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PC Gamer: RX 6500 XT looks worse on paper than AMD's $199 GPU from six years ago

Soldato
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^ Yep. Makes me laugh when anyone even begins to justify any of this.

When prices go up ridiculously someone somewhere is making loads of money.

People need to stop, in any way shape or form, defending the manufacturers and retailers involved in all this.

You are all being taken for mugs.

Have you noticed they rarely go down even if things go back to normal? Remember what happened with HDD pricing and warranties after the floods in Thailand? So many times these companies have been fined for dodgy practices and forming cartels. People should be wary of trusting any of them,however nice the PR folk are.

It's just a ridiculous situation for gamers, I've been semi scalped by buying a pre-built recently but I'd got desperate in that I'd not had a new PC for a good 5 years. I also do have a Series X that is pretty good in the most part, but still a compromise overall Vs a decent PC.....but as long as Crypto carries on we're all doomed to this never ending circle of GPU manufacturers using the sector as a cash cow. I doubt they even give a **** about gamer's, the group who effectively bankrolled their capability to be in the position they are now to take advantage of the Crypto situation. But I don't think they'll ever lose, the consoles out now are as good as a semi decent PC, so games will still be made and a big audience to boot, so even if the day comes when Crypto either dies a death or moves to another way of mining, they still have a massive audience who they can sell goods to when us gamer's are hungry for a decent PC.

This is why we shouldn't show any "loyality" or "benefit of the doubt" to them,as they could quite happily drop us and look for business elsewhere. Same as many AAA gaming companies who started all the loot crates,excessive monetisation,etc and who a number of tech journalists tried to warn us about(only to get dunked on by fans,who were proved to be wrong when things got worse and worse).

Loyalty,especially,to large firms like this is a mug's game IMHO.
 
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Associate
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I have yet to see one but even if that were true they are designed around mining more than gaming.

You've yet to see one? Well they're there and available to those who can be bothered with Telegram alerts. Yes, it's not ideal. But it is true.

And at 649 quid, far better value than this piece of crap at 200 notes let alone the inflated prices it'll be before you know it.
 
Caporegime
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It's just a ridiculous situation for gamers, I've been semi scalped by buying a pre-built recently but I'd got desperate in that I'd not had a new PC for a good 5 years. I also do have a Series X that is pretty good in the most part, but still a compromise overall Vs a decent PC.....but as long as Crypto carries on we're all doomed to this never ending circle of GPU manufacturers using the sector as a cash cow. I doubt they even give a **** about gamer's, the group who effectively bankrolled their capability to be in the position they are now to take advantage of the Crypto situation. But I don't think they'll ever lose, the consoles out now are as good as a semi decent PC, so games will still be made and a big audience to boot, so even if the day comes when Crypto either dies a death or moves to another way of mining, they still have a massive audience who they can sell goods to when us gamer's are hungry for a decent PC.

Of course they don't give a **** about gamers. All they care about is money and profits. That is all anyone cares about for the most part.
 
Associate
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IgorWallossek says AIBs in both Taiwan and Hong Kong were told by AMD to not give 6500XT test samples out to hardware testers :eek:
https://twitter.com/3DCenter_org/status/1484080758729822209?s=20

I guess either AMD is ashamed of the 6500XT or they wanted to have as much supply as possible (wishful thinking) for the launch.

They should be ashamed. At a time when we are about to all undergo massive inflation and cost of living rises, this is a disgraceful release.

Neither of the two companies offer real value for money at the high end, but they do at least offer performance. The FE cards are the best value for money with the higher end cards, the rest are a rip off. At the lower end where the majority of people are most likely shopping, NVidia seem to offer something approaching better value albeit still not great VFM, and AMD give gamers this.

Over time they will be made to realise what a cynical release this was. But only this *6500XT, the 6600 and upwards are decent cards.

*Is there a 6500 non XT? I shudder to think what kind of speed demon that is..
 
Associate
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Surely EVERYONE in this thread is able to call a turd a turd, regardless of who laid it, where they forced it out and why ?

This card is not progress, no matter how you shape the narative.
 
Soldato
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Over time they will be made to realise what a cynical release this was. But only this *6500XT, the 6600 and upwards are decent cards
Even the 6600 and 6600XT were not great though as the 6600 offered 6% more performance over the 5600XT but cost 18% more even at the MSRP and the 6600XT was basically a 5700XT lite for almost the same MSRP, but yeah the 6500XT takes that to a new level with the low VRAM and x4 pcie interface makes it more akin to a modern day GT1030.
 
Associate
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You say this all the time, with absolutely nothing to back it up

He is, he never says anything negative about AMD without making an excuse and having a jab at Nvidia or Intel at the same time. He also often uses negative statements about intel and Nvidia to put AMD in a good light. It's irking but I still watch him because he's good at what he does.
 
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Its this (which performs about a 1650 / RX 570) or the on die from your cpu / apu. Or go roll the dice in the second hand market.....

Nope, I'm not accepting that. Second hand market is screwed, you know yourself that there are ways and means to get cards at a reasonable price, new and second hand. I would rather (which I most definately will not ) buy a 6600XT at current price for double the performance and none of the gimpage.
 
Associate
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Even the 6600 and 6600XT were not great though as the 6600 offered 6% more performance over the 5600XT but cost 18% more even at the MSRP and the 6600XT was basically a 5700XT lite for almost the same MSRP, but yeah the 6500XT takes that to a new level with the low VRAM and x4 pcie interface makes it more akin to a modern day GT1030.

While not great as you acknowledge, they at least offered decentish performance and were what both companies have done previously, re-release under a new moniker. But again as you acknowledge, this one takes it to a new level with how nerfed it is.
 
Caporegime
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Asus just made so much money they are doing this:
https://wccftech.com/asus-gpu-graphics-card-business-profits-crypto-mining-huge-employee-awards/



Yep,because of massive profits from dGPU sales. Any genuine price increases have been massively superceded by the actual ones. Pandemic profiteering because they can.

Hardware enthusiasts on tech forums need to stop excuse making for these companies. I still remember the people on here,who defended Nvidia jacking top end dGPU prices from around £500ish to nearly £1000 with the Titan,because a convenient "report" was "leaked" saying 28NM costed more than 40NM. The "report" was "leaked" on purpose so that tech media could justify the price increase. The tech media itself can itself act as a marketing arm for these companies - for over a decade they have been on social media(influencers).

People like Gamersnexus,for example said they can "understand" reasons why prices "might" be higher but its irrelevant to the end consumer. Hardware enthusiasts are now attacking reporters who on our side. It was the same with game reviewers too - look at John Sterling,Mac from WAB,etc.

Companies no doubt only care for themselves,but in a capitalist system consumers are in it for themselves too. We don't exist to prop up companies,especially foreign owned ones.

Nvidia for example in 2018(IIRC),didn't pay any state taxes - lots of tech companies already get propped up by various governments. So why are we having to then prop them up again?

Many PCMR types mocked Apple fans,but the Apple fans seem to have more commonsense nowadays than a number of hardware enthusiasts. They pay RRP not beyond it!

The fact is that you have been for quite a few months,have been able to get decentish deals on RTX3050/RTX3060/RTX3060TI/RX6600/RX6600XT based desktops and laptops for under £1000. The reality is that companies see hardware enthusiasts as whales nowadays. Sony has literally said that they don't make a loss on a PS5 at full RRP:
https://www.pcmag.com/news/sony-says-499-ps5-no-longer-sells-at-a-loss

That is a nearly 400MM2 7NM SOC,with tons of GDDR6,etc.The AMD 7NM APUs use nearly 200MM2 of 7NM silicon but you can find these in el-cheapo laptops.According to "reports" keep saying GDDR5/GDDR6 was also the reason for more expensive dGPUs too. Yet,not only is Sony fine with PS5 costs,but Nvidia just announced the GT1010 is using.....GDDR5 and will have no DDR4 variant.

Most of these "reports" are leaked via tech media to justify massive price increases which outstrip any real ones. Yet if you look at the net and gross margins of many of these companies....they are making record amounts of money. Give it a few years,I would certainly expect the EU,US government,etc to probably start investigating a number of these companies for anti-competitive behaviour. Its happened before.

People at the same time are quite happy to chuck money at these foreign owned tech companies,but goodness grief if we need to pay more tax to help with services,or if something is locally made and costs more....no that is terrible. Its true when people say tech companies are becoming a religion in their own right - anything these companies do is defended. I simply don't understand people voting against their own interests. It's like some weird Stockholm Syndrome. I never knew hardware enthusiasts,gamers,etc are so weak willed and need to defend every POS game or piece of hardware released to the market.

No wonder games and the hobby in general is getting worse every year. People are just adjusting their expectations downwards whilst throwing money at stuff and they can't help themselves.

Probably why Mack from WAB keeps running out of Bells! :p

AIB's CAT, the fact that AIB's are making record profit suggests they are scalping. If AMD / Nvidia set a Recommended Retail Price, which they do, they can't then sell in to the supply chain above that, which means AIB's are the ones profiteering and AMD / Nvidia get the blame for it.
 
Caporegime
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This need to be said, i'm not defending AMD / Nvidia but the blame for it needs to be directed to the right place, if you scream at AMD like Steve Walton does they are just going to shrug their shoulders and say there is nothing we can do about it, because they can't, and nothing changes.

These vendors are not going to point their finger at AIB's, politically its not the thing to do.
 
Soldato
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AIB's CAT, the fact that AIB's are making record profit suggests they are scalping. If AMD / Nvidia set a Recommended Retail Price, which they do, they can't then sell in to the supply chain above that, which means AIB's are the ones profiteering and AMD / Nvidia get the blame for it.

The issue why this all happens because people pay these idiotic prices way above RRP. Best not to pay them. The RRPs themselves from late 2021 have pandemic pricing baked in and have increased over 2020,so for the prices to be even high on top of that,is just everyone taking a cut and making off like bandits. From what I gather both Nvidia/AMD even before the pandemic have been trying to make a bigger cut(go back to the RX5600XT/RTX2060 reviews) but considering how much more the actual street pricing is,its quite clear the AIB partners and middle men are making a tidy sum on top of this. After all just look at laptops/desktops/consoles - I doubt Dell,Lenovo,etc are paying as much as we do at retail. If not how can people see laptops/desktops with a RTX3060/RTX3060TI/RX6600/RX6600T for under £1000 for a whole system?

You just wait and see - even if the pandemic ends tomorrow,if these companies all know people are willing to pay more,it will happen. Just look what happened to HDD prices which never really recovered for years after the floods in Thailand.
 
Caporegime
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The issue why this all happens because people pay these idiotic prices way above RRP. Best not to pay them. The RRPs themselves from late 2021 have pandemic pricing baked in and have increased over 2020,so for the prices to be even high on top of that,is just everyone taking a cut and making off like bandits. From what I gather both Nvidia/AMD even before the pandemic have been trying to make a bigger cut(go back to the RX5600XT/RTX2060 reviews) but considering how much more the actual street pricing is,its quite clear the AIB partners and middle men are making a tidy sum on top of this. After all just look at laptops/desktops/consoles I doubt Dell,Lenovo,etc are paying as much as we do at retail. If not how can I see laptops with a fully enabled GA106 for well under £1000 for a whole system(including a Zen3 CPU).

You just wait and see - even if the pandemic ends tomorrow,if these companies all know people are willing to pay more,it will happen. Just look what happened to HDD prices which never really recovered for years after the floods in Thailand.

Yeah, and all the mainstream reviewers did their best to put down a GPU that came in at £179, is that put down going to anywhere near as trying for the RTX 3050 when it comes in at £250 or even £300? No. And they will pat themselves on the back for services to combating the problem.

Hypocrites.
 
Soldato
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Yeah, and all the mainstream reviewers did their best to put down a GPU that came in at £179, is that put down going to anywhere near as trying for the RTX 3050 when it comes in at £250 or even £300? No. And they will pat themselves on the back for services to combating the problem.

Hypocrites.


Considering the RTX3050 is 50% faster than the 6500xt and has been listed for sale at 250 I think it's a good deal wouldn't you say
 
Soldato
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Got to admit that after looking at some of the numbers again the 6500xt doesn't actually look as bad as I first thought. Yes the 4 pcie lanes and lack of encoding are disappointing, but then its origins as a laptop chip do explain that, and for people that just want to game at 1080p medium settings it does the job.

Compared to releases from previous years it is really unimpressive, but compared to actual prices of other cards available right now it doesn't seem so far off. It all comes down to pricing - if pricing stays where its is (a bit below a 1650) then for a low spec gamer it does actually make sense imo. If it goes any higher then it wouldn't make any sense.

If AMD can churn them out in high numbers then it's exactly what's needed to help start pulling prices down a bit - puts a bit of a limit on what retailers can get away with charging for a 1050 Ti or 1650, for instance, at least for a pure low spec gamer who won't miss encoding support etc.
 
Caporegime
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Yeah, and all the mainstream reviewers did their best to put down a GPU that came in at £179, is that put down going to anywhere near as trying for the RTX 3050 when it comes in at £250 or even £300? No. And they will pat themselves on the back for services to combating the problem.

Hypocrites.

By all accounts, the 3050 will be a much better card.
 
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