The RX 5500 XT has a TGP or Total Graphics Power of 130 Watts, which is the typical wattage it produces. When gaming you should also hit around 117 Watts. However, when idle the GPU should only produce around 4 Watts of power. (Source.)
The wattage that this card uses can change depending on how powerful your gaming setup is, as well as the types of games and tasks you are doing.
For example, if you just use your computer to watch videos and scroll on the internet it will use less power than playing a very graphically intensive game.
When using your computer for media playback you should experience a power draw of around 10 watts.
Whereas gaming you should experience on average around 117 watts.
Another thing to keep in mind is multi-monitor usage.
If you use more than one monitor expect your graphics card to have a higher idle power consumption.
Typically, with an extra monitor the idle power consumption should increase to more than double that of a single monitor.
In this instance, the Radeon RX 5500 XT graphics card will produce around 18 Watts of power when idle in a dual monitor setup.
This is a pretty big increase considering that with one monitor the RX 5500 XT only produced 4 watts when diel, but then again 18 watts when idle is still not that much.
When looking at a GPU’s power consumption, you want to look at the TGP (Total Graphics Power) because this shows the maximum power draw you will usually get when using your GPU for intensive tasks such as gaming.
You might also hear the phrase “TDP” which can be used interchangeably with TGP. The difference is essential in that TDP is the total power consumption of a component, and TGP is the total power consumption of a GPU specifically.
You should also know that the TGP of a GPU is not actually the maximum amount of power a GPU can draw.
The true maximum of the RX 5500 XT is 170 watts. However, your GPU will only spike this high for a few seconds and then come back down. Another thing that increases your graphics card power consumption is when you overclock it.
What Power Supply Do I Need to Use For an RX 5500 XT?
The minimum recommended power supply for the RX 5500 XT is 400 watts, but I would recommend getting a power supply unit that is either 450 watts or 500 watts.
When purchasing a power supply for your computer you want to keep in mind that every piece of hardware in your system has a power consumption.
Although not as powerful as a graphics card, all of these little components add up and can exceed the wattage of your PSU very quickly.
That’s why you want to be safe and grab a PSU that has around a 20% increase in extra wattage than you planned for your system.
By doing this you will not only know for sure that your PSU will be able to support powering your whole system but it will also be safe from any power spikes that happen when you are gaming.
If you also want to save on your electricity bill, then you should purchase a power supply that is at least 80 plus Bronze certified, with the best rating being 80 plus Gold certified.
You should read: “How Do Power Supply Ratings Work?”
That’s why I would recommend the EVGA 500 GD, 80+ GOLD 500W.
The reason why I would recommend this power supply is that not only is it 80 Plus Gold certified, but it is made by EVGA which is a very trusted and well-known brand when it comes to making reliable PSUs
The first ever power supply I ever bought was made by EVGA and it was very reliable.
Not only that, but you get a 5-year warranty with this PSU so you don’t have to worry about it breaking down on you.
Yes, you could always buy a 400 or 450-watt power supply as well, but it is very hard to find one that is 80 Plus certified, and plus having a 500-watt power supply will give you any extra room just in case you want to overclock parts of your system.
It also gives you the ability to upgrade down the road without needing to purchase a brand-new PSU when this one will still be working fine.
RX 5500 XT Power Consumption Compared to Other GPUs
The GPUs power consumption is compared using TGP. It is essential to know and compare your graphics cards to other similar models because it will help you get a grasp on the amount of power your system is going to use.
Here is a comparison of a few graphics cards that are around the performance range of the RX 5500 XT.
| GPU | TGP |
| GTX 1660 | 120 Watts |
| RX 5500 XT | 130 Watts |
| RX 6500 XT | 130 Watts |
As you can see from this table, The GPUs in comparison to the RX 5500 XT have around the same TGP.
The GTX 1660 and the RX 5500 XT are the Nvidia and AMD equivalents of each other and as you can see there is only a 10-watt power draw difference.
Usually, AMD or Nvidia will have a card that has a lot more or a lot less than their competition, but it’s nice to see that they are basically the same.
Then when we look at the RX 6500 XT and pair it up against the RX 5500 XT, we can see that again the wattage is the exact same.
Now believe it or not, this is actually an improvement for the RX 6500 XT because it produces better performance and uses better technology and features than the RX 5500 XT.
For a typical GPU in this situation, we would usually experience a slight power draw increase, but in this situation, it stayed the exact same even though it has more features and better performance.
If you want to compare more graphics cards on their power consumption and TGP I have provided a database where you can look at dozens of different GPUs and their power consumption, that way you don’t have to do the research yourself.
Check out the Database.
I have also provided the average power consumption when gaming, as well as the average power consumption when idle, that way you can get a better understanding.
