AMD has now announced the RDNA 2 architecture that powers its next-generation Radeon RX 6000 graphics cards. CEO Lisa Su introduced the new tech, stating the new chip is the most powerful gaming GPU that AMD has ever built. 'Big Navi,' the fan-generated nickname for this new generation that AMD adopted, has been eagerly awaited by consumers and may even interest shoppers that were hoping to order one of the new Geforce RTX 30 series GPUs. Nvidia has already encountered massive problems delivering graphics cards to retailers and selling directly to consumers.

AMD also recently launched its newest Zen 3, Ryzen 5000 series CPUs. These new processors continue to increase pressure on Intel, with the 16-core 32-thread Ryzen 9 5950X. AMD claims this chip is faster than Intel’s 10-core Core i9–10900K, which is currently viewed as the ultimate gaming processor. AMD’s slogan is ‘where gaming begins’ and the inclusion of AMD technology in next-generation consoles from both Sony and Microsoft adds weight to that statement. AMD claims leadership performance per watt with these new CPUs and notes that there is an additional performance boost in gaming when combined with the new generation Radeon RX 6000 series GPUs.

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AMD’s Big Navi has finally arrived and as Nvidia’s top competitor, the new graphics processors were directly compared with Nvidia’s mid-range GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3090. AMD CEO Lisa Su boasted about beating the RDNA 2 target of 50-percent improvement in performance per watt. Two new GPUs were announced, the lower cost processor achieving a 54-percent increase in speed and the top model exceeding the previous generation’s best by 65-percent. Multiple tech advances combined to enable this gain at just 300-watts total power for each card. Graphics-optimized Infinity Cache minimizes memory bottlenecks and works particularly well when paired with a Ryzen CPU. Using a 7nm manufacturing process, smaller, the more closely packed components results in faster speeds with less power. The Radeon RX 6000 series is exactly what AMD needed to recharge its graphics lineup.

RDNA 2 Details, Prices & Launch Dates

AMD Radeon RX 6000 Big Navi intro announced

Comparing frame rates, RDNA 2 is up to twice as fast as the previous generation cards when running at 4K resolution. Priced at $649, AMD’s Radeon RX 6800 XT competes well with Nvidia’s RTX 3080 at 4K resolution, 60 frames per second (FPS). The Radeon RX 6900 XT challenges Nvidia’s top card, matching frame rates for most popular games at 4K, 60 FPS, and is priced at just $999. It should be noted that these claims were for a gaming system that featured the combined power of the RX 6900 XT and a Ryzen 5000-series CPU. This combination enables some special features that are not possible when using an Intel CPU. AMD will also have a lower cost RX 6800 for $579.

Rumors in advance of the event suggested AMD would meet the performance of Nvidia’s mid-range card, but wouldn’t be in the same class as the RTX 3090, and whether the ray tracing prowess will be up to the high-level that Nvidia provides is not yet known. There was no mention of 8K resolution, so Nvidia still stands alone in that regard. However, availability might be an important factor here. While GeForce RTX 30 series cards are very hard to find at the moment, and Nvidia expects this to continue into next year, AMD is launching the RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT on November 18 and the RX 6900 XT on December 8, 2020, with claims that steps have been taken to avoid ordering problems.

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Source: AMD