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AMD has been very quiet since the launch of its flagship GPU, the Radeon RX7900XTX (and its little brother, the RX7900XT). After some thermal issues with the lead card caused by a vapor chamber malfunction, the manufacturer admitted manufacturing defects and we haven’t seen the RX 7000 line since.
But don’t worry, they’re still coming – just don’t expect AMD to launch them just now yet. In a recent statement, AMD talked about the unreleased GPUs and confirmed that any planned launches of more RDNA 3 cards have been delayed, though it didn’t say why.
There is speculation about the reason. It’s possible that AMD wants to give its new RX 7000 cards a little more time in the oven, which could be wise given Nvidia’s current rush to launch more new GPUs. causes Team Green trouble. Some have argued the delay is to align future launches with China’s ‘618’ shopping festival; if you’re not familiar with 618, think of it as a kind of Chinese Black Friday that takes place on June 18.
Such a big sales event could be the perfect time for AMD to launch its new cards, but that’s still months away; Nvidia will no doubt release more graphics cards before then, and AMD is in danger of losing momentum completely after the RX 7900 XTXs problems after launch. However, Team Red could use that time to refine its new GPU architecture and deliver some excellent products.
Analysis: We’re probably looking at five more maps to come
As for exactly which GPUs we have yet to see, there’s no concrete word from AMD, but we can extrapolate a bit based on current information and leaks. Information taken from the South Korean RRA certification database by the Chinese site My drivers indicates that AMD has certified a total of seven RDNA 3 GPUs for release.
Those cards are listed as the D70701 through D70707, with MyDrivers confirming that the D70702 and D70704 are the RX 7900 XTX and XT respectively. From here we can make some reasonable assumptions about what the other five cards might be.
The D70701 and D70703 are supposedly – based on AMD’s previous GPU generation – an improved RX 7950 XTX and XT. That leaves us with the bottom three, which MyDrivers claims are the RX 7800, RX 7700 and RX 7600 – although the site doesn’t really link to a source, so a generous helping of salt might be advisable here.
Yet it is not an absurd suggestion; those cards (or some variants of them) were always expected to appear in the RDNA 3 lineup, and they’re likely to outsell the flagship RX 7900 XTX purely because they’re more affordable. Sure, the RTX 4090 is great, but it’s ridiculously expensive – and it looks like Nvidia could be too resupply of its own flagship map to shift more of the unpopular RTX 4080.
Personally, we hope AMD doesn’t sit on its hands here. Waiting for a major sales event is a risky move, especially since Nvidia hasn’t released any budget GPUs in its current RTX 4000 range yet – and probably won’t just a little while.
Gamers are clamoring for more affordable next-generation hardware as the global economic downturn pushes consumers away from big purchases, like say, a graphics card over $1,000. AMD clearly has that big plans for RDNA 4, but the company has to get there first; and with Intel is gunning for the budget GPU spaceTeam Red must act quickly to secure its share of the market or it risks losing again.