AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT now available

Not everyone can afford the top of the line graphics card, and that's fine. If you are a PC gamer on a budget, there are plenty of options these days that will allow you to play the latest and greatest games, albeit with the resolution and other settings turned down a bit. For instance 4K is all the rage these days, but if you are OK with 1080p gaming, you can actually get by with some affordable gear.

Today, AMD shows some major respect for the 1080p gamers of the world with the all-new Radeon RX 5500 XT. While not the most powerful card, it should be able to play all of the newest games at 1080p. It should be positioned a bit higher than the excellent, yet aging, RX 580. Best of all, the starting price is significantly below $200.

"The latest addition to the AMD Radeon RX 5500 series graphics offerings announced in October, the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT graphics card is optimized to deliver high-performance 1080p AAA and esports gaming. Built on industry-leading 7nm process technology, supporting high-bandwidth PCIe 4.0 technology and available with either 4GB or 8GB of high-speed GDDR6 memory, it provides up to 13 percent faster performance on average in today’s top AAA games than the competition, and delivers up to 60+ frames-per-second (FPS) in select AAA games and up to 90+ FPS in select top esports titles," says AMD.

Scott Herkelman, corporate vice president and general manager, Radeon Technologies Group at AMD explains, "Today more than 64 percent of gamers play at 1080p, and they expect high framerates with high-fidelity graphics, low latency and fully immersive gaming experiences. We designed the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT graphics card with these gamers in mind, bringing the horsepower and power efficiency of AMD RDNA graphics architecture at an accessible price so gamers everywhere can enjoy blistering framerates and crisp visuals in their favorite titles."

AMD shares details below.

• AMD RDNA Architecture -- Built from the ground up for superior performance, scalability and power efficiency, and designed to power the future of gaming, AMD RDNA gaming architecture provides up to 1.6X higher gaming performance-per-watt than Radeon graphics cards based on the prior-generation Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture.
• AMD Radeon Anti-Lag -- AMD Radeon Anti-Lag significantly decreases input-to-display response times, including making Overwatch up to 22 percent more responsive and offering a competitive edge in gameplay.
• AMD Radeon Boost -- Delivers up to a 20 percent performance boost during fast-motion gaming scenarios in PUBG by dynamically reducing image resolution, increasing framerates and fluidity, and bolstering responsiveness with little to no perceptible change in image quality.
• AMD Radeon Image Sharpening (RIS) -- Brings crispness and clarity to in-game visuals that have been softened by upscaling and post-process effects in DirectX 9, 11, 12 and Vulkan titles. When paired with Radeon GPU upscaling, RIS enables sharp visuals and fluid frame rates on high-resolution displays.
• AMD FidelityFX -- An open-source toolkit for game developers making it easier for them to add high-quality post-process effects that make games look beautiful while offering the optimal balance of visual fidelity and performance. Available on GPUOpen, FidelityFX features Contrast-Adaptive Sharpening (CAS), which draws out detail in low-contrast areas while minimizing artifacts caused by typical image sharpening routines.
• Largest gaming display ecosystem -- With over 900 certified monitors to choose from, gamers can enjoy stutter-free, tear-free gameplay with AMD Radeon FreeSync and Radeon FreeSync 2 HDR technology.

So, how much does the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT cost? Believe it or not, it starts at just $169.99. There are several models from which to choose, from manufacturers such as Gigabyte, ASUS, and PowerColor to name a few. If you want to buy your own, you can view the various models on Newegg here.