AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT reveal could be imminent — here’s why

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Evidence is mounting that the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT graphics card is close

AMD Radeon at CES 2021
(Image credit: AMD)

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT graphics card could be very close to an official reveal and release, and may launch with a super-compact, single-fan design.

That’s according to both a tweet from regular tipster @KOMACHI_ENSAKA, which shows what appears to be driver versions for the upcoming card. And alleged render image posted by VideoCardz adds further credence to the rumored graphics card's launch. 

According to TechRadar, @KOMACHI_ENSAKA screenshotted the driver references from a recent AMD Radeon software update; the rumored Radeon RX 6600 and Radeon RX 6600M are also listed alongside the Radeon RX 6600 XT. 

The drivers haven’t been released yet but even if they’re being listed in love software, that suggests a full launch isn’t far away.

VideoCardz, meanwhile, claims it received the render via a reader tip. It does match the general styling of AMD’s previous Big Navi graphics cards like the Radeon RX 6800 XT, only with much smaller dimensions and only one fan for cooling.

The render also suggests the Radeon RX 6600 XT will use a single 8-pin power connector, which together with the compact size would make it a better choice for mini-ITX and micro-ATX PC builds than the bulkier likes of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080.

AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT render

(Image credit: VideoCardz)

We can’t say for sure if this image is a legitimate leak, though AMD itself revealed that it was working on a single-fan GPU by showing an unidentified compact card design during its CES 2021 showcase.

That design was indicated to launch in the first half of 2021, which has come and gone, so the RX 6600 XT may have been delayed. The card shown in this new render isn’t identical to the CES 2021 design, but is very similar, and if anything looks even more like the AMD Radeon reference designs that have released already.

It’s also basically an open secret than the Radeon RX 6600 XT is in the works. In May, both the Radeon RX 6600 XT and Radeon RX 6600 specs seemingly appeared in GPU-Z, suggesting they were undergoing testing.

This render could feasibly show what the Radeon RX 6600 XT will look like, though given the worldwide GPU stock shortage, you’d probably have better luck trying to buy one of the many eventual partner card models.

We expect the Radeon RX 6600 XT to use AMD’s new Navi 23 GPU, and to feature 8GB of video RAM. The aforementioned GPU-Z listing has the RX 66000 XT tipped to have a 1,692MHz base clock speed and a 2,684MHz boost clock speed. A mobile version for laptops is also believed to be in the pipeline.

James Archer
James Archer

James is currently Hardware Editor at Rock Paper Shotgun, but before that was Audio Editor at Tom’s Guide, where he covered headphones, speakers, soundbars and anything else that intentionally makes noise. A PC enthusiast, he also wrote computing and gaming news for TG, usually relating to how hard it is to find graphics card stock.