RX 7700 XT Vs RX 6650 XT: What’s The Performance Difference?

The last generation of graphics cards from AMD had a few updates within the same generation, the most notable of which was the xx50 XT cards. These cards brought significantly more performance than their vanilla counterparts. This comparison will evaluate the performance of the RX 7700 XT vs RX 6650 XT to help you make the best purchasing decision,

Key Takeaways

• In our gaming tests, the RX 6650 XT ran around 18% slower than the RX 7700 XT at 1440p.
• The RX 6650 XT drew significantly less power than the RX 7700 XT at around 163 watts instead of the 210 watts that the latter consumed.
• There is a $200 price gap between the RX 6650 XT and the RX 7700 XT.

RX 7700 XT Vs RX 6650 XT

Comparison Table

Architectural Differences

1. Clock Speed: The RX 6650 XT has a higher base clock speed than its competitor at around 2055MHz, instead of the 1700MHz of the RX 7700 XT. The boost clock is also higher on the RX 6650 XT at 2635MHz, whereas the RX 7700 XT has a boost clock of 2544MHz.
2. Process Size: The 6650 XT, like all other RDNA 2 cards, is based on the 7nm processing node, whereas the RX 7700 XT uses a newer chiplet design to distribute the workload of on both 5nm and 6nm processing nodes.
3. VRAM: the RX 7700 XT brings a big upgrade over its competitor with a 12GB VRAM buffer, whereas the RX 6650 XT has a memory size of only 8GB, which is getting on the lower side for playing modern games. This larger VRAM buffer also brings a wider 192-bit bus instead of the 128-bit bus that the RX 6650 XT comes with. These increments also transfer to the RX 7700 XT with a memory speed around 50% higher than the 6650 XT.
4. TDP: The TDP of the RX 6650 XT is much lower than the newer card at 176 watts, instead of the 245-watt TDP of the RX 6650 XT.
5. Other Features: The features of the RX 6650 XT and the RX 7700 XT are mostly the same because of AMD’s great track record of updating their old cards. These cards have mild ray tracing capabilities and AI upscaling chops in the form of AMD’s FSR. Still, the RX 7700 XT takes this one step further with the option to enable FSR at the driver level to use the benefits of this software, even if the specific game does not have a toggle for this feature.

Benchmarks

The RX 7700 XT and RX 6650 XT are two different tiers of cards from two different generations, which makes it hard to compare their performance using their specifications. To bring an accurate gauge of performance, we slotted both cards into our test bench with the following specifications:

• CPU – Ryzen 9 5900X
• OS – Windows 11
• RAM – DDR4 2×16 G.Skill 3600MHz
• SSD – Samsung 980 Pro

These tests were performed at the 1440p resolution.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

• At the Ultra High graphics preset, the difference between the performance of these cards was apparent. The RX 6650 XT was around 27.5% slower than its younger cousin. The newer card had an average framerate of 80 FPS, whereas the older RX 6650 XT had a framerate of 58 FPS on average.
• The 1% lows also suffered quite a difference between the two cards, with the RX 6650 XT going down to around 47 FPS, whereas the RX 7700 XT had a minimum framerate of 61 FPS.

Also Read: RX 6650 XT Vs RTX 3060 Ti

Watch Dogs Legion

• The difference in performance between the RX 7700 XT vs RX 6650 XT shrank to the latter being around 18% slower than the former. The RX 6650 XT had a framerate of 65 FPS, whereas the RX 7700 XT was noticeably smoother, with a framerate of 79 FPS.
• The 1% lows did not dip severely below the average framerates in this game, with the RX 6650 XT going down to around 60 FPS, whereas the RX 7700 XT kept its head well above water with a minimum framerate of 75 FPS.

Cyberpunk 2077

• With all settings at high, Cyberpunk 2077 ran surprisingly well on the two cards. The RX 6650 XT had an average framerate of 66 FPS, whereas the RX 7700 XT brought the average up to a silky smooth 89 FPS. This made the RX 6650 XT around 26% slower than the newer card, greatly affecting the enjoyability and performance headroom in this game.
• 1% lows also remained fairly smooth with our two cards. The RX 6650 XT had a minimum framerate of 55 FPS, whereas the RX 7700 XT dropped down to a framerate of 67 FPS.

Similar Comparison: RX 7600 Vs RX 6650 XT

Doom Eternal

• This game showed a rather small difference between the two cards at only 8%, but with their framerates so high that they might as well have been running identical. The RX 6650 XT had an average framerate of 164 FPS, whereas the RX 7700 XT had 177 FPS on average.
• The difference in the 1% lows of this card was not drastic either, with the RX 6650 XT staying above 120 FPS with lows of 121 FPS, whereas the RX 7700 XT was even smoother with a minimum framerate of 131 FPS.

Red Dead Redemption 2

• Red Dead Redemption 2 had a difference of 17% between the two cards, with the victor being the RX 7700 XT. It had an average framerate of 124 FPS, whereas the RX 6650 XT had an average framerate of 103 FPS with the Ultra quality preset.
• 1% lows were pretty close between the RX 6650 XT and the RX 7700 XT in this game, with the older card getting a minimum framerate of 89 FPS, while the newer card dropped down to 97 FPS in more graphically demanding parts of the game.

Also Check: RX 6650 XT Vs RTX 3060

Horizon Zero Dawn

• Horizon Zero Dawn experienced an 18% difference in performance between the RX 6650 XT and the RX 7700 XT, with the latter being the victor. The RDNA 3-powered card had an average framerate of 96 FPS, whereas the RDNA 2 card ran at an average of 79 FPS on the Ultimate Quality preset.
• 1% lows had a different degree of separation between the RX 7700 XT and the RX 6650 XT. The former had a minimum framerate of 90 FPS, whereas the latter maintained a framerate of 67 FPS.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

• There was a 29% difference between these cards in the average framerates of this game, with the RX 6650 XT getting an average of 79 FPS while the RX 7700 XT averaged 111 FPS.
• Finally, the 1% lows in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey differed quite a bit. The RX 6650 XT had a minimum framerate of 68 FPS, whereas the RX 7700 XT had a framerate of around 91 FPS.

Similar Comparison: RTX 2070 Vs RX 6650 XT

Overall Gaming Performance

The difference in performance between the RX 7700 XT vs RX 6650 XT swung quite often from one value to another, translating to pretty unreliable expectations if you judge the cards based on the performance from one game. To eliminate this problem, this part of the comparison will tackle the average performance of these cards according to our testing.

Framerate

• Our testing suite had games with drastically varying levels of performance, so the average framerate of your use case might vary according to the games you play.
• The performance of the RX 7700 XT was around 18% higher than the RX 6650 XT, getting an average of 105 FPS and lows of around 86 FPS.
• The RX 6650 XT’s average framerate matched the lows of its competitor at 86 FPS, whereas the actual lows of this card sat on average at around 73 FPS.
• The tests we performed today were all rasterized, as we speculated that the performance of these cards was not high enough to play ray-traced games with acceptable quality settings at 1440p.
• None of the games we tested today utilized FSR, but you can turn it on to substantially boost framerate. The RX 7700 XT can use FSR on a driver level, meaning that even if the game does not incorporate it into its settings, you can still benefit from playing games at a lower render resolution.
• The next step in FSR’s evolution is frame generation, which can “double or even triple your FPS, according to AMD’s presentation of its Fluid Motion Frames technology. This feature will arrive on all cards at the start of 2024.

Temperatures

• According to our testing, the temperatures were cooler on the RX 7700 XT, in which it averaged a peak of 72°C, whereas the RX 6650 XT had an average temperature of around 77°C. 
• Remember that the temperature of a graphics card relies on your room temperature, the airflow in your case, and the card’s cooling solution, so your mileage might vary from ours.

Power Consumption

• The RX 7700 XT had an average power consumption of around 210 watts, whereas the RX 6650 XT had around a 29% lower power consumption of around 163 watts.
• The power consumption, like the temperature, depends on the cooler that your graphics cards have as well as the power demand of your game, so you might experience higher or lower power consumption in your experience.

Price And Availability

• The RX 7700 XT recently debuted for $449, whereas the RX 6650 XT has a price of around $249 on Newegg and can be had even lower on the used market.
• Both cards can be had at any computer store you would set foot in.

RX 6650 XT Vs RX 7700 XT: Which One Should You Go For?

Now that we’ve seen the performance of the RX 7700 XT vs RX 6650 XT in multiple gaming scenarios, this part of the comparison will list the pros and cons of both cards in a way that helps you in making your next purchasing decision.

• The RX 7700 XT had a significant performance overhead over the RX 6650 XT, but its current price is too steep for us to recommend it over the 6650 XT, which can be had for a steal.
• The RX 6650 XT is on the brink of obsolescence because of its low VRAM buffer. Still, he holds up great in modern titles. You would be hard-pressed to find a card for a similar price that gives as good of a performance as the RX 6650 XT.
• Both cards can have their performance uplifted through FSR by quite a significant margin. These cards are also getting the frame generation feature from AMD in a few months, so you might be able to lift the performance of these cards to another tier with these tools.
• In conclusion, the RX 7700 XT does not make sense to buy at the price range that it is in, whereas the RX 6650 XT has the price of an entry-level card while delivering performance above its weight class.

Pros And Cons

Ali

[Comparisons Expert]

Ali Tasueef is an experienced writer and computer enthusiast with a passion for graphics cards and processors. With a wealth of knowledge in the field of computer technology, he regularly publishes blogs and in-depth comparisons on Tech4Gamers.

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