For some incredibly strange reason, AMD initially left the recently released Radeon RX 5600 XT out of its revamped "Raise the Game" promotion, which gives purchasers of qualifying graphics cards up to three free games and/or three months of Xbox Game Pass for PC I was left out of the promotion; AMD would not tell me why. But now, a week later, the 5600 XT is part of this promotion.

AMD has quietly added the 5600 series to this bundled promotion. Eligible 5600 XT buyers can purchase Monster Hunter World, Iceborne Master Edition, Resident Evil Master Edition: Iceborne Master Edition, Resident Evil 3, and the PC version of Xbox Game Pass" for 3 months; AMD also added a non-XT model (5600) and a mobile version (5600M).

The non-XT versions are not yet available for purchase (as far as I know), but the 5600 XT starts at about $279. In a press release, AMD said the 5600 and 5600M will be available in OEM systems starting in Q1 2020; it is unclear if the 5600 will also be available as a standalone card. [EDIT: AMD tells PC Gamer that "the RX 5600 is OEM only (no AIB or retail cards) and systems should start appearing in the coming weeks."]

Anyway, it was puzzling that these parts were not initially included in the Raise the Game bundle; a last-minute BIOS update to increase the clockspeed (following Nvidia's GeForce RTX 2060 price cut) would have made things more difficult for AMD's hardware created an awkward situation for both partners and consumers. This was primarily because the cards had already shipped to retailers with the old BIOS. Therefore, the add-in board partner was responsible for pushing the BIOS update so that consumers could update it themselves and deal with any consequences that might result.

Besides, all initial cards shipped had 12Gbps memory instead of the faster 14Gbps memory; a BIOS update could have changed the memory to a faster specification, but not all PCBs were designed with 14Gbps memory in mind. However, since not all PCBs are designed with 14Gbps memory in mind, AIB has played it safe by updating only the GPU clock through a BIOS update. This means that some of the initial batch of 5600 XT cards will operate at the same level as represented in many reviews (Jarred's 5600 XT review includes a BIOS that supports 14Gbps memory).

The exclusion of the 5600 XT from the Raise the Game bundle added insult to injury. Fortunately, that is no longer the case; if you buy the 5600XT, look for the version with 14 Gbps memory. Depending on the price, you may also want to buy the base model RX 5700, which is a more affordable alternative to the RX 5600XT.