I’m glad the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT has more VRAM, but the price is an issue

Phil Hayton
·3 min read
AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT graphics card with blurred backdrop.
AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT graphics card with blurred backdrop.

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT is on the way, and the new entry level RDNA 3 graphics card will furnish more PCs with 16GB VRAM. That’s undoubtedly a good thing, especially when it comes to maxing out settings in the latest games at 1080p, but I’m disappointed that it doesn’t have much else up its proverbial sleeve. Effectively, the card is set to use the same GPU and core count as its non-XT predecessor, meaning its price point feels a little bit off.

You only have to look at the best graphics card scene to know prices are all over the place, and AMD has led the charge with competitive MSRPs. It feels like only yesterday that the Radeon RX 7600 arrived to challenge the RTX 4060 with a $269.99 tag attached, not to mention the company managed to dodge the same pricing criticism fired at Nvidia for the more expensive RTX 4060 Ti 16GB. However, it feels like team red is now falling into the same trap as its main rival, as the Radeon RX 7600 XT feels like the same pitch.

Revealed at CES 2024, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT arrives on January 24 and will come in at $329.99. Featuring 32 Compute Units, 64 AI accelerators, and 16GB GDDR6 VRAM, the only real difference between the new model and the non-XT is the extra memory, which might help explain why I’m a little bit narked about its MSRP.

AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT GPU render with purple and orange backdrop
AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT GPU render with purple and orange backdrop

That’s not to say I don’t think having an entry-level GPU with more memory to spare is worthwhile, as I’ve experienced first hand what gluttonous new releases are like when sticking to 8GB. However, while the Radeon RX 7600 XT will buffer some gaming PCs against the horrors of maxed out settings, it’s not going to provide an fps boost over and above the non-XT version, even though you’re practically paying a $60 premium.

Of course, AMD is known for post-release price cuts, so there’s every chance the Radeon RX 7600 XT will dip a little in the future. I’d argue that it will have to if it wants to survive in the ring, as new Intel Arc Battlemage graphics cards could show up in 2024 as a disruptor. Naturally, Nvidia could also look at giving the RTX 4060 a glow up in a similar fashion to the GeForce RTX 4080 Super, and piling on additional pressure.

Pricing aside, it’s nice to see more 16GB options show up to the graphics card fold, and the move from 8GB will ultimately help keep things future proofed. We’ll need to put the new card through our usual tests to see whether it stacks up against the best, but I suspect there won’t be too many surprises in store during benchmarking.

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