AMD launched the RX 6400 today without much fanfare as several partners like ASRock, Gigabyte, and MSI listed the new graphics cards with major retailers.
Though it’s a weaker GPU than even the RX 6500 XT – which has received rather lukewarm reviews at best – the RX 6400 is designed for those with a low-profile PC that probably can’t fit much else. It’s a single slot that fits into narrow cases well — coupled with the more affordable price of $159 / AU$213 / £121, and it becomes a decent choice in specific scenarios.
The RX 6400 uses very little power as well, only 53W which is even less than the RX 6500 XT. It also has 12 compute units, lower clock speeds, slower RAM, 128Gbps of bandwidth, and two display outputs. These lower specs make sense considering that the Navi24 GPU that powers it was originally made for laptops.
Analysis: Why budget PCs?
The concept of budget PCs might sound counterintuitive to most PC gamers, as the culture surrounding PC gaming tends to focus on power and speed above all else.
But budget PCs offer a unique experience: you can outfit them with the best cheap processors and the best cheap graphics cards, then enjoy nearly any PC game at lower settings for a fraction of the cost. This also means more money to spend on gaming peripherals instead of PC hardware.
Though it’s difficult to find affordable parts in general thanks to the ongoing supply chain problems, parts such as the AMD RX 6400 are sure to bring the ‘budget’ back to budget PCs. Prebuilt rigs are another option for affordability as well, with prices consistently under $1000.
