MSI RX 6650 XT for $249 Represents the Best Current GPU Value

There are plenty of Black Friday graphics card deals going on, but easily the best overall value right now is AMD's RX 6600... or at least it was, until it sold out. Priced at just $189 (after a $20 rebate), it was a lot of GPU for under $200. We've found a worthy replacement, though.

Update, 11/26: The MSI RX 6600 has sold out for the time being, with the lowest price now sitting at $229. We've updated this article with a slightly different recommendation now: the MSI RX 6650 XT at $249.

You can see where performance stacks up in our GPU benchmarks hierarchy, but we'll include some performance charts and other details below. The short summary is that the 6650 XT is faster than an RTX 3060 while saving you $65. It's also significantly faster than the RTX 3050 for the same price and blows away older cards like the GTX 1660 Super.

MSI RX 6600 XT Mech 2X: now $249 at Amazon (was $299)
This dual-fan RX 6650 XT card now represents the best value in all of the GPU world. You get 8GB of GDDR6 memory with performance that beats the RTX 3060 for about $75 less.

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The RX 6600 was a great deal, but the RX 6650 XT offers over 20% more performance thanks to its higher clocks and additional GPU shaders. It's primarily for 1080p gaming and can typically handle high to ultra settings while delivering 60 fps at that resolution. Lighter esports and older games may even manage 60 fps or more at 1440p and 4K. Just don't expect to be able to max out settings in games with ray tracing and still get a great experience.

Here's a look at the 1080p ultra rasterization performance alongside the 1080p medium ray tracing performance. We've included cards priced below about $300 in the charts for comparison. (Again, note that the RX 6600 is highlighted but the RX 6650 XT now represents the best graphics card deal.)

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The RX 6650 XT makes a great showing, averaging 86 fps at 1080p ultra in our rasterization gaming suite. Only Total War: Warhammer 3 fails to break the 60 fps mark, but it's not the sort of game that actually requires a super high framerate to be playable. Many others can break 100 fps, and this is still a reasonably demanding test suite — lighter games like Overwatch 2, Valorant, etc. would run just fine.

The ray tracing performance on the other hand is nothing special. If you want a card that performs really well in DXR (DirectX Raytracing) games, look to the Intel Arc A750 or an RTX 3060. The RX 6650 XT does at least beat the RTX 3050, except in Cyberpunk 2077 and Minecraft. And both cards are available for the same $249 asking price, so there's good reason to pick the AMD card.

We're looking at "medium" DXR performance as well, because maxing out the settings with ray tracing enabled often puts performance below 30 fps. And at that point, you can easily make the argument that medium quality with medium DXR settings often performs worse and doesn't really look better than ultra settings without DXR.

We already noted that the RX 6650 XT currently represents the best bang for the buck among graphics cards. Above is the sorted results for all the budget and midrange cards in our charts — and none of the higher-priced and faster cards can beat it. (They might rank ahead of some of the cards at the bottom of that list, though.)

The RX 6650 XT delivers, on average, 0.346 fps/$ at 1080p ultra settings. That might not be super easy to parse on its own, so put it this way: If you wanted a GPU that could average 60 fps or more, at that rate, you'd only need to spend $173. The (now not quite as affordable) RX 6600 comes second at a relative price of $190 for 60 fps, while the best Nvidia option would be the GTX 1660 Super at a relative cost of $243 for 60 fps — $252 for 60 fps if you opt for an RTX card.

AMD's Raise the Game bundle also offers two free games, Dead Island 2 and The Callisto Protocol, for select purchases of the RX 6000-series graphics cards. If you're interested in either or both of those games, that can certainly sweeten the pot.

Bottom line: The Radeon RX 6650 XT is the best deal going right now in the graphics card world. Even at $209 (i.e., without the rebate), it would tie the RX 6650 XT. Maybe we'll see something even better in the next few days while we wait for Black Friday to actually begin, and then stretch into Cyber Monday. But this is the card to get if you want something for a decent budget PC build.