Things are heating up for gamers, and the graphics card race is getting more competitive, especially with the release of the new Radeon RX 7600. In the competitive world of graphics processing, AMD’s Radeon range has made considerable progress over the past few years, carving out a significant niche in a market dominated by NVIDIA. After a period of relative silence following the release of the RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT, AMD has emerged to shake up the mid-range GPU market once again with its latest release, the $269 AMD Radeon RX 7600.
With this new GPU, AMD has expanded the potential of the RX 7000 series to meet a wide range of needs, from enthusiasts to professionals. The Radeon RX 7600 sits comfortably in the mid-range, aiming to deliver superior performance at a reasonable price. It’s a bold attempt to bridge the gap between high-end power and mainstream accessibility, and if our testing is anything to go by, it is working.
In a market flooded with $500-plus GPUs, the Radeon RX 7600 is a much-needed addition to the landscape, promising top-notch 1080p gaming and impressive 1440p performance at a price that more people can afford. With prices finally coming down to earth, it is time for enthusiasts to dive in and upgrade their aging systems, even if there are a few caveats about what the new Radeon RX 7600 GPU can do.
Like many recent AMD Radeon GPUs, the Radeon RX 7600 makes a lasting impression with its design and build quality from the moment you unbox it. The card strikes a balance between aesthetic appeal and functional utility. Similar to the RX 7900 XTX, the Radeon RX 7600’s case follows a sleek and modern design language that tends towards the minimalist end of the spectrum. The matte black finish with silver accents gives the GPU a stylish and premium feel. It is compact enough to fit comfortably in most PC cases yet robust enough to inspire confidence in its durability.
The AMD Radeon RX 7600 GPU uses a dual fan design for efficient and quiet cooling. Each fan features an optimized blade design that promises improved airflow, maintaining lower temperatures even under heavy loads. In addition, the incorporation of heat pipes and a substantial heat sink ensures effective heat dissipation. Despite its compact size, the Radeon RX 7600 manages to stay cool and quiet even under heavy use. Fortunately, people looking to fit this card into a more petite build should have no problem, thanks to its relatively small footprint.
Under the hood, the Radeon RX 7600 features the new Navi 33 graphics processor. The GPU has a significant number of stream processors and promises impressive raw processing power. Still, unlike the Navi 31 chiplet design found in the RX 7900 series, it is a monolithic chip. It is also based on a TSMC 6nm node, unlike its bigger brother’s more advanced TSMC 5nm node. Designed to be ready for the latest games, the RX 7600 also supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing, AV1 encoding, and AI, although I have yet to see the full effect of this in the wild.
Now to tackle the major issue facing this new card, the memory. While the Radeon RX 7600 has a fair amount of memory for cards released five years ago, the 8 GB DDR6 is starting to look a little lacking when it comes to modern games. The Radeon RX 7600 also features a 128-bit memory bus, allowing 288 GB/s of Memory bandwidth. It feels solid for most 1080P or 1440P uses, but we have some concerns.
“While the Radeon RX 7600 does do very well in rasterized workflows, ray tracing is still lagging behind NVIDIA.”
With the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X boasting 16GB and 10GB, respectively, with more games using the consoles as the benchmark for performance, 8GB will pose an issue for some games and ports, especially moving forward. Yes, there will be fewer issues at 1080P, even on modern games, but it may still be a problem down the road as we see more console ports making their way to PC.
In terms of connectivity, the Radeon RX 7600 includes multiple DisplayPort and HDMI ports, providing flexibility for multi-monitor setups and high refresh rate displays. It also supports PCIe 4.0 for fast communication with the rest of your PC. Unfortunately, unlike the RX 7900 series, the RX 7600 lacks the very handy USB Type-C port, but considering how much is packed into this small unit, it is a forgivable omission.
With everything looking exciting on the outside, it was time to see how the AMD Radeon RX 7600 performed. As with all of our recent GPU reviews, our test build came in a be quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 case with a 13th generation Intel i9-13900K, an MSI 850W PSU, a whopping 64GB of SK Hynix DDR5 RAM and a blazing fast PCIe Gen 4 2TB Kingston Fury M.2 SSD.
Putting it to the test, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 GPU comfortably handles most modern AAA titles at 1080p on high settings, often achieving frame rates well over 60fps, making it an excellent choice for low-end competitive gaming. Considering the price, the card achieved some truly impressive results, delivering very playable numbers in every game we tested. From Cyberpunk 2077 to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, it all delivered incredibly impressive numbers, even with everything cranked up.
| 1080P Benchmarks | RX 7600 | RTX 4060 TI | Intel Arc A750 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 131 | 200 | 112 |
| Assassin’s Creed Valhalla | 106 | 121 | 73 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 87.22 | 102.21 | 49 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 + RT | 18.15 | 42.4 | 29 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 DLSS + RT/FSR | 34.17 | 116 | – |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 | 124 | 121 | 98 |
| Rainbow Six Siege | 476 | 567 | 302.8 |
| DOTA 2 | 334 | 374.8 | 238 |
| Counter-Strike: Go | 462.16 | 538 | 309 |
The Radeon RX 7600 excelled in our eSports titles, achieving over 400 FPS in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, 334 FPS in DOTA 2, and a remarkable 124 FPS in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. While these rates might not reach the ideal levels for professional play, they are certainly capable for anyone seeking a new card for online gaming or contemplating an upgrade to an enthusiast card.
Once we moved up to 1440P, the Radeon RX 7600 still produced some impressive numbers, even if it wasn’t the best card for the job. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Hitman 3, Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 all delivered well over 60 fps, and even Cyberpunk 2077 just missed the cut-off with an average of 54.37 fps.
| 1440P Benchmarks | RX 7600 | RTX 4060 TI | Intel Arc A750 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 104 | 132 | 85 |
| Assassin’s Creed Valhalla | 74 | 89 | 59 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 54.37 | 63.55 | 36 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 + RT | 8.05 | 27.26 | – |
| Cyberpunk 2077 DLSS + RT/FSR | 26.12 | 77.1 | – |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 | 83 | 84 | 61 |
| Rainbow Six Siege | 321 | 389 | 181 |
| DOTA 2 | 223.2 | 293.6 | 223 |
| Counter-Strike: Go | 275.8 | 379 | 218 |
While these results may not align with expectations for high-end graphics cards, AMD has smartly priced the Radeon RX 7600, making it difficult to argue against its excellent price-to-performance ratio. At $269 USD, the savings offered by AMD are compelling, especially when considering the card’s proximity to the RTX 4060 TI in terms of performance.
However, it’s important to note that while the Radeon RX 7600 performs well in rasterized workflows, it lags in terms of ray tracing capabilities compared to NVIDIA. It took a noticeable performance hit in all our ray tracing tests, especially in games like Cyberpunk 2077. Although the AMD Fidelity FX Super Resolution (FSR) has made significant strides in improving performance, particularly in ray tracing, it still falls short when compared to DLSS, yielding a markedly inferior performance.
In professional applications such as Adobe’s Creative Suite, Autodesk’s Maya, and Blender, the Radeon RX 7600 proves more than capable. It efficiently handles these demanding tasks due to its high compute unit count and ample video memory, facilitating smooth workflows and quick render times. Its native AV1 support is a major plus point, especially considering the card’s price. However, it does lag behind other, more robust offerings, with options like the Intel Arc A750 potentially offering a slight advantage depending on your setup and requirements.
“AMD has been incredibly clever with how they have priced the Radeon RX 7600, making it hard to argue that you are getting a fantastic level of performance for your gaming dollar.”
Turning to the Radeon RX 7600’s power consumption, AMD seems to have found a reasonable balance between performance and power efficiency. The card consumed power in line with its mid-range positioning under typical gaming loads in our tests. Nothing too exciting to see here, although I would have hoped for a bit more efficiency, given how well the RX 7900 series did when we looked at it.
It is, however, a little more power-hungry than I would have expected, consuming around 10 watts more under load than the previous generation RX 6600. It does manage to be slightly less hungry than the RTX 4060 TI, but given how much less performance it offers, the 20-watt saving seems a little paltry in comparison.
The Radeon RX 7600’s thermal performance was also commendable. The GPU’s dual fan cooling system effectively managed heat dissipation under full load. Despite extended gaming sessions, the card kept temperatures well within safe limits, never throttling back due to excessive heat. The fans, while efficient, were remarkably quiet even under heavy load, a testament to AMD’s attention to detail in designing an efficient and quiet cooling system.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen so many options in the mid-range enthusiast GPU market, and I’m glad to see the doubts are over. The AMD Radeon RX 7600 GPU emerges as a strong contender for anyone looking to upgrade their aging system and demand solid 1080P performance. It continues AMD’s legacy of delivering performance-oriented products at competitive prices.
Whether you’re a serious gamer looking for high frame rates in popular titles or a creative professional looking for reliable performance for design and rendering tasks, the Radeon RX 7600 has something to offer. For gamers looking for a mid-range graphics card that punches above its weight, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 should definitely be on your shortlist.
