Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
AMD ’s RX 9000 series is correct around the corner , and it ’s almost ready to compete against some of thebest graphics cards . Although AMD keeps all the juicy information about RDNA 4 under wraps , we now know more than we did just a couple of month ago , and leaker are here to provide the rest of it .
Here ’s everything you need to know about the RX 9000 series .
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
AMD RX 9000 series: pricing and availability
go up to AMD’sCES 2025keynote , many thought that it would shed some light on the matter of RDNA 4 sacking dates and pricing . Unfortunately , the GPUs got small more than a abbreviated credit , and nothing was made any clearer than before . On the upside , AMD shared some slide with the press that let on theRX 9070 XT / non - XT and the RX 9060 XT / non - crosstalk .
AMD may have revealed little bits of information about the RDNA 4 architecture , but we still do n’t have a solid button date .
The GPUs were foundup for preorder at B&Hwith a January 22 launching escort , but they have since been taken down . Many leakers agreed that the RX 9070 XT would make an appearance by the end of the month , but then , the story suddenly shifted . A Chiphell forum leaker said thatAMD is still hold back for Nvidiato make a move and has pulled back on releasing the RX 9000 series .
That leak could be untrue , but the time lag is very much real . David McAfee , AMD ’s vice president and general handler of the Ryzen and Radeon divisions , said thatthe RX 9000 series will be released in March . At that point , Nvidia should have fourRTX 50 - series graphics cardsup for cut-rate sale , ranging from the RTX 5090 to the RTX 5070 .
Radeon 9000 series hardware and software are look bang-up and we are project to have a wide assortment of cards available globally . Ca n’t wait for gamers to get their hand on the cards when they go on cut-rate sale in March !
& mdash ; David McAfee ( @McAfeeDavid_AMD)January 20 , 2025
It ’s ill-defined whether AMD will straight off release both the RX 9070 XT and the RX 9060 XT .
The prices are still a mystery , and whisper from diligence insiders have been really scarce . One leaker on the Chiphell forums believe that the reference work manikin ofthe RX 9070 XT will be $ 479 , while partner cards might be as much as $ 549 . However , at this compass point , this is just supposition .
AMD Radeon RX 9000 series: specs and architecture
It became clear very betimes on that AMD may not be endeavor to vie against the skillful of Nvidia’sRTX 50 - seriesthis time around . Various hardware leaker have been enunciate for well over a class that even AMD ’s flagship may only rival the the like of Nvidia ’s forthcoming RTX 5070 , and this is reverberate in the rumored specs for each card . AMD itself has also confirmed that it ’s not place for the high - goal .
AMD ’s elderly vice Chief Executive , Jack Huynh , speak toTom ’s computer hardware , pretty much support what leakers have been saying : AMD ’s plan for the RX 9000 series is to concentrate on the mainstream personal computer gaming market . Huynh pronounce : “ Do I need to go after 10 % of the total addressable market ( TAM ) or 80 % ? I ’m an 80 % kind of guy because I do n’t want AMD to be the company that only multitude who can give Porsches and Ferraris can buy . We want to work up gaming system of rules for gazillion of users . ”
This mindset imply that Nvidia ’s two most high - conclusion cards , the RTX 5080 and the RTX 5090 , will not see any verbatim competition in this generation .
We ’ll dive into GPU - specific leaks below , but first , countenance ’s talk about what to look from RDNA 4 as a whole .
So far , it seems that the lineup itself might be pretty slim . Only two GPUs have been name : Navi 48 and Navi 44 . Some leaker , such asMoore ’s jurisprudence Is Dead , claim that the flagship used to be Navi 41 , which would ’ve been capable of challenging at least Nvidia ’s RTX 5080 , but it is said to have been scrapped alongside the Navi 42 . That leaves us with the Navi 48 as the flagship menu and the Navi 44 as the mid - to - broken - range option .
Although AMD neglect the GPUs from its CES 2025 tonic , it deal a few slides with the insistency beforehand , which is why we know a little minute about the RDNA 4 architecture . A huge highlight comes in the form of third - gen light beam tracing accelerators , which is something that leaker have long been talking about . AMD also promises improved ray trace per compute unit ( CU ) , which think of it could be more on equivalence with Nvidia in that regard .
The society touts improvements such as “ supercharged AI compute ” — which is huge , as it ’ll avail power its next - gen upscaling tech , FSR 4 , but more on that later . RDNA 4 will also have second - gen AI gas pedal and a newfangled - and - better Radiance Display railway locomotive , as well as proficient media encoding .
We ’re affect on to leaks , because this is really it when it hail to confirm data about the RX 9000 serial .
Package size :
Navi 23 : 35 x 35mmNavi 44 : 29 x 29 mm
& mdash ; Everest ( @Olrak29_)October 14 , 2024
concord to Olrak29 on X , AMD may be reducing package sizes in the new contemporaries by a considerable amount , scale down to 29 x 29 millimeters for Navi 44 — which is the smaller of the two GPUs . AMD is also potential to switch to a more effective node , which most leakers currently expect to be the TSMC 4 nm process ( most likely the N4P ) .
The society is said to be sticking to GDDR6 memory board modules — for reference , Nvidia has used GDDR6X in the RTX 40 - series and will utilise GDDR7 in Blackwell . Kepler_L2 , a known leaker , also claim that AMD may specify the bandwidth to 18Gbps , whereasNvidia ’s RTX 5080 might use faster 30Gbps mental faculty . Again , AMD may have planned to utilise GDDR7 VRAM in the high - end helping of the lineup , which is most likely not going to make it to market .
Only 18Gbps 🤔
& mdash ; Kepler ( @Kepler_L2)April 23 , 2024
AMD CEO Lisa Su also promised major play improvements in the new architecture . We have it off that “ improvements ” are subjective here , what with the flagship potentially not rivaling AMD ’s current top GPU , but it ’s still potential that we ’ll see generational profit in that mainstream angle bracket .
AMD RX 9000 series: lineup
For many months , almost everyone carry AMD ’s next - gen lineup to be called the RX 8000 series . It made sentiency , as this would ’ve followed the naming strategy that AMD had used since the RX 5000 series . Many — myself included — also think that the flagship would be the RX 8800 XT , marking the step - down from the previous RX 7900 XTX .
Now , thanks to AMD ’s press deck of cards and various other statements , we get it on that the flagship GPU will be part of the RX 9070 series , which will admit the XT and the non - XT good example . There ’s also the RX 9060 XT / non - crosstalk . AMD explains its pick as a way to simplify its naming scheme “ to cope with direct competitor , ” which is prosperous to think , given Nvidia ’s stigmatisation .
AMD may have had a last - minute name change , but the two GPUs have remained the same . Below , I ’ll babble out about what we can require from the RX 9070 XT and the RX 9060 XT .
AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT
The Radeon RX 9070 XT is presently expect to be the star of the RDNA 4 lineup , and it ’s alsothe GPU I ’m most excited about in 2025 .
AMD itself has n’t said much of anything about the GPU , but it claims that it ’ll perform on a similar level to theRX 7900 XT , whereas the non - XT model might rival theRX 7900 GRE .
Current leaks estimate that the RX 9070 XT will be based on the Navi 48 XTX GPU , and it ’ll come with 4,096 cores . It ’s also enounce to feature 16 GB of VRAM across a 256 - minute bus , clocked at 18 to 20Gbps . The maximal storage bandwidth to await from such a configuration is 640GB / s.
The calling card is also say to proffer an impressive maximum clock speed that may hit as high as 3.1GHz . All of this will be achieved at a total board power of roughly 260 watts , as perVideoCardz .
These specs position the RX 9070 XT as a direct competitor to cards like Nvidia ’s RTX 5070 , and early execution news leak do nothing to dispel that feeling . Although many believed that AMD might deliver something along the lines of the Nvidia RTX 4080 ( andsome benchmarks demonstrate that this might be true ) , it seems like a more buttoned-down estimate is needed — butperformance leaks are really all over the place .
For example , zhangzhonghao on the Chiphell meeting place recently divvy up that the RTX 4080 and the RX 9070 XT are within just 5 % of each other . No matter which one ’s the succeeder in that equivalence , that ’d be great news for the RX 9070 XT , but most leakers run to disagree . Previous estimates pinpoint the RX 9070 XT at around the same level as the RX 7900 XT .
This kind of public presentation levelputs the RX 9070 XT in a difficult perspective , one where it ’ll be forced to contend not just against cards like theRTX 4070 Superor theRTX 4070 Ti Superbut also AMD ’s own RDNA 3 offerings . As a result , a raft of it will descend down to pricing , which is still nameless at this degree .
This GPU is most likely to be the first to off the mart , with AMD promising to deliver some RDNA 4 cards in March .
AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT
The rumored RX 9060 XT is still a huge enigma . It ’s expected to be based on the Navi 44 GPU , which may , in twist , come in two flavors : one with a 192 - bite coach , and the other with a 128 - bit bus .
We might be looking at a standardised situation to what we ’ve seen in the RX 7000 series , where AMD released an RX 7600 and anRX 7600 XT . The latter had twice the VRAM , sitting at a banging 16 gigabyte , but still limited to a 128 - flake memory bus . If the above escape is genuine , we might still see an RX 9060 with 8 GB memory and an RX 9060 XT with 16 GB , but the XT model might now get a panoptic , 192 - bit interface .
However , some leakers , such as All_The_Watts , only cite just one variant of the Navi 44 . This same leaker revealed that the RX 9060 XT might come with 32 compute units ( CUs ) and 18Gbps of store hurrying , which is the same as the RX 7600 . However , architectural improvements between RDNA 3 and RDNA 4 should still hopefully provide the GPU with some sort of a boost , even if these spectacles check out .
Availability for this card is still unknown , but it might become useable in March alongside the RX 9070 XT . If the late coevals ’s pricing is anything to go by , the RX 9060 XT should cost around $ 250 to $ 350 .
AMD RX 9000 series: FSR 4
AMD announced its next - gen FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 alongside its new graphics card , and this time , it ’s taking a page out of Nvidia ’s playbook by pass water the upscaling tech an RDNA 4 exclusive . The company promises to give birth mellow - tone 4 thou upscaling , and frame propagation should be easier to achieve with the upgrade AI computer hardware in RDNA 4 .
FSR 4 will be uncommitted in games that already hold FSR 3.1 , which should include titles likeCyberpunk 2077andHorizon Forbidden West .
after on , AMD bring out that it does n’t want FSR 4 to be circumscribe to the RX 9000 serial — at least not forever . Frank Azor , chief designer of gambling solutions and gaming merchandising at AMD , said in an interview : “ We may be able to optimize it [ FSR 4 ] to work on RDNA 3 architecture . And we are , and we want to do it , but we have work to do for now . ”
Ambiguous as it may be , that program line implies that there ’s a chance RDNA 3 owner might still one sidereal day welfare from FSR 4 , but nothing is sure right now .