AMD may be readying budget RX 6400 and RX 6500 XT graphics cards

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AMD is apparently gearing up to release entry level GPUs based on the Navi 24 GPU. As even the most affordable current generation cards are priced well beyond the reach of casual gamers, these are cards that the market definitely needs. In what may be the final RX 6000 desktop cards to be released, the RX 6400 and RX 6500 XT are supposedly equipped with 4GB of VRAM over a 64-Bit bus.

That’s a very basic configuration as 4GB on any 2022 card is on the low side. However, if it uses fast GDDR6 with some Infinity Cache then the amount of bandwidth on offer should be reasonable. Yes, that’s the rose-colored glasses view, but in the current GPU market, any kind of affordable GPU for casual gamers will be very welcome.

The news comes via Japanese leaker @KOMACH_ENSAKA with additional information from Videocardz. If the rumored specifications are true, these cards certainly won’t be potent gaming GPUs but given the current prices of more capable GPUs, these could find their way into gamers’ rigs in higher numbers than you’d expect. Older titles should run at high frame rates without issue, while popular Esports and MOBA games should also run smoothly. You can forget about running the latest titles with ray tracing enabled and all the eye candy on, but a bit of CS:GO or Fortnite at a decent frame rate shouldn’t be a problem.

Depending on the final TDP, the Navi 24 GPU is likely to find its way into affordable gaming laptops too, at least those that require more gaming grunt than you’d get from AMD’s APUs and Intel CPUs with Xe graphics. Gamers aren’t the only ones looking for affordable cards. If Navi 24 is equipped with the same video engine as the faster RX 6000 cards, then the RX 6500 XT and RX 6400 will make excellent home theater PC cards. It would be even better if the RX 6400 came with a low-profile option and consume under 75W, negating the need for a PCIe power connector. These two characteristics alone would see many buyers lining up.

We’re still waiting to see what Nvidia can bring to the table in the entry level price range. Its RTX 3060 cards are still the most affordable Ampere cards, but their pricing is anything but entry level. There were rumors that the RTX 3050/Ti was cancelled, which seems to be accurate given the imminent resurrection of the RTX 2060 with 12GB. We’re also looking forward to seeing what Intel can bring to the table with its entry level Alchemist GPUs