Shopping for a graphics card on a budget is often a study in compromises, and video memory is usually the first thing to get cut.
The Radeon RX 6500 XT launched at $200—a pittance in today’s market of four-figure “enthusiast” graphics cards—but did so with just 4GB of GDDR6. Asrock is giving it a boost with double the memory, at a price tag that’s still less than it was at launch.
The new version of the Phantom Radeon RX 6500 XT debuted at $170 on Newegg (spotted by Tom’s Hardware), a modest $30 bump over the 4GB version that’s been available for two years. It’s otherwise identical to the older design, including the same dual-fan cooler, one HDMI port, and one DisplayPort port. The clock on the 8GB card is ever-so-slightly faster at 2420MHz base and 2825MHz boost.
The extra gigs of memory will surely be welcomed by gamers on a budget, but keep in mind that the RX 6500 XT’s 64-bit memory interface is still in place, putting a fairly low ceiling on total performance.
At a glance, I’d say that the new version of the card will be better and faster for games that use huge and complex environments, but not that much more powerful that it could push AAA games up from 1080p to 1440p at the same settings.
You can check out our exhaustive review of the original 4GB version of the RX 6500 XT for all the technical details, as well as our breakdown of how much memory your GPU needs. Plus, our roundup of the best graphics cards on the market. (Consider the more powerful RX 6600, also with 8GB, if your budget can stretch just a little higher.)