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Nov 16, 2023

AMD Radeon RX 7600 desktop GPU review: RDNA3 vs. Ada Lovelace in the entry

After a long wait, an entry-level option is finally available in AMD’s current RDNA 3 lineup. As the lowest-tier card in series right now, the Radeon RX 7600 is aimed those who want to game at 1080p.

After a long wait, an entry-level option is finally available in AMD’s current RDNA 3 lineup. As the lowest-tier card in series right now, the Radeon RX 7600 is aimed those who want to game at 1080p. The GPU features a Navi 33 chip with 2,048 shader units. This is a slight improvement over its direct predecessor (Radeon RX 6600), though the amount of VRAM remains the same at 8 GB. That said, the video memory runs at a much higher speed, resulting in a higher memory bandwidth.

For this review, we‘ll be using the XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition. This model is equipped with a huge triple-slot cooler and thus requires a ton of space. The card is also pretty long at 27.4 cm (10.8 in). Generally speaking, a large cooler helps to keep noise level low when a GPU is under load. We can tell you this much right now: with the Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition, XFX has launched a good graphics card that doesn’t draw attention to itself through loud fan noise. The card doesn’t offer any particular highlights in terms of aesthetics. The shroud is made of plastic, but the rear is fitted with a sturdy metal backplate. However, the backplate isn’t used to cool the graphics card.

The new entry-level model likewise benefits from the improvements provided by the RDNA 3 architecture. You can expect to get slightly higher ray tracing performance, though ultimately this feature only provides a real advantage in high-end models. The RX 7600 also has slightly higher power draw than the Radeon RX 6600 (from 132 watts to the current 165 watts). Nevertheless, an 8-pin connector is enough to power the GPU. There are three DisplayPort 2.1 outlets and one HDMI 2.1 port on board. AMD has an edge over the competition in this department; Nvidia and Intel only offer DisplayPort 1.4a and DisplayPort 2.0 respectively on their GPUs.

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The XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition is a partner card that differs from AMD’s reference model in terms of both aesthetics and specs. Owing to the GPU’s larger cooler, XFX is able to increase clock speeds by roughly 100 MHz, pushing the max boost clock to no lower than 2,754 MHz. The Speedster QICK 308 had no problem exceeding this boost clock during out testing. At its peak, our review unit even managed to break the 2,900 MHz mark.

Before focusing our attention on gaming tests, let's first take a look at the GPU’s performance in synthetic benchmarks. Here, the XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition is neck and neck with the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT (the Sapphire Nitro+ model was used in our comparison). The direct predecessor – in this case a Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 6600 – is about 25% slower than the RX 7600. Compared with Nvidia’s offerings, the XFX Radeon RX 7600 finds itself trailing behind the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4060 Ti OC, but has a slight edge over the KFA2 GeForce RTX 4060 1-Click-OC 2X. This places our review card right in between the two RTX 4060 models from team green.

Professional rendering software primarily benefits from special drivers that only come into play with certain graphics cards. AMD and Nvidia market their professional GPUs under the PRO and Quadro branding respectively. Consumer graphics cards offer less performance than their pro counterparts in rendering tests. That said, AMD has a significant edge over Nvidia here, and the XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition knows how to take advantage of it. Our AMD review card managed to score a nearly 30% lead over an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti. Using a Radeon RX 7600 is a viable option when you working on smaller hobbyist projects or in a semi-professional setting.

Looking at the table listing all the games tested, we can see that the XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition has no issue running most of them at Full HD. This is exactly what the GPU is designed for, though newly released games are going to quickly push the card to its limits. You may sometimes have to reduce a few settings or settle for the high preset in demanding games, such as F1 23, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Immortals of Aveum.

The current Steam hardware survey from July 2023 indicates that most users (over 60%) are still gaming at Full HD. This goes to show that the XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition is targeted at the trusty mid-range segment. Price is ultimately a decisive factor here because most gamers aren’t willing to shell out a four-figure sum for a graphics card. Priced at less than €300 (US$324), our review unit offers better performance than an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060, which, depending on the model, can cost just as much. You’ll already need to set aside €100 (US$109) more for a GeForce RTX 4060 Ti. For those who don’t mind buying an older model, spending around €250 (US$272) on a Radeon RX 6650 XT will get you a similar level of performance.

Noticeable performance hits are inevitable if you don’t want to forego those fantastic ray tracing features. The newer RDNA 3 architecture delivers improved ray tracing performance compared with RDNA 2. Nevertheless, AMD can’t keep pace with Nvidia in our current comparison. In the games we tested, the KFA2 GeForce RTX 4060 1-Click-OC 2X largely offers better performance than the XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition when ray tracing is enabled.

For our noise level measurements, we installed the XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition on our open-air test bench. All other fans were disabled during the measurements. Because our review unit comes with a fan-stop mode, it is completely silent at idle. According to our measurements, the card reached 29.6 dB(A) during average load and 39.4 dB(A) at full load. This means the XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition runs a little quieter than its competitors, but the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G is still unbeatable in this department. Nevertheless, we can subjectively say that the three fans on the XFX card don’t produce any annoying frequencies. It is virtually inaudible inside a closed PC case.

Noise Level

* ... smaller is better

XFX has fitted the Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition with a hefty cooler that uses three 80-mm axial fans to dissipate heat reliably. Thanks to the GPU’s rated power draw of just 165 watts, the cooler had no problem keeping the graphics card within the defined temperature range without making a din. HWiNFO64 reported a GPU hotspot temperature of merely 79°C (174°F) during the stress test. The VRAM became somewhat warmer at 82°C (180°F) under the same load. Even so, the components on board were not remotely close to their thermal limits.

We can’t crown AMD the king of power efficiency for their entry-level RDNA 3 GPUs. Based on our measurements, the test rig consumed 346 watts of power during gaming and 333 watts when running the FurMark stress test. The marginally faster KFA2 GeForce RTX 4060 Ti EX is much more efficient by comparison. XFX recommends using a 550-watt PSU with the Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition.

* ... smaller is better

The XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition gave us a look at the new entry-level Radeon RX 7000 series GPU from AMD. The XFX card deviates slightly from the reference model by having marginally higher clock speeds. XFX also chose to implement their own design when it comes to the card’s appearance and cooler. The design worked out well for them: the graphics card is always relatively quiet and even completely silent in 2D applications. The beefy cooler has no problem removing the heat generated and keeping the GPU nice and cool even under load.

The XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition offers decent performance at a fair price.

During our review, the XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition was able to handle the games we tested. Marketed as a 1080p card, the review model left a solid impression. However, it is crucial to keep in mind that the GPU struggles to run the latest games at 60 FPS when graphics settings are maxed out. Turning down these settings should alleviate this issue, but it is going to become more and more of a problem in the near future. AMD will soon be releasing another mid-range GPU in the form the Radeon RX 7700 XT, which is set to go head-to-head with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti.

If you are in the market for a new graphics accelerator right now, getting an RX 6000 series card is also a safe bet. The Sapphire Radeon RX 6700 is a slightly faster GPU with 10 GB of VRAM, but it also costs €30 (US$33) more than an XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition, which is now available with prices starting from €279 (US$303).

The XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition is available now from retailers like Amazon (€293/US$270/£269) and Notebooksbilliger.de (€293).

The present review sample was freely purchased by the author at his/her own expense. The manufacturer did not receive a copy of this review before publication, nor was there any obligation to publish it.