After a so-called “lost generation” for graphics playing cards suffering from shortages and scalpers, issues are lastly trying up for PC avid gamers—and the battle for next-generation GPU supremacy has lastly arrived. Nvidia launched its ferocious GeForce RTX 4090 mere weeks in the past, however its monitor-melting lead isn’t going uncontested for lengthy. This week, AMD revealed its next-gen RDNA 3 structure and two GPUs serving as its paragon: the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and 7900 XT.
This ain’t your momma’s GPU throw-down although. AMD is performing some radically various things with RDNA 3 and the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, and we’ve by no means seen a graphics card fairly like this earlier than. We’ve already lined the Radeon RX 7900 XTX’s technical notes in-depth in our announcement protection, however in the event you don’t really feel like sifting by means of a dialogue of dual-issue wave 32 directions and memory-controller vagaries, listed below are the 5 key information about RDNA 3 and the Radeon RX 7900 XTX that PC avid gamers completely have to know earlier than the launch on December 13.
1. The Radeon RX 7900 XTX and XT are a lot cheaper than Nvidia’s choices
Adam Patrick Murray / IDG
First, the value: It’s onerous to name graphics playing cards that set you again 4 figures a discount, per se, however it seems AMD heard the outrage generated by Nvidia’s pricing of $1,600 for the GeForce RTX 4090 and $1,200 for the RTX 4080. By distinction, RDNA 3’s flagship Radeon RX 7900 XTX will set you again “just” $999, and the single-X Radeon RX 7900 XT prices $899.
That’s the identical worth because the Radeon RX 6900 XT earlier than it. Nvidia, alternatively, elevated the value of the RTX 4090 by $100 over the RTX 3090, whereas the RTX 4080 prices a whopping $400—50 p.c—greater than the RTX 3080.
2. RDNA 3 chiplets FTW
A Radeon RX 7900 XTX chip; see the six reminiscence dies flanking the core GPU die?
Adam Patrick Murray / IDG
Part of these price financial savings little doubt stem from the novel new technical design of the RDNA 3 GPUs. Traditionally, GPUs had been constructed utilizing enormous “monolithic” dies that cram all mandatory bits inside. But with RDNA 3, AMD is swiping a web page from its ultra-successful Ryzen playbook. The Radeon RX 7900 XTX and XT use a number of chiplets working collectively on the identical package deal as a substitute: a core GPU die surrounded by as much as six reminiscence cache dies that maintain the cardboard’s Infinity Cache and reminiscence controllers.
We wade deeper into technical particulars in our RDNA 3 announcement coverage, however the upshot is AMD can use TSMC’s cutting-edge 5nm manufacturing course of to spit out an abundance of smaller 300mm GPU dies, then use its cheaper and extra mature 6nm course of for the reminiscence dies. That helps AMD hold prices down on each nodes, and little doubt helps the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and XT obtain their extra palatable costs. The central RDNA 3 GPU die measures simply 300mm squared. Nvidia’s RTX 4090 die is over twice as giant, and all of it’s made utilizing TSMC’s costly cutting-edge node.
3. Powerful however not overpowered
Nvidia swung for the fences with its GeForce RTX 4090, pushing a monstrous 450 watts by means of that huge GPU die and cutting-edge GDDR6X reminiscence for actually face-melting efficiency, energy use (and melting 12VHPWR adapters) be damned.
Adam Patrick Murray / IDG
But in a world crippled by an power disaster, energy effectivity issues. AMD fortunately stayed true to its effectivity focus with RDNA 3, delivering a claimed 54 p.c enchancment in performance-per-watt over the already-impressive RDNA 2 graphics playing cards. That, in flip, let AMD persist with saner energy necessities—each the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and XT solely require a pair of normal 8-pin energy connectors. They draw 355 watts and 300 watts, respectively. The extra modest energy necessities imply that AMD’s reference playing cards persist with slightly-chonky-but-fine 2.5-slot designs, in comparison with the 3- and even 4-slot monsters frequent to RTX 4090 fashions.
Bottom line? Upgrading from a current Radeon or Nvidia graphics card to a brand new Radeon RX 7900 XTX received’t require reconfiguring your rig or being a beta tester for a hard new energy connector. Yay!
4. RDNA 3 AV1, DisplayPort 2.1, and extra
Mmmmmmm DisplayPort 2.1.
Adam Patrick Murray / IDG
AMD fluffs out RDNA 3 with some compelling extras, too. Unlike Nvidia’s RTX 40-series GPUs, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and 7900 XT function DisplayPort 2.1, which unlocks monitor refresh charges as much as 4K/480 (sure, 480Hz) and 8K/165. Gotta go quick! AMD’s new twin media engine additionally helps simultaneous encode/decode of HEVC/AVC streams, in addition to bleeding-edge AV1 encoding, becoming a member of ranks with Nvidia and Intel’s current GPU choices.
These upgrades could not imply a lot to you in the event you’re not a content material creator, however they’re very welcome certainly.
5. Will it beat the RTX 4090? Who is aware of!
Finally, the elephant within the room: Will AMD’s Radeon RX 7900 XTX and 7900 XT topple Nvidia’s vaunted GeForce RTX 4090? That stays to be seen—at all times anticipate impartial critiques!—however the preliminary presentation leaves the prospect trying questionable.
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Don’t take this the fallacious means: The Radeon RX 7900 XTX shall be a brutally quick performer if the charts AMD supplied show correct. The Radeon RX 6950 XT already beat the RTX 3090, and AMD says the Radeon RX 7900 XTX is 1.5x to 1.7x quicker than the 6950 XT at 4K gaming (for $250 much less). Likewise, AMD added AI cores to RDNA 3, assembly a key Nvidia function, and modified Radeon’s ray-tracing cores for as much as 50 p.c greater efficiency. But I’m unsure even that massive uptick shall be sufficient to finest Nvidia’s RTX 4090 and 4080 in ray tracing after GeForce’s equally enormous uplift this technology. And crucially, AMD’s benchmarks didn’t make any comparisons to the RTX 4090 by any means, although the 4090 has been obtainable for weeks now.
Between these tidbits and the a lot decrease $999/$899 worth tags, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and XT might wind up competing with the RTX 4080 as a substitute—however with so many new applied sciences at play in RDNA 3 it’s onerous to prognosticate too closely. We’ll have to attend for impartial critiques to launch to know for positive.
In the meantime, if you would like much more nitty-gritty RDNA particulars, remember to take a look at our a lot wonkier Radeon RX 7900 XTX and 7900 XT announcement protection.