AMD confirms ‘enthusiast’ RDNA 3 GPUs imminent – should Nvidia be concerned?
AMD has informed us that new RDNA 3 graphics cards will be coming out in the third quarter, which will be “enthusiast class” to close the big gap between the RX 7600 and RX 7900 (the only two series of current generation GPUs available now are red from team).
Tom’s hardware saw CEO Lisa Su comment on the inbound launches as part of AMD’s earnings call (for Q2 fiscal, which saw revenues decline significantly, but still outperforming expectations in a weak PC market).
Su stated that: “In terms of gaming graphics, we expanded our Radeon 7000 GPU family in the second quarter with the launch of our mainstream RX 7600 cards for gaming. We are on track to further expand our RDNA 3 GPU offerings with the launch of new Radeon 7000 series cards for enthusiasts in the third quarter.”
Those new launches could be RX 7700 or RX 7800 models.
Of course, we’ve also recently seen a fresh vanilla RX 7900 offering, the 7900 GRE – the existing models available are the XT and XTX spins – which is reportedly running with a shrunken Navi 31 chip (presumably using silicon that the cut for said spins).
The RX 7900 GRE works with 80 Compute Units or CUs, which is 4 fewer than on the 7900 XT.
Analysis: Which GPUs are we likely to see from AMD this quarter?
Exactly what graphics cards will AMD launch in the coming months? It’s hard to say, as the GPU grapevine was very confused about what might be in the pipeline.
The theory is that this is because AMD itself is still deciding where to pitch what RX 7700 or 7800 models could be, in terms of naming and pricing.
From what we’ve heard recently from one of the more regular speakers on all things GPU, Moore’s law is dead (MLID) on YouTubetwo new RDNA 3 graphics cards are coming – maybe three in a row – and they’ll be revealed at Gamescom (late August, ahead of the September release).
The most likely candidates are a regular RX 7700 and RX 7800, although there may be an XT spider in there as well. Or they could both be XT models, with no vanilla releases. It’s unusual for the rumor mill to be so uncertain about which models to come at this apparently late stage, that’s for sure – another indication that AMD’s plans are still somewhat up in the air.
Be that as it may, prices are expected to be aggressive and we can only hope that speculation turns out to be true. With Nvidia’s RTX 4060 offerings seemingly falling flat on their faces in terms of sales – even if that fate wasn’t really deserved, certainly not for the vanilla card – AMD has a chance to drive some mid-range (and upper-mid-range) sales. here, and let’s hope Team Red really goes for the jugular.