AMD finally confirms upcoming update to RDNA3 family
AMD RDNA3 getting new cards this quarter.
New graphics cards from AMD are finally arriving, but AMD’s RDNA3 lineup launch schedule is facing an almost year-long expansion. During the recent second-quarter earnings call, AMD CEO and President, Dr. Lisa Su, revealed the company’s plan to release new enthusiast GPUs in the Radeon 7000 series this quarter. These GPUs will represent the enthusiast-class segment and will come in multiple variants.
In gaming graphics, we expanded our Radeon 7000 GPU series in the second quarter with the launch of our mainstream RX 7600 cards for 1080p gaming. We are on track to further expand our RDNA 3 GPU offerings with the launch of new, enthusiast-class Radeon 7000 series cards in the third quarter.
— Dr. Lisa Su, AMD CEO during Q2 2023 Earnings Call
You might assume that this implies an update to the RX 7900 series, but that’s not entirely accurate. AMD itself categorizes the RX 7900 models as ‘ultra-enthusiast,’ suggesting that the potential RX 7800 XT might still fall within the ‘enthusiast’ category.
Radeon RX 7900 is ‘ultra-enthusiast’, Source: AMD
Putting aside the wording, early rumors suggest that AMD is indeed planning to launch the RX 7800 and RX 7700 series by the end of this quarter. While the exact reasons for the delay are not entirely clear, it could be related to an overstock of RX 6900/6800 RDNA2 models that these new cards are meant to replace. Additionally, there might be an issue with the deployment of Navi 32, the third yet unused RDNA3 GPU in the RX 7000 family.
On the other hand, AMD has recently introduced the Radeon RX 7900 GRE graphics card, primarily targeting the Chinese market. This card features a smaller Navi 31 GPU called XL, which packs more cores but has a reduced package size compared to what was expected for Navi 32. It remains uncertain whether this GPU replaces Navi 32 or if it was just a one-off release.
Meanwhile, NVIDIA’s full lineup is currently available with no further updates planned at this moment. Unless the ‘enthusiast’ label refers to entirely new RX 7900+ cards, NVIDIA seems to have little reason to update its current lineup.
Source: AMD
