AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT Review: Cool-Headed Asus ROG Strix

AMD's RX 6000-series refresh in May 2022 still strikes us as a bit odd, and for cards like the RX 6750 XT, it feels largely unnecessary. At least the RX 6950 XT makes a bit of sense, going for halo glory and competing against the RTX 3090 Ti. There's no new Nvidia competitor for the RX 6750 XT, however, so it basically competes with AMD's existing RX 6700 XT as well as the RTX 3070. That's not a bad thing, as the 6700 XT continues to be one of the best overall values for GPUs, except the RX 6750 XT basically makes things worse: It costs 15% more while only improving performance by around 6%.

Two months ago, finding a graphics card with RX 6700 XT / RTX 3070 levels of performance for $550 would have seemed pretty great, but GPU prices have plummeted as the cryptoapocalypse continues. Even in our traditional gaming suite, the RTX 3070 trades blows with the RX 6750 XT. Add in ray tracing and DLSS, and it's not too difficult to justify paying a bit more money for the extra features and performance Nvidia offers. Or, more likely, with rumors that Nvidia Ada may arrive in just a couple of months, enthusiasts will wait to see what comes next rather than buying a higher cost, warmed-over GPU that debuted over a year ago in March 2021.

AMD does have a new Raise the Game Bundle going on, which applies to all RX 6000-series graphics cards. We haven't seen much in the way of bundles since 2020, as every GPU sold out immediately, often at massively inflated prices. Plus, well, large-scale GPU miners don't care about gaming bundles. The new bundle choices currently include the 2022 Saints Row reboot, slated to arrive in September, or Sniper Elite 5, which comes out May 26. There will be other games added over the coming months as well, in case those games aren't on your list.

The real issue with the RX 6750 XT, in general, is that AMD has tried to increase the pricing on its GPU stack without offering a lot of extra value. The RX 6700 XT was already "overpriced" relative to where it should have landed, were it not for the GPU shortages of the past 18 months or more. Using Nvidia's MSRPs as a baseline, the RX 6700 XT should be taking on the RTX 3060 Ti, a $400 part. Granted, it hasn't ever really sold at that price in meaningful quantities, but GPU pricing now has it at around $550, and we could actually see it selling at $450 within another month or two. Given the features and performance, that's really where we'd prefer to see the RX 6750 XT as well — it should have a lower MSRP than the RTX 3070, since that GPU has DLSS and Tensor cores that provide extra functionality.

The Asus ROG Strix RX 6750 XT delivers a good level of performance, and it targets the sweet spot of 1440p gaming. The design of the card is great; we have no concerns with that. However, Asus takes AMD's already questionable price and then tacks on an extra $100, giving it a final recommended price of $650, and retail prices are even higher right now. You can find other RX 6750 XT cards for $550, though they'll likely leave out the RGB bling and more advanced cooling that Asus offers with its Strix line. How much is the extra cooling and RGB lighting worth, though? We'd say $50, $100 at most, meaning we can really only recommend the Strix 6750 XT if you can find it for closer to $600. Asus makes a good card, but there are better values right now, and we really hope availability will improve and that the price will drop to compete with the rest of the market — a market that's still in freefall from its unsustainable peak prices.

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