Rumor | AMD Radeon RX 7000 lineup could be a mix of 6 nm Navi 3x RDNA 3 and refreshed 6 nm Navi 2x RDNA 2 parts

AMD's upcoming Navi 3x line of GPUs is said to be based on the next gen 6 nm RDNA 3 architecture. So far, we have been hearing rumors that AMD could use a mix of multi-chip module (MCM) and monolithic dies for RDNA 3. Now, we are also getting to know that AMD may reuse some of the Navi 2x parts as well in the entry-level to mid-range Radeon RX 7000 series.

This information comes via @greymon55 on Twitter, who indicates that only the top-end SKUs such as the Navi 31, Navi 32, and Navi 33 could be based on RDNA 3. Assuming AMD would continue to use the current nomenclature, this may include the Radeon RX 7900XT, RX 7800XT, RX 7800, and the RX 7700. Mid-range and entry-level SKUs from the RX 7600 and below may use 6 nm refreshes of Navi 24, Navi 23, and Navi 22.

@greymon55 also indicated that Navi 4x based on RDNA 4 will have even more SKUs than Navi 3x. We do not know much about Navi 4x at the moment apart from @KOMACHI_ENSAKA's leak that a Navi 41 GPU is in the works. We've also heard that RDNA 4's chiplets will work differently from RDNA 3, but no further details are available at this point.

It could be that AMD is planning a major design change with RDNA 4 in which case it makes sense to populate the RDNA 3 portfolio with older, reusable designs for now. AMD took a similar approach on the CPU side with the Ryzen 5000 mobile lineup, which is a mix of Zen 3 Cezanne and Zen 2 Lucienne parts. 

Based on current rumors, AMD is apparently targeting a 2.5x performance increase with the RDNA 3 flagship card compared to the corresponding RDNA 2 part. While Navi 31 and Navi 32 are expected to feature MCM designs, Navi 33 onwards is likely to be monolithic.

Navi 31's MCM design should enable up to 15,360 cores i.e. 240 compute units (CUs) or 60 workgroup processors (WGPs) spread over two dies (120 CUs per die). Navi 32, on the other hand, is said to feature 10,240 cores while Navi 33 is expected to sport 5,120 cores. Since Navi 33 and Navi 21 essentially feature the same core count, it is likely that Navi 21 will not be part of this refresh.

On the other hand, Navi 34 is touted to sport 2,560 cores similar to Navi 22. Refreshing Navi 22 into Navi 34 with optimizations and tuning resulting from the 6 nm node could make better business sense for AMD. With Nvidia also planning big with Lovelace AD102 featuring 18,432 CUDA cores and Intel planning to launch its Arc Alchemist DG2 lineup early next year, 2022 may turn out to be quite exciting for GPU enthusiasts.

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