS RX 6600 Dual and the Gigabyte RX 6600 Eagle. Both are clocked at reference specifications – so there's no factory overclocking involved – though the Eagle uses a triple-fan cooler compared to the dual-fan design of the ASUS… Dual.

In terms of pricing, AMD has set a £299.99 MSRP for the UK market, with a $329 MSRP for those in the US. This is a £30/$50 reduction compared to the RX 6600 XT, though we have been hearing real-world cost is looking closer to £400, if not higher.

Still, we have a review to get on with, so today we are testing the RX 6600 over 12 modern games, comparing it to the likes of the RTX 3060, RX 6600 XT, RX 5600 XT and more. We also have extensive power and performance-per-Watt data, alongside the thermal and acoustic performance of these two custom cards.

	RX 6800 XT	RX 6800	RX 6700 XT	RX 6600 XT	RX 6600
Architecture	RDNA 2	RDNA 2	RDNA 2	RDNA 2	RDNA 2
Manufacturing Process	7nm	7nm	7nm	7nm	7nm
Transistor Count	26.8 billion	26.8 billion	17.2 billion	11.1 billion	11.1 billion
Die Size	519 mm²	519 mm²	336 mm²	237 mm²	237 mm²
Ray Accelerators	72	60	40	32	28
Compute Units	72	60	40	32	28
Stream Processors	4608	3840	2560	2048	1792
Game GPU Clock	Up to 2015MHz	Up to 1815MHz	Up to 2424MHz	Up to 2359MHz	Up to 2044 MHz
Boost GPU Clock	Up to 2250MHz	Up to 2105MHz	Up to 2581MHz	Up to 2589MHz	Up to 2491MHz
ROPs	128	96	64	64	64
AMD Infinity Cache	128MB	128MB	96MB	32MB	32MB
Memory	16GB GDDR6	16GB GDDR6	12GB GDDR6	8GB GDDR6	8GB GDDR6
Memory Bandwidth	512 GB/s	512 GB/s	384 GB/s	256 GB/s	224 GB/s
Memory Interface	256-bit	256-bit	192-bit	128-bit	128-bit
Board Power	300W	250W	230W	160W	132W

Let's first look over the key specifications of the GPU. Using the same 237 mm² Navi 23 silicon as its XT counterpart, the RX 6600 is cut-back in a few key areas. It houses 28 Compute Units (CUs), so that's four fewer than the 6600 XT, for a total of 1792 stream processors, or 256 fewer than the XT model.

RDNA 2 houses one ray accelerator per CU, so there’s a total of 28 with the RX 6600. Four texture units per CU gives a total of 112, while there’s also 64 ROPs. Clock speed has been pared back slightly though, with a rated boost clock of 2491 MHz, down from 2589MHz with the 6600 XT.

As for the memory configuration, this is broadly the same as the RX 6600 XT, meaning there's a narrow 128-bit memory interface paired with 8GB of GDDR6 memory. The memory itself is clocked slower however, at 14Gbps instead of 16Gbps, reducing total memory bandwidth by 12.5%, as it hits 224 GB/s. There is still 32MB of AMD’s Infinity Cache.

Lastly, total board power (TBP) is rated at 132W, a reduction of 28W, or 17.5%, compared to the RX 6600 XT. We are using our new GPU power testing methodology in this review, so read on for our most detailed power and efficiency testing yet.

The ASUS RX 6600 Dual ships in a dark box, with a photo of the card visible on the front. On the back, ASUS has highlighted various key features of the card.

The only included accessories are a quick start guide, warranty card and a small card describing the Dual.

Looking at the graphics card itself, ASUS has gone for a fairly understated design here. The shroud is made from matte black plastic, though it does feature a brushed effect finish. There's also one silver accent on the front of the shroud, but other than that it is entirely black.

We can also note the two Axial-tech fans, each measuring in at 100mm across. Combine that with the heatsink, utilising three heatpipes, and we'd say this cooler will be more than a match for the 132W TDP of the RX 6600.

In terms of its size, it's not a massive graphics card by any means. We don't have official dimensions at the time of writing, but my measurements put the card at approximately 243 x 132 x 48mm, so it's a bit thicker than a standard dual-slot card and is also taller than the PCIe bracket. By modern standards though, it's relatively compact. It also weighs in at 721g on my scales.

Over on the front edge of the shroud we can note the ASUS and Radeon logos, while a metal backplate is also visible once we turn the card over. It's entirely black apart from the silver ASUS logo, while there's a cut-out behind the GPU die.

AMD told us that a single 8-pin power connector will be standard for the RX 6600, and that is what we have here. There's also 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4 video outputs on offer.

As for the Gigabyte RX 6600 Eagle, this ships in a dark box with Gigabyte's robotic eye logo dominating the front. On the back, we can note several key features of the card's design.

The only included accessory is a brief quick start guide.

Looking at the graphics card itself, it will be a familiar design to many as we have already reviewed a handful of Gigabyte Eagle models this generation. It's a dark grey colour, using a plastic shroud, but with a translucent section towards the end of the shroud through which the Eagle logo can be seen.

Gigabyte is sticking with a triple-fan design for its RX 6600 offering, though these fans are smaller at 80mm across. As always with a Gigabyte graphics card, the central fan spins in reverse relative to the outer two which should reduce turbulence and thus increase airflow pressure down onto the heatsink.

Compared to the ASUS Dual, the Eagle is both thinner and longer. It measures 282 x113 x 41 mm, so while it's just about a dual-slot thickness, it is fairly lengthy for a GPU of this calibre. It weighed in at 659g on my scales.

Over on the front edge of the shroud, both the Radeon and Gigabyte logos are printed in white. We can also note a blue Eagle logo on the backplate, though do note the backplate itself is made from textured plastic, rather than metal, something I do find a bit disappointing.

The Eagle is using a single 8-pin PCIe power connector, though the card shakes things up slightly with the display outputs – there's 2x HDMI 2.1 and 2x DisplayPort 1.4 connectors.

Driver Notes

• All Nvidia GPUs were benchmarked with the 471.41 driver.
• All AMD GPUs (except RX 6600 XT and RX 6600) were benchmarked with the Adrenalin 21.7.2 driver.
• RX 6600 XT was benchmarked with the Adrenalin 21.8.1 driver supplied to press.
• RX 6600 was benchmarked with the Adrenalin 21.30.17.06 driver supplied to press.

Test System

We test using the a custom built system from PCSpecialist, based on Intel's Comet Lake-S platform. You can read more about it over HERE, and configure your own system from PCSpecialist HERE.

CPU	Intel Core i9-10900K Overclocked to 5.1GHz on all cores
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Maximus XII Hero Wi-Fi
Memory	Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3600MHz (4 X 8GB) CL 18-22-22-42
Graphics Card	Varies
System Drive	500GB Samsung 970 Evo Plus M.2
Games Drive	2TB Samsung 860 QVO 2.5″ SSD
Chassis	Fractal Meshify S2 Blackout Tempered Glass
CPU Cooler	Corsair H115i RGB Platinum Hydro Series
Power Supply	Corsair 1200W HX Series Modular 80 Plus Platinum
Operating System	Windows 10 2004

Comparison Graphics Cards List

• Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti FE 8GB
• Palit RTX 3060 StormX 12GB
• Nvidia RTX 2070 Super FE 8GB
• Nvidia RTX 2060 Super FE 8GB
• Nvidia RTX 2060 FE 7GB
• Gigabyte GTX 1660 Super Gaming 6GB
• AMD RX 6700 XT 12GB
• Gigabyte RX 6600 XT Gaming OC 8GB
• AMD RX 5700 XT 8GB
• AMD RX 5700 8GB
• Sapphire RX 5600 XT Pulse 6GB
• AMD RX Vega 64 8GB

Software and Games List

• 3DMark Fire Strike & Fire Strike Ultra (DX11 Synthetic)
• 3DMark Time Spy (DX12 Synthetic)
• 3DMark Raytracing Feature Test (DXR Synthetic)
• Assassin's Creed Valhalla (DX12)
• Control (DX12)
• Cyberpunk 2077 (DX12)
• Days Gone (DX11)
• F1 2021 (DX12)
• Gears 5 (DX12)
• Hitman 3 (DX12)
• Horizon Zero Dawn (DX12)
• Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition (DXR)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Vulkan)
• Resident Evil Village (DX12)
• Total War Saga: Troy (DX11)
• Watch Dogs: Legion (DX12)

We run each benchmark/game three times, and present mean averages in our graphs. We use FrameView to measure average frame rates as well as 1% low values across our three runs.

Fire Strike is a showcase DirectX 11 benchmark for modern gaming PCs. Its ambitious real-time graphics are rendered with detail and complexity far beyond other DirectX 11 benchmarks and games. Fire Strike includes two graphics tests, a physics test and a combined test that stresses the CPU and GPU. (UL).

3DMark Time Spy is a DirectX 12 benchmark test for Windows 10 gaming PCs. Time Spy is one of the first DirectX 12 apps to be built the right way from the ground up to fully realize the performance gains that the new API offers. With its pure DirectX 12 engine, which supports new API features like asynchronous compute, explicit multi-adapter, and multi-threading, Time Spy is the ideal test for benchmarking the latest graphics cards. (UL).

Kicking off with the 3DMark benchmarks, the RX 6600 does well in Fire Strike, sitting just behind the RX 5700, although it's only 6% faster than the RX 5600 XT. That margin decreases to 3% in the DX12 Time Spy benchmark, where the 6600 is also 6% slower than the RTX 3060.

Real-time ray tracing is incredibly demanding. The latest graphics cards have dedicated hardware that’s optimized for ray-tracing. The 3DMark DirectX Raytracing feature test measures the performance of this dedicated hardware. Instead of using traditional rendering techniques, the whole scene is ray-traced and drawn in one pass. The result of the test depends entirely on ray-tracing performance. (UL).

3DMark's DXR feature test is an intensive benchmark that is entirely ray traced. We know from months of testing that AMD's 1st generation of hardware accelerated ray tracing isn't at the same level as Nvidia's 2nd generation implementation found in its Ampere GPUs, so it's not a surprise to see the 6600 sitting bottom of the pile, slower than even the RTX 2060 by a whopping 31%.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla is an action role-playing video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the twelfth major installment and the twenty-second release in the Assassin's Creed series, and a successor to the 2018's Assassin's Creed Odyssey. The game was released on November 10, 2020, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, and Stadia, while the PlayStation 5 version was released on November 12. (Wikipedia.)

Engine: AnvilNext 2.0. We test using the Ultra High preset, DX12 API.

 

Our first game of the day is Assassin's Creed Valhalla, a game that has a clear preference for AMD hardware. Here the RX 6600 Dual is 8% faster than Nvidia's RTX 3060 at 1080p, making it 12% slower than the RX 6600 XT.

At 1440p though, it does fall off a bit, slipping to 4% behind the RTX 3060. It's even the same amount slower than AMD's last-gen RX 5600 XT.

Control is an action-adventure video game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by 505 Games. Control was released on 27 August 2019 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. (Wikipedia).

Engine: Northlight Engine. We test using the High preset, with 4x MSAA, DX12 API.

Control is next and by now we are all aware that this Nvidia-sponsored title runs best on… Nvidia hardware. The 6600 still does OK at 1080p, averaging just under 70FPS, but it's well behind the RTX 3060 and even falls 2FPS short of the RTX 2060.

Up at 1440p, that gap widens versus the RTX 3060, with the RX 6600 now 24% slower. It's also 16% slower versus its bigger brother, the RX 6600 XT.

Cyberpunk 2077 is a 2020 action role-playing video game developed and published by CD Projekt. The story takes place in Night City, an open world set in the Cyberpunk universe. Players assume the first-person perspective of a customisable mercenary known as V, who can acquire skills in hacking and machinery with options for melee and ranged combat. Cyberpunk 2077 was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Stadia, and Xbox One on 10 December 2020. (Wikipedia).

Engine: REDengine 4. We test using the Ultra preset, DX12 API.

Next we look at Cyberpunk 2077, one of the most demanding titles in our test suite. At 1080p, using Ultra settings, the RX 6600 delivers just under 55FPS on average, putting it 11% behind the RTX 3060 while it's on par with the RTX 2060.

Stepping up to 1440p sees the 6600 fall away somewhat, as it is now 16% slower than the RTX 3060 and even 7% behind the RTX 2060.

Days Gone is a 2019 action-adventure survival horror video game developed by Bend Studio and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows. As part of Sony's efforts to bring more of its first-party content to Microsoft Windows following Horizon Zero Dawn, Days Gone released on Windows on May 18, 2021. (Wikipedia).

Engine: Unreal Engine 4. We test using the Very High preset, DX11 API.

As for Days Gone, an Unreal Engine 4 title that uses the DX11 API, we do see a preference for Nvidia hardware in this game, but the 6600's average of 77FPS is still very respectable. Once more though, that still puts it behind the RTX 2060 and even the RX 5600 XT at 1080p.

Up at 1440p, performance doesn't drop off as hard as we saw in Cyberpunk, but comparatively it is still behind the 5600 XT, not something we were really hoping to see from this new RDNA 2 GPU.

F1 2021 is the official video game of the 2021 Formula One and Formula 2 Championships developed by Codemasters and published by EA Sports. It is the fourteenth title in the F1 series by Codemasters and the first in the series published by Electronic Arts under its EA Sports division since F1 Career Challenge in 2003. The game was released on July 16, 2021, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. (Wikipedia)

Engine: EGO. We test using the Ultra High preset, with all ray tracing settings turned off, DX12 API.

F1 2021 changes tack and we see the RX 6600 performing very well in this title, it averages 137FPS at 1080p making it 9% faster than the RTX 3060, essentially as fast as the RX 5700, while it's 17% slower than the RX 6600 XT.

At 1440p we do see a small performance drop off, but it is very minor in this title – instead of being 9% faster than RTX 3060, it's now 3% faster, while it's barely any faster than the RX 5600 XT.

Gears 5 is a third-person shooter video game developed by The Coalition and published by Xbox Game Studios for Xbox One, Microsoft Windows and Xbox Series X. It is the fifth installment of the Gears of War series and the sequel to Gears of War 4. The ultimate edition was released on September 6, 2019, while the standard edition of the game was released worldwide on September 10, 2019. (Wikipedia).

Engine: Unreal Engine 4. We test using the Ultra preset, with Best Animation Quality (instead of Auto), VRS disabled, DX12 API.

Looking now at Gears 5. despite this being an AMD-sponsored titled, the RX 6600 averages 74FPS which puts it 10% slower than the RTX 3060. It's also just as fast as the RX 5600 XT, when really we'd be hoping for more almost two years on.

Average frame rates at 1440p are still decent, with the 6600 hitting 49FPS, but that is now 16% slower than the RTX 3060 and level with the RTX 2060.

Hitman 3 (stylized as HITMAN III) is a stealth game developed and published by IO Interactive for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Stadia (under the title Hitman: World of Assassination), and Nintendo Switch on 20 January 2021. It is the eighth main installment in the Hitman series and the final entry in the World of Assassination trilogy, following Hitman (2016) and Hitman 2 (2018). (Wikipedia).

Engine: Glacier. We test using Ultra settings (or High where Ultra is not available), VRS off, DX12 API.

Hitman 3 is another title where the RX 6600 is essentially matching the RX 5600 XT's performance – both GPUs average around 126FPS at 1080p, making both of them just fractionally slower than the RTX 3060.

At 1440p, not a lot changes – the 5600 XT and 6600 are still neck and neck, while the RTX 3060 manages an extra 2FPS to keep its very slender advantage.

Horizon Zero Dawn is an action role-playing game developed by Guerrilla Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The plot follows Aloy, a hunter in a world overrun by machines, who sets out to uncover her past. It was released for the PlayStation 4 in 2017 and Microsoft Windows in 2020. (Wikipedia).

Engine: Decima. We test using the Ultimate Quality preset, DX12 API.

 

Next is Guerilla Games' Horizon Zero Dawn, running on the Decima engine. Once again we're seeing high frame rates at 1080p, with the RX 6600 hitting 79FPS using the highest quality settings. That's still not enough for it to match the RTX 3060 though, as it comes in 12% slower.

That increases to a 16% deficit at 1440p, while we can again see the RX 6600, RTX 2060 and RX 5600 XT are all on level pegging around the 56FPS mark.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a 2018 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games. The game is the third entry in the Red Dead series and is a prequel to the 2010 game Red Dead Redemption. Red Dead Redemption 2 was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in October 2018, and for Microsoft Windows and Stadia in November 2019. (Wikipedia).

Engine: Rockstar Advance Game Engine (RAGE). We test by manually selecting Ultra settings (or High where Ultra is not available), TAA, Vulkan API.

We get the lowest average frame rate of any game for the RX 6600 in Red Dead Redemption 2. It hit 51FPS using Ultra settings, putting it 10% behind the RTX 3060 but still 8% ahead of the RX 5600 XT.

Up at 1440p, the RX 6600 now manages 40FPS on average, making it 13% slower than the RTX 3060 and now just 3% faster than the RX 5600 XT.

Resident Evil Village is a survival horror game developed and published by Capcom. The sequel to Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017), players control Ethan Winters, who is searching for his kidnapped daughter; after a fateful encounter with Chris Redfield, he finds himself in a village filled with mutant creatures. The game was announced at the PlayStation 5 reveal event in June 2020 and was released on May 7, 2021, for Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Stadia. (Wikipedia.)

Engine: RE Engine. We test using the Max preset, with V-Sync and CAS disabled, DX12 API.

Resident Evil Village is another AMD-sponsored title, and using the latest iteration of the RE Engine we see the RX 6600 matching the RTX 3060 at 1080p. It's 18% behind the RX 6600 XT, but a good 10% faster than the RX 5600 XT.

Those margins do slip slightly though at 1440p. The 6600 is 13% slower than the RX 6600 here and it is 7% faster than the RX 5600 XT. Considering the GPU averages 89FPS though, it's still delivering a very smooth experience.

Total War Saga: Troy is a 2020 turn-based strategy video game developed by Creative Assembly Sofia and published by Sega. The game was released for Windows on 13 August 2020 as the second installment in the Total War Saga subseries, succeeding Thrones of Britannia (2018). (Wikipedia).

Engine: TW Engine 3 (Warscape). We test using the Ultra preset, with unlimited video memory enabled, DX11 API.

We had some fun and games with Total War Saga: Troy for this review. It seems between now and my previous testing of this game for the RX 6600 XT's launch in August, an update came along and reduced performance for all of the GPUs tested. Interestingly, it seemed to have the biggest negative impact on the 6600 and 6600 XT, as the 6600 is actually 11% slower than the 5600 XT at both 1080p and 1440p. My guess is the limited memory bandwidth could be a factor here, as could the PCIe Gen4 x8 configuration which we're running at Gen3 x8 due to using the Z490 platform.

Watch Dogs: Legion is a 2020 action-adventure game published by Ubisoft and developed by its Toronto studio. It is the third instalment in the Watch Dogs series, and the sequel to 2016's Watch Dogs 2. Legion was released on October 29, 2020 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Stadia. (Wikipedia).

Engine: Disrupt. We test using the Ultra preset, DX12 API.

Lastly, we close out with Watch Dogs: Legion. Despite being an Nvidia sponsored title, AMD's GPUs do well here and the 6600 is just a touch faster than the RTX 3060 at 1080p, while it's also 10% faster than the RX 5600 XT.

Once more though, we do see some fall off as we step to 1440p. The 6600 is now 4% slower than the RTX 3060, when it was 2% faster at 1080p, while it is also 7% faster than the 5600 XT, instead of the 10% margin we saw at 1080p.

Here we present frame rate figures for each graphics card, averaged across all 12 games on test today. These figures can disguise significant variations in performance from game to game, but provide a useful overview of the sort of performance you can expect at each resolution tested.

Looking at the big picture overview, the RX 6600 sits between the RX 5600 XT and the RTX 2060 Super in terms of the average performance at 1080p; it's 3% faster than the former GPU and 3% slower than the latter. Compared to the RTX 3060, it's 6% slower, while it's 16% slower than the RX 6600 XT.

At 1440p, it does drop off slightly, with the average frame rate now identical to that of the RX 5600 XT. It's still 7% faster than the RTX 2060 here, but it's 12% behind the RTX 3060.

Using the average frame rate data presented earlier in the review, here we look at the cost per frame using the GBP (£) MSRP launch prices for each GPU.

We don't place much emphasis on these cost per frame charts as they're based on MSRP, which means precisely nothing in the current market. Still, we get an idea that even at its quoted price point, the RX 6600 really doesn't bring much to the table – the RTX 3060, RX 6600 XT and even GTX 1660 Super all offer better value.

Here we test Cyberpunk 2077, this time testing with the in-game ray tracing effects set to their highest values.

Ray tracing performance is next, starting with Cyberpunk 2077. As expected, the Ultra setting is far too demanding for the 6600 here and it can't even average over 20FPS at 1080p.

We do also have to point out that Nvidia's GPUs have the benefit of DLSS in this title, making game playing with ray tracing enabled almost infinitely better than what either the RX 6600 or RX 6600 XT can manage.

Here we test Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition, with the in-game ray tracing effects set to their highest values.

Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition is next, and despite offering a vast amount of ray tracing in game, performance isn't too bad even for the RX 6600, averaging over 40FPS. It's significantly slower than even the RTX 2060, but it's at least a playable experience.

Once more though, Nvidia's DLSS technology is on hand to give the RTX 3060 an even bigger advantage over the RX 6600, which is not even half as fast as the RTX 3060 when using DLSS.

Here we test Resident Evil Village, this time testing with the in-game ray tracing effects set to their highest values.

I wasn't too keen on the ray tracing implementation in Resident Evil Village, but it's also not too intensive on a GPU. At 1080p the RX 6600 averages just under 60FPS with ray tracing set to High, though it is still behind the RTX 2060 – Nvidia's slowest ray tracing GPU that launched back in 2019.

Resident Evil Village also supports AMD's FSR upscaling technology which will provide some boost to frame rates, but at 1080p that boost is minimal – gaining us just an extra 7% performance.

While our primary focus so far has been on the gaming performance of the ASUS RX 6600 Dual, here we include a select sample of 1080p gaming benchmarks, testing both ASUS Dual and Gigabyte Eagle RX 6600 models.

As we'd expect from two GPUs that both ship with reference clock speeds, the ASUS Dual and Gigabyte Eagle are effectively identical in their performance. We saw up to 1.2% difference between the two GPUs – for reasons that are explained on the next page – but the differences are so trivial they don't make any real-world difference at all.

Here we present the average clock speed for each graphics card while running Cyberpunk 2077 for 30 minutes. We use GPU-Z to record the GPU core frequency during gameplay. We calculate the average core frequency during the 30 minute run to present here.

The reason for the incredibly minor differences in gaming performance between the Dual and the Eagle is down to the fact the Dual's GPU frequency boosted fractionally higher – averaging 2439MHz compared to 2417MHz. It's really quite inconsequential, but it was measurable over our testing.

For our temperature testing, we measure the peak GPU core temperature under load. A reading under load comes from running Cyberpunk 2077 for 30 minutes.

As for temperature testing, both the Dual and Eagle are more than a match for the RX 6600 GPU. Both saw peak temperatures stay below 60C, which is quite incredible really, while the Dual's hotspot peaked at 67C compared to 73C for the Eagle. I'd imagine most of the RX 6600 cards will be using the same cooler designs as the RX 6600 XT models, so we would expect better thermals as the 6600 is a lower-power chip than the 6600 XT.

We take our noise measurements with the sound meter positioned 1 foot from the graphics card. I measured the noise floor to be 32 dBA, thus anything above this level can be attributed to the graphics cards. The power supply is passive for the entire power output range we tested all graphics cards in, while all CPU and system fans were disabled. A reading under load comes from running Cyberpunk 2077 for 30 minutes.

Noise levels is another strong area for both cards, as they both produced 37dBa – quiet enough to be drowned out by just a couple of case fans. For reference, our testing saw the Dual's fans ramp up to 40%, or 1480rpm, while the Eagle spun up to 56%, or 1760rpm.

Following on from our stock thermal and acoustic testing, here we re-test the operating temperature of the GPU, but with noise levels normalised to 40dBa. This allows us to measure the efficiency of the overall cooling solution as varying noise levels as a result of more aggressive fan curves are no longer a factor.

Both GPUs were already running very cool anyway, and we didn't see massive reductions in temperature when noise-normalising to 40dBa. If anything, you'd want to be slowing the fan curve for lower noise levels, as there is clearly plenty of thermal headroom to do so.

Here we present power draw figures for the graphics card-only, on a per-game basis for all twelve games we tested at 1080p. This is measured using Nvidia's Power Capture Analysis Tool, also known as PCAT. You can read more about our updated power draw testing methodology HERE.

Per-Game Results (ASUS RX 6600 Dual) at 1080p:

Click to enlarge.

12-Game Average at 1080p:

Power draw is exceptionally low for the RX 6600. Over our 12 games tested, it averaged 122.5W at 1080p, lower than even the GTX 1660 Super (which is a significantly slower GPU). As you can see from the individual charts above, power draw was also very consistent across the 12 games we tested.

Here we present power draw figures for the graphics card-only, on a per-game basis for all twelve games we tested at 1440p. This is measured using Nvidia's Power Capture Analysis Tool, also known as PCAT. You can read more about our updated power draw testing methodology HERE.

Per-Game Results (ASUS RX 6600 Dual) at 1440p:

Click to enlarge.

12-Game Average at 1440p:

Power draw at 1440p is pretty much unchanged compared to 1080p, with the 6600 still glued to the bottom of our chart, averaging 122.8W over the 12 games we tested.

Here we present power draw figures for the graphics card-only, on a per-game basis for all twelve games we tested at 2160p (4K). This is measured using Nvidia's Power Capture Analysis Tool, also known as PCAT. You can read more about our updated power draw testing methodology HERE.

Per-Game Results (ASUS RX 6600 Dual) at 2160p (4K):

Click to enlarge.

12-Game Average at 2160p (4K):

Power draw does not increase as we step up to 4K, with the 6600 still averaging 122.8W. It's a remarkably frugal GPU.

Using the graphics card-only power draw figures presented earlier in the review, here we present performance per Watt on a per-game basis for all twelve games we tested at 1080p.

Click to enlarge.

12-Game Average at 1080p:

Combine the ~122W power draw with what is still decent 1080p gaming performance, and we have a new chart topper for our efficiency testing. That's right, at 1080p the RX 6600 delivers the most performance per Watt of any other GPU tested here, even beating the RX 6600 XT by 5%. Nvidia's closest rival, the RTX 3060 Ti, offers 12% less performance per Watt.

Using the graphics card-only power draw figures presented earlier in the review, here we present performance per Watt on a per-game basis for all twelve games we tested at 1440p.

Click to enlarge.

12-Game Average at 1440p:

At 1440p, the 6600 is still sitting on top of our chart, so even though the gaming performance drops off slightly, it's still the most efficient GPU at this resolution.

Using the graphics card-only power draw figures presented earlier in the review, here we present performance per Watt on a per-game basis for all twelve games we tested at 2160p (4K).

Click to enlarge.

12-Game Average at 2160p (4K):

Lastly, while the RX 6600 really isn't intended for 4K gaming at all, it's still joint-top in terms of performance per Watt at this resolution, level with the RTX 3060 Ti.

We measure system-wide power draw from the wall while running Cyberpunk 2077 for 30 minutes.

For those interested in total system power draw, RX 6600 will barely put a dent in your PSU. It will depend on your other system components of course, but theoretically this should be fine in something with even just a 300W unit.

For our manual overclocking tests, we used AMD's built-in tuning tool. Our best results are as below.

ASUS Dual:

Gigabyte Eagle:

With both GPUs overclocked to their limits, the Eagle gained an extra 119MHz, while the Dual gained 125MHz to its average frequency under load.

These overclocks resulted in pretty consistent gains of  6-7% for both models tested. I think we probably could have got more out of them, but the memory overclocking slider is limited to just 1900MHz (when 1750MHz is stock), and I think it could probably go further.

Lastly, power draw also increased for both cards – we saw a 20% bump for the Eagle and a 21.5% increase for the Dual, when running both cards with the power slider at its maximum value.

We got our first look at AMD's Navi 23 silicon back in August with the launch of the RX 6600 XT, and today the company has unveiled the RX 6600. Using the same GPU as the XT variant but with 256 fewer cores and slower frequencies for both GPU and memory, AMD has accordingly lowered the price, with a £299.99/$329 MSRP compared to £329.99/$379 for the RX 6600 XT.

Just like its bigger brother, the RX 6600 is marketed as a 1080p GPU and that is really where it does best. It wasn't able to offer a locked 60FPS using Ultra settings in every game we tested (Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Total War Saga: Troy were the notable exceptions), but we never saw lower than 51FPS on average, and in many cases we saw a lot higher – just look at Hitman 3 and F1 2021.

1440p performance isn't so hot though. As with the RX 6600 XT, the RX 6600 has a narrow 128-bit memory interface which can cause performance to fall off at higher resolutions, despite the 32MB Infinity Cache that is present. 1440p is still possible with the RX 6600, but you will get noticeably choppier frame rates in certain games.

It's when looking at relative performance where questions started to be asked about this new GPU. For instance, we saw an average gain of 3% at 1080p versus the RX 5600 XT – which is hardly progress at all. The fact the 6600 is 16% slower on average compared to the 6600 XT, despite being just 9% cheaper in terms of MSRP, also proves hard to justify.

Ray tracing performance is another weak area for this GPU. Of the three games we tested with DXR enabled, the RX 6600 proved slower than the RTX 2060 in all of them at 1080p. To put that into context, the RTX 2060 uses Nvidia's first generation RT cores and was released in January 2019. We know RDNA 2 can't match Nvidia for ray tracing performance, but it does put things into sharp perspective when AMD is asking £300 for this GPU which can't match Nvidia's similarly-priced product from almost three years ago.

The RX 6600 is another AIB-only launch, meaning AMD has not produced a reference card. Instead, we have looked at the ASUS RX 6600 Dual and the Gigabyte RX 6600 Eagle. Both are excellent designs, offering identical gaming performance with coolers that are really overkill for this level of GPU. I'd certainly be happy to use either of these cards in my own PC, and which you prefer will come down to the design more than anything else.

We have also implemented our recently-updated GPU power testing methodology as part of this review, so if you want to see power draw figures on a per-game and per-resolution basis, you can find that starting on page 29 of this review. We found that the RX 6600 is an exceptionally frugal GPU, typically drawing no more than 125W under load. That makes it the most efficient GPU of its class, offering more performance per Watt than even the RX 6600 XT or RTX 3060 Ti.

Overclocking was pretty straightforward with the RX 6600 too. Both cards we tested proved stable with an extra 120MHz added to the GPU, while we were able to max out the memory slider at 1900MHz. These tweaks resulted in performances gains of 6-7% in our testing, so that's pretty typical of RDNA 2 as a whole. I do think we could get more from the 6600 though, as we know GDDR6 can overclock well beyond 15.2Gbps which is the current limit AMD has imposed.

All told, it is safe to say the AMD RX 6600 is not going to be exciting anybody. In fact, it's hard to see this as anything but a regression – average performance is just 3% better than the RX 5600 XT, but the MSRP has been increased by 18%. It really does feel that AMD has stopped trying to be competitive in the mid-range.

And yet, such is the state of the market that the RX 6600 is looking like it will actually be one of the best value GPUs going. Ignoring the £299.99 MSRP, which we all know is just meaningless, we've been told to expect UK pricing at £399-419. That is admittedly outrageous for a GPU of this calibre, but when the only RX 6600 XTs, in stock, start at £499, and RTX 3060 starts at £559, it actually becomes one of the best deals available.

Of course, that doesn't mean you should just go and buy one, as paying that sort of cash for something which should really be no more than £220, isn't going to sit well for many. However, we've been told stock is looking good for launch, so considering the state this market has been in for months now, the RX 6600 could be worth considering.

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ASUS RX 6600 Dual

Pros

• Understated design.
• Metal backplate
• Solid 1080p performance.
• Very power efficient.
• Cool and quiet under load.
• Expected to be, relatively speaking, good value considering the current climate.

Cons

• Barely an improvement on the RX 5600 XT.
• Expected pricing of £400+ is just depressing considering the performance.
• Weak ray tracing performance.

Gigabyte RX 6600 XT Eagle

Pros

• Understated design.
• Solid 1080p performance.
• Very power efficient.
• Cool and quiet under load.
• Expected to be, relatively speaking, good value considering the current climate.

Cons

• Barely an improvement on the RX 5600 XT.
• Expected pricing of £400+ is just depressing considering the performance.
• Weak ray tracing performance.
• Plastic backplate instead of metal.

KitGuru says: In any other time, the RX 6600 would be ridiculed for the price to performance on offer. At this stage in 2021 though, given the expected availability and relatively competitive pricing, it could be one to consider if you really need a new GPU.

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