Where there are large discrepancies between test runs, I've rechecked performance with additional testing to ensure the results are accurate and meaningful. Each game is tested multiple times, using the best result. 4K isn't something you should be thinking about with this level of hardware.
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AMD RADEON RX 5500 XT 8GB 1080P
Testing is done at 1080p 'medium' and 'ultra' settings (which may go by different names, depending on the game), as well as 1440p and 'ultra' settings. Certain games may favor AMD or Nvidia hardware, but the overall average performance with this many games will be a good snapshot of what to expect. I've tested 11 games for this review, which should give a fair representation of performance. The CPU shouldn't hold back any of the cards. For budget and midrange cards, the CPU will be far less of a factor, but it's good to keep things consistent. I've tested all GPUs in my standard testbed, which features an overclocked Core i7-8700K running at 5.0GHz. Regardless, the 8GB card will be faster in many recent games where 4GB isn't quite enough-not to mention allowing games like Red Dead Redemption 2 to run at higher quality settings. 150W), and slightly higher 'game clock.' In practice, the 4GB 55 XT should have nearly identical performance, outside of any card specific tweaking of clockspeeds. The specs on the OEM-only RX 5500 and the retail RX 5500 XT are mostly the same, except the XT models are available with 8GB insteal of just 4GB, have a 130W TDP (vs. Then you'd know the XT is the enhanced card with more RAM. It would have made far more sense to call the 8GB card the XT.
AMD RADEON RX 5500 XT 8GB SERIES
The naming of AMD's RX 5000 series still feels weird to me. (If you're wondering, the new numbers are about three percent higher overall, and up to 10 percent higher in a few select cases, which is why I retested.) I haven't had a chance to retest the 8GB card yet, but I'll have a separate review of that card as soon as I'm able. I ended up retesting every game on the 4GB card in the past 12 hours just to confirm numbers. Timing constraints and some initially odd test results have delayed this review slightly.
![amd radeon rx 5500 xt 8gb amd radeon rx 5500 xt 8gb](https://assets-global.website-files.com/5d1911406ad3cbdb9924a753/5df2414b4966f001aa7ced14_5500XT_BoxCard.jpg)
The cards also use AMD's reference clocks, up to 1845MHz boost, though plenty of other 5500 XT models with modest factory overclocks are available. Other than the VRAM, the cards look identical and feature dual cooling fans, with a single 8-pin power connector. AMD sent us two RX 5500 XT Pulse edition cards for testing, one with 4GB and one with 8GB.