A Radeon RX 6700 XT for under $650 is one of the best GPU bargains in a long time

News
By published

Looking for a cool, quiet and affordable card to drive a 1440p monitor? Look here.

MSI Radeon RX 6700 XT MECH 2X 12GB
(Image credit: MSI)

2021 was something of a lost year for PC gamers. Finding a decent graphics card at a reasonable price was all but impossible. Finally though, it seems like we’ve turned a corner. Forget about scalper prices at double RRP. Forget about RRP even. At $649, this MSI RX 6700 XT Mech 2x is a full 28% below the RRP of AMD's reference 6700 XT. We can finally write bargain and GPU in the same sentence.

The 6700 XT is an excellent 1080p or 1440p card. At 1080p it’s a good choice for high refresh rate monitors, even in demanding games at the highest settings. Its 12GB of memory comes to the fore when pushing high details at 1440p. Even a demanding game like Metro Exodus purrs along at well over 60 FPS at the ultra preset.

MSI’s Mech cooler is well suited to the task of cooling the Navi 22 GPU at the heart of the card. It lets the card run at high boost clocks without having to resort to unreasonable noise levels. It’s got a full cover backplate and its single HDMI 2.1 port and three DP 1.4 outputs mean you’re all set for a multimonitor rig for work or play.

It loses a bit when it comes to ray-tracing compared to the likes of the RTX 3060 Ti and RTX 3070, but they aren’t available for anywhere near $649. It’s up to you whether ray tracing and DLSS is important to you. It might come down to the games you play. AMD has its competing FSR 2.0 technology and of course FreeSync monitors are widely available which counts in the 6700 XT’s favour.

MSI Radeon RX 6700 XT Mech 2X Graphics Card |AU$1,099 AU$649

MSI Radeon RX 6700 XT Mech 2X Graphics Card | AU$1,099 AU$649 (save AU$450)

Good GPU bargains have been hard to come by, but this one's a beauty. The RX 6700 XT is a great 1440p gaming card and at $649 it's well under its RRP. MSI's large dual fan cooler keeps temps under control and it does so very quietly.

View Deal

The RX 6700 XT is being superseded by the RX 6750 XT, which is essentially an overclocked 6700 XT, so you’re not missing out on much. Both retain the same GPU with 12GB of RAM. And as the 6750 XT is a relatively new release, it's generally far more expensive. It’s simply not worth the hundreds of dollars over this 6700 XT at $649.

Isn’t it nice to see a genuinely well priced graphics card? Now that the mining craze has passed and stocks are improving, bargains like these are a welcome sight. A year ago, you'd have been lucky to find an entry level card for $649! Now you can get a genuine gaming card. Next gen mid-range cards may be a year away from release so it’s a good time to buy a new GPU, and this MSI Mech 2x is one of the best GPU bargains I’ve come across in a long time. Pop over to Mwave’s site and see just how well it compares.

Chris Szewczyk
Chris Szewczyk
Hardware Writer

Chris' gaming experiences go back to the mid-nineties when he conned his parents into buying an 'educational PC' that was conveniently overpowered to play Doom and Tie Fighter. He developed a love of extreme overclocking that destroyed his savings despite the cheaper hardware on offer via his job at a PC store. To afford more LN2 he began moonlighting as a reviewer for VR-Zone before jumping the fence to work for MSI Australia. Since then, he's gone back to journalism, enthusiastically reviewing the latest and greatest components for PC & Tech Authority, PC Powerplay and currently Australian Personal Computer magazine and PC Gamer. Chris still puts far too many hours into Borderlands 3, always striving to become a more efficient killer.