Question R9 390 Upgrade - RX 6600 vs 6650 XT vs 7600

[Mopetar]

not even sure if I should really bother with this upgrade lol.

Might not be a bad idea to just stick with your old card until NVidia and AMD launch new cards. It'll mean better deals in the used market or even the possibility of picking up something new at a reasonable price.

Used/refurbished is less expensive, but consider what your own time spent dealing with him cards and returns is worth.

 

[Mahboi]

Interestingly for TechpowerUp:

R9 390	100%
RX 6600	191%
RX 7600	241%

The 6600 isn't even twice as fast. The 390 was real good.
Yeah I'd wait unless it's an emergency. I hate to upgrade without a real good leap.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Interestingly for TechpowerUp:

R9 390	100%
RX 6600	191%
RX 7600	241%

The 6600 isn't even twice as fast. The 390 was real good.
Yeah I'd wait unless it's an emergency. I hate to upgrade without a real good leap.

I've opined about the TPU relative performance chart shortcomings too. With newer gen cards it is an okay rule of thumb/general idea of what to expect. As good as 25 second test loops can do anyways. Settings, vram standards, and features, make the insertion of old cards often absurd IMO.

My favorite go to as an example is the A380 - https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/arc-a380.c3913

Sitting next to the GTX 780? Really? GTFO. Test new games on the 780. Push textures as far as you can on both. RIP the old drivers and 3GB of ram on the 780. No hardware upscaling or RT support, which with other settings tweaks I could get a playable console like experience in the Spiderman games and cyberpunk with the 380.

 

[Mahboi]

Yeah that's a fair point. They definitely don't re-test across newer games every gen for older hardware.
It's probably way worse than it seems for older cards. But it's not completely unusable.
A 790 will roughly equal a 970, 1060 and 2050.
A 580 equals a 5500 which is below a 6400.

It's inaccurate for sure, but honestly ballpark estimate is probably better than manually trying to do a 1:1 between each card.
At just 50 cards, that's (50 - 1)². If you even just do one entry level, one midrange, and one top of each gen, that's 3 per gen per brand, over just 5 gens you have (30 - 1)² = 841 benchmarks

 

[DAPUNISHER]

You are explaining why written tech sites are dying off. If I want to know how an old card does in games within the last couple years, I search youtube. Usually don't have to go further back than 2022 to find one put through the paces an newer titles. Channels like RGinHD/UK Steve specialize in it.

And I think it is better to not have relative performance chart at all.

Hardware Labs did a good vid on it -

My personal main problem is it misleads young and low budget used market shoppers that are not well informed. That alone is reason enough to discard the chart. As low end as the A380 is, it's a better spend at $100 than some legacy card lacking any modern features including media, drivers, and half the ram, that they can pick up for less money. Which they thought was a good pickup because TPU says you will see the same gaming experience.

 

[SpacemanSpiffVT]

So I have found a Ryzen 7 5700X3D on Aliexpress for $145 shipped to the USA. one of those new tray processors. Should I go ahead with that one?
I may hold off a bit on the video card as you folks said for a nice sale on a 6700 or something that might come around Black Friday or something. rather than get the 6600 or 6600 XT.

 

[blckgrffn]

Interestingly for TechpowerUp:

R9 390	100%
RX 6600	191%
RX 7600	241%

The 6600 isn't even twice as fast. The 390 was real good.
Yeah I'd wait unless it's an emergency. I hate to upgrade without a real good leap.

Yes “but”… the 390 hogs power and based on my experience it’s just too slow for modern games at responsive frame rates. The 6600 represents the current pinnacle of spending just enough to get a huge uplift in modern titles. IMO.

That’s all hugely subjective and I would point to the 8GB vram thread as an example of too much debate over a subjective topic.

However, the same thread has many examples of reasons that OP shouldn’t settle for any 8GB card atm and it definitely supports their plan to hold out for 6700+ as a card. In that light, I think increasing the budget 100% and striking out at the first real hot deal at $200 he can find that means that criteria is a better overall plan.

 

[Mahboi]

In that light, I think increasing the budget 100% and striking out at the first real hot deal at $200 he can find that means that criteria is a better overall plan.

You raise another fair point, I wouldn't buy something for less than $200 today.
Bar some rare exceptions, it's almost always not worth the money. Products have a sort of V/F curve too, except it's a price/perf curve, and it doesn't start from near zero.
Good electronics today will be anywhere between $200/$300. I'd personally wait for whatever AMD gets out the oven hopefully soon and buy that. Even just N44 promises to basically equal a 7600.

 

[SpacemanSpiffVT]

2 questions based on your feedback:
1) Should I hold off on upgrading my CPU then, until I buy a GPU to upgrade from the R9 390?
The Ryzen 7 5700X3D for $145 seems like a pretty good deal at the moment but I can wait if there won't be much point of doing it now.

2) Should I only aim for a GPU with 12 GB minimum? I think the lowest price option from the AMD perspective is a 6700?

 

[marees]

1) Should I hold off on upgrading my CPU then, until I buy a GPU to upgrade from the R9 390?
The Ryzen 7 5700X3D for $145 seems like a pretty good deal at the moment but I can wait if there won't be much point of doing it now.

I would say no. Buy the CPU now. It won't get any cheaper

2) Should I only aim for a GPU with 12 GB minimum? I think the lowest price option from the AMD perspective is a 6700?

Based on your initial question I thought that 6600 for ~$100 would be a good stopgap. But it is strictly a stopgap. I mean you can play old games at 1080p high or new games at 1080p medium

Recommended that if you can, then wait for a couple of more months to snag a deal on 6750xt

 

[SpacemanSpiffVT]

I would say no. Buy the CPU now. It won't get any cheaper


Based on your initial question I thought that 6600 for ~$100 would be a good stopgap. But it is strictly a stopgap. I mean you can play old games at 1080p high or new games at 1080p medium

Recommended that if you can, then wait for a couple of more months to snag a deal on 6750xt

Makes sense. I would rather pay a bit extra to get something that will last longer. I don't upgrade often (obviously since my R9 390 is almost 10 years old)
If I bought a 6600 as a stopgap now, I would probably need to buy something again in a couple of years.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

You should make this your avatar



RDNA2 is running out NIB. I would not even considered used unless I was on a shoestring budget. For a long time I preferred the used market, but crypto mining has changed the dynamic and I am much more risk averse due to it.

You can get a 6750XT for $300 https://www.amazon.com/PowerColor-Fighter-Radeon-GDDR6-Graphics/dp/B0CH1R789W?th=1

For the games you play on PC it should hold up a long time. Personally, I'd get the XFX RX 6800 (I have the MERC version of this card) and call it. It'll pair great with the 5700X3D, I paired it with a 5800X3D. https://www.amazon.com/XFX-Speedster-SWFT319-Graphics-RX-68XLAQFD9/dp/B09KW68M2G?th=1

There may be a price drop by the holidays, or they may no longer be in stock. It's a gamble. It leaves you with inferior value from RDNA3 and RTX, or the used market.

 

[blckgrffn]

You should make this your avatar

View attachment 107164

RDNA2 is running out NIB. I would not even considered used unless I was on a shoestring budget. For a long time I preferred the used market, but crypto mining has changed the dynamic and I am much more risk averse due to it.

You can get a 6750XT for $300 https://www.amazon.com/PowerColor-Fighter-Radeon-GDDR6-Graphics/dp/B0CH1R789W?th=1

For the games you play on PC it should hold up a long time. Personally, I'd get the XFX RX 6800 (I have the MERC version of this card) and call it. It'll pair great with the 5700X3D, I paired it with a 5800X3D. https://www.amazon.com/XFX-Speedster-SWFT319-Graphics-RX-68XLAQFD9/dp/B09KW68M2G?th=1

There may be a price drop by the holidays, or they may no longer be in stock. It's a gamble. It leaves you with inferior value from RDNA3 and RTX, or the used market.

Used this card 2x recently, works great. I prefer the 6800 to the 67xx cards because its in a much sweeter power consumption spot with its clocks, etc. My personal 6800 is AMD reference design, and I like it because it is also reasonably compact.

I always wanted a 6800XT but I made peace with that.

Next stop is RNDA4

If the 7700XT edges to $300 (and its been hitting $350 recently) I would also consider it.

This was available earlier this week, for example:

 

[marees]

Personally, I'd get the XFX RX 6800 (I have the MERC version of this card) and call it. It'll pair great with the 5700X3D, I paired it with a 5800X3D. https://www.amazon.com/XFX-Speedster-SWFT319-Graphics-RX-68XLAQFD9/dp/B09KW68M2G?th=1

If your budget supports buy the 6800 immediately. It has gone out of stock in newegg.

You are not getting a better deal than this

 

[blckgrffn]

If your budget supports buy the 6800 immediately. It has gone out of stock in newegg.

You are not getting a better deal than this

Definitely also measure your case. That's a long card compared to reference design!

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Definitely also measure your case. That's a long card compared to reference design!

Damned important point. I have a Corsair compact ATX case it is too long for unless I pull 2 of the 3 front fans. And my 10yr old design Phantek full towers need a 5.25" drive caged pulled for it to fit. As a testament to CoolerMaster's design @Rigg advised it'd fit in my nr200 series mini-ITX and indeed it did.

 

[SpacemanSpiffVT]

You should make this your avatar


View attachment 107164

Done!
I joined this forum 4 months before you did, but you have approximately 29k more posts than I do! Impressive!

I am going to pull the trigger on the 5700X3D soon but probably going to wait on the GPU as I want to limit my GPU price range to around $250 but I write right down all those models and keep a look out for a big sale.
6750XT, 6800, any other models to consider in that range?

Luckily I have be quiet! Pure Base 500 ATX that holds the R9 390 monster.

 

[blckgrffn]

Done!
I joined this forum 4 months before you did, but you have approximately 29k more posts than I do! Impressive!

I am going to pull the trigger on the 5700X3D soon but probably going to wait on the GPU as I want to limit my GPU price range to around $250 but I write right down all those models and keep a look out for a big sale.
6750XT, 6800, any other models to consider in that range?

Luckily I have be quiet! Pure Base 500 ATX that holds the R9 390 monster.

It just so happens that’s the case that I installed that 6800 into last week! That’s pretty cool coincidence!

I would also watch the FS/FT forum here. It’s possible that some 6800XT/6900XT cards could hit there when/if “big boy” RDNA4 drops. I am probably going to move on from my 6800 but I have a couple buddies (who bought things like $450 6600s and other dreadful options) during Covid. My 6800 was only $1k . The stipulations around good traders and all that.

I feel like there was a 6900XT just recently? Probably outside $250 but everything falls, I am hoping for $200 buddy price on card.

 

[SpacemanSpiffVT]

It just so happens that’s the case that I installed that 6800 into last week! That’s pretty cool coincidence!

I would also watch the FS/FT forum here. It’s possible that some 6800XT/6900XT cards could hit there when/if “big boy” RDNA4 drops. I am probably going to move on from my 6800 but I have a couple buddies (who bought things like $450 6600s and other dreadful options) during Covid. My 6800 was only $1k . The stipulations around good traders and all that.

I feel like there was a 6900XT just recently? Probably outside $250 but everything falls, I am hoping for $200 buddy price on card.

1K! Covid was a crazy time. I luckily got a PS5 in a glitch on the Best buy website for Retail price which held me over for a while. lol
Drop me a PM if one of your friends is looking to sell something in the near future!

 

[Mahboi]

2 questions based on your feedback:
1) Should I hold off on upgrading my CPU then, until I buy a GPU to upgrade from the R9 390?
The Ryzen 7 5700X3D for $145 seems like a pretty good deal at the moment but I can wait if there won't be much point of doing it now.

I don't know your actual budget. Since you're on AM4, 5700x3D makes perfect sense. It doesn't seem to be something that'll be beaten in price/perf, nor shall it go much lower. $145 for a low bin 5800x3D is a steal frankly, the high bin one is a freaking 365!

(RANT)
I'm starting to think we should be making social media hate accounts on the 5800x3D, it got so much praise even though a mere 7700 basically wrecks it, and it's so expensive for what it is...
The more modern (and still top of the line) 7800x3D is 450$, that is significantly more power efficiency, performance, better V$ implem, in every way it's 20-30% better.
LOL now that I check, the lower bin 7700 is more expensive than the 7700X. That hit AMD did with the "let's boost them to insanity for 5% perf to NOT beat Intel and then let's release the sane ones on a lower bin" sure worked great against themselves. Much like the 65W 9700X...

2) Should I only aim for a GPU with 12 GB minimum? I think the lowest price option from the AMD perspective is a 6700?

Er that one is extremely questionable.
The rule of thumb is:
8Go for 1080p is a little tight
12Go for 1440p is comfortable
16Go for 4K is also a bit tight but better than 8 for 1080p yet

If you don't intend to play at 1440p in the lifetime of your card, it's a bit unnecessary, but not bad. Plus I don't know, you might want to do extensive video creation at some point (basic stuff runs fine on 8Go).
If you do intend to jump to 1440p, you're better off future proofing, but personally I'd still favour something like AV1 encode/decode over an extra 4Go you're not even sure of using. Most people think "I dun care I don't stream or record", but IMO it's the kind of thing that when you find out that you're into it, you can't stop. And AMD has got really poor h264 encoders even on RDNA 3 (it's basically around Pascal/Turing level) but solid h265 and AV1. If you're gonna record h265 is fine enough, but for streaming AV1 will be everywhere in a few years time. Honestly if it weren't for Twitch being an empire of h264 spaghetti code, it should already be.

Heck a 7600 has the same price/perf ratio than a 6750XT on Amazon right now. 20% more cost for 19% more perf on the 6750xt.

Although honestly, if AMD has already announced a OCT 10 event to "present something" that's definitely RDNA 4, I'd just wait for that and see what prices they're going for. Even just N44/8500XT promises to be a solid buy.

 

[marees]

Although honestly, if AMD has already announced a OCT 10 event to "present something" that's definitely RDNA 4, I'd just wait for that and see what prices they're going for. Even just N44/8500XT promises to be a solid buy.

10/10 is purely for AI products

RDNA 4 could be a package with FSR 4. No idea when both will be announced.

My best guess is:

1. There is a space for $600 RDNA 4 card to be released this year
2. Announcing such a card would put heavy price pressure on existing $500+ (navi 31) cards
3. AMD likely doesn't want to Osborne existing stock. So they'll probably maintain Radion silence until they are sure that N31 stocks are emptied
4. MLID claims production already stopped for 7900xtx
5. In case AMD misses oct window, then there would be a token announcement at nov end/dec beginning with proper launch at jan 2025

Conclusion:

1. Same as my earlier conclusions
2. Buy 6800 if stock/sale available
3. Watch closely for 6750xt sale. Then buy close to $250
4. If you have close to $500 then wait for RDNA 4 launch as it puts pricing pressure on all other cards in that range

 

[SpacemanSpiffVT]

10/10 is purely for AI products

RDNA 4 could be a package with FSR 4. No idea when both will be announced.

My best guess is:

1. There is a space for $600 RDNA 4 card to be released this year
2. Announcing such a card would put heavy price pressure on existing $500+ (navi 31) cards
3. AMD likely doesn't want to Osborne existing stock. So they'll probably maintain Radion silence until they are sure that N31 stocks are emptied
4. MLID claims production already stopped for 7900xtx
5. In case AMD misses oct window, then there would be a token announcement at nov end/dec beginning with proper launch at jan 2025

Conclusion:

1. Same as my earlier conclusions
2. Buy 6800 if stock/sale available
3. Watch closely for 6750xt sale. Then buy close to $250
4. If you have close to $500 then wait for RDNA 4 launch as it puts pricing pressure on all other cards in that range

thanks! i will do just what you have recommended!

this seems interesting : https://wccftech.com/amd-launch-four-navi-48-navi-44-gpu-skus-rdna-4-radeon-rx-8000-lineup/
however as you guys have stated this will probably take more than 6 months to actually shake up the GPU market

 

[SpacemanSpiffVT]

Just an update!
Ordered the 5700X3D during the latest aliexpress sale, for about $115 total. Crazy price!
I ended up buying the open box 6600 from Microcenter for $135 total to try out and its been rock solid through alot of stress testing, etc. Not sure why it was returned twice.
I need to buy some RAM next.

However, been testing Cyberpunk 2077 with my current 3600 CPU + 6600 GPU combo and I can only get about 40-70 FPS on 1440p with FSR. Do you guys think the 5700X3D CPU will push this up a bit to make it more playable or should I just get a higher spec GPU?

 

[Shmee]

Just an update!
Ordered the 5700X3D during the latest aliexpress sale, for about $115 total. Crazy price!
I ended up buying the open box 6600 from Microcenter for $135 total to try out and its been rock solid through alot of stress testing, etc. Not sure why it was returned twice.
I need to buy some RAM next.

However, been testing Cyberpunk 2077 with my current 3600 CPU + 6600 GPU combo and I can only get about 40-70 FPS on 1440p with FSR. Do you guys think the 5700X3D CPU will push this up a bit to make it more playable or should I just get a higher spec GPU?

Congrats on the new parts. The 5700X3D should help some in Cyberpunk, particularly when it comes to framerate smoothness, but also keep in mind that depending on settings, Cyberpunk can may be bogged down with even higher end cards, especially with RT on.

What settings are you playing with Cyberpunk? My recommendations for your card would be to adjust settings to a bit lower, and certainly turn RT off if it isn't already.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

The 5700X3D will make a big difference in 2077. The game has become more CPU demanding over the years with all of the updates. Especially if you have crowd density maxed. The 3D will allow the 6600 to be the bottleneck as it should be.