Our 2022 GPU testbed consists of a Core i9-12900K processor, MSI Pro Z690-A DDR4 WiFi motherboard, and DDR4-3600 memory (with XMP enabled). We're running Windows 11 to ensure we get the most out of Alder Lake, and we're running the latest game patches and drivers for this testing — 22.5.2 in the case of the RX 6650 XT, which is supposed to boost DirectX 11 gaming performance. (We've retested the RX 6950 XT with the latest drivers, which netted a mere 2–3% increase overall.)
Our gaming tests consist of a "standard" suite of eight games without ray tracing enabled, and a separate "ray tracing" suite of six games that all use multiple RT effects. As this is a midrange card (even if it's at more of a high-end price now, thanks inflation), we've tested at 1080p medium and ultra, and 1440p ultra in our standard suite. We limited our DirectX Raytracing (DXR) suite to testing at 1080p medium and ultra.
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