AMD presented the new RDNA 2 architecture in detail, the new Radeon RX 6900 XT, Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6800, here are specs, price and release date for all three cards with which AMD will face the RTX 3090, RTX 3080 and RTX 3070 from NVIDIA.
AMD presented its new GPUs with RDNA 2 architecture
The RDNA 2 architecture marks a significant leap forward in terms of architecture compared to the first generation RDNA architecture. The changes introduced at the silicon level have resulted in a 54% improvement in the performance per watt consumed ratio, maintaining the 7 nm TSMC manufacturing process we saw in the RX 5700.
Among the most important innovations introduced by AMD we can highlight the redesign of the pipelines (rendering pipes), the improvements in the data movement processes and the introduction of the so called “Infinity Cache”. This last one deserves a special mention, since it has allowed AMD to alleviate the problem of linking a 256-bit bus with GDDR6 memory at 14 GHz in new generation high-end graphics cards.
NVIDIA has used 384-bit and 320-bit buses on the RTX 3090 and RTX 3080, as well as GDDR6X memory, which reach frequencies of up to 19.5 GHz. To compensate for this difference in bandwidth, AMD has been inspired by the enormous cache of the Ryzen 5000, based on Zen 3, and has integrated a total of 128 MB of cache memory in the Radeon RX 6900 XT, Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6800.
- Radeon RX 6900 XT and RX 6800: expected specs
- AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT leaked and it outperforms RTX 3080
Looking at the performance tests published by AMD, it seems that this idea has worked perfectly, but during the whole event they have limited themselves to talk about maximum values with “optimal” APIs, and they have not deepened in the performance results as much as I would have liked, so I prefer to wait to see tests that collect average values with a more realistic perspective.
AMD has managed to tune the working frequencies to the maximum with the RDNA 2 architecture, as it has overcome the 2GHz barrier without any problem, and this has allowed to improve considerably the final performance of the Radeon RX 6900 XT, Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6800, although we are going to go into it in depth in the following section.
Regarding the improvements at the platform level, AMD has made a very important leap that is grouped around the following keys:
- Full support of DirectX 12 Ultimate: Extends to the whole set of Microsoft APIs, from DXR 1.1 (ray tracing) to Direct Storage, which will allow an optimum use of high performance SSDs based on the PCIE standard and the NVMe protocol.
- Latency reduction technology: Linked to AMD’s FreeSync technology, which aims to improve the user experience by reducing the delay by up to 37%.
- “Smart Access Memory” and “Rage Mode”: Allows a performance boost by improving the integration and working relationship between a Ryzen CPU and a Radeon RX 6000 GPU, and applying a direct and aggressive overclocking with a single click. Depending on each game, we can see an improvement of between 4% and 13%.
AMD competes for the top with the Radeon RX 6900 XT
AMD has managed to exchange blows with NVIDIA at the top, thanks to the Radeon RX 6900 XT, a graphics card that does not manage to overcome the RTX 3090, but certainly is very close to it, and offers a more attractive price-performance value.
The Radeon RX 6900 XT is positioned at the top, and just below it is the Radeon RTX 6800 XT, a graphics card that competes with the GeForce RTX 3080 and offers similar performance to the latter.
Looking at the Radeon RX 6800 we find an economical high-end graphics card that promises very interesting performance, as it competes with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070. AMD has maintained the strategy and has offered a few comparisons of performance, but a priori it seems that exceeds the NVIDIA solution.
Without further ado, let’s look at the specs, price and release date for the new Radeon RX 6000 series cards.
Radeon RX 6900 XT specs
- Navi 21 XTX graphics core in 7nm.
- 80 active CUs with 5,120 shaders.
- GPU at 2015 MHz-2250 MHz, normal and turbo mode.
- 320 texturing units, also dedicated to ray tracing.
- 128 raster units.
- 256-bit bus.
- 16GB GDDR6 memory and 128MB infinite cache.
- 300-Watt TDP.
Radeon RX 6900 XT price and release date
This graphics card will be available starting December 8th with a price of $999.
Radeon RX 6800 XT specs
- Navi 21 XT graphics core in 7nm.
- 72 active CUs with 4,608 shaders.
- GPU at 2015 MHz-2250 MHz, normal and turbo mode.
- 288 textured units, also dedicated to ray tracing.
- 116 rasterization units.
- 256-bit bus.
- 16GB of GDDR6 memory and 128MB of infinite cache.
- 300-Watt TDP.
Radeon RX 6800 XT price and release date
It will be available from November 18 with a price of $649.
Radeon RX 6800 specs
- Navi 21 XL graphics core in 7nm.
- 60 active CUs with 3,840 shaders.
- 1815 MHz-2105 MHz GPU, normal and turbo mode.
- 240 textured units, also dedicated to ray tracing.
- 96 rasterization units.
- 256-bit bus.
- 16GB of GDDR6 memory and 128MB of infinite cache.
- 250-Watt TDP.
Radeon RX 6800price and release date
Its launch will also take place on November 18th, and will have a price of $579.
