A well-known hardware leaker called @KOMACHI_ENSAKA on Twitter has tweeted a screenshot of what appears to be the specifications for the upcoming AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT graphics card. However, the specs suggest that the card will merely be an overclocked version of the AMD Radeon RX 5500 graphics card that AMD has already detailed but not released.
A fully-unlocked Navi 14 die has up to 1,536 Stream Processors (SPs). The one that's inside the Radeon RX 5500 has 1,408 SPs. AMD will seemingly not enable the full die on the Radeon RX 5500 XT either. This would mean that AMD is saving the best silicon for Apple, since the AMD Radeon Pro 5500M, which sports 1,536 SPs, is exclusive to Apple systems.
Like the RX 5500, the RX 5500 XT will reportedly be available with 4GB or 8GB of GDDR6 memory clocked at 1,750 MHz (14,000 MHz effective) across a 128-bit memory interface. The only noticeable difference in comparison to the RX 5500 are the higher operating clocks. AMD lists the RX 5500 with a 1,670 MHz base clock and 1,717 MHz game clock. The leaked RX 5500 XT specs point to a 1,685 MHz base clock and 1,737 MHz game clock. The difference is less than 2%; however, there will probably be higher clocked custom models once AMD officially launches the RX 5500 XT.
According to a short and early review of the RX 5500 by a German publication, the RX 5500's performance is roughly in the same ballpark as the last-generation AMD Radeon RX 580. Heise's testing also showed the RX 5500 being effectively more power-efficient than an RX 580. The XT variant should perform identically if not a tad faster.
Chinese retailer JD.com has already listed plenty of custom RX 5500 XT graphics cards from big names, including ASRock, PowerColor, Sapphire and XFX. This lends credence to the early speculation that the RX 5500 is strictly for OEMs, while the RX 5500 XT is open to any of AMD's partners.
The RX 5500 XT graphics cards on JD.com are currently priced at 1,499 yuan, which is approximately $212. China has a standard VAT (value-added tax) rate of 13%, meaning RX 5500 XT models could start at around $183.
Custom RX 580 graphics cards start as low as $145. Therefore, the RX 5500 XT could be competitive if the chipmaker prices it around $150.
Another piece of useful information from JD.com's posting is the release date. The RX 5500 XT reportedly goes on sale on December 12, which coincides with the timeframe from an earlier report.
