What is faster than a Radeon RX 560, but slower than a Radeon RX 570? The answer is AMD's latest Radeon RX 560 XT gaming graphics card that the US chipmaker only plans to release in China.
The China-exclusive Radeon RX 560 XT is based on AMD's Graphics Core Next (GCN) 4.0 architecture. Judging by its name, the graphics card appears to be a toned-down version of the Radeon RX 570. However, there's an unpleasant surprise under the hood. The Radeon RX 560 XT actually occupies the archaic Polaris 10 silicon as opposed to the Polaris 20 die that's used in the Radeon RX 570. So, technically, the Radeon RX 560 XT is more like a cut-down Radeon RX 470 instead.
AMD Radeon RX 560 XT Specifications
| Header Cell - Column 0 | AMD Radeon RX 570 | AMD Radeon RX 560 XT | AMD Radeon RX 560 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture (GPU) | Graphics Core Next 4.0 (Polaris 20) | Graphics Core Next 4.0 (Polaris 10) | Graphics Core Next 4.0 (Polaris 21) |
| Shaders | 2048 | 1792 | 1024 |
| Peak FP32 Compute | 5.1 TFLOPS | 3.8 TFLOPS | 2.6 TFLOPS |
| Texture Units | 128 | 112 | 64 |
| Base Clock Rate | 1168 MHz | 973 MHz | 1175 MHz |
| GPU Boost Rate | 1244 MHz | 1073 MHz | 1275 MHz |
| Memory Capacity | 4GB or 8GB GDDR5 | 4GB or 8GB GDDR5 | 4GB GDDR5 |
| Memory Clock | 7000 Mbps | 6600 Mbps | 7000 Mbps |
| Memory Bus | 256-bit | 256-bit | 128-bit |
| Memory Bandwidth | 224 GB/s | 211.2 GB/s | 112 GB/s |
| ROPs | 32 | 32 | 16 |
| TDP | 120W | 150W | 75W |
| Transistor Count | 5.7 billion | 5.7 billion | 3 billion |
| Die Size | 232 mm² | 232 mm² | 123 mm² |
The Radeon RX 560 XT has 1,792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 32 render output units (ROPs) at its disposal. The graphics card operates with a 973MHz base clock and 1073MHz boost clock. Similar to the Radeon RX 570, the Radeon RX 560 XT can rock 4GB or 8GB of GDDR5 memory across a 256-bit memory interface. However, the memory is clocked slightly slower at 1,650MHz (6,600MHz effective), facilitating a memory bandwidth in the range of 211.2 GB/s.
The Radeon RX 560 XT comes with a 150W TDP (thermal design power), and therefore only requires a single 6-pin PCIe power connector for external power. The graphics card has one HDMI and three DisplayPort outputs. So far, Sapphire is the only AMD partner that has jumped on the bandwagon, so the Hong Kong-based manufacturer should announce its custom models soon.
AMD Radeon RX 560 XT Performance
AMD China provides a few gaming benchmarks at 1920x1080 resolution comparing the Radeon RX 560 XT to its closest siblings. AMD's testbed consists of an Intel Core i7-7700K processor paired with 16GB of DDR4-3000 memory. The chipmaker did the testing on a Windows 10 operating system and used the High to Very High graphics settings in the majority of the games.
| Games | AMD Radeon RX 570 | AMD Radeon RX 560 XT | AMD Radeon RX 560 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Far Cry 5 | 66 FPS | 55 FPS | 40 FPS |
| Monster Hunter: World | 73 FPS | 61 FPS | 41 FPS |
| Battlefield V | 70 FPS | 60 FPS | 40 FPS |
| PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) | 81 FPS | 68 FPS | 46 FPS |
| Fortnite | 82 FPS | 68 FPS | 47 FPS |
| Overwatch | 107 FPS | 88 FPS | 57 FPS |
According to AMD's numbers, the Radeon RX 560 XT's performance is pretty respectable. The Radeon RX 560 XT is, on average, around 47.2 percent faster than the Radeon RX 560 and falls behind the Radeon RX 570 by 19.6 percent.
AMD Radeon RX 560 XT Pricing
The Radeon RX 560 XT carries a price tag of 1000 CNY, which roughly translates to $149.10 (~£113.07), putting it in the price range of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1050. Like the Radeon RX 580 2048SP, the Radeon RX 560 XT isn't officially available outside of China.
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Zhiye Liu is a news editor, memory reviewer, and SSD tester at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.