AMD have released their new Radeon RX 5500 XT graphics card which is meant to compete
with Nvidia’s new GTX 1650 Super, so which should you get? I’ve compared 17 games at
1080p and 1440p resolutions to help you decide!
Let’s take a look at how the two differ in terms of specs, note that things like clock
speeds will vary between specific cards, these are just the reference specs for each. Both
have GDDR6 memory, however the RX 5500 XT’s has more bandwidth.
The RX 5500 XT is also available in either a 4GB or 8GB version, however for launch day
I was only able to get the 8GB model, so that’s what we’re looking at here.
The MSRP of the Nvidia GTX 1650 Super is $160 USD, while the Radeon RX 5500 XT is $169 USD
for the 4GB model, or $199 for the 8GB model I’m testing here.
For the testing I’m using the Gigabyte Gaming OC 8GB RX 5500 XT and the MSI Gaming X GTX
1650 Super. Both of these have a small out of the box overclock, so expect slightly different
results with different models.
The system that I’m testing with has an Intel i7-8700K CPU overclocked to 5GHz on
all cores in an MSI Z390 ACE motherboard, along with 16GB of DDR4-3200 CL14 memory in
dual channel. You can check the links in the description for details on all of the components
as well as for up to date pricing.
Testing was done with the latest Windows 1909 fully up to date, and with the latest versions
of Nvidia and Radeon drivers available at the time of testing, so with all of that out
of the way let’s get into the results.
Modern Warfare was tested in campaign mode. I’ve got the 1080p results on the lower
half of the graph, and the 1440p results towards the upper half. In this test it’s a win
for the 5500 XT, which was scoring around 13% higher average FPS over the 1650 Super
at both resolutions.
It’s a different story in Control, this time the 1650 Super was coming out ahead of
the 5500 XT. In terms of average frame rate, the 1650 Super was 8.3% faster at 1080p, and
7.5% ahead at 1440p.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was tested using the games built in benchmark tool. The 5500 XT
was in front again in this title, achieving a 7.5% higher average frame rate at 1080p,
increasing to a larger 16% improvement at 1440p.
Battlefield V was tested in campaign mode, and saw the largest difference out of all
titles tested. At 1080p even the 1% low from the 5500 XT was near the average FPS from
the 1650 Super, while average FPS was almost 38% ahead. At 1440p the 5500 XT’s 1% low
is now comfortably beating the average from the 1650 Super, and the average frame rate
is now a massive 46% ahead.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the games benchmark tool, and there was far
less of a difference between the two in this test. At 1080p the 5500 XT was just one frame
ahead, or 1.6%, then two frames ahead at 1440p, which equates to almost a 5% boost.
Apex Legends was tested with all graphical settings at maximum, and the performance with
this game was the best on the 1650 Super out of all games tested. At 1080p the 1650 Super
was hitting 10% higher average FPS, however the 1% low was the same. At 1440p the 1% low
on the 1650 Super was now 14% ahead of the 5500 XT, and average FPS saw a larger 20%
improvement.
Borderlands 3 was tested with the game’s benchmark tool, and this was another title
that favoured the 5500 XT. At both resolutions even its 1% low result was ahead of the average
FPS from the 1650 Super. At 1080p there was a 27% higher average frame rate with the 5500
XT, rising slightly to a 28% boost at 1440p.
Fortnite was tested using the replay feature, with the exact same replay file used for all
testing. This was another win for the 5500 XT, which was 7% ahead of the 1650 Super in
average FPS, increasing to an 11.7% lead when we step up the resolution to 1440p.
PUBG was also tested using the replay feature, with the same replay file again. In this title
the 1650 Super had the edge, coming out 6.7% faster than the 5500 XT at 1080p, lowering
slightly to a 4.7% higher average FPS at 1440p, with less of a difference to 1% low now compared
to 1080p.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was tested using the built in benchmark. The 5500 XT was back
in the lead for this test, though not by too much at 1080p, where the 1% low performance
was similar, however average frame rate was 6% ahead. At 1440p the lead of the 5500 XT
rises up to a 13.6% higher average FPS, while the 1% low was almost 11% higher.
The Witcher 3 tends to be a fairly GPU heavy game, and with the ultra setting preset the
1650 Super was winning in this test. At 1080p the 1% low from the 5500 XT was a little ahead,
however it was a little behind in average FPS. At 1440p the results are even closer
together, honestly at this point I doubt you’d notice a difference between them.
The Division 2 was tested with the games benchmark tool, and this test saw a fair improvement
with the 5500 XT. At 1080p the average FPS with the 5500 XT was almost 16% higher, rising
up to a 19% improvement at 1440p. There were bigger gains to the 1% lows though, at 1080p
the 5500 XT was 22% higher in that regard, and then 33% higher at 1440p.
Ghost Recon Breakpoint was also tested using the built in benchmark, and the 5500 XT was
ahead by a similar margin, 16% higher average FPS at 1080p, but a larger 27% lead at 1440p.
Overwatch was tested in the practice range, so while not quite the same as actual gameplay,
it allows me to perform the same test pass more accurately which is ideal for comparison
purposes. At 1080p the 5500 XT was just 4.5% ahead in average FPS, with a slightly higher
6.3% lead at 1440p.
Rainbow Six Siege was tested with the games benchmark tool. The results are pretty close
together, but the 1650 Super was ahead in all regards, granted just by a couple of FPS
at both 1080p and 1440p resolutions.
Strange Brigade was tested using Vulkan and also with the built in benchmark. The 1650
Super was ahead in this test. There wasn’t too much of a difference in terms of average
FPS, however the 1650 Super was doing a fair bit better when it came to the 1% low performance.
I’ve tested CS:GO with the Ulletical FPS benchmark, and the 5500 XT improved things
significantly in this test. At 1080p it was able to offer a 25.7% higher average frame
rate, and almost 40% higher average FPS at 1440p, however there was much less of a difference
to 1% low performance comparatively.
Over all 17 games tested the RX 5500 XT 8GB was 7.7% ahead of the GTX 1650 Super at 1080p.
As you can see though it really depends on the specific game, in a few titles the 1650
Super was ahead, like Apex and Control, however in the majority the 5500 XT was in the lead.
Some of the wins with the 5500 XT were quite large, Battlefield 5 in particular was well
ahead with almost a 38% higher average frame rate.
At 1440p the average improvement seen with the 5500 XT increases to 11%. While neither
of these are really meant for 1440p gaming, it should still be possible at lower setting
levels. I’ve intentionally tested with higher settings which tend to be more GPU bound,
though of course it varies by game. At higher resolutions the extra memory that the 5500
XT has available is definitely helping out.
It’s worth remembering the 5500 XT is also available in a 4GB version which would perform
below what I’m showing here with the 8GB one, so same amount as the 1650 Super. Make
sure you’re subscribed to see future comparisons with that one once I can get my hands on it.
The increased performance with the RX 5500 XT isn’t for nothing though, if we take
a look at total system power draw from the wall we can see it’s using around 20% more
power than the 1650 Super, and that’s despite AMD’s use of 7nm. I’ve tested two games
with different levels of performance, if you recall the 5500 XT dominated in Battlefield
5. At 1440p ultra settings it was getting 46% higher average FPS, so using 20% more
power for that, as shown by the darker purple bar, doesn’t sound too bad. If we look at
another game like The Witcher 3 though, the 5500 XT is still using 19% more power than
the 1650 Super, despite the 1650 Super being 2% faster.
As both cards have different cooling solutions I haven’t looked at thermals as it would
be less of a fair comparison.
Now for the final difference, the price. You can find updated prices linked in the description.
At the time of recording, the 1650 Super goes for $160 USD, or less than $5 more for the
specific MSI Gaming X I’ve tested with here. I’m not exactly sure of the price of the
Gigabyte 5500 XT I’m testing with here as it’s not out yet, but they should start
at $199 USD for the 8gb model, so even best case that’s 21% more money for the 8gb 5500
XT.
In my opinion this seems a little hard to justify, at least in a general sense as you
need to pay 21% more money for under an 8% on average performance boost. Depending on
the specific game, it could be a great deal though. Games like Battlefield 5 saw big improvements
with the 8gb 5500 XT where there was almost a 38% higher average frame rate for 21% more
cost, so not a bad tradeoff there. I think the 8gb 5500 XT is going to make more sense
investing in if you want that additional memory over the 1650’s 4gb.
The pricing here in Australia seems a bit better though, it will vary by region. The
1650 Super starts at around $279 AUD, however the 4GB 5500 XT is meant to start at $269
AUD, so $10 less, or $319 AUD for the 8GB, so around 14% more money in that case. The
MSI Gaming X 1650 Super I’ve tested here goes for $319 AUD, so in theory it would be
possible to pick up a lower end 5500 XT 8GB for the same price, which should outperform
it in most cases.
In the end I think the 5500 XT is decent, it’s just going to depend on price difference
between the 1650 Super which will vary by region.
So with all of that in mind which would you pick? The Radeon RX 5500 XT, or Nvidia GTX
1650 Super? Let me know in the comments!
This specific comparison is of course only relative between these two cards, I’ll be
doing more comparisons in the future once I’m able to get the 4GB version of the 5500
XT. Let me know what other graphics cards you want to see me compare these with, and
if you’re new to the channel consider getting subscribed for future tech videos like this
one.