AMD RX 6500 XT

Positioned at the entry level of AMD's RDNA 2 lineup, this budget graphics card targets gamers looking for an affordable way to play modern titles at 1080p with low to medium settings. It ships with just 4GB of GDDR6 memory on a narrow 64-bit bus, which significantly limits its ability to handle texture-heavy games or higher resolutions, making it one of the more constrained options in the RX 6000 series. Built on TSMC's 6nm process node, the RX 6500 XT benefits from improved power efficiency, drawing only 107 watts under load. It supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing through RDNA 2's ray accelerators, though the limited compute unit count and memory bandwidth make ray tracing impractical in most scenarios. Notably, it lacks both a video encoder and AV1 decode support, which rules it out for streaming or content creation workflows. Buyers on a tight budget who primarily play esports titles or older games at 1080p should consider it, though checking the used market for higher-tier alternatives at similar prices is strongly recommended.