AMD Launches Radeon RX 560 XT Exclusive To China

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.

(Image credit: AMD)

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

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Header Cell - Column 0 AMD Radeon RX 570AMD Radeon RX 560 XTAMD 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)
Shaders204817921024
Peak FP32 Compute5.1 TFLOPS3.8 TFLOPS2.6 TFLOPS
Texture Units12811264
Base Clock Rate1168 MHz973 MHz1175 MHz
GPU Boost Rate1244 MHz1073 MHz1275 MHz
Memory Capacity4GB or 8GB GDDR54GB or 8GB GDDR54GB GDDR5
Memory Clock7000 Mbps6600 Mbps7000 Mbps
Memory Bus256-bit256-bit128-bit
Memory Bandwidth224 GB/s211.2 GB/s112 GB/s
ROPs323216
TDP120W150W75W
Transistor Count5.7 billion5.7 billion3 billion
Die Size232 mm²232 mm²123 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.

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GamesAMD Radeon RX 570AMD Radeon RX 560 XTAMD Radeon RX 560
Far Cry 566 FPS55 FPS40 FPS
Monster Hunter: World73 FPS61 FPS41 FPS
Battlefield V70 FPS60 FPS40 FPS
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG)81 FPS68 FPS46 FPS
Fortnite82 FPS68 FPS47 FPS
Overwatch107 FPS88 FPS57 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.

Zhiye Liu
News Editor and Memory Reviewer

Zhiye Liu is a news editor and memory reviewer at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.