Radeon RX 6500 XT 是一款入门级游戏显卡，AMD试图让其尽可能不吸引加密矿工。然而，这意味着跳过一些使好显卡变得好的细节！例如，Radeon RX 6500 XT 仅限于 4 个PCIe通道，并且仅配备 4GB 的RAM。另一方面，该RAM速度很快，与(RAM)GPU 市场(GPU market)目前的情况相比，该卡的价格是可以承受的。那么值得买一个吗？在今天的评测中，我们来看看Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT。继续阅读以了解它可以做什么：
蓝宝石脉冲 AMD Radeon RX 6500(Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500) XT：它对谁有好处？
Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 是以下人士的绝佳选择：
- 想要一个负担得起的显卡
- 可以(Are OK)玩 1080p 和中高视觉效果的游戏
- 拥有一台带有PCI Express 4主板的电脑
优点和缺点
Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 显卡有一些优点：
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- 与其他显卡相比价格实惠
- 它提供的性能足以满足 1080p 分辨率
- AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution显着提升了支持游戏的 fps
- 冷却系统(cooling system)静音并设法控制温度
- 它的功率要求很低
也有几个缺点：
- 4GB 的RAM对于今天的标准来说是很低的
- 只有一个DisplayPort和一个HDMI 端口(HDMI port)
- 仅在 4 个PCIe通道上运行，您可能会在PCIe 3.0主板上获得微薄的性能
- 光线追踪性能差（只有 16 个加速器）
判决
Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 显卡可以在几个条件下为您提供不错的选择。您必须要么不玩游戏，要么最多可以在中高图形设置下玩 1080p 游戏。您还需要至少有一块支持PCI Express 4.0的主板。(PCI Express 4.0)否则，此显卡(video card)的性能(s performance)将受到严重限制。如果您满足这些基本要求并且不想在下一张显卡上花费太多，那么可以，您可以试试Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT。
拆箱蓝宝石脉冲 AMD Radeon RX 6500(Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500) XT
Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 并不是一款非常大的显卡，因此其封装也相对较小。该盒子展示了GPU的(GPU)品牌和名称(brand and name)，以及它的一些主要功能、技术规格和最低系统(minimum system)要求。不幸的是，任何地方都没有视频卡(video card)的图片。
蓝宝石 AMD Radeon RX 6500(Sapphire AMD Radeon RX 6500) XT的包装
在包装内，您会找到Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 显卡，随附其用户手册和保修文件。
蓝宝石 AMD Radeon RX 6500(Sapphire AMD Radeon RX 6500) XT的包装盒内有什么
您从 Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 显卡获得的拆箱体验非常简单。正如预算设备所期望的那样，您只能获得最基本的必需品。(The unboxing experience you get from the Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT graphics card is straightforward. You only get the bare essentials, as expected from a budget device.)
设计和硬件规格
显卡背面有金属板保护，设计精美。它具有Sapphire Pulse品牌和徽标，以及印有红色粗字体字符的 AMD Radeon 。除了美观，背板还有一个更重要的目标：帮助散热。
Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500(Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500) XT的金属背板(metal backplate)
与 AMD 的参考 Radeon RX 6500(reference Radeon RX 6500) XT 相比，Sapphire 的显卡配备了更好的散热系统(cooling system)。Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT不仅仅是一个冷却器，而是有两个。因此，它应该能够实现比库存 RX 6500(stock RX 6500) XT 更低的温度。此外，它应该明显更安静，因为两个风扇可以在低速旋转时提供相同的气流。
Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT上的粉丝
Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 没有(XT doesn)RGB照明(RGB lighting)，但我们不会反对它。毕竟，我们谈论的是预算显卡。说到这里，AMD建议零售价约为 200美元(USD)。显然，在目前的市场条件下，这是一个梦想。尽管如此，与其他显卡的价格相比，Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 是一个经济实惠的选择——例如，在Newegg和Amazon上，你可以花大约 310-320美元(USD)买到它。
正如我们在本次评测开始时简要提到的，Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 是一款相对较小的显卡。尺寸为 10.5 x 6.5 x 2.5 英寸（26.67 x 16.51 x 6.35 厘米），即使在较小的计算机机箱中，它的长度也不会成为问题，但它仍然占用两个PCIe插槽。
看看蓝宝石脉冲 AMD Radeon RX 6500(Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500) XT
Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT的技术规格与参考 AMD Radeon RX 6500(reference AMD Radeon RX 6500) XT 的技术规格相同。它采用 AMD 的RDNA 2 GPU 架构构建(GPU architecture)，采用台积电的 6 纳米制造工艺(manufacturing process)。该卡的默认游戏时钟(default game clock)达到了令人印象深刻的 2.6GHz，而加速时钟(boost clock)可以达到 2.8GHz。此外，与上一代AMD GPU(AMD GPUs)相比，RX 6500XT 还配备了光线加速器，因此可以进行硬件光线追踪。不幸的是，您只获得了 16 个这样的加速器，这远不及平均光线追踪性能所需的数量。您可能会在自己喜欢的游戏中启用一些要求不高的光线追踪选项，但仅此而已。
另一方面，RX 6500 XT 显卡可以使用AMD 的 FidelityFX 超分辨率(AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution)，该功能可以在支持的游戏中显着提高性能。它的工作原理是在游戏中以低于设定的分辨率渲染帧并实时放大它们。虽然有点类似于Nvidia 的 DLSS（深度学习超级采样）(Nvidia’s DLSS (Deep Learning SuperSampling))技术，但它更容易被开发人员实施，因此我们应该看到可以使用它的游戏数量在接下来的几个月内呈指数级增长。目前，可以利用FidelityFX Super Resolution的游戏并不多，但一些最好的游戏已经做到了。这是 AMD 网站上的更新列表：支持 AMD FidelityFX 超分辨率的游戏(Games that support AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution).
接下来是故事的可悲部分，因为 AMD 的Radeon RX 6500 XT 有几个明显的缺点。首先(First)，它上面的图形内存量与您在 2022 年对游戏台式机(gaming desktop) GPU的预期相去甚远：只有 4GB 的GDDR6，尽管以 18Gbps 的高速运行。唯一的好处是它对加密矿工来说不应该是一个有吸引力的选择，因此我们其他人、游戏玩家和普通用户应该更容易获得它。
Radeon RX 6500 XT的第二大缺点是它使用狭窄的内存总线(memory bus)，仅限于 128 位。而且，如果这还不够，它只有 4 个PCIe通道，这对于游戏显卡来说是不可取的。通常，此类GPU 使用 16 个(GPUs use 16) PCIe通道，只有一些非常注重预算的 GPU 被限制为 8 个PCIe通道。在使用PCI Express Generation 4.0的主板上，四个通道勉强够用，如果将此显卡安装在仅支持PCI Express 3.0的主板上，则会受到严重限制。
GPU-Z 显示的规格
为了进一步降低成本，AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 显卡仅提供两个显示端口：一个DisplayPort 1.4a和一个HDMI 2.1端口。您可以从中获得的最大分辨率为 7680 x 4320像素。
Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT上的显示输出
最后但并非最不重要的一点是，在我们结束本部分的评测之前，有一个好消息：AMD 的Radeon RX 6500 XT(XT doesn)不需要大量电力。理论上，它不会消耗超过 107瓦(Watts)，一个 400W 的电源单元(power supply unit)就足够了。
Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 通过 6 针连接器供电
Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 是一款外观漂亮有趣的显卡。但至少可以说，它的硬件规格适中。虽然它可以在 1080p 分辨率下提供不错的游戏性能，但它可能只有与支持 PCI Express 4.0 的主板配对才能做到这一点。在 PCIe 3.0 上，其性能将受到严重限制。(The Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT is a graphics card that looks nice and interesting. But its hardware specs are modest, to say the least. While it may offer decent gaming performance in 1080p resolutions, it will probably be able to do so only if you pair it with a motherboard that supports PCI Express 4.0. On PCIe 3.0, its performance will be severely limited.)
蓝宝石脉冲 AMD Radeon RX 6500(Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500) XT - 测试设置
为了检查Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 显卡提供的性能，我们对其进行了一些基准测试，并将其结果与另一款Radeon RX 6500 XT 型号(XT model)：ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 6500 XT OC Edition进行了比较。我们还决定在测试的游戏中仅使用中等视觉设置，因为这正是这款GPU上的中等硬件所针对的：中高视觉效果。此外，我们还使用AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution重新运行了基准测试，因为这种升级功能可以显着提高受支持游戏的性能。
在继续向您展示我们得到的结果之前，这里是我们用于基准测试的硬件和软件：(hardware and software)
- 处理器：英特尔酷睿 i5-12600K
- 主板：华硕ROG STRIX B660-F GAMING WIFI(ASUS ROG STRIX B660-F GAMING WIFI)
- 内存：ADATA XPG Lancer DDR5 RAM (2 x 16GB, 5200MHz)
- 存储：ADATA Legend 840 PCIe Gen4 X4 M.2 2280 固态硬盘(Solid State Drive)
- 电源(Power Supply Unit)：ASUS ROG Thor 850W Platinum
- 操作系统(Operating System)：Windows 11 Pro 版本 21H2 (Pro Version 21H2) Build 22000.527
蓝宝石脉冲 AMD Radeon RX 6500(Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500) XT - 基准测试结果
我们从《孤岛惊魂 6(Far Cry 6) 》开始测试，这是当今最好看的游戏之一，但也是对硬件性能(hardware performance)要求最高的游戏之一。两张显卡的数字几乎相同，AMD 的 FSR（FidelityFX 超分辨率）(AMD’s FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution))显着提高了每秒渲染的帧数。在 1080p 和 1440p 分辨率下，我们看到 fps百分比增加(percentage increase)了约 40%。更重要的是，借助FSR，显卡在 1440p 中能够提供超过 60 fps 的速度。
《孤岛惊魂 6》的基准测试结果
在《地平线零黎明(Horizon Zero Dawn)》这款精美的游戏中，(gaming machine)我们也看到了类似的结果。两张卡的性能水平几乎相同。而且，AMD FidelityFX 超分辨率 (FSR)(AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR))再次显着提高了每秒帧数。在 1080p 中，无论哪种方式，中等视觉设置的性能都很好，但在 1440p 分辨率下，测试计算机(test computer)仅在我们启用AMD FSR时才超过 60 fps 限制(fps limit)。AMD FidelityFX 超分辨率(AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution)在 1080p 和 1440p 中提供了约 30% 的 fps 增加和 20% 。
基准测试(Benchmark)结果为地平线零黎明(Horizon Zero Dawn)
我们检查的第三个也是最后一个游戏是World War Z，这是一款针对AMD处理器和显卡进行了优化的游戏。尽管华硕 TUF Gaming Radeon RX 6500 (ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 6500)XT OC Edition胜过Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT，但使用Vulkan API 和中等图形质量设置(Vulkan API and medium graphics quality settings)，我们在两张卡上都获得了 1080p 和 1440p 的出色结果。尽管如此，值得注意的是，在两张卡上，启用AMD FidelityFX 超分辨率 (FSR)(AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR))后，1080p 和 1440p 的每秒帧数分别增加了大约 34% 和 44%。
Z世界大战的基准测试结果
接下来，我们使用了 3DMark 的Time Spy，它在DirectX 12上运行，分辨率为 2560 x 1440像素。使用Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT，我们获得了 5466 分的分数，与华硕 TUF Gaming Radeon RX 6500 (ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 6500) XT OC 版(XT OC Edition)的分数几乎相同。在Port Royale中，在涉及光线追踪时测量图形性能的基准测试中，两张卡的得分都极低（440 对 498 分），这证实了我们在本次评测中早些时候所做的假设：AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT GPU具有射线加速器太少。这不是可以以不错的性能渲染光线追踪效果的显卡。
(Benchmark)3DMark Time Spy 和 Port Royale的(Time Spy and Port Royale)基准测试结果
最后但同样重要的是，我们想看看显卡需要多少电力。根据我们的测量，Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 显卡的功耗高达 90瓦(Watts)。这一点也不多，所以一个 400电源单元(power supply unit)应该足以满足您的 PC 的需求。至于产生的热量，Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT(XT didn)的温度(get hotter)没有超过 61摄氏度(Celsius)（142华氏度(Fahrenheit)）。这不是高温，尽管华硕的显卡设法保持更凉爽：56摄氏度(Celsius)（133华氏度(Fahrenheit)）。
蓝宝石脉冲 AMD Radeon RX 6500(Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500) XT：温度和功率(Temperature and power)
在对 Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 进行基准测试后，对于那些打算打造价格实惠的游戏 PC 的人来说，这似乎是一款不错的显卡。它能够在 1080p 分辨率和中等视觉设置下提供良好的游戏性能，在一些要求不高的游戏中可能设置为高。此外，为了获得更好的效果，我们强烈建议您在支持它的游戏中启用 AMD 的 FidelityFX 超分辨率功能。(After benchmarking the Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT, it looks like this is a good graphics card for those who intend to build an affordable gaming PC. It’s capable of delivering good gaming performance in 1080p resolutions and with medium visual settings, maybe set to high in some less-demanding games. Also, for even better results, we strongly recommend you to enable AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution feature in the games that support it.)
注意：(NOTE:)我们评测过的显卡等蓝宝石产品可通过ASBIS 集团在(ASBIS Group.)欧洲、中东和非洲地区购买。(EMEA)
您对Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 有何看法？
现在您知道Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 显卡可以提供什么。它在 1080p 游戏中提供了不错的性能，而且价格实惠。在我们结束此评论之前，请在下面的评论部分告诉我们您的想法。你会买吗？
Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT review: Affordable graphics card
The Radеon RX 6500 XT is аn entry-level gaming graphics card that AMD tried to make as unaрpealing to crypto miners as poѕsible. However, this meant skippіng some of the details that mаke good graphіcs cards good! For example, the Radeon RX 6500 XT is limited to 4 PCIe lanes, and it’s equipped with just 4GB of RAM. On the other hand, that RAM is fast, and the card’s price іs аffordable compared to whаt the GPU market looks like right now. Sо is it worth buying оne? In today’s review, we’re tаkіng a look at the Sapphire Pulsе AMD Rаdeon RX 6500 XT. Read оn to see what it can do:
Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT: Who is it good for?
The Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT is an excellent choice for those who:
- Want an affordable graphics card
- Are OK with playing games in 1080p and mid-to-high visuals
- Own a computer with a PCI Express 4 motherboard
Pros and cons
There are some positives about the Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT graphics card:
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- It’s affordable in comparison to other graphics cards
- The performance it offers is sufficient in 1080p resolution
- AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution significantly boosts fps in supported games
- The cooling system is silent and manages to keep temperatures in check
- Its power requirements are low
There are several disadvantages, too:
- 4GB of RAM is low for today’s standards
- Only one DisplayPort and one HDMI port
- Running on just 4 PCIe lanes, you’ll probably get meager performance on PCIe 3.0 motherboards
- Ray-tracing performance is poor (only 16 accelerators)
Verdict
The Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT graphics card can represent a good choice for you with a couple of conditions. You’ll have to either not be into gaming, or be OK with playing games in 1080p on medium to high graphics settings at most. And you’ll also need to already have a motherboard that supports PCI Express 4.0 at least. Otherwise, this video card’s performance will be severely limited. If you meet these basic requirements and don’t want to spend a lot on your next graphics card, then yes, you could try the Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT.
Unboxing the Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT
The Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT is not a very large graphics card, and its package is accordingly small. The box showcases the brand and name of the GPU, as well as some of its main features, technical specs, and minimum system requirements. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of the video card anywhere.
The packaging of the Sapphire AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT
Inside the package, you’ll find the Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT graphics card, accompanied by its user manual and warranty documents.
What's inside the box of the Sapphire AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT
The unboxing experience you get from the Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT graphics card is straightforward. You only get the bare essentials, as expected from a budget device.
Design and hardware specifications
The graphics card is protected by a metallic plate on its back, with a nice design. It features the Sapphire Pulse brand and logo, as well as AMD’s Radeon printed in red, thick font characters. Besides aesthetics, the backplate also has a more important goal: to help dissipate heat.
The metal backplate of the Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT
Compared to AMD’s reference Radeon RX 6500 XT, Sapphire’s graphics card comes with a better cooling system. Instead of just one cooler, the Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT has two. Thus, it should be able to achieve lower temperatures than the stock RX 6500 XT. Furthermore, it should be noticeably quieter, as the two fans can provide equivalent airflow while spinning at lower speeds.
The fans on the Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT
The Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT doesn’t have RGB lighting, but we won’t hold that against it. After all, we’re talking about a budget graphics card. Speaking of which, AMD recommends a retail price of about 200 USD. Obviously, in present market conditions, that’s a dream. Still, compared to what other graphics cards cost, the Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT is an affordable choice - for example, on Newegg and Amazon, you can get it for about 310 - 320 USD.
As we briefly mentioned at the beginning of this review, the Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT is a relatively small graphics card. Measuring 10.5 x 6.5 x 2.5 inches (26.67 x 16.51 x 6.35 cm), its length won’t be a problem even in smaller computer cases, but it still occupies two PCIe slots.
A look at the Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT
The technical specs of the Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT are the same as those of the reference AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT. It’s built using AMD’s RDNA 2 GPU architecture, on TSMC’s 6-nanometer manufacturing process. The card’s default game clock measures an impressive 2.6GHz, while the boost clock can reach 2.8GHz. Furthermore, compared to the previous generation of AMD GPUs, the RX 6500 XT also comes with ray accelerators, so hardware ray-tracing is possible. Unfortunately, you only get 16 such accelerators, which is nowhere near the amount required for even average ray-tracing performance. You’ll probably get away with enabling a few less-demanding ray-tracing options in your favorite games, but that’s all.
On the other hand, the RX 6500 XT graphics card can use AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution, a feature that can improve performance significantly in supported games. It works by rendering frames at lower than set resolution in games and upscaling them in real-time. While somewhat similar to Nvidia’s DLSS (Deep Learning SuperSampling) technology, it’s easier to implement by developers, so we should see the number of games that can use it increase exponentially during the next couple of months. For now, there aren’t so many games that can take advantage of FidelityFX Super Resolution, but some of the best titles out there already do. Here’s the updated list on AMD’s website: Games that support AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution.
Next comes the sad part of the story, as AMD’s Radeon RX 6500 XT has a couple of significant drawbacks. First of all, the amount of graphics memory on it is far from what you’d expect in 2022 from a gaming desktop GPU: just 4GB of GDDR6, albeit running at a high speed of 18Gbps. The only good thing about that is that it shouldn’t be an attractive option for crypto miners, so it should be easier to procure by the rest of us, gamers and regular users.
The second big drawback of the Radeon RX 6500 XT is that it uses a narrow memory bus, limited to 128-bit. And, if that wasn’t enough, it only has 4 PCIe lanes, which is undesirable for a gaming graphics card. Usually, such GPUs use 16 PCIe lanes, and only some of the very budget-oriented ones are limited to 8 PCIe lanes. Four lanes are barely enough on a motherboard that uses PCI Express Generation 4.0, and it’s severely restricting if you mount this graphics card on a motherboard that supports only PCI Express 3.0.
Specifications shown by GPU-Z
To cut costs further, AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT graphics cards offer only two display ports: a DisplayPort 1.4a and an HDMI 2.1 port. The maximum resolution you can get from it is 7680 x 4320 pixels.
The display outputs on the Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT
Last but not least, before we end this section of the review, a piece of good news: AMD’s Radeon RX 6500 XT doesn’t require lots of electrical power. Theoretically, it will not consume more than 107 Watts, and a 400W power supply unit should suffice.
The Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT draws power via a 6-pin connector
The Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT is a graphics card that looks nice and interesting. But its hardware specs are modest, to say the least. While it may offer decent gaming performance in 1080p resolutions, it will probably be able to do so only if you pair it with a motherboard that supports PCI Express 4.0. On PCIe 3.0, its performance will be severely limited.
Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT - Testing setup
To check the performance offered by Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT graphics card, we ran a few benchmarks with it, and we compared its results with another Radeon RX 6500 XT model: the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 6500 XT OC Edition. We also decided to use only medium visual settings in the tested games, as that’s what the modest hardware on this GPU is targeting: mid to high visuals. Furthermore, we also reran the benchmarks using AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution, as this upscaling feature can improve performance significantly in supported games.
Before we go ahead to show you what results we got, here’s the hardware and software that we used for benchmarking:
Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT - Benchmarks results
We began the tests with Far Cry 6, one of the best-looking games today, but also one of the most demanding ones in terms of hardware performance. The numbers were almost identical between the two graphics cards, and AMD’s FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution) brought exceptional improvements to the number of frames per second rendered. Both in 1080p and 1440p resolutions, we saw an fps percentage increase of about 40%. What’s more important is that, with FSR, the graphics card managed to deliver more than 60 fps in 1440p.
Benchmark results in Far Cry 6
In Horizon Zero Dawn, a beautiful game but also one that requires a powerful gaming machine to run well, we saw similar results. The level of performance of both cards was almost identical. And, again, the AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) managed to significantly boost the number of frames per second. In 1080p, the performance on medium visual settings was good either way, but in 1440p resolution, the test computer went above the 60 fps limit only when we enabled AMD FSR. The AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution delivered an fps increase of about 30 percent in 1080p and 20 percent in 1440p.
Benchmark results in Horizon Zero Dawn
The third and last game we checked was World War Z, a title that’s optimized for AMD processors and graphics cards. Using Vulkan API and medium graphics quality settings, we got excellent results in both 1080p and 1440p with both cards, although the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 6500 XT OC Edition outmatched the Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT. Still, it’s worth noting that, on both cards, enabling AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) increased the number of frames per second by roughly 34 and 44 percent in 1080p and 1440p respectively.
Benchmark results in World War Z
Next, we used 3DMark’s Time Spy, which runs on DirectX 12, and in 2560 x 1440 pixels resolution. With the Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT, we got a score of 5466 points, almost identical to the score of the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 6500 XT OC Edition. In Port Royale, a benchmark that measures the graphics performance when ray-tracing is involved, both cards had extremely low scores (440 vs 498 points), which confirm the assumption we made earlier in this review: the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT GPU has too few ray accelerators. This is not a graphics card that can render ray-tracing effects at decent performance.
Benchmark results in 3DMark Time Spy and Port Royale
Last but not least, we wanted to see how much electrical power the graphics card needs. According to our measurements, the Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT graphics card draws up to 90 Watts. That’s not much at all, so a 400 power supply unit should suffice for your PC. As for the heat produced, the Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT didn’t get hotter than 61 degrees Celsius (142 degrees Fahrenheit). It’s not a high temperature, although ASUS’ card managed to stay even cooler: 56 degrees Celsius (133 degrees Fahrenheit).
Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT: Temperature and power
After benchmarking the Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT, it looks like this is a good graphics card for those who intend to build an affordable gaming PC. It’s capable of delivering good gaming performance in 1080p resolutions and with medium visual settings, maybe set to high in some less-demanding games. Also, for even better results, we strongly recommend you to enable AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution feature in the games that support it.
NOTE: Sapphire products like the graphics card we reviewed, are available in EMEA through the ASBIS Group.
What’s your opinion about the Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT?
Now you know what the Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT graphics card can offer. It delivers decent performance in 1080p gaming and does so at an affordable price. Before we close this review, let us know what you think in the comments section below. Would you buy it?
