AMD claims to deliberately reduce Radeon RX 6500 XT mining performance

AMD has launched very cheap Radeon RX 6500/6400 XT graphics cards earlier. These graphics cards have lower configurations but are also very cheap. The official suggested retail price given by AMD is $199. At the same time, AMD also said that these graphics cards have been optimized for games and most AAA games can run smoothly.

In terms of configuration, Radeon RX 6500/6400 XT has only a 4GB version and no 8GB version. It supports PCIe 4.0 and is backward compatible with PCIe 3.0. However, if the PCIe 3.0 protocol is used, the bandwidth is only 50% of that of PCIe 4.0.

There is a reason why AMD did this. AMD said that the reduction in configuration is mainly used to reduce mining performance to prevent miners from rushing to buy these graphics cards, making it difficult for normal consumers and gamers to buy them.

“We have really optimized this one to be gaming-first at that target market,” AMD Radeon VP Laura Smith said. “And you can see that with the way that we configured the part. Even with the four gigs of frame buffer. That’s a really nice frame buffer size for the majority of AAA games, but it’s not particularly attractive if you’re doing blockchain-type activities or mining activities.”

Radeon RX 6500 XT uses a 64-bit memory interface instead of a 128-bit memory interface, the display memory is only a 4GB version but not an 8GB version, and the bandwidth is also quite different from that of mainstream discrete graphics cards. AMD believes these configurations are smooth enough to run most AAA games. However, it is very unwise to use it for mining, because cryptocurrency mining such as Ethereum relies on large display memory and bandwidth, and only 4GB of memory cannot meet the needs of miners.

AMD believes that miners may be less likely to snap up this entry-level graphics card, but considering that the graphics card is currently out of stock, it is estimated that even if the configuration is very low, there will still be miners snapping up. In fact, it can be seen from the pricing provided by some sellers.

The Radeon RX 6500 XT graphics card will go on sale on January 19, AMD’s official suggested retail price of $199, which is indeed very attractive for some home users and gamers. However, the French seller CowCotland has already listed the Radeon RX 6500 XT graphics card in advance, and the price is 299 euros, which is nearly 40% higher than AMD’s official retail price.

The price of other RDNA 2 sold in Europe has increased by a similar amount compared to the retail price. Of course, this is only the current price given by the seller. If this graphics card really does not attract miners, the price may be reduced, but this may be relatively slim.