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mercredi 1 décembre 2021

These are the best AMD Graphics cards you can buy in 2021

AMD’s been making some huge waves in the commuting space with its Ryzen processors. Even though Intel’s new 12th gen Alder Lake CPUs offer impressive performance, we still think Ryzen processors are here to stay in our best CPUs list. The same is the case with AMD’s graphics cards. Even though Nvidia’s GeForce RTX line-up of GPUs are more popular and mostly dominate our best graphics cards list, AMD also has some extremely powerful and reliable graphics cards on the market. In this article, we’ll be taking a look at some of the best AMD graphics cards you can buy in 2021.

As is the case with all of our collections, this is also an ever-evolving list in which we’ll break down the best AMD graphics cards available right now for you to pick the one that suits your requirements. We’ve mentioned stock reference cards from AMD in this collection for the most part, but you may have to look for a partner card from one of the OEMs based on your budget and also the GPU availability. That being said, this list should help you understand the current state of AMD graphics cards on the market and we’ll also point you towards the one you should be buying based on your requirements. So without wasting any more time, let’s get started with this list:

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Best overall AMD graphics card: AMD Radeon RX 6800XT

AMD Radeon RX 5800 XT GPU with three fans sitting on a brown background
AMD’s new 6000 series GPUs couldn’t have arrived at a better time. They’re here to shake Nvidia’s stronghold on the GPU market for cards across different price ranges. AMD’s new Big Navi aka RDNA2 offers some impressive performance gains. It joins the ray tracing fray, both with its PC desktop graphics cards and the next-gen consoles. AMD still has a long way to go before more OEMs hop in and start churning our cards with custom heatsinks, but even the reference cards have a lot of potential to take on Nvidia’s top GPUs.

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT builds on the previous cards like the Radeon VII when it comes to the design. We’re looking at a familiar industrial design and aesthetic for the RX 6800 XT. However, it comes with a better heatsink that helps it cope with the higher TDP values. The RX 6800 XT has a triple fan design with three 77mm fans. In typical AMD’s fashion, there’s also a Radeon logo that lights up in red. The RX 6800 XT comes with dual 8-pin PEG connectors and a bunch of ports on the back including two DisplayPort outputs, a single HDMI 2.1 connector, and a USB Type-C port. The HDMI 2.1 port is a nice addition since it allows you to connect supported TVs and other displays to hit higher frame rates.

The Radeon RX 6800 XT, mind you, sits on top of the Radeon GPU product stack just under the more performant RX 6900 XT. As such, it’s good for 4K gaming when paired with a high-performance CPU in a well-optimized environment. At 4K, Nvidia’s RTX 3080 leads the RX 6800 XT just by a couple of percentages, which means they both are equally good at dishing out playable frame rates at high resolutions. In fact, AMD’s RX 6800 XT manages to perform better than the RTX 3080 in many cases across popular titles like Red Dead Redemption 2, Metro Exodus, and more.

At 1440p and 1080p, both cards are effectively tied which means the RX 6800 XT is a fantastic alternative to the RTX 3080. That being said, it’s hard to find both cards in stock, so good luck with that. You can also overclock the RX 6800 XT to get more performance out of the GPU but there’s nothing substantial here. The overclocking capability will largely depend on the partner card’s heatsink too, so your mileage may vary. The RX 6800 XT isn’t the best when it comes to ray tracing performance, though. Nvidia’s RT tech is still better than what AMD has to offer. That’s also because Nvidia’s DLSS 2.0 offers a big boost in frame rates. AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution, in comparison, fails to deliver, but we’ll see if that changes in the future with the AMD cards.

Overall, we think the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is a solid card that’s worth considering as an alternative to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080. Sure, both GPUs are just as good when it comes to overall gaming performance, but there’s more work to be done by AMD, especially in the ray-tracing department to take the lead from Nvidia. But there’s no denying that the RX 6800 XT is a fantastic card and it should be the one that most people should buy over the 6900XT.

    AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
    The RX 6800 XT is the best graphics card in the 6000. It's identical to the RX 6900 XT except for slightly lower clock speeds.

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Second-best overall AMD graphics card: AMD Radeon RX 6800

AMD Radeon RX 6800 GPU reference card standing next to its retail box

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 is a solid entry into the AMD graphics card lineup. It stands as a viable alternative to Nvidia’s high-performance GPUs. As such, it’s our pick for the second-best AMD GPU you can buy in the market right now, next to the Radeon RX 6800 XT. The RX 6800 delivers reliable 4K gaming performance and a decent ray-tracing performance at 1440p. These are things that older GPUs like the Radeon VII, Radeon RX 5700 XT, etc. couldn’t really achieve for AMD. The Radeon RX 6800 can easily outperform the RTX 3070 across many titles.

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 is based on the same RDNA2 graphics architecture that other 6000-series cards are based on. It’s also the same tech behind GPUs powering both the PS5 and the Xbox Series X consoles. The RX 6800 uses Infinity Cache, which is essentially the global cache for the GPU which boosts bandwidth for the video memory (VRAM). This makes the GDDR6 video memory on the 256-bit memory bus more efficient than the GDDR6X. Having more memory bandwidth per watt is always an advantage, so there’s that going for the RX 6800.

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 also comes with ray-tracing accelerators, which means it should be able to handle RT across various supported titles. While the RX 6800 is indeed capable of delivering reliable ray-tracing performance, it’s only good 1440p. Ray-tracing at 4K is still something that the RX 6800 struggles with and we think Nvidia GPUs still have an upper hand in this category, thanks to the DLSS tech. The Radeon RX 6800 XT is a tad bit better than the RX 6800 at 4K, but AMD still has a long way to go before they gain any meaningful advantage over Nvidia in the ray-tracing department.

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 also has a total of 3,840 Stream processors. We’re looking at a game clock of 1,815Mhz and a boost clock of up to 2,105Mhz. That being said, the RX 6800 is known to achieve boost clocks that are higher than the company-specified value. You can also overclock the card to hit higher frequencies but your mileage may vary depending on the heatsink for the GPU. The reference cards seem to respond well to overclocking, so we think it’ll only be better on partner cards with a sophisticated heatsink.

The RX 6800 has the same triple-fan design that we’ve seen in other high-performance 6000 series cards from the company. AMD has abandoned the blower that plagued the older reference designs of the RX 5700 XT and the RX 5700. This not only makes the new GPUs cooler, but they’re also much quieter under load. For output, you’re looking at two DisplayPort, one HDMI 2.1 and one USB-C.

Overall, we think the RX 6800 is a fantastic GPU for those who’re looking for an RTX 3070 alternative. It also goes head-to-head with the RTX 3080, similar to the RX 6800 XT, but we think AMD still has a long way to go before it actually competes with Nvidia’s lineup, especially in the ray-tracing department. That being said, the RX 6800 is a great card for a reliable 4K gaming experience without ray-tracing. If you fancy the RT features, then you might want to stick to a slightly lower res like 1440p.

    AMD Radeon RX 6800 GPU
    The AMD Radeon RX 6800 is a great alternative to Nvidia's high-performance GPUs like the RTX 3070 or even the RTX 3080 if you don't necessarily care about ray tracing at 4K resolutions.

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Best AMD graphics card for 1440p gaming: AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT

An AMD Radeon graphics card with two fans kept on a brown colored reflective surface
The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is a unique card and it’s the one we expect a lot of people to buy mainly for its 1440p gaming prowess. It brings AMD’s smaller Navi 22 GPU, which doesn’t necessarily remove any features from Big Navi and RDNA2. It comes with full DirectX raytracing (DXR) support and even implements a full DirectX 12 Ultimate features list. This includes Variable Rate Shading (VRS), mesh shaders, sampler feedback, and more. AMD has simply reduced the die size to reduce the number of shader cores, memory controllers, and Infinity Cache.

Compared to Navi 21, the Navi 22 GPU comes with fewer CUs and shader cores. The infinity cache checks in at 96MB now instead of 128MB on the Navi 21 GPUs. AMD compensates for these hefty reductions by delivering the highest official GPU core clock rated at 2,424Mhz. And just like other RDNA2 GPUs, this one can also boost up to 2,581Mhz or even more depending upon the load and the heatsink. AMD had to increase the power limit of the GPU though, so the RX 6700 XT is rated at 230W. It’s not bad but’s definitely more than either RDNA2-based GPUs on the lineup.

Physically, the RX 6700 XT is identical to the RX 6800. However, it’s lighter, both in terms of the actual weight of the unit and in your pockets too. The RX 6700 XT uses dual fans instead of the triple fan layout seen on the RX 6800 and above. But the fans are bigger in size, so that should technically be enough to handle the thermal output.

In terms of the performance, well, the RX 6700 XT is basically a match for the RTX 3060 Ti GPU without the DLSS tech. This means, the raytracing performance is also not going to be a bit weaker, but that’s something that we’ve come to terms with almost all AMD GPUs now, at least in this generation. We expect AMD to catch up with the next-gen, hopefully with an improved FidelityFX tech. The RX 6700 XT also comes close to the performance of an RTX 3070 GPU, although you’re bound to see better performance from this GPU only on supported AMD titles like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Borderlands 3, Dirt 5, etc. The RTX 3070 is still a better card when you’re looking at the overall performance, especially ray-tracing.

There’s no doubt the RX 6700 XT is a fantastic card at a very reasonable price. It’s very reliable for 1440p gaming, which is why we’ve picked this as the best 1440p card in AMD’s current product stack. If it wasn’t for the weak ray-tracing performance, then we think it has the potential to lock horns with even the RTX 3070. Both are great GPUs though, and you can’t possibly go wrong with either of them for a smooth 1440p gaming experience. It goes without saying that it’s indeed a solid card for 1080p gaming too, but we think the RX 6600 XT is enough to handle that at a much lower price.

    AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
    The AMD RX 6700 XT has the highest clock speeds we've seen on a GPU. However, that comes as a compensation for other corners AMD cut for this GPU.

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Best AMD graphics card for 1080p gaming: AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT

An RX 6600 XT GPU with a single fan on a brown background

AMD’s 6000 series GPUs not only include high-performance cards to go against the aggressive offerings from Nvidia. The 6000 series product stack also includes slightly less powerful cards like the Radeon RX 6600 XT that target gamers who are looking for a capable 1080p GPU. The new RX 6600 XT, if it isn’t already quite obvious, sits below the RX 6700 XT. It’s essentially the fifth card in the 6000 series GPUs based on the RDNA2 architecture. This particular graphics card comes with 8GB of GDDR6 memory along with 32 compute units, and a peak single-precision compute performance of 10.6 teraflops.

The RX 6700 XT is quite impressive when you at look at its spec sheet. It brings a lot of value to the table for 1080p gamers without burning a huge hole in their pockets. Even though the RX 6600 XT arrived a good six months after NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3060, we think the company has done a really good job of positioning it as a solid performer. According to AMD, the RX 6600 XT is the GPU beat when it comes to 1080p gaming and it’s significantly better than the RTX 3060 that it primarily competes with.

The RX 6600 XT is what we think a lot of people will end up buying next to the more powerful RX 6700 XT. 1080p gaming is still the staple for a lot of gamers, and the RX 6600 XT is more than enough to push even the most demanding titles at this resolution. The RX 6600 XT has a game clock of 2,359Mhz and it’s rated for 160W power consumption. That’s significantly less than the 230W power consumption which the RX 6700 XT is rated at. The RX 6700 XT is obviously a better performing card that’s capable of 1440p gaming, but the difference in power consumption is significant which will also result in relatively low thermal output and high efficiency.

In terms of the design differences, the reference RX 6600 XT GPU comes with a single fan design as opposed to the dual-fan or even triple-fan designs we saw with GPUs like the RX 6700 XT and the RX 6800 XT. This isn’t a deal-breaker considering it comes with a significantly less power consumption rating than the other GPUs. Partner cards from OEMs, however, will have sophisticated heatsinks with dual fans, and more. Those are usually clocked above the rated game clock speeds too, so you might want to check the specs sheet before buying one.

The RX 6600 XT comes with 8GB of GDDR6 video memory and it has 32MB of Infinity cache. These numbers, even though, they sound feeble compared to the other 6000 series GPUs, are plenty to push most AAA titles at max settings. AMD says you’ll be able to get 125FPS on average across a range of modern AAA titles. You can also step down to the RX 6600 if you want to save a little more money. Alternatively, you can also step up to an RX 6700 XT if you want better 1080p or even 1440p gaming experience.

    AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT GPU
    The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is a fantastic GPU for those looking to play games at 1080p resolution. It's not as powerful as the RX 6700 XT, but it gets the job done for a mid-range build.

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Second-best AMD graphics card for 1080p gaming: AMD Radeon RX 6600

AMD Radeon RX 6600

AMD recently updated its 6000 series product stack with the new GPU for 1080p gamers — the Radeon RX 6600. In typical AMD’s fashion, the RX 6600 sits under the RX 6600 XT as a viable alternative for 1080p gamers looking to dish out a budget gaming build. AMD says this particular GPU can deliver a reliable 1080p gaming experience with high frame rates. More specifically, AMD says, the GPU is capable of churning out over 100FPS on many AAA games, including Assasins Creed Valhalla on Ultra High settings. It’s best paired with a Ryzen 5 5600X CPU, so your mileage may vary based on the overall config of your build.

AMD also says the RX 6600 has 1.3x more performance per watt compared to Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3060. As such, this is a great solid alternative to the RTX 3060 GPU, which is also a fantastic card for 1080p gamers. The RX 6600 GPU comes with support for AMD’s latest technologies including Smart Access Memory and FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR). The Smart Access Memory, in case you don’t know, accelerates system access to the GPU’s memory buffer. The FidelityFX Super Resolution, on the other hand, is AMD’s answer to Nvidia’s DLSS tech, albeit not as impressive. Unlike the DLSS tech, however, the best thing about the FidelityFX Super Resolution is an open-source toolkit that can be more easily adopted by developers for their games. That being said, there are only a handful of games that support this tech, and we’re expecting things to get better over time as more games come out.

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 comes with 28 compute units, which is slightly less than the 32 compute units found on the RX 6600 XT. They’re also clocked at a lower frequency in the case of the RX 6600, hitting around 2,044Mhz. However, the new GPU retains the 32M Infinity cache and 8GB of GDDR6 memory. 8GB of GDDR6 video memory is still plenty to run games at 1080p, although you might want to step up to a better card with more VRAM if you want to push the modern titles at max graphics settings. We recommend stepping up to an RX 6700 XT for better overall performance, but it’ll cost you quite a bit more and it’s also difficult to find in stock.

One thing to note about the RX 6600 is that it’ll only be available from partner OEMs as AMD won’t be selling its version of the GPU. The reference card only has a single fan design, but the available units from manufacturers like ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte, etc. have different designs for their cards based on the configuration. Under normal circumstances, you should be able to grab one of these cards starting at $329, but they’re expensive right now on the market, just any other GPU. We weren’t expecting AMD to launch the RX 6600 due to the lack of stock for its existing GPUs, but now we have another solid 1080p GPU for gamers which is hard to come by.

    AMD Radeon RX 6600 GPU
    The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is yet another GPU for 1080p gamers who're looking to build a budget PC for gaming. It's not as powerful as the RX 6600 XT, but they both offer solid and reliable 1080p gaming experience.

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Best enthusiast-level AMD graphics card: AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT

An AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics card with three fans on a grey background

AMD’s Radeon RX 6900 XT represents the best of what the company’s RDNA2 has to offer. It’s the ultimate high-end enthusiast graphics card from AMD that goes head-to-head with Nvidia’s RTX 3090 GPU. The RX 6900 XT, however, is definitely an overkill for most users. We think the RX 6800 XT is the one that you should be buying instead, which is why we’ve picked the other card as the best AMD graphics card you can buy. The RX 6900 XT, on the other hand, is a card you’d buy if you’re chasing cutting edge technology, instead of the best value for your money.

The Radeon RX 6900 XT comes with the same Navi 21 GPU that’s also inside both the RX 6800 as well as the RX 6800 XT. The 6900XT comes with 80 CU that makes up for a total of 5,120 stream processors. That’s an 11% increase over the RX 6800 XT. Well, that also comes with a price increase of about $250 as the RX 6900 XT, under normal circumstances, would cost you $999. This particular GPU is capable of breaching the 2Ghz core clocks under load, which is impressive, to say the least.

What’s more impressive about the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT is that it manages to keep the power consumption low despite the obvious spec bump. AMD is using a binning process to ensure these are the best chips coming out of TSMC’s 7nm process. The RX 6900 XT GPU also has a minimum VRM power delivery requirement, with the reference card offering 16-phase VRM power delivery. This is bound to change based on the partner cards, although you can expect similar behaviour across different variants.

The RX 6900 XT also comes with 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM that is fed by a 256-bit memory bus. Additionally, the RX 6900 XT also takes advantage of the 128MB Infinity Cache feature to deliver some stunning results across the board. Contrary to popular belief, Infinity Cache is effective at lower resolutions too, so you’re bound to see improvement regardless of the pixels. That being said, you’re not likely to pick up an RX 6900 XT for, well, 1080p gaming. It’s much more capable than that, and you can easily save a ton of money with other AMD cards if 1080p gaming is all you need.

The AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT offers impressive performance across the board, even at 4K resolution. It’s obviously no slouch when it comes to 1440p and 1080p gaming either. That being said, the Nvidia GPUs in a similar price range/category offers better overall performance, especially when you consider things like ray tracing. But if you’re hellbent on buying the best of what AMD has to offer in the GPU space, then the RX 6900 XT is the one to go for. It shows us what AMD’s RDNA2 is capable of delivering and we can’t wait to see what the company’s cooking behind the scene for the next-gen of desktop gaming.

    AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT GPU
    The AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT represents the best of what AMD's RDNA2 architecture has to offer. It goes head-to-head to Nvidia's RTX 3090 GPU and it can easily handle 4K gaming.

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Best budget AMD graphics card: AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT

An MSI Radeon RX 5500 XT GPU with a dual-fan design sitting next to its retail box on a white background

The AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT may not be one of the newest Radeon GPUs on the market, but it’s still a fantastic card for gamers on a budget. Economical shoppers can rely on this particular GPU for a budget gaming experience without putting a lot of money on the line. This isn’t the most powerful GPU you can get for 1080p gaming, but it’s plenty to run a lot of games with playable frame rates. It’s based on the same RDNA architecture as the RX 5700 and the RX 5700 XT GPUs, however, the performance has been tweaked a little to reflect the price tag.

The Radeon RX 5500 XT features 1,408 Stream processors over 22 compute units and can hit 5.2 teraflops of raw compute performance. That’s a significant cut from the 2,304 Stream processors featured in the RX 5700 GPU. The Radeon RX 5500 XT is available in two variants — one with 4GB of VRAM and the other with 8GB VRAM. The only difference between the two seems to be the memory capacity, which means they should be identical in terms of the raw performance to work. 4GB VRAM was plenty at the time this GPU came out, but we recommend buying the 8GB version of the GPU now in 2021.

The RX 5500 XT offers reliable 1080p gaming performance, but it’s not going to push anything beyond that resolution. You will have to step up to either an RX 6600 XT or even the RX 6700 XT for playing games at higher resolutions. Some AMD-optimized games will yield you better frames at a higher resolution but it still won’t be as consistent as other cards would be. The performance of the RX 5500 XT is identical to that of the GTX 1660 in most games, including the newer ones. Your performance may vary based on the partner card you end up picking up, but you should be set for 1080p gaming with the Radeon RX 5500 XT GPU.

One thing we like about this GPU is that it’s on par with the GTX 1660 GPU right now, that too at a lower price. It’s not breaking any records in this category, but it’ll definitely save you some money for other core components of your builds, provided you manage to find the GPU in stock and in retail price right now. Gamers leaning towards Esports titles will also find a lot of value in this GPU since titles like CS:GO, Valorant, Dota 2, League Of Legends, etc. will run flawlessly on this particular graphics card. We recommend picking up the 8GB version of the RX 5500 XT though, since the variant with 4GB VRAM may prove to be a bottleneck in running some of the newer titles in 2021.

Overall, the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT is an easy card to recommend in the budget space. We recommend pairing it with a budget CPU like the Ryzen 5 3600 or even the Ryzen 5 5600X for a good gaming experience. You might want to hit the link below to find the best price online right now.

    AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT GPU
    The AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT is one of the best affordable GPU for economical shoppers who're looking to get the best value for their money for a 1080p gaming experience.

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Best AMD solution for entry-level gaming: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G

Grey retail box of the Ryzen 5 5600G processor

You might be wondering why is there a CPU in a collection involving the best AMD graphics cards? Well, that’s because the Ryzen 5 5600G is an APU which means it comes with an integrated GPU that’s plenty for an entry-level gaming experience. We could’ve easily recommended an older entry-level AMD GPU like the Radeon RX 560 or RX 570 as an affordable entry-level option right now, but we think the Ryzen 5 5600G offers better performance for games in 2021. It may not be the best when it comes to gaming, it’s still more than enough for those are who just starting out with PC gaming with an entry-level build for casual gaming.

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600G has six cores and twelve threads and it comes as a part of AMD’s first 7nm APU for desktop PCs. The Ryzen 5 5600G has a base clock of 3.7GHz and 16MB of L3 cache. It also has seven Radeon RX Vega CUs operating at 1.9GHz. The APU relies on the shared memory bandwidth though, so you will need a good quality memory module for running these APUs. That’s shouldn’t really be an issue since you will be buying a good memory kit for your PC regardless.

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600G is easily one of the best APUs you can buy in the market right now. It’s capable of running even the new titles in 2021, although you might want to keep your expectations in check when it comes to the overall graphical fidelity. We think entry-level gamers will find a lot of value in an APU like this over an older discrete GPU. Not to mention, you can also use APUs like these as you wait for the graphics card market to stabilize a bit. Almost all GPUs on the market are going for inflated prices right now. We don’t recommend paying a premium for any GPU regardless of how powerful it really is. It’s best to settle for an APU like this one and wait for the prices to drop again if you’re not a hardcore gamer.

Intel also has a lot of reliable CPUs with integrated graphics, but we think the Ryzen APUs are generally better in terms of performance. The fact that you can run even some of the modern games without any major issues is quite impressive. Remember that you’ll also need a motherboard with some kind of a video output port to use these APUs since your PC will not have a GPU with those dedicated ports.

You can also step up to an AMD Ryzen 7 5700G for a better overall gaming experience. The 5700G will prove to be useful in case you plan on buying a high-end GPU down the line once the prices stabilize. The Ryzen 5 5600G may become a bottleneck if you want to go for some of the high-performance GPUs on the market. That being said, you can’t go wrong with either of these chips for entry-level casual gaming. It’s a great stop-gap chip until things go back to being the way they were in the GPU space.

    AMD Ryzen 5 5600G Processor
    The AMD Ryzen 5 5600G is a great APU for those who are currently struggling to buy a GPU on the market.

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Best AMD graphics card to buy in 2021: Final Thoughts

It’s safe to say AMD also has a solid selection of GPUs on the market that are just as good as Nvidia’s offerings. We think the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is a fantastic GPU for those who are eyeing the net-gen gaming performance at 4K resolution.  The RX 6800 is also a great option, but we think the RX 6700 XT is also plenty for an enjoyable 1440p gaming experience. Those leaning towards 1080p gaming, however, should look no further than the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT. We’ve also added an AMD APU to this mix for gamers who’re just getting started with PC gaming with casual titles.

If you’re building a new PC, then you might want to check out our collection of the best motherboards to find some of the best options on the market right now. We’ve got some good options in there for both AMD as well as Intel-based builds. We also have a bunch of other ever-evolving collections for PC hardware including the best CPU coolers, best CPU coolers for the new LGA 1700 socket, best PC cases, and more. We also encourage you to join our XDA Computing forums to get more product recommendations from our expert community.

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Microsoft launches Teams Essentials, a version of Teams for small businesses [Update]

Microsoft today announced the launch of Microsoft Teams Essentials, a new standalone offering based on Teams designed specifically for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Like many of Microsoft’s products and efforts lately, this service came as a result of the changes that happened in the world in the past year and a half.

Microsoft Teams Essentials includes all the features small businesses need to communicate within the organization. This includes the ability to hold meetings that last up to 30 hours, and meetings can hold up to 300 people at once. This is lower than what standard Teams offers (up to 1,000 users), but it makes perfect sense for smaller businesses. It also includes features you’d already expect from Teams, including calendar integration for Outlook and Google Calendar, group chat templates to make it easy to start a new project, and so on.

Beyond meetings, Teams Essentials also expands on the free version of Teams in terms of chat. While free Teams chats can store up to 5GB of files, Teams Essentials doubles that storage to 10GB, so more files can be shared and remain easily accessible to everyone on the team. It’s also possible to collaborate with other organizations with Teams Essentials so you don’t have to use different apps to communicate with people outside of your own.

Microsoft Teams Essentials is available for $4 per user per month, which Microsoft says is the lowest cost in the market for this kind of communication solution. The goal is for this to be an upgrade over the free version of Teams for businesses that need a little more, without having to spend the full price of a Microsoft 365 subscription with features that potentially aren’t necessary. Microsoft Teams Essentials can be purchased directly from Microsoft or from its many cloud partners.

Microsoft also noted that those using Teams for personal use can get access to some of these features, like the extended meeting limits, by having a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription. This is interesting as up until now there were no differences for customers using the free version of Teams and those with a Microsoft 365 subscription. Officially, Teams for personal use supports meetings with up to 100 people for 60 minutes, or 1:1 meetings up to 24 hours. However, those limits are currently waived so you can have up to 300 people and meetings up to 30 hours as a result of the pandemic.

We questioned Microsoft about this, and it seems like the official limits for the free version of Microsoft Teams are now being reinstated. A Microsoft spokesperson said:

With the introduction of Teams Essentials and our new normal since the pandemic, we are reinstating previous limits. This means one-to-one calls will be free up to 24 hours and, group calls for more than two people will be free for up to 100 participants and 60 minutes. These limits were temporarily waived in 2020.

[UPDATE 12/1/2021 @ 11:22AM] In response to a question from XDA, Microsoft has confirmed that it’s ending the waiver on limits for Microsoft Teams free users. A statement from the company is above.

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Spotify Wrapped 2021 is here to expose your guilty pleasures

It’s that time of the year again — when listeners get to view their annual music statistics. Spotify has announced Wrapped 2021, which includes new additions this year. The company has been offering a compilation of beautifully visualized data every December, and this year is no different. These include your top artists, songs, genres, and more. If you’re interested in checking them out, make sure your iOS or Android Spotify app is up to date.

Spotify Wrapped 2021

In a newsroom post, Spotify has announced that Wrapped 2021 is now available to mobile users on the latest version of the app. This announcement comes after the company revealed this year’s global top music and podcasts. This year’s Wrapped comes with a few extras; Spotify states:

In addition to your top artists, genres, songs, and podcasts and the minutes listened, your personalized Wrapped experience includes several all-new features:

2021: The Movie – This feature pairs your top songs with classic scenes from a movie that’s all about you.

Your Audio Aura – We worked with an aura expert to visualize your audio aura based on your top two music moods. (You can read more about that here.)

Playing Cards – This is an interactive, data-based game that you play and then share with your friends. We’ll display several statements about your listening this year and you’ll have to guess which are true.

2021 Wrapped Blend – Tapping into the new Blend feature launched this year, Spotify fans can see how their 2021 music tastes match up with friends, stream their blended playlist, and share their results on social.

These statistics come in addition to:

  • Your Top Songs 2021
  • Your Artists Revealed
  • Top Tracks & Artists of 2021
  • Best New Podcasts of 2021
  • Best Episodes of 2021
  • The Best of 2021
  • A Look Back at 2021

You can view them all exclusively through the 2021 Wrapped Hub on Spotify’s mobile app and share them to social media.

Who is your top artist this year? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post Spotify Wrapped 2021 is here to expose your guilty pleasures appeared first on xda-developers.



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Imint’s new Vidhance Video Stabiltization 4 engine delivers better motion detection, improved memory performance and more

Imint, the Sweden-based company that specializes in video software solutions for smartphones, today unveiled the Vidhance Video Stabiltization 4. The fourth-generation video stabilization engine builds upon the company’s previous solutions and offers various improvements including better motion detection, lower power consumption, improved memory handling, and more.

Imint says the new stabilization engine is completely redesigned from the ground up and addresses many of the shortcomings of traditional approaches to stabilization. For one, Vidhance Stabilization 4 can intelligently detect and remove unwanted motion in a video while leaving behind desired motion so the final video doesn’t look overly processed.

“Not all camera bumps, shakes, and sweeps are bad, and this new solution can sense the difference. The result is professional-looking content that appears exactly as the video creator intended, even when the user is moving rapidly,” the company wrote in a blog post.

Next up, the latest video stabilization engine comes with new look-ahead processing that greatly improves memory performance. When compared to traditional look-ahead methods, which often require a tradeoff between video performance and memory usage, Vidhance Video Stabilization 4’s claims to provide great performance while still preserving valuable memory.

“VidhanceVideo StabilizationGeneration4 builds extensively on our years improving the Vidhancesolution but takes everything a leap further. Iterative enhancements had reached the limit of effectiveness. But this new solution is a whole new approach to video stabilization and positions Imint, once again as light years ahead of other solutions on the market,” said Andreas Lifvendahl, Chief Executive Officer of Imint.

Imint says lower power consumption was one of its top priorities when developing Vidhance Video Stabilization 4. The company claims its new stabilization engine is optimized for both performance and battery and can deliver all the above-mentioned benefits without drawing significant battery juice.

Imitnt says its new solution has been tested by leading smartphone OEMs and can be delivered to users with a simple software update.

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Google is testing a new location for the Google App’s search bar

The Google app comes pre-installed on every Android device out there. So, if you’re using an Android phone, there’s a good chance you use the Google app for quick searches or to get news and weather updates. If you often use the Google app for search, you might have to get used to tapping in a different location. That’s because Google is testing a new location for the search bar in the Google app. The company is also testing a minor redesign for the search bar.

According to the Google News Telegram channel, a redesigned search bar has started showing up for some users on the latest Google app beta release. As you can see in the attached screenshot, the updated search bar appears right at the top of the app, replacing the weather widget in the upper left corner and integrating the profile button.

(Screenshot: Google News Telegram channel)

In the current version of the app, the circular button with your profile picture is located outside the search bar in the top right corner. Integrating it into the search bar gives the app a cleaner look and clears up some space for the cards below. The traditional camera and voice input keys are present at their usual locations, just like how they are in the current version of the app.

Google is also testing moving the search bar to the bottom of the screen, making it more accessible and easy to use. This is similar to what Google had done with the search bar on some earlier versions of Android. The search bar was integrated into the dock to make it easier for users to access it. We can observe something similar within the Google app now.

Google Search bar at the bottom Google App UI

(Screenshots: Google News Telegram channel)

As shown in the attached screenshot, the search bar appears right above the navigation bar at the bottom. It disappears as soon as you start scrolling and resurfaces when you scroll up again. Since these search bar changes are only available to a handful of users on the beta channel right now, it might be a while before they make it to the stable channel. We’ll make sure to let you know as soon as the changes start rolling out.

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Keep the Holidays Jolly and Bright with EcoFlow Backup Power

Home. The one place we all dream of no matter where we are. This year has been a difficult time for everyone across the world. The Christmas season is all about the feeling of being home with your friends and family even if you’re thousands of miles away, EcoFlow wants to bring home to you this holiday season.

With the winter holidays approaching, it’s a great opportunity to spend some time with your family, go on winter adventures, or enjoy some snow. To make sure everything goes as planned, EcoFlow is here to provide some holiday sales on their best backup power solutions. Don’t let the winter weather cause power disruptions that could ruin your plans. Check out these power station solutions and find one that fits your needs.


EcoFlow RIVER mini

Power at Hand

EcoFlow RIVER mini gives you power at hand. Throw 210Wh of portable power in your backpack and be at ease knowing you’ve got power anywhere. The EcoFlow RIVER mini can be fully charged in 1.5 hours and with a 300W output (600W surge), it is ideal for 99% of consumer electronics.

EcoFlow RIVER mini

  • MSRP: $349
  • Sale: $259

EcoFlow DELTA mini

Prosumer Backup Power

Bring along DELTA mini and keep your devices powered at all times. DELTA mini’s 882Wh capacity is perfect for power outages, outdoor adventures, and professional work. DELTA mini snags up to 300W from solar panels for a full recharge in 3 to 6 hours. It can also go from 0-100% in 96 minutes when charging from the wall.

Ecoflow Delta Mini

EcoFlow DELTA mini

  • MSRP: $999
  • Sale: $899

EcoFlow DELTA

Essential Backup Power

Stay in charge of any situation with DELTA and keep your devices powered at all times. DELTA has a huge 1260Wh capacity that’s perfect for power outages, outdoor adventures, and professional work. Power up to 13 devices simultaneously and recharge from 0% to 100% in 1.6 hours, which is 10 times the speed of most portable power stations in the market.

EcoFlow DELTA

  • MSRP: $1,399
  • Sale: $1,099

EcoFlow DELTA Max

Home Backup Power Master

A single DELTA Max unit packs a 2kWh capacity that is expandable up to 6kWh with DELTA Max Smart Extra Batteries. This means when a blackout hits, you can continue to power your important home devices such as your fridge and lights for hours on end. With EcoFlow’s X-Boost technology, DELTA Max can

power heavy-duty devices up to 3400W. Plus, DELTA Max charges up safely and rapidly from 0-80% in just 65 minutes.

EcoFlow DELTA Max

  • MSRP: $2,099
  • Sale: $1,899

 


DELTA Bundle

EcoFlow DELTA + 2*110W Solar Panels

The EcoFlow 110W Solar Panel has a high conversion efficiency of 21-22%. Combine two 110W Solar Panels with an EcoFlow DELTA Portable Power station to enjoy improved solar charging in cold and cloudy environments (fully recharged in 7 to 14 hours).

EcoFlow Delta Bundle

EcoFlow DELTA Bundle

  • MSRP: $3,399
  • Sale: $2,299

DELTA Max (1600) Bundle

EcoFlow DELTA Max (1600) + 4*110W Solar Panels

The EcoFlow DELTA Max (1600) is a scaled version of the EcoFlow DELTA Max. With a huge capacity of 1612Wh, the EcoFlow DELTA Max (1600) can power 15 devices at once with a 2000W output. With the X-Boost mode on, it can power some 2800W appliances. Pair the EcoFlow DELTA Max (1600) with four 110W Solar Panels, it can be fully charged by solar in 4.5 to 9 hours.

  • MSRP: $3,399
  • Sale: $2,449 ($950 OFF)

Enjoy shopping through these limited holiday deals on these essential EcoFlow backup power products. Do not let disasters sneak up on you, and be prepared for the next event where you might be left without power. To ensure that you always have enough power to weather a storm, power your home appliances, or last through your off-grid adventures, always choose EcoFlow.

We thank EcoFlow for sponsoring this post. Our sponsors help us pay for the many costs associated with running XDA, including server costs, full time developers, news writers, and much more. While you might see sponsored content (which will always be labeled as such) alongside Portal content, the Portal team is in no way responsible for these posts. Sponsored content, advertising and XDA Depot are managed by a separate team entirely. XDA will never compromise its journalistic integrity by accepting money to write favorably about a company, or alter our opinions or views in any way. Our opinion cannot be bought.

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Honor’s latest mid-range phones pack Snapdragon 778G Plus, 108MP main camera and 66W fast charging

In an event in China today, Honor officially lifted the covers off the new Honor 60 series, featuring the Honor 60 and Honor Pro. The new lineup succeeds the Honor 50 series that came out in June. As far as upgrades and improvements are concerned, the new lineup feels underwhelming. The only notable upgrades the Honor 60 series has to offer are better camera hardware and a slightly faster chipset.

Honor 60 series: Specifications

Specification Honor 60 Pro Honor 60
Dimensions & Weight
  • 163.9 x 74.8 x 8.2 mm
  • 192g
  • 161.4 x 73.3 x 8 mm
  • 179g
Display
  • 6.78-inch OLED
  • FHD+ (2652 x 1080)
  • 120Hz refresh rate
  • 100% DCI-P3 wide color gamut coverage
  • 6.67-inch OLED
  • FHD+ (2340 x 1080)
  • 120Hz refresh rate
  • 100% DCI-P3 wide color gamut coverage
SoC
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G Plus
    • 4x ARM Cortex-A78 @ 2.5GHz
    • 4x ARM Cortex-A55 @ 1.8GHz
  • Adreno 642L
  • 6nm process
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G
    • 4x ARM Cortex-A78 @ 2.4GHz
    • 4x ARM Cortex-A55 @ 1.8GHz
  • Adreno 642L
  • 6nm process
RAM & Storage
  • 8GB/12GB RAM
  • 256GB storage
  • 8GB/12GB RAM
  • 128GB/256GB storage
Battery & Charging
  • 4,800mAh battery
  • 66W fast charging support
  • 4,800mAh battery
  • 66W fast charging support
Security In-display fingerprint scanner In-display fingerprint scanner
Rear Camera(s)
  • Primary: 108MP f/1.9 primary
  • Secondary: 50MP ultra-wide f/2.2
  • Tertiary: 2MP f/2.4 depth
  • Primary: 108MP f/1.9 primary
  • Secondary: 8MP ultra-wide f/2.2
  • Tertiary: 2MP depth
  • Quaternary: 2MP macro
Front Camera(s)
  • 50MP f/2.4
  • 32MP
Port(s)
  • USB Type-C
  • USB Type-C
Connectivity
  • Wi-Fi 6
  • Bluetooth 5.2
  • 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac dual-band WiFi
  • GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo
  • Wi-Fi 6
  • Bluetooth 5.2
  • NFC
  • 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac dual-band WiFi
  • GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo
Software
  • Magic UI 5.0 based on Android 11
  • Magic UI 5.0 based on Android 11

Honor 6o Pro

The Honor 60 Pro is the most powerful of the duo. It features a 6.78-inch FHD+ OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and DCI-P3 wide color gamut support. As far as the chipset is concerned, we’re not seeing any significant upgrades is here. The phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G Plus SoC, paired with up to 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. On the back, the phone features a triple camera setup, consisting of a 108MP main camera, a 50MP ultra-wide shooter, and a 2MPdepth sensor. Over on the front, you get a 50MP selfie shooter.

Honor 60 series in four colors

A large 4,800mAh battery keeps the show running, a step up from the 4,000mAh cell on the Honor 5o Pro. However, the charging speed has been dialed down to 66W from 100W. On the software front, the Honor 60 Pro runs Magic UI 5.0 based on Android 11. Other highlights include 5G support, an in-display fingerprint scanner, NFC, and Bluetooth 5.2

Honor 60

The regular Honor 60 is similar to the Pro model in most regards, save for display, camera setup, and chipset. It flaunts a 6.57-inch FHD+ OLED display with 120Hz refresh rate support. The back houses four cameras, featuring a 108MP main sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide shooter, and two 2MP depth and macro shooters. Selfie and video calling duties are handled by a 32MP camera. Finally, the phone is powered by the Snapdragon 778G — unlike the Pro model which packs the Plus variant of the chipset.

Pricing & Availability

The Honor 60 Pro and Honor 60 are available for pre-order in China starting today at the following prices:

  • Honor 60 Pro
    • 8GB + 256GB — CNY 3,699
    • 12GB + 256GB — CNY 3,999
  • Honor 60
    • 8GB + 128GB — CNY 2,699
    • 8GB + 256GB — CNY 2,999
    • 12GB + 256GB — CNY 3,299

Honor hasn’t shared any details about the subsequent international launch of the new Honor 60 lineup.

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