AMD's RX 5600 XT graphics card, announced at CES 2020, has been officially launched. This card was initially intended to compete with the GTX 1660 Ti, but with a BIOS modification, it now competes with the RTX 2060. It's worth noting that it was initially presented with lower clock speeds than the retail version. This is because, just days before the launch, NVIDIA lowered the price of the RTX 2060.
AMD indicated that the RX 5600 XT would work at 1375MHz and in Boost mode it would reach 1560MHz. Finally, the graphics has arrived with another BIOS and the graphics reaches a base frequency of 1615Mz and in Boost mode it reaches 1750MHz. Something that seems like it was not a good idea.
[amazon box="B083FWMZ8Z"]Unvalidated BIOS for RX 5600 XT
Curiously, the original BIOS and this new BIOS would be in beta. But it should also be noted that the graphics passed a 10-week validation before going into mass production. None of the graphics with the new BIOS would have validation, which is a big problem.
The graphics have a non-reference cooling system that is adapted to the TDP. The initial TDP of this graphics card was 135W but it has finally become 150-160W.
According to igor's LAB , some graphics cards are experiencing failures due to insufficient cooling. Some heatsinks have reportedly been adjusted to match the initial TDP, with the aim of offering budget-friendly solutions.
Many problems with the new RX 5600 XT
PowerColor RX 5600 XT Red Dragon would have a heatsink heatpipe as initially it might have been deemed unnecessary. Eliminating a heatpipe allows lowering the final price of the graph, by reducing costs. Thus going from a TDP of 135W to about 150W, has caused thermal problems. Even PowerColor has stopped the production of this graphic to reinstall the removed heatpipe.
It is also being said that other manufacturers, such as Colorful, have decided to keep the original memory frequency. Initially the graphics card was going to have GDDR6 memory at a frequency of 12GHz, but finally it has reached 14GHz.
Other manufacturers, such as the MSI Gaming X, would have freezing problems. Some users are reporting blue screen shots and different error messages with the new BIOS. It seems that the simplest solution would be to lower the frequency of the memories 50Hz or more and the graph is already stable.
Right now there are only two options, wait a bit for new versions of these graphics with better heatsinks to arrive or buy an RTX 2060. It seems that the new BIOS has taken manufacturers by surprise and the result has been a brutal disaster.
