XFX Radeon RX 5600 XT THICC II Pro 14Gbps Review

XFX has updated their RX 5600 XT graphics cards with the faster 14Gbps memory speed. Today we are checking out the newer XFX Radeon RX 5600 XT Thicc II Pro with 14Gbps 6GB GDDR6 memory. This is the second RX 5600 XT that we will be reviewing and we know that RX 5600 XT are good for 1080p gaming. We opted to include the Thicc III Pro variant in our best RX 5600 XT list due to its cooling capability. So, let’s check out how the Thicc II Pro would fare against the competition and if deserves to be on the top choice.

XFX Radeon RX 5600 XT Thicc II Pro Review – 14Gbps 6G GDDR6 Memory Version

Let’s start with a little background first on why an RX 5600 XT 14Gbps variant is released. When the RX 5600 XT was first launched, there was a big ruckus going around due to NVIDIA’s sudden price drop on their RTX 2060 FE graphics card. To combat this, AMD didn’t adjust the price of their RX 5600 XT, instead they simply increased the VRAM or memory’s speed from 12Gbps to 14Gbps via a BIOS update.

On the positive side, the increased memory speed resulted in a slight performance improvement. However, on the negative side, it caused problems for the manufacturers as some of their RX 5600 XT aren’t designed to operate at those speeds. On top of that, some of the RX 5600 XT have a slower memory speed, while others have the faster 14Gbps. This resulted in confusion and disappointment from the community.

A few months later, graphics card manufacturers were able to sort it out and resolve the issue. That’s why we now have an XFX Radeon RX 5600 XT Thicc II Pro 14Gbps variant. At this point, I don’t think it’s a good idea to buy an RX 5600 XT with a slower 12Gbps memory speed. Not unless you got it for a really good deal or low price.

Also, if ever you do plan to get an RX 5600 XT graphics card, be sure that it’s the version that runs at 14Gbps out of the box, like this one. Not all are comfortable with doing a vBIOS update, not to mention the potential risk involve in updating the vBIOS.

Going back to the main topic of this review, the XFX RX 5600 XT Thicc II Pro 14Gbps features a game clock speed of up to 1560MHz and up to 1620MHz of boost clock speed. And of course, it features 6GB GDDR6 memory running at 14Gbps of memory clock speed.

Now, let’s take a closer look at the graphics card while exploring some of its features as well.

XFX Radeon RX 5600 XT Thicc II Pro Specifications

Packaging and Closer Look

Above is the box or retail packaging that the RX 5600 XT Thicc II Pro 14Gbps variant comes in. At the bottom of the name “AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT”, there is a “14 GBPS” logo. I’m glad that the graphics card is labeled properly so that potential buyers would not be confused; whether they are getting the new variant or the old 12Gbps model.

The graphics card features two 100mm fans with Zero DB (Fanstop) technology. It’s a common feature in graphics cards nowadays. This simply means that the fans won’t run until it reaches a certain amount of GPU load. The front shroud is made of plastic and has a somewhat matte black finish. But the plastic shroud is not that thick, there is a bit of play especially at the sides when pressed.

The front cooler shroud looks plain, but with the fans giving it an accent. However, I find the black plate design to be attractive and striking. It is a metal back plate but it doesn’t cover the entire area at the back. Notice that the rear edge portion is a bit different and doesn’t look like it’s a part of the back plate. Unfortunately, that piece is made of plastic.

At the output ports area, there are three DisplayPorts version 1.4 and one HDMI 2.0b port. It draws power from an 8-pin PCIe connector, and right beside the power connector is a BIOS switch. The BIOS switch basically lets you choose between high performance mode or lower fan noise. Although, based on my testing, it’s best to just keep it at high performance mode.

The RX 5600 XT Thicc II Pro measures 11.02″ inches in length, 5.83″ in width and 1.73″ in thickness. This is a dual slot graphics card, so it’s not really a “thicc” card. Also notice from the images above that the aluminum heat sink underneath the cooler shroud isn’t that “thicc” as well. Just with visual inspection, it already made me think twice whether the cooling solution installed in this graphics card is enough or not. Let’s check out it’s temperature next.

Test Setup Used

I tested the XFX Radeon RX 5600 XT Thicc II Pro 14Gbps on an MSI MEG Z390 ACE motherboard powered with an Intel Core i7-8700K overclocked to 4.9GHz. The rest of the specifications of the system are as follows:

Operating System: Windows 10 Pro 64bit ver. 1903
Motherboard: MSI MEG Z390 ACE
Processor: Intel Core i7-8700K
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i RGB Platinum AIO
Memory: XPG Spectrix D60G 16GB DDR4-3200MHz CL16
Graphics card: XFX Radeon RX 5600 XT Thicc II Pro 14Gbps 6GB
Storage Drives: XPG Spectrix S40G M.2 NVMe SSD 1TB, Crucial MX500 2TB (game drive)
Power Supply: Seasonic 1050W SS-1050XP3
Chassis: Thermaltake Core P5

I am also using the Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 edition 20.4.2 for Windows 10 64bit. The graphics card was tested in two gaming resolutions – 1920×1080 FHD and 2560×1440 WQHD. The RX 5600 XT is intended for 1080p gaming, so let’s see how good (or not) this graphics card is at 1080p.

For the synthetic benchmarks, I used the benchmark tools from 3DMark. I also used the following games to test the graphics card: Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition, Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Metro Exodus, Middle Earth Shadow of War, Monster Hunter World, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt.

Below are the GPU-Z and Aida64 GPGPU benchmark screenshots of the RX 5600 XT Thicc II Pro 14Gbps.

Continue reading the review on the next page.