Sapphire's Pulse Radeon RX 6500 XT 8GB, which recently released, is now available for $229.99. The Navi 24-powered graphics card is only $20 more expensive than the vanilla Radeon RX 6500 XT, one of the best graphics cards around if you're on a serious budget.
One of the more questionable aspects of the Radeon RX 6500 XT was the 4GB of GDDR6 memory. In a blog post titled "Game Beyond 4GB," published in 2020, AMD argued that 4GB simple wasn't enough for modern gaming. Therefore, AMD's decision to incorporate only 4GB of memory into the Radeon RX 6500 XT still makes many scratch their heads. However, Sapphire's Pulse Radeon RX 6500 XT 8GB solves the Radeon RX 6500 XT's memory deficiency. Unfortunately, AMD doesn't officially list a Radeon RX 6500 XT 8GB on its website, so it would appear Sapphire produced the 8GB version out of its own volition, and we may not see other vendors follow suit.
The Pulse Radeon RX 6500 XT 8GB clocks in slightly faster than the Pulse Radeon RX 6500 XT 4GB. The 8GB model features a 2,695 MHz game clock and 2,855 MHz, whereas the 4GB variant comes with a 2,685 MHz game clock and a 2,825 MHz boost clock. That's less than a 2% difference. The most significant upgrade lies in the memory system.
Sapphire's new model comes with double the memory as the original. However, the memory still operates at 18 Gbps across a 64-bit memory interface. Therefore, the Pulse Radeon RX 6500 XT 8GB offers the same memory bandwidth of 143.9 GBps as any other Radeon RX 6500 XT.
The Radeon RX 6500 XT is a 107W graphics card. Sapphire rates the 4GB and 8GB models with a board power of 130W. However, the slightly faster clock speeds and the double memory forced the manufacturer to swap PCIe power connectors. As a result, the Pulse Radeon RX 6500 XT 8GB has an 8-pin PCIe power connector as opposed to the 6-pin one on the 4GB counterpart. Display outputs still come down to a single HDMI 2.1 port and DisplayPort 1.4 output.
The Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 6500 XT 8GB retails for $229.99 on Newegg. That was the original price tag on the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 6500 XT 4GB. The 4GB model sells for $209.99 before discounts and promotions. You get double the memory for $20 (10%). The problem is that other custom Radeon RX 6500 XT 4GB models start at $185, so the Sapphire graphics card already carries a premium over its rival. To worsen the situation, the Radeon RX 6600 is available for as low as $259.99. For many consumers, it makes sense to go up to the Radeon RX 6600, which already sports 8GB and offers significantly higher performance.
