AMD confirms Radeon RX 8000 series launch and hints at RDNA 4 performance upgrades
Rumours have been circulating for months about the prospect of Nvidia releasing its first wave of GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs. For context, the likes of the RTX 4080 are expected to launch by early 2025 across Nvidia's desktop and laptop portfolios. While Nvidia has not confirmed specifics yet, AMD has provided a firmer hint about the whereabouts of its alternatives.
Specifically, CEO Dr. Lisa Su outlined the following in AMD's Q3 2024 earnings call:
In Gaming Graphics, revenue declined year-over-year as we prepare for a transition to our next-gen Radeon GPUs based on our RDNA 4 architecture. In addition to a strong increase in gaming performance, RDNA 4 delivers significantly higher ray tracing performance and adds new AI capabilities.
We are on track to launch the first RDNA 4 GPUs in early 2025.
Moreover, PCWorld reached out to an AMD representative who confirmed Su's statement was the first public disclosure of an early-2025 timetable for RDNA 4 GPU releases. Unfortunately, neither Su nor the unnamed representative have shared specifics in this regard.
Nonetheless, AMD has already confirmed its attendance at CES 2025 in Las Vegas between January 7 and January 10, 2025. Thus, it would seem probable that 'early 2025' means January 2025. However, we doubt that CES 2025 is when AMD will release any of its early RDNA 4 GPUs.
For reference, RDNA 4 is expected to arrive as Navi 44 and Navi 48 GPUs inside graphics cards like the RX 8800 XTX. Reportedly, the Navi 48 will provide 4,096 Compute Units with 32 Work Group Processors and 16 GB of GDDR6 VRAM clocked at 20 Gbit/s with a 256-bit interface. If these specifications are accurate, then it would yield a slightly higher memory bandwidth than the Radeon RX 7900 GRE (curr. $549.99 on Amazon), albeit only by 11%.
Source(s)
AMD via The Motley Fool, PCWorld & VideoCardz