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The ASRock RX 5500 XT Phantom Gaming D’s testing showed the card to be a competent 1080p ultra gamer across the majority of titles in our test suite. Although it did not have the large cooler and three fans some of the other cards did, the Phantom Gaming D kept the card running well within specification and did so rather quietly—not quite as quiet or as well as the much larger Asus card, but it was effective nonetheless.
Priced at $199.99, the Phantom Gaming D is the least expensive card compared to the other 8GB AMD RX 5500 XT cards we've tested. The Gigabyte is priced at $219.99 and the Asus O8G $229.99. The 4GB Sapphire Pulse is listed at $179.99, though the 4GB VRAM makes it a less desirable choice. Between the 8GB cards, some titles may show one performing slightly better than the other, but it's mostly just typical fluctuations and in the end, they all averaged out to perform the same. Where they set themselves apart is the cooling and other features.
Opening up considerations to Nvidia GPUs, we know the 5500 XT 8GB cards are slightly faster than the less expensive GTX 1650 Super, and a few percent slower than the GTX 1660. The GTX 1660 Super also makes for an intriguing buy as well. Priced from $229.99, it's about 15% faster than the GTX 1660 while being priced around the same. If you can stretch the budget to $230, it does offer a better price to performance ratio than any RX 5500 XT.
Right now, if you want the most well-rounded RX 5500 XT 8GB card, it's the ASRock Phantom Gaming D. While it doesn’t cool as well as the larger Asus card, it cools as good as the Gigabyte Gaming OC version while being smaller, and it costs less. Its two fans spin faster and create more noise than the Gigabyte and Asus cards, but it wasn't intrusive. Outside of that, all three have some form of RGB lighting as well as backplates. The difference between their VRMs won’t affect the ambient overclocker and they're all robust solutions.
Overall, the ASRock RX 5500 XT Phantom Gaming D is a good performing graphics card for both 1080p ultra and 1080p medium settings. As the least expensive 8GB 5500 XT, this card will give you the same performance as more expensive options and does so with a much smaller footprint. If you're looking for a good 1080p ultra/medium video card around the $200 price point, the Phantom Gaming D is a good option.
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