We lastly have AMD’s reply to the Nvida RTX 40 collection: the Radeon RX 7900 XT and Radeon RX 7900 XTX, the purple group’s first graphics playing cards construct on the RDNA 3 structure. These are each high-end GPUs, set to value $899 and $999 respectively once they launch on December thirteenth, however you’ll be aware these costs are oodles cheaper than the £1269 / $1199 RTX 4080 and the £1679 / $1599 RTX 4090.
They’re additionally structurally distinct from the present Radeon RX 6000 playing cards to an extent that, frankly, is sort of stunning to see from AMD GPUs. RDNA 3 makes use of a Ryzen CPU-inspired chiplet design, the place the GPU is cut up up into completely different sections, and the brand new media engine is engineered for the 4K gaming screens of the longer term as a lot as it’s for present PC {hardware}.
How precisely these two playing cards will carry out in video games stays to be (reliably) seen, although AMD additionally introduced a serving to hand in FSR 3. This new model of the FidelityFX Tremendous Decision upscaler is not going to solely cut back the pressure of rendering frames, however will seemingly add its personal ‘Fluid Movement Frames’, in what seems to be like a direct problem to Nvidia DLSS 3 and its AI body era tech.
There’s loads to chew on right here, so let’s just do that, with all of the newly introduced Radeon RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX specs and availability deets.
AMD Radeon RX 7000 collection costs
UK costs are TBD, however AMD confirmed the flagship RX 7900 XTX will launch with an MSRP of $999, whereas the RX 7900 XT is ready at $899. Count on costlier variations of each, attributable to board companions making additions like manufacturing unit overclocks or upgraded coolers.
The truth that these are the one two official RX 7000 graphics playing cards could disappoint those that had been hoping for extra inexpensive, 1080p/1440p-focused graphics playing cards, given Nvidia additionally launched their latest GPU era with luxurious 4K engines. However each the RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX are a whole bunch of {dollars} lower than their new-gen GeForce rivals, and undercut older premium playing cards just like the RTX 3090 and RTX 3090 Ti as nicely. Their worth will rely upon how nicely they carry out as compared, however it’s not less than encouraging that you gained’t have to interrupt 4 figures for AMD’s high tier.
AMD Radeon RX 7000 collection launch date
Each the RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX will go on sale on December thirteenth 2022 – no staggered launches right here. That mentioned, it’s perhaps price noting that FSR 3 gained’t be obtainable till early 2023. That is distinction to DLSS 3, which was able to go – albeit with restricted recreation help – when the RTX 4090 launched again in October.
No phrase but on any future mid-range or low-end RX 7000 graphics playing cards, although because the RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX are solely releasing with a few weeks left within the 12 months, don’t count on any extra additions to the RDNA 3 household till 2023.
AMD Radeon RX 7000 collection specs
In case you’re simply right here for the core specs, right here, have a desk. You may see how each the RX 7900 XT and Radeon RX 7900 XTX are overflowing with VRAM, whereas the additional hundred bucks on the Radeon RX 7900 XTX buys you barely sooner clock speeds and a handful of additional compute models (core clusters). The Radeon RX 7900 XTX additionally, I spy, has a considerably decrease energy score than the 450W RTX 4090.
| Radeon RX 7900 XT | Radeon RX 7900 XTX | |
|---|---|---|
| Compute models | 84 | 96 |
| Ray accelerators | 84 | 96 |
| Recreation frequency | 2000MHz | 2300MHz |
| VRAM | 20GB | 24GB |
| Reminiscence sort | GDDR6 | GDDR6 |
| Energy utilization | 300W | 350W |
| MSRP | $899 | $999 |
There’s lots else occurring beneath the hood. RDNA 3, and by extension the RX 7000 vary, represents a significant shift in how AMD constructs its GPUs. Usually, the GPU is monolithic, i.e. only one large chip. RDNA 3, taking a web page out of AMD’s personal Ryzen AND Epyc processors, as an alternative makes use of a chiplet design: the GPU is split into one 5nm graphics compute die (GCD) and 6 6nm reminiscence cache dies (MCDs). Mixed, the MCDs can apparently ship 2.7x the height reminiscence bandwidth of RDNA 2, whereas the GCD is the place many of the graphics magic occurs, with particular {hardware} for ray tracing acceleration and AI options.
Chiplet designs aren’t inherently higher than monolithic GPUs, and AMD has needed to provide you with an extremely quick 5.3TB/s interconnect simply to be sure that the completely different components can talk with one another shortly sufficient. However there are benefits: mainly, it permits the GPUs to profit from extra environment friendly 5nm {hardware}, however solely the place it counts most, with the MCDs utilizing a less expensive manufacturing course of with higher yields. In principle this could imply next-gen efficiency whereas nonetheless conserving prices down, with financial savings handed on to the patron. Hopefully.
The brand new GCD can also be aiming to shut the hole with Nvidia on ray tracing efficiency, with AMD promising “1.5x extra rays in flight” and enhancements to how RDNA 3 processes newly generated rays.
As for the way these modifications translate into precise efficiency, we’ll have to attend for some benchmarks exterior of AMDs personal. The corporate say the RX 7900 XTX is between 1.5x and 1.7x sooner than the RX 6950 XT in video games like Name of Responsibility: Trendy Warfare 2, Cyberpunk 2077 and ray-traced Metro Exodus, although a extra vital comparability would absolutely be towards the RTX 4090. Or the RTX 4080, not less than.
Talking of, anybody who picks up an RX 7000 collection card gained’t have to fret about needing an RTX 40 series-style energy adapter, as they’ll take your PSU’s common 8-pin energy cables as they’re. A reduction, maybe, contemplating what number of RTX 4090 adapters have been melting currently.
AMD Radeon RX 7000 collection options
The RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX would be the first graphics playing cards to help the DisplayPort 2.1 connection normal, that means they’ll have the ability to absolutely help gaming screens which are largely theoretical – suppose 4K/480Hz and 8K/165Hz.
The DisplayPort 1.4 and 1.4a requirements utilized by different GPUs, together with the RTX 4090 and 4080, will nonetheless deal with as much as 144Hz at 4K. And screens with 2.1 inputs gained’t even be obtainable till 2023 on the earliest. However if you’re a show fiend and dream of enjoying on, say, some type of quick 5K ultrawide, or operating a number of 4K screens directly, 2.1 would be the higher connector from a futureproofing standpoint.
The RX 7000 additionally reaches parity with the RTX 40 collection on supporting AV1 encoding. This isn’t a gaming characteristic per se however could possibly be helpful for streaming, or capturing recreation footage to edit later; AV1 is miles higher than different mainstream encoders at balancing prime quality with low information utilization.
AMD FSR 3: a brand new DLSS 3 rival
AMD additionally used their Radeon RX 7900 XT/RX 7900 XTX reveal occasion to tease their upcoming FSR 3 upscaler. It’s unlucky that this gained’t be prepared in time for the brand new playing cards’ launch day, because it sounds prefer it’s gunning for a similar sorts of huge FPS good points as DLSS 3 – and never simply from the core temporal upscaling.
As well as, FSR 3 will use “Fluid Movement Frames expertise” to supply as much as twice the FPS enhancements of FSR 2 (beforehand generally known as FSR 2.0). AMD didn’t really elaborate on Fluid Movement Frames and the way they work, however my cash’s on them being interpolated frames – generated by the GPU utilizing visible information from earlier frames – which are inserted between the historically rendered frames, enhancing general smoothness. In different phrases, principally what DLSS 3 does with its AI-generated frames, however with much less AI. FSR 2.0 already makes use of information from different frames to enhance its upscaling high quality, so creating complete new frames can be the following logical step.
Curiously, AMD by no means instructed that RDNA 3 {hardware} can be important to FSR 3, so like earlier variations it may probably develop into obtainable on older playing cards as nicely – and never simply Radeon fashions, however Nvidia and Intel graphics playing cards too. Once more, simply speculating at this level, however that could possibly be an enormous deal by way of boosting efficiency on growing old PCs. If solely within the video games that add help for FSR 3 on their finish, in fact, and people have not been introduced but both.
