Radeon RX 5500 XT

Radeon RX 5500 XT is a mid-range GPU from AMD introduced in 2019. It was designed to compete with NVIDIA's mid-range graphics cards and has become a popular choice among gamers and enthusiasts. In this article, we'll look at the RX 5500 XT's development history, architecture, features, and performance at launch.

Development and announcement date

Development of the Radeon RX 5500 XT began in 2018 as part of AMD's first generation RDNA architecture. This architecture was built from the ground up and is intended to replace the old GCN architecture that has been in use since 2012. RDNA was designed to increase performance, power efficiency, and reduce latency in games. The RX 5500 XT was announced on October 7, 2019 and hit the market in December of the same year.

Architecture and characteristics

The Radeon RX 5500 XT is based on the Navi 14 GPU, manufactured on the 7nm process. It includes 1408 stream processors, 88 texture units and 32 ROP units. The RX 5500 XT has 8GB of GDDR6 video memory with a 128-bit interface and 224GB/s memory bandwidth.

The graphics card operates at a base frequency of 1717 MHz and can be overclocked to 1845 MHz in Boost mode. The RX 5500 XT has a TDP of 130 W, which is moderate for a mid-range graphics card.

Gaming performance and competitors

At the time of its release, the RX 5500 XT was a competitive solution, capable of handling most modern games at medium to high settings at 1080p resolution. It competed with cards like the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 and GTX 1660 Super, delivering comparable or even better performance in some games. In games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Battlefield V, and The Division 2, the RX 5500 XT outperformed the GTX 1660 and came close to the GTX 1660 Super.

However, since graphics card performance depends on game and driver optimization, the RX 5500 XT didn't always beat its competitors. In some cases, like Assassin's Creed Odyssey, the GTX 1660 Super beat the RX 5500 XT.

Interesting facts about the video card

1. The Radeon RX 5500 XT was the first member of the Navi 14 line, which also includes the RX 5500 and RX 5300.
2. The RX 5500 XT was one of the first AMD graphics cards to support the new Radeon Image Sharpening technology, which increases image clarity without significantly impacting performance.
3. The graphics card also supports AMD FidelityFX, a set of optimizations and technologies to improve the graphical quality of games.
4. The RX 5500 XT was one of the first GPUs to support PCI Express 4.0, although few motherboards or systems supported the standard at the time of its release.

The Radeon RX 5500 XT was an important step in the development of AMD's line of GPUs. Thanks to its RDNA architecture and good specifications, it was able to successfully compete with NVIDIA cards in its segment. While many new graphics cards have been released since then, the RX 5500 XT remains a popular choice among gamers and enthusiasts looking for an affordable and efficient solution for gaming at medium to high settings.