The RX 6500 XT is part of AMDs high-performance 6000 series GPUs but is their lowest-end model. This GPU is best for people on a budget who want to latest features and technologies of a GPU, but aren’t able to get a top-of-the-line GPU.
Using an RX 6500 XT is comparable to the RTX 3050 in a way that they are low-performance, but offer the same features as the newest graphics cards.
With that being said how does their power consumption match up and what kind of power supply will you need to run the RX 6500 XT?
How Many Watts Does The RX 6500 XT Use?
The RX 6500 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 100 Watts. However, when idle the GPU should only produce around 2 Watts of power.
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.
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 will be just under double what you would see with just one monitor.
In this instance, the Radeon RX 5600 XT graphics card will produce around 11 Watts of power when idle in a dual monitor setup.
Although this is more than double the idle power wattage of a single monitor. 11 watts isn’t that much and having a GPU that can run at 2 watts idle with a single monitor is very rare and uncommon, so you shouldn’t worry too much about this.
When looking at the power consumption of a GPU 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.
However, it is not actually the true maximum of the graphics card. The true maximum of the RTX 3070 Ti is around 170 Watts, but this only happens, when you see a spike in your GPUs power.
This power draw can also be met when you overclock your system.
What Power Supply Do I Need to Use For an RX 6500 XT?
I would recommend that you try to get a power supply unit that is 500 watts. If you go on the AMDs page you can see that they say that the RX 6500 XT would be able to run on a 400-watt power supply, however, that is the bare minimum.
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.
RX 6500 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 6500 XT.
| GPU | TGP |
| RTX 3050 | 130 Watts |
| RX 6500 XT | 130 Watts |
| RX 5500 XT | 130 Watts |
As you can see from this table, the RX 6500 XT matches up evenly with the other GPUs in this comparison all with a TGP of 130 watts.
The RTX 3050 and the RX 6500 XT both produce around the same amount of performance, so this is pretty cool to see that they have the exact same TGP.
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.
