MSI Radeon RX 6950 XT 16 GB, RX 6750 XT 12 GB, RX 6650 XT 8 GB Graphics Cards Review: The Refreshed Trio Emerges!

MSI Radeon RX 6950 XT, RX 6750 XT, RX 6650 XT Gaming X Benchmarks (DirectX 12 + RTX/DLSS & SAM)

AMD showcased some impressive performance uplifts with its first outing of the RDNA 2 graphics architecture infused within the DNA of the Radeon RX 6000 series lineup. Now, more than a year since its launch, AMD has decided to refresh its entire Navi 2X portfolio of graphics cards with the latest Radeon RX 6950 XT, RX 6750 XT, and RX 6650 XT.

The 2nd Generation RDNA 2 architecture delivers an impressive leap in performance per watt while offering a range of new features. Now, these features and the same performance uplift are coming to higher-performance optimized variants which include the latest feature set & offer higher clocks.

The AMD RDNA 2 architecture for its Big Navi Radeon RX 6800/RX 6900 & mainstream Radeon RX 6700/RX 6600 series graphics cards have a lot to offer. In addition to architectural enhancements, you can expect hardware-accelerated ray tracing, smart access memory, Infinity Cache, and a lot more features on the deck which make the lineup one of the most competitive enthusiast families that AMD has ever positioned against NVIDIA.

Some of the main features of the AMD Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards include:

• AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition – Brings advanced and innovative capabilities to unlock the full potential of gaming experiences on AMD graphics- and processor-powered systems. The latest release offers up to 10 percent higher performance across a range of select DX11 titles. In addition, AMD Radeon Super Resolution 1.1 driver-based upscaling technology now adds support for select AMD Ryzen 6000 Series processors equipped with Radeon integrated graphics.
• AMD FidelityFX Technology – AMD FidelityFX technology is an open-source toolkit of visual enhancement effects for game developers available at AMD GPUOpen. It includes AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) 1.0 spatial upscaling technology, which is supported in 80+ games and counting. It also includes the forthcoming AMD FSR 2.0, a cutting-edge temporal upscaling solution that boosts framerates in supported games and generates similar or better than native image quality on a wide range of graphics cards.
• AMD Smart Access Memory (SAM) Technology – Unlocks higher performance when pairing AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series graphics cards with select AMD Ryzen desktop processors and AMD 500 Series motherboards by providing AMD Ryzen processors with access to the entire high-speed GDDR6 graphics memory. SAM can provide up to 14 percent higher performance in a system equipped with an AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT graphics card and an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D processor.
• AMD Infinity Cache Technology – Last-level data cache integrated on the GPU die is designed to reduce latency and power consumption and can help enable higher gaming performance than traditional architectural designs.
• DirectX 12 Ultimate Support – Enables games to deliver mind-blowing visuals with real-time DirectX Raytracing (DXR), Variable Rate Shading, and other advanced features, elevating games to a new level of realism.
• AMD Radeon Anti-Lag – Helps decrease input-to-display response times, making games more responsive and offering a competitive edge in gameplay.
• AMD Radeon Boost – AMD Radeon Boost with support for Variable Rate Shading can provide up to a 48-percent performance increase in Warframe during fast-motion gaming scenarios by dynamically reducing image resolution or by varying shading rates for different regions of a frame, increasing framerates and fluidity, and bolstering responsiveness with virtually no perceptual impact on image quality.

AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT - Navi 21 KXTX Powered Flagship

The AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT will come packed with the Navi 21 KXTX GPU in its fully-enabled die config featuring 80 Compute Units or 5120 SPs. The card will also feature 16 GB of GDDR6 memory across a 256-bit bus interface. There are also 80 Ray accelerators for ray-tracing enablement on the graphics cards (one RA per Compute Unit). The graphics card will operate at a GPU clock of 2.1 GHz and a boost clock of 2310 MHz. That's an increase of up to 4% over the RX 6900 XT reference model which clocked at 2015 and 2250 MHz, respectively. The graphics card will offer up to 23.65 TFLOPs of peak FP32 performance.

In addition to the standard memory, the Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics card will also feature 128 MB of Infinity Cache on the GPU die. The cache will help boost bandwidth for higher performance at resolutions beyond 1080p HD. The 128 MB Infinity Cache boosts the standard 512 GB/s bandwidth by 3x, delivering an effective bandwidth of up to 1.728.2 TB/s. The graphics card will feature 18 Gbps GDDR6 memory dies, delivering an effective bandwidth of 576 GB/s. The card will rock a 335W TBP (a 35W bump over the RX 6900 XT).

As for the design of the graphics card, it will ship in the same 'Midnight Black' flavor as the 6800 XT Limited Edition with a 2.5 slot cooler, a massive triple-fan cooled heatsink, and power provided by 2 8-pin connectors. In terms of performance, the Radeon RX 6950 XT should offer 4-5% better GPU performance than the RX 6900 XT and around 10% better performance than the RTX 3090, making it around as fast as the RTX 3090 Ti.

AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT - The Fastest Navi 22 KXT Mainstream

The AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT will be packing the Navi 22 KXT GPU and feature 40 compute units which are equal to 2560 stream processors. The graphics chip also features 40 Ray accelerators for raytracing capabilities on the RDNA 2-based GPUs. The graphics card will come clocked at 2495 MHz 'Game' and 2600 MHz 'Boost' clocks, an increase of up to 3% versus the 2424 MHz 'Game' & 2581 'Boost' clocks of the RX 6700 XT, respectively. The gra[jocs card will offer 13.31 TFLOPs of peak FP32 performance.

The graphics card will feature a 12 GB GDDR6 memory buffer along with a 192-bit bus interface. AMD will be using 18 Gbps dies which would net a total bandwidth of 432 GB/s for the cards. The GPU additionally packs 96 MB of Infinity Cache. The effective bandwidth is rated at 1326 GB/s with the Infinity Cache, an increase of 3.06x.

The GPU will be fully Gen 4.0 compliant. As for the TBP, the card will feature a 250W (a 20W bump over the RX 6700 XT) design. This is solely due to the use of higher clock memory dies which will lead to increased power consumption. The graphics card will get a brand new triple-fan 'Midnight black' reference design with a dual-slot design and power provided through an 8+6 pin connector configuration. In terms of performance, the RX 6750 XT is going to be around 7% faster than the RX 6700 XT and on par with the RTX 3070 graphics card.

AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT - Navi 23 KXT Powered Budget Delight

Lastly, we have the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT graphics card which will be powered by the Navi 23 KXT GPU, featuring 11.06 Billion transistors packed within a 237mm2 die. The Navi 23 GPU features 32 Compute Units with a total of 2048 stream processors. The card will also rock 32 MB Infinity Cache and features an 8 GB GDDR6 memory capacity running across a 128-bit wide bus interface at pin speeds of 17.5 Gbps for a total bandwidth of 280 GB/s and an effective memory bandwidth of up to 468.9 GB/s, an increase of up to 1.67x.

The core clocks will be maintained at 2410 MHz 'Game' and 2635 MHz 'Boost' for the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT, an increase of up to 2% over the 6700 XT which clocks in at 2359 MHz 'Game' & 2589 MHz 'Boost' clocks. The graphics card will offer 10.79 TFLOPs of peak FP32 performance.

Just like the Radeon RX 6600 XT, the card will operate with a single 8-pin connector and TBP will be rated at 180W, a 20W bump over the RX 6600 XT. The graphics card will get a brand new dual-fan 'Midnight black' reference design with a dual-slot design and power provided through a single 8-pin connector configuration. In terms of performance, the RX 6650 XT is going to be just 2% faster than the RX 6600 XT but 23% faster than the RTX 3060.

AMD Radeon RX 6000 Refresh Graphics Cards Specs:

Graphics Card	AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT	AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT	AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT	AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT	AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT	AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT
GPU	Navi 21 KXTX	Navi 21 XTX	Navi 22 KXT	Navi 22 XT	Navi 23 KXT	Navi 23 XT
Process Node	7nm	7nm	7nm	7nm	7nm	7nm
Die Size	520mm2	520mm2	336mm2	336mm2	237mm2	237mm2
Transistors	26.8 Billion	26.8 Billion	17.2 Billion	17.2 Billion	11.06 Billion	11.06 Billion
Compute Units	80	80	40	40	32	32
Stream Processors	5120	5120	2560	2560	2048	2048
TMUs/ROPs	320 / 128	320 / 128	160/64	160/64	128/64	128/64
Game Clock	2100 MHz	2015 MHz	2495 MHz	2424 MHz	2410 MHz	2359 MHz
Boost Clock	2310 MHz	2250 MHz	2600 MHz	2581 MHz	2635 MHz	2589 MHz
FP32 TFLOPs	23.65 TFLOPs	23.04 TFLOPs	13.31 TFLOPs	13.21 TFLOPs	10.79 TFLOPs	10.6 TFLOPs
Memory Size	16 GB GDDR6 +128 MB Infinity Cache	16 GB GDDR6 +128 MB Infinity Cache	12 GB GDDR6 + 96 MB Infinity Cache	12 GB GDDR6 + 96 MB Infinity Cache	8 GB GDDR6 + 32 MB Infinity Cache	8 GB GDDR6 + 32 MB Infinity Cache
Memory Bus	256-bit	256-bit	192-bit	192-bit	128-bit	128-bit
Memory Clock	18 Gbps	16 Gbps	18 Gbps	16 Gbps	17.5 Gbps	16 Gbps
Bandwidth	576 GB/s	512 GB/s	432 GB/s	384 GB/s	280 GB/s	256 GB/s
Effective Bandwidth	1728.2 GB/s	1664.2 GB/s	1326 GB/s	1278 GB/s	468.9 GB/s	444.9 GB/s
TBP	335W	300W	250W	230W	180W	160W
PCIe Interface	PCIe 4.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x8	PCIe 4.0 x8
Price	$1099 US	$999 US	$549 US	$479 US	$399 US	$379 US

AMD RDNA 2 Desktop GPU 'Radeon RX 6000' Refresh - Pricing & Availability

There would also be a small price difference too for the new AMD Radeon RX 6000 Refresh cards. Today, the cards are being announced and reviews are available for you to check out (ours will be posted within this week). The cards will hit retail shelves on the same day.

These cards not only come in the reference 'Midnight Black' card flavor but also get custom treatment. Based on the existing prices, the RX 6950 XT might hit retail for $1099 US, the RX 6750 XT at $540 US, and the RX 6650 XT at $399 US. Prices of the existing models will remain unchanged.

• Radeon RX 6950 XT vs RX 6900 XT - $1099 vs $999 US MSRP
• Radeon RX 6750 XT vs RX 6700 XT - $549 vs $479 US MSRP
• Radeon RX 6650 XT vs RX 6600 XT - $399 vs $379 US MSRP

In case you want to read our full AMD RDNA 2 GPU architecture deep dive, head over to this link.

The MSI Radeon RX 6000 Refresh lineup consists of three high-end variants, the RX 6950 XT Gaming X Trio, the RX 6750 XT Gaming X Trio, and the RX 6650 XT Gaming X. Both, the MSI RX 6950 XT & the RX 6750 XT feature the Gaming X Trio design with a triple-fan cooler in a 2.5 slot design while the RX 6650 XT Gaming X features the Twin-Frozr dual-fan cooler in a 2 slot design.

All cards are custom designed and boosted with more frequencies over the reference variants. The RX 6950 XT rocks a 14-phase VRM, the RX 6750 XT rocks a 10-phase VRM while the RX 6650 XT rocks an 8-phase VRM. The power numbers also vary with the RX 6950 XT rocking a triple 8-pin connector configuration with boost clocks of up to 2324 MHz, the RX 6750 XT rocking a dual 9-pin connector config with boost clocks of up to 2600 MHz & the RX 6650 XT rocking a single 8-pin connector with boost clocks of up to 2694 MHz. Memory for the top two variants is clocked at 18 Gbps while the RX 6650 XT rocks a 17.5 Gbps memory clock.

Following are some of the features of the MSI Radeon RX 6950 XT Gaming X Trio:

Boost Clock / Memory Speed

• Up to 2324 MHz / 18 Gbps
• 16GB GDDR6
• DisplayPort x 3 (v1.4a)
  HDMI x 1 (Supports 4K@120Hz as specified in HDMI 2.1)

TRI FROZR 2 Thermal Design

• TORX Fan 4.0: A masterpiece of teamwork, fan blades work in pairs to create unprecedented levels of focused air pressure.
• Core Pipe: Precision-crafted heat pipes ensure max contact to the GPU and spread heat along the full length of the heatsink.
• Airflow Control: Don't sweat it, Airflow Control guides the air to exactly where it needs to be for maximum cooling.

Following are some of the features of the MSI Radeon RX 6750 XT Gaming X Trio:

Boost Clock / Memory Speed

• Up to 2600 MHz / 18 Gbps
• 16GB GDDR6
• DisplayPort x 3 (v1.4a)
  HDMI x 1 (Supports 4K@120Hz as specified in HDMI 2.1)

TRI FROZR 2 Thermal Design

• TORX Fan 4.0: A masterpiece of teamwork, fan blades work in pairs to create unprecedented levels of focused air pressure.
• Core Pipe: Precision-crafted heat pipes ensure max contact to the GPU and spread heat along the full length of the heatsink.
• Airflow Control: Don't sweat it, Airflow Control guides the air to exactly where it needs to be for maximum cooling.

Following are some of the features of the MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT Gaming X Trio:

• Boost Clock / Memory Speed

  • Up to 2694 MHz/ 17.5 Gbps
  • 8GB GDDR6
  • DisplayPort x 3 (v1.4)
    HDMI x 1 (Supports 4K@120Hz/8K@60Hz and VRR as specified in HDMI 2.1)

  TWIN FROZR 8 Thermal Design

  • TORX Fan 4.0: A masterpiece of teamwork, fan blades work in pairs to create unprecedented levels of focused air pressure.
  • Core Pipe: Precision-crafted heat pipes ensure max contact to the GPU and spread heat along the full length of the heatsink.
  • Airflow Control: Don't sweat it, Airflow Control guides the air to exactly where it needs to be for maximum cooling.

The MSI Gaming X Graphics Cards With Tri-Frozr 2 & Twin-Frozr 8S Cooling

With the differences out of the way, now let's talk about the similarities and the main highlights of the Gaming X design. The Gaming X is a toned-down variant of the much higher-end card, the MSI Gaming X Trio. The Gaming X series features the MSI Twin Frozr while the Trio features the Tri Frozr series which has been widely used in current and last-generation graphics cards from MSI.

The MSI Radeon RX 6000 Refresh graphics card comes inside a standard cardboard box. The front of both packages has a large "AMD Radeon" brand logo along with the "MSI" logo on the top left corner and the "Gaming X" or "Gaming X Trio" series branding on the lower-left corner. A large picture of the graphics card itself is depicted on the front which gives a nice preview of the Gaming X design.

The packaging has put a large emphasis on the AMD RDNA 2 architecture as the first feature enlisted by AIBs. Each card has been devised for a certain gaming segment, the RX 6950 XT is aiming the 4K, RX 6750 XT aims the 1440p and RX 6650 XT aims at the 1080p gaming segment.

The back of the box is very typical, highlighting the main features and specifications of the cards. The three key aspects of MSI's top-tier custom cards are its blazing performance which is achieved by fully custom design, the new Twin/Tri-Frozr 8 cooling system, and a new wave-curved 2.0 heatsink which will offer better cooling performance compared to the traditional flat-surfaced fin heatsinks.

There's also a focus towards AMD.com on each AIB card through which users can download the latest drivers and the Radeon Software applications which are a must for gamers to access all feature sets of the new cards.

The sides of the box once again greet us with the large Radeon RX branding. There's also the mention of memory available on the cards. For each specific card, you get 16 GB on 6950 XT, 12 GB on 6750 XT, and 8 GB on 6650 XT. The higher memory bandwidth delivered through the new GDDR6 interface and infinity cache would help improve performance in gaming titles at higher resolutions.

Outside of the box, the graphics card and the accessory package are held firmly by foam packaging. The graphics card comes with a few accessories and manuals which might not be of much use for hardcore enthusiasts but can be useful for the mainstream gaming audience.

The card is nicely wrapped within an anti-static cover which is useful to prevent any unwanted static discharges on various surfaces that might harm the graphics card. Useful manuals and installation guides are packed within an MSI-labeled letter case. There is an MSI Quick Users Guide, an installation guide, a sticker letter, the MSI DIY comic, and a single driver's disk. It's best to ignore the driver disk and install the latest software and graphics drivers directly from the AMD and MSI official web pages as the ones shipped in the disks could be older versions and not deliver optimal performance for your graphics cards.

After the package is taken care of, I can finally start talking about the cards themselves. The MSI RX 6950 XT and RX 6750 XT come in the Gaming X Trio while the RX 6650 XT comes in the Gaming X variant.

Both, MSI Tri-Frozr and Twin-Froze, are iconic designs. The first Twin Frozr cards were actually introduced all the way back with the GeForce 200 series cards and have seen various design upgrades over the years. MSI has further refined the Gaming X Twin Frozr design. The MSI Tri-Frozr design was first introduced in 2014 on the MSI GeForce GTX 780 Ti Lightning. The Tri-Frozr design has also seen a major upgrade since then.

The MSI Radeon RX 6950 XT and RX 6750 XT Gaming X Trio graphics cards are huge and require a lot of space. The MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT Gaming X isn't a bulky card at all and would fit in nicely in standard ATX and even Mini-ITX cases with ease. The cooling shrouds on all cards extend beyond the PCB. The back of the cards features a solid backplate that looks stunning. The backplate offers a lot more functionality than just looks which I will get back to in a bit.

In terms of design, we are looking at an updated version of the Tri-Frozr and Twin-Frozr heatsinks which are now in their eighth variation The design has seen various changes and now comes in a fully loaded graphics card design.

The new heatsink looks great with the main changes being the shroud and heatsink design which retains an aggressive shroud design on the front and a combination of either three or two fans, absorbing the black and silver color platelets while featuring the RGB emitting acrylic cutouts at the front (Gaming X Trio) and sides (Gaming X). The sides of the Gaming X Trio series also come with a large RGB accent bar which lights up when the card is powered on.

Coming to the fans, the cards actually features the brand new Torx 4.0 system. All fans feature a ring-based design to allow for higher airflow to be channeled within the main heatsink. All fans deploy a double ball bearing design and can last a long time while operating silently.

MSI also features its Zero Frozr technology on the Twin Frozr 8 heatsink. This feature won’t spin the fans on the card unless they reach a certain threshold.

In the case of the Twin Frozr heatsink, that limit is set to 60C. If the card is operating under 60C, the fans won’t spin which means no extra noise would be generated.

I am back at talking about the full-coverage, full metal-based backplate that the card uses. The whole plate is made of solid metal with rounded edges that add to the durability of this card. The brushed matte-black finish on the backplate gives a unique aesthetic.

There are cutouts in screw placements to easily reach the points on the graphics card. We can also see the MSI Dragon logo on the back which looks stunning. MSI is also using heat pads beneath the backplate which offer more cooling to the electrical circuitry on the PCB. Additionally, each card has vents on the backplate that can push air through the backside of the PCB for further airflow.

With the outsides of the card done, I will now start taking a glance at what's beneath the hood of these monster graphics cards. The first thing to catch my eye is the humungous fin stack that's part of the beefy heatsink that the cards utilize.

The large fin stack runs all the way from the front and to the back of the PCB and is so thick that you can barely see through it. It also comes with the wave-curved 2.0 fin stack design which I want to shed some light on as it is a turn away from traditional fin design.

The heatsink has been designed to be denser by using a wave curved fin design. It allows more air to pass through the fins smoothly, without causing any turbulence that would result in unwanted noise. Airflow Control Technology guides the airflow directly onto the heat pipes, while simultaneously creating more surface area for the air to absorb more heat before leaving the heatsink.

Talking about the heatsink, the massive block is comprised of seven copper squared-shaped heat pipes with a more concentrated design to transfer heat from the copper base to the heatsink more effectively. The base itself is a solid nickel-plated base plate, transferring heat to the heat pipes in a very effective manner. To top it all off, MSI uses their exclusive Thermal Compound X which is said to offer a higher thermal interface and heat transfer compared to traditional TIM applications.

MSI adds extra protection to its impressive PCB by including a rugged anti-bending plate. This also acts as a memory and MOSFET cooling plate while the PWM heatsink with micro fins keeps the VRM cool under stressful conditions.

I/O on the graphics cards sticks with the reference scheme which includes three Display Port 1.4a & a single HDMI 2.1 port.

Coming to the power connectors, the MSI Radeon RX 6950 XT Gaming X Trio has three 8-pin plugs, the MSI Radeon RX 6750 XT Gaming X Trio has two 8-pin plugs while the MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT Gaming X has a single 8-pin plug.

We used the following test system for comparison between the different graphics cards. The latest drivers that were available at the time of testing were used from AMD and NVIDIA on an updated version of Windows 10. All games that were tested were patched to the latest version for better performance optimization for NVIDIA and AMD GPUs.

MSI Radeon RX 6000 Refresh Graphics Cards Test Setup:

CPU	Intel Core i9-12900K @ 5.0 GHz
Motherboard	AORUS Z690 Master (DDR5)
Video Cards	MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT Gaming X MSI Radeon RX 6700 XT Gaming X MSI Radeon RX 6800 XT Gaming X Trio MSI GeForce RTX 3080 SUPRIM X MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ti SUPRIM X MSI GeForce RTX 3070 SUPRIM X MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Gaming X Trio MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z MSI GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER Gaming X Trio MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio ASUS GeForce RTX 2070 STRIX OC MSI GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER Gaming Z MSI GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming Z MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT Gaming X MSI Radeon RX 5600 XT Gaming Z
Memory	G.SKILL Trident Z5 RGB Series 32GB (2 X 16GB) CL36 6000 MHz
Storage	Teamgroup T-Force A440 Pro 2 TB Gen 4
Power Supply	ASUS ROG THOR 1200W PSU
OS	Windows 12 64-bit
Drivers	AMD Radeon Adrenalin Edition 22.5.1 NVIDIA GeForce 512.15 WHQL

• All games were tested on 1920x1080 (FHD), 2560×1440 (2K), and 3840×2160 (4K) resolutions.
• Image Quality and graphics configurations have been provided in the screenshots below.
• The “reference” cards are the stock configs while the “overclock” cards are factory overclocked configs provided to us by various AIB partners.
• All cards were tested with resizable-BAR enabled.

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Doom Eternal

DOOM Eternal brings hell to earth with the Vulkan-powered idTech 7.  We test this game using the Ultra Nightmare Preset and follow our in-game benchmarking to stay as consistent as possible.

Red Dead Redemption 2

Developed by Rockstar San Diego, Red Dead Redemption II is one of the most visually stunning open-world games I've played to date that is backed up by a rich story set around the protagonist, Arthur Morgan. The game is based on the RAGE engine which features an insane amount of graphics fidelity but also requires a lot of power to run maxed out. For the purpose of this test, we set the graphics settings to Ultra with AA turned disabled.

Wolfenstein: Youngblood

Wolfenstein is back in The New Colossus and features the most fast-paced, gory, and brutal FPS action ever! The game once again puts us back in the Nazi-controlled world as BJ Blazkowicz. Set during an alternate future where Nazis won the World War, the game shows that it can be fun and can be brutal to the player and to the enemy too. Powering the new title is once again, id Tech 6 which is much acclaimed after the success that DOOM has become. In a way, ID has regained its glorious FPS roots and is slaying with every new title.

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Battlefield V

Battlefield V brings back the action of the World War 2 shooter genre. Using the latest Frostbite tech, the game does a good job of looking gorgeous in all ways possible. From the open-world environments to the intense and gun-blazing action, this multiplayer and single-player FPS title is one of the best-looking Battlefields to date.

Death Stranding

Sam Porter Bridges has delivered one of PS4's most anticipated games to the PC community and opened a whole new world of possibilities. This was the first game to feature the Decima Engine on PC and unarguably did it the best. Death Stranding may not feature ray tracing effects but it does showcase that DLSS can be used effectively even when RT isn't around. We tested this one just like we did in our launch coverage with DLSS enabled.

Forza Horizon 5

Forza Horizon 5 carries on the open-world racing tradition of the Horizon series.  The latest DX12-powered entry is beautifully crafted and amazingly well executed and is a great showcase of DX12 games.  We use the benchmark run while having all of the settings set to non-dynamic with an uncapped framerate to gather these results.

Halo Infinite (DX12 Highest)

Next up, we have the latest entry in the Halo franchise, Halo: Infinite, which makes use of a brand new Slipspace engine that is based on the DX12 API. The game rocks some incredible environments for Master Chief to visit on the Halo ring.

Hitman III (DX12 Highest Settings)

Hitman III is the highly acclaimed sequel to the 2016 Hitman & 2018 Hitman II which was a redesign and reimaging of the game from the ground up. With a focus on stealth gameplay through various missions, the game once again lets you play as Agent 47. The game runs on the IO Interactive Glacier 2 engine which has been updated to deliver amazing visuals and environments on each level while making use of DirectX 12 API.

Shadow of The Tomb Raider

Sequel to The Rise of the Tomb Raider, Shadow of The Tomb Raider is visually enhanced with an updated Foundation Engine that delivers realistic facial animations and the most gorgeous environments ever seen in a Tomb Raider Game. The game is a technical marvel and really shows the power of its graphics engine in the latest title.

Metro Exodus

Metro Exodus continues the journey of Artyom through the nuclear wasteland of Russia and its surroundings. This time, you are set over the Metro, going through various regions and different environments. The game is one of the premier titles to feature NVIDIA’s RTX technology and does well in showcasing the ray-tracing effects in all corners.

Resident Evil Village

Resident Evil Village is the latest in the horror franchise that was wonderfully rekindled with RE7 and onto the RE2 Remake. But now the RE Engine is back and better than ever with Ray Traced Reflections and Lighting that makes the world just come to life, unironically. The game was tested in the center of the village itself with all graphical settings maxed out and with raytracing enabled.

No graphics card review is complete without evaluating its temperatures and thermal load. The MSI Gaming X graphics cards come with a triple (Tri-Frozr) or dual (Twin-Frozr) fan cooler with 0db fan technology, a massive heatsink that is composed of several aluminum fins and heat pipes, and an extended backplate that covers the entire PCB.

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Note – We tested load with Kombuster which is known as a ‘power virus’ and can permanently damage the hardware. Use such software at your own risk!

I compiled the power consumption results by testing each card under idle and full stress when the card was running games. Each graphics card manufacturer sets a default TDP for the card which can vary from vendor to vendor depending on the extra clocks or board features they plugin on their custom cards. Default TDP for the Radeon RX 6950 XT is 335W, for the RX 6750 XT its 250W and for the RX 6650 XT its 180W

The AMD Radeon RX 6000 Refresh lineup is finally here and we tested them throughout various games to see just how much performance uplift they have to offer. But before we talk about that, we have to talk about the custom designs on offer. MSI has three new variants which come in the Gaming X Trio and Gaming X flavors. These are some of the best-looking graphics cards on the AIB market and they have gotten even better with the new revision. The black and silver aesthetics do justice to the RDNA 2 GPUs that sit beneath them. As for each card, you get lots of cooling and lots of performance packed under the hood.

In terms of thermal performance, the higher clocks and TDPs do result in warmer temperatures but nothing that the Twin-Frozr 8S or Tri-Frozr 2 cooling solutions can't handle. The RX 6950 XT peaked at 74C, the RX 6750 XT peaked at 67C and the RX 6650 XT peaked at 50C. Now while the cards definitely run hotter than the non-refresh lineup, they do add some extra performance. A major contributor to the higher temperatures is the power draw. AMD decided to unchain their RDNA 2 graphics architecture with higher power limits. The Radeon RX 6950 XT easily surpasses GeForce RTX 3090 and sits close to the RTX 3090 Ti, the RX 6750 XT gets close to the RTX 3070 Ti while the RX 6650 XT almost matches the power rating of the RTX 3060 Ti. On average, you are getting a 6% power bump on the RX 6950 XT, an 8% power bump on the RX 6750 XT, and a 10% power bump on the RX 6650 XT.

Besides the RX 6950 XT, the rest of the Gaming X cards aren't that bulky and should fit inside most cases with relative ease and the triple-fan solution comes with 0db fan technology which unless or until you're touching 60C won't spin at all. This allows lower noise levels when you're not doing any graphics-intensive tasks. MSI went all the way by including a full metal backplate on the cards. The RGB is not overdone and the Mystic Light cuts on the front and sides provide really good aesthetics for the card itself. Now to the more important segment of the conclusion and that's the pricing.

MSI's Radeon RX 6950 XT is currently listed for $1099.99 US at Newegg which is the same price as the MSRP. It's also a $100 US premium over the RX 6900 XT but if you take the RX 6900 XT Gaming X Trio into consideration, you are looking at a $50 US difference. For a $50 price bump, I should totally recommend the new flagship which is a ferocious beast on its own. Offers performance that's faster than the RTX 3090 Ti in many titles and at a lower power draw. The card is simply an enthusiast dream and with an unlocked power/clock limit, it can be overclocked further for more performance. I was skeptical at first about the 6950 XT and its performance bump over the 6900 XT but for $50 US over a custom RX 6900 XT, this beast is totally worth the price.

The Radeon RX 6750 XT sees itself in a tough position with the likes of the RTX 3070 and RTX 3070 Ti in the same segment. The RX 6750 XT does offer higher VRAM and consumes slightly lower power but the performance delta between the RTX 3070 and RX 6750 XT is too small yet AMD has priced it at $549 US, an $80 US premium over the RX 6700 XT. In this regard, the RX 6700 XT is still a better choice. MSI's custom model is currently listed for $549 US, the same price as MSRP which is a good deal if you are looking for a 6750 XT but I'd say an RX 6700 XT at MSRP or even the RX 6800 if you can find one at MSRP ($579 US) would be a much better choice in this price segment.

Lastly, for the MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT, you are looking at a $50 US premium over the MSRP of $399 US and an $80 US premium over the RX 6600 XT. The RX 6650 XT offers the lowest performance gain over its non-refreshed part and looks a bit lacking versus the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti which has the same MSRP. With pricing coming down every day, many markets will soon have RTX 3060 Ti's at or around $400-$430 US. This means that the RX 6650 XT is in a hard place but if you really plan on going for this card, the Ventus 3X from MSI at a similar price as MSRP is a decent choice.

Overall, the AMD Radeon RX 6000 refresh is decent but the RX 6750 XT and the RX 6650 XT are totally unwanted. AMD should've just skipped them and offered a price cut on existing variants if they wanted to ship more cards. The Radeon RX 6950 XT on the other hand is a gaming king with lots of power at its disposal and even though it goes crazy on the power figures, it gives a solid punch to the RTX 3090 Ti.

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