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Gigabyte AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT: A Closer Look Review

Today, we dive deep into examining the Gigabyte AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT, a graphics card that has sparked quite a bit of interest, hype, and curiosity in the gaming and mining community. It raises many questions due to its mixed reception and striking features, but most notably, “Is it worth it?”

My Experience with the Radeon RX 6500 XT

Let’s start with my initial experience with the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT. I hooked it, bought on January 19th, 2022 from ‘Newegg’ for $329. The 6600’s performance had set high expectations; it was anticipated to come close to the 6600 in terms of hash rates. However, the immediate dampener was its 4-gigabyte capacity, evidently designed for 1080 gaming.

The RX 6500 XT is significantly cheaper today at $229; quite the price drop within a few months. Why the drastic reduction? My guess is tied to its mining performance.

Mining Performance

Initial Impressions

After my first few encounters with the RX 6500 XT, I quickly realized it was less than ideal for mining. The card got shelved until I recently decided to reevaluate its performance with 4-gigabyte cards.

HiveOS Controversy and Support

My initial tests were majorly on HiveOS; however, support for underperforming mining graphics cards like the RX 6500XT was initially absent. After calling out on the platform, they relented and started looking into supporting such cards.

Despite these developments, during my test, I discovered that the RX 6500 XT didn’t appear to be fully integrated into HiveOS. We shall delve into that later on.

Unboxing the RX 6500 XT

The Gigabyte Radeon RX 6500 XT looks similar to the 6600 series. It sports the familiar three fans design, which may appear to utilize more watts but is balanced by a single six-pin power connector. A notable feature is the seemingly extended heatsink, which provides ample cooling for the card. Its displays include one HDMI and one DisplayPort.

Mining Performance on HiveOS and Windows 10

Failures on HiveOS

Upon installing and booting the card on HiveOS, it seemed misrecognized, only partially showing its memory type and capacity. Running it on HiveOS proved abortive as it returned errors upon minor loading. Despite testing out different minors, it became clear that something wasn’t quite right.

Windows 10 Testing and NiceHash Mining

Having failed to draw any promising results from HiveOS, my testing moved on to Windows 10. I chose NiceHash for this test since it simplifies figuring out compatible algorithms for different cards.

After setting it up on NiceHash, it emerged that the RX 6500 XT generated around 35 – 44 cents per day. It fell short on power efficiency, using up about 150 watts, a drawback that erodes its mining efficiency.

Final Verdict and Recommendations

Certainly, the Gigabyte Radeon RX 6500 XT wouldn’t top my list of recommendations for acquiring new graphics cards for mining or gaming. Based on its performance in HiveOS and Windows 10, it falls short of delivering an efficient mining experience in power usage and earnings.

There are other affordable options in the graphics card market like the RX 470s or the 580s and 570s in the Radeon family, or even Nvidia options that outperform the RX 6500 XT.

In conclusion, as of May 15, 2022, I would advise against purchasing the RX 6500 XT for mining or gaming purposes. However, the world of tech keeps evolving, and who knows what the future holds for the RX 6500 XT? Perhaps further software optimizations will unlock their potential. As with any tech purchase, always conduct extensive research before making a decision.

Conclusion

Unwrapping and test-running the Gigabyte Radeon RX 6500 XT was exciting and insightful. However, the card’s functionality and capabilities still leave a lot to be desired, particularly for efficient cryptocurrency mining. While the card might seem affordable now, its poor power usage and earning potential make it a less-than-ideal investment for miners. As always, stay tuned for more reviews and tech insights!