Wednesday, October 28th 2020

AMD Announces the Radeon RX 6000 Series: Performance that Restores Competitiveness

Press Release Updated by

Oct 28th, 2020 13:08 Updated: Oct 28th, 2020 13:33 Discuss (394 Comments)

AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) today unveiled the AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series graphics cards, delivering powerhouse performance, incredibly life-like visuals, and must-have features that set a new standard for enthusiast-class PC gaming experiences. Representing the forefront of extreme engineering and design, the highly anticipated AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series includes the AMD Radeon RX 6800 and Radeon RX 6800 XT graphics cards, as well as the new flagship Radeon RX 6900 XT - the fastest AMD gaming graphics card ever developed.

AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series graphics cards are built upon groundbreaking AMD RDNA 2 gaming architecture, a new foundation for next-generation consoles, PCs, laptops and mobile devices, designed to deliver the optimal combination of performance and power efficiency. AMD RDNA 2 gaming architecture provides up to 2X higher performance in select titles with the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics card compared to the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT graphics card built on AMD RDNA architecture, and up to 54 percent more performance-per-watt when comparing the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT graphics card to the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT graphics card using the same 7 nm process technology.

AMD RDNA 2 offers a number of innovations, including applying advanced power saving techniques to high-performance compute units to improve energy efficiency by up to 30 percent per cycle per compute unit, and leveraging high-speed design methodologies to provide up to a 30 percent frequency boost at the same power level. It also includes new AMD Infinity Cache technology that offers up to 2.4X greater bandwidth-per-watt compared to GDDR6-only AMD RDNA -based architectural designs.

"Today's announcement is the culmination of years of R&D focused on bringing the best of AMD Radeon graphics to the enthusiast and ultra-enthusiast gaming markets, and represents a major evolution in PC gaming," said Scott Herkelman, corporate vice president and general manager, Graphics Business Unit at AMD. "The new AMD Radeon RX 6800, RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT graphics cards deliver world class 4K and 1440p performance in major AAA titles, new levels of immersion with breathtaking life-like visuals, and must-have features that provide the ultimate gaming experiences. I can't wait for gamers to get these incredible new graphics cards in their hands."

Powerhouse Performance, Vivid Visuals & Incredible Gaming Experiences
AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series graphics cards support high-bandwidth PCIe 4.0 technology and feature 16 GB of GDDR6 memory to power the most demanding 4K workloads today and in the future. Key features and capabilities include:

Powerhouse Performance

AMD Infinity Cache - A high-performance, last-level data cache suitable for 4K and 1440p gaming with the highest level of detail enabled. 128 MB of on-die cache dramatically reduces latency and power consumption, delivering higher overall gaming performance than traditional architectural designs.
AMD Smart Access Memory - An exclusive feature of systems with AMD Ryzen 5000 Series processors, AMD B550 and X570 motherboards and Radeon RX 6000 Series graphics cards. It gives AMD Ryzen processors greater access to the high-speed GDDR6 graphics memory, accelerating CPU processing and providing up to a 13-percent performance increase on a AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT graphics card in Forza Horizon 4 at 4K when combined with the new Rage Mode one-click overclocking setting.9,10
Built for Standard Chassis - With a length of 267 mm and 2x8 standard 8-pin power connectors, and designed to operate with existing enthusiast-class 650 W-750 W power supplies, gamers can easily upgrade their existing large to small form factor PCs without additional cost.

True to Life, High-Fidelity Visuals

DirectX 12 Ultimate Support - Provides a powerful blend of raytracing, compute, and rasterized effects, such as DirectX Raytracing (DXR) and Variable Rate Shading, to elevate games to a new level of realism.
DirectX Raytracing (DXR) - Adding a high performance, fixed-function Ray Accelerator engine to each compute unit, AMD RDNA 2-based graphics cards are optimized to deliver real-time lighting, shadow and reflection realism with DXR. When paired with AMD FidelityFX, which enables hybrid rendering, developers can combine rasterized and ray-traced effects to ensure an optimal combination of image quality and performance.
AMD FidelityFX - An open-source toolkit for game developers available on AMD GPUOpen. It features a collection of lighting, shadow and reflection effects that make it easier for developers to add high-quality post-process effects that make games look beautiful while offering the optimal balance of visual fidelity and performance.
Variable Rate Shading (VRS) - Dynamically reduces the shading rate for different areas of a frame that do not require a high level of visual detail, delivering higher levels of overall performance with little to no perceptible change in image quality.

Elevated Gaming Experience

Microsoft DirectStorage Support - Future support for the DirectStorage API enables lightning-fast load times and high-quality textures by eliminating storage API-related bottlenecks and limiting CPU involvement.
Radeon Software Performance Tuning Presets - Simple one-click presets in Radeon Software help gamers easily extract the most from their graphics card. The presets include the new Rage Mode stable over clocking setting that takes advantage of extra available headroom to deliver higher gaming performance.
Radeon Anti-Lag - Significantly decreases input-to-display response times and offers a competitive edge in gameplay.

AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series Product Family

Robust Gaming Ecosystem and Partnerships
In the coming weeks, AMD will release a series of videos from its ISV partners showcasing the incredible gaming experiences enabled by AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series graphics cards in some of this year's most anticipated games. These videos can be viewed on the AMD website.

DIRT 5 - October 29
Godfall - November 2
World of Warcraft : Shadowlands - November 10
RiftBreaker - November 12
FarCry 6 - November 17

Pricing and Availability

AMD Radeon RX 6800 and Radeon RX 6800 XT graphics cards are expected to be available from global etailers/retailers and on AMD.com beginning November 18, 2020, for $579 USD SEP and $649 USD SEP, respectively. The AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT is expected to be available December 8, 2020, for $999 USD SEP.
AMD Radeon RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT graphics cards are also expected to be available from AMD board partners, including ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, PowerColor, SAPPHIRE and XFX, beginning in November 2020.

The complete AMD slide deck follows.

Add your own comment

394 Comments on AMD Announces the Radeon RX 6000 Series: Performance that Restores Competitiveness

#101

ValenOne

dicktracyNo mention of DXR performance at all. For all we know, you flick that setting on in Cyberpunk 2077 and it'll drop down to 2060 performance LOL!

According to Digital Foundry, PS5's raytracing performance is similar to RTX 2060 Super.

#102

arbiter

rbgcHardware encoding
I like Turing NVENC. Using it very often to offload encoding from the CPU with low GC utilization and good and usually sufficient results for my needs. I think AMD don't plan to make hardware encoders. They have multi-core CPU already presented as CPU for content creators. Software encoding has similar or better results than NVENC. And multi-core processors from AMD is probably also reason why NVIDIA placed Turing NVENC on Ampere cards.

You clearly haven't seen streams that use NVENC. It looks as good as any cpu could put out and doubt even 12 core cpu using 8 of them for encoding would look any better.

NeuralNexusGames are designed with consoles in mind first and ported to PC later. With RDNA 2 being the backbone of the next-gen consoles, I highly doubt Nvidia will have better RT performance. Devs don't like don't extra work especially for proprietary software solutions.

Its called DXR and its the Direct X standard that is being used. Its not Proprietary anything and likely just another amd excuse to being bad at it. Like Tessellation that amd was bad at forever that was apart of DX standard.

#103

RedelZaVedno

ebivanI agree that some pc hardware prices are ridiculus.
But basically prices for an average gaming pc have not changed too much. Remember that 3080 and 6800xt are not average, these are enthusiast products. You can get a capable gaming pc for 1000 bucks, just like you could 20 years ago.

But you can't really compare that to consoles. On pc games are usurally cheaper since you have a lot more ways to buy them. On pcs you can work, you can upgrade your pc, and sell parts you dont use anymore... There are endless possibilities. On pcs you can play brand new games and games from 40 years ago...
On consoles you can just play games and watch netflix.

I agree to some extend. But Xbox X is 4K/60fps capable console. How much do I have to pay today to get the same level of performance? RDNA2/Ampere 2080S equivalent is not gonna be cheaper than $400 if we're lucky. Add 8C/16T 3700x or 10700 to the mix $300 (not even considering $450 8C zen3), 16 GB or ram $70, fast 1TB NVe SSD $120, blue ray $60, decent case $70, decent PSU $80... That's 1100 bucks PC that will probably perform worse in gaming than the console because most devs don't give a f... about code optimization when it comes to porting games from consoles to PC. I accept paying 50% premium as you get fully functioning workstation and freedom that PC brings, but not 110%. That's just too much. AMD/Intel/Nvidia have become too greedy when it comes to DIY PC market.

#104

ValenOne

rbgcRT
RDNA2 is first generation with hardware accelerated RT and RT games and drivers must be optimized first. It is logical that they didn't presented RT perf now. It will take months. We will see, but I think NVIDIA will be still more better than AMD, they started with RT sooner.

Memory subsystem
We will see in tests if more expensive G6X memory/384bit bus or infinity cache and G6 memory/256bit bus is better or the same. But if infinity cache will be advantage, then it is plus for AMD, they can move to infinity cache and G6X memory if needed.

Hardware encoding
I like Turing NVENC. Using it very often to offload encoding from the CPU with low GC utilization and good and usually sufficient results for my needs. I think AMD don't plan to make hardware encoders. They have multi-core CPU already presented as CPU for content creators. Software encoding has similar or better results than NVENC. And multi-core processors from AMD is probably also reason why NVIDIA placed Turing NVENC on Ampere cards.

Memory subsystem
Big NAVI's Infinity Cache is based on Zen's L3 cache.

Hardware encoding
RX 5700 has AMF & VCE

#105

Mysteoa

rbgcRT
RDNA2 is first generation with hardware accelerated RT and RT games and drivers must be optimized first. It is logical that they didn't presented RT perf now. It will take months. We will see, but I think NVIDIA will be still more better than AMD, they started with RT sooner.

Memory subsystem
We will see in tests if more expensive G6X memory/384bit bus or infinity cache and G6 memory/256bit bus is better or the same. But if infinity cache will be advantage, then it is plus for AMD, they can move to infinity cache and G6X memory if needed.

Hardware encoding
I like Turing NVENC. Using it very often to offload encoding from the CPU with low GC utilization and good and usually sufficient results for my needs. I think AMD don't plan to make hardware encoders. They have multi-core CPU already presented as CPU for content creators. Software encoding has similar or better results than NVENC. And multi-core processors from AMD is probably also reason why NVIDIA placed Turing NVENC on Ampere cards.

There will be games with AMD RT support on release date. AMD is using DX ray tracing, so every game that has that implemented will work. Games that have more Nvidia tailored RTX would probably need more work to get them to work.

G6X is not much faster than G6, but it is hotter and need more cooling. They don't need G6X, if they are currently matching it and it's cheaper to have a smaller bus with G6.

AMD has a hardware encoder in their GPU, but it uses standard formats and not a self-made one. They do have to increase support for it, if they want to be an alternative for streamers, but it is good enough for regular Joe.

#106

ValenOne

Chrispy_95% of the whole dGPU market is at sub-$300. Nothing AMD or Nvidia have announced in the last week is remotely relevant to market share.

Even Navi22 - presumably a 40CU and 36CU pair of cards somewhere in the $300-400 range might actually be of relevance to the marketshare numbers, but even then that's still in the realm of 'enthusiast'

PS5 has the mainstream RDNA 2 with 36 active CU with up to 2.23 Ghz clock speed. PS5 has the 40 CU RDNA 2 based design without the Infinity Cache.

NAVI 22 with 36 CU would be PC's equivalent to PS5.

#107

Easo

I was planning to upgrade my PC with Zen 3 and something from 3000 series, but this, this has made me think... Maybe GPU will actually be AMD again. Upgrade was planned for sometime next year anyway, so a perfect chance to see reviews and decide.
But hopes are up. Worst case - it is at least comparable to 3000 series, which is already good for AMD. They have crawled out of the pit.

#108

Rob94hawk

Show me reviews or GTFO.

#109

Unregistered

Well i can openly say this justifiably ... AMD have not had a single win against anyone at the moment ... tbeir products are large doses of salt .. as is their claims .. until such time as theyre made available for independent testing and purchase .. Claims of "we are faster than intel or nvidia" dont cut it if theyre comparing their products to those that are already in the marketplace, and until such time as theirs are available no claims made by AMD are validated.
Lets see how their products stack up in the real world .. I have purchased AMD products in the past and have been burned by the hype .. never again.
Excuse me if i have good reason to want to see how they perform outside of AMD's presentations or the hype which of recent years has closely been similar to Apple's Reality Distortion paradigm.
Arguing that theyre better failing independent testing is simply absurd as we have heard it from them many times before.

#110

Divide Overflow

Eagerly waiting for TPU to review these cards when they are released!
I see a CPU / GPU upgrade combo in my stocking for Christmas!

#111

Mike2Fr

Ok so the only difference between 6800xt and 6900xt is 8 Computer units.... Am I missing something?

It seems very light. For 350$. 45$ each computer units....Hopefully it will be way more overclockable than the 6800xt....

The fans will be bigger I guess... Do we know if AIB will produce 6900xt as well?

#112

dinmaster

Mike2FrOk so the only difference between 6800xt and 6900xt is 8 Computer units.... Am I missing something?

It seems very light. For 350$. 45$ each computer units....Hopefully it will be way more overclockable than the 6800xt....

The fans will be bigger I guess... Do we know if AIB will produce 6900xt as well?

rumored to be no

#113

ValenOne

Mike2FrOk so the only difference between 6800xt and 6900xt is 8 Computer units.... Am I missing something?

It seems very light. For 350$. 45$ each computer units....Hopefully it will be way more overclockable than the 6800xt....

The fans will be bigger I guess... Do we know if AIB will produce 6900xt as well?

It may be another case of Vega 56 OC that rivals stock Vega 64. I'm targeting RX 6800 XT AIB OC and RTX 3080 Ti for my two gaming PCs.

#114

Unregistered

I believe they indicated the 6900 would be an AMD exclusive .. which raises all sorts of concern if true .. given that their past exclusives have been shocking in comparison to AiB partner versions .. maybe they have concerns about their top end card .. so much so that they want to keep control of its functioning .. regardless of reason i cant see any valid argument as to why they wouldnt want AiB partners to extract every last drop from their products by making it available to them

#115

Caring1

Mike2FrOk so the only difference between 6800xt and 6900xt is 8 Computer units.... Am I missing something?

Yes, it's Compute units.

#116

RedelZaVedno

Given the 6800 pricing is $579, should we expect 36CU and 40CU Navi 22 (clocked at 2250Mhz) and priced $399/349 or even try to push to $449/399 again? That would mean 1080TI/2080 level of performance still costing the same amount as RX 5700(XT) did. Can this "rx 590" Deja Vu refresh really happen to us again?

#117

Mussels

Freshwater Moderator

dicktracyNo mention of DXR performance at all. For all we know, you flick that setting on in Cyberpunk 2077 and it'll drop down to 2060 performance LOL!

What uhh, what titles out there support AMD's ray tracing right now?

#118

Unregistered

I like gaming by maxing all available quality settings regardless of outright fps with the expectation that my experience will be fluent and as the game developer intended to highlight latest tech realism. AMD deliberately left out several important current tech .. or performance thereof .. that raises an eyebrow .. and theres no denying that. On paper they claim their card is fast under their best ideal conditions .. but even that claim is without validation by any 3rd party.

#119

Imsochobo

rvalenciaAccording to Digital Foundry, PS5's raytracing performance is similar to RTX 2060 Super.

according to DF they didn't really do an apple to apples comparison.

They took a guess.

#120

Caring1

birdieAnd I remember how I purchased the GeForce 8800 GT (basically the RTX 3080 in today's terms) for $250 which was close to the very top. Nowadays $250 is what? Lower end?

That's not how inflation works.
Average wages in the U.S. have risen 65% since the 8800GT's release, that would mean your $250 card would have to be priced around $412 to be on par.

#121

Unregistered

Yep .. aligning themselves to Apples reality distortion field ... lmao

Its real when it exists in real hands ... everything else is vapour .. we will know soon enough what the realities are

Well im old enough to know that back in the Geforce 2 days when Nvidias reign was threatened they released Detonator drivers which resulted in a 20-40 percent increase in performance .. the history is there for Nvidia ... sadly its never been there for AMD ... regardless of speculation AMD have never delivered strong driver performance increases .. you can deny reality until it bites you and ive been bitten by AMD's claims often .. thats why im sceptical until its independently tested.

#122

Caring1

Any Idea why the 6900XT and 6800XT are both listed as 300W cards, but the PSU recommendations differ?
The 6900XT shows a 850W recommendation while the 6800XT shows a 750W unit.

#123

Unregistered

With a 375 watt maximum its all academic .. i doubt theres much headroom for manual overclocking otherwise that would be the 1st thing AMD would be leading with .. and they didnt .. but thats not surprising given the dependencies they highlighted in their presentation

#124

ViperXTR

I plan to have the RTX 3070 but hello there RX 6800 :)

#125

Camm

BasilixAMD have never delivered strong driver performance increases

Are you on drugs? The 680, a card that beat the 7950 on launch, is generally trounced by the 7950 by 50%+.

Or the 5700XT, a card that when the 2070S launched was conclusively beaten by the 2070S, but now gets within spitting distance and beats the 2070S in some games.

AMD doesn't give driver performance my ass. There's a reason why the AMD fanbois cling to finewine(tm), as AMD cards to tend to get stronger over time.

Add your own comment

AMD Announces the Radeon RX 6000 Series: Performance that Restores Competitiveness

394 Comments on AMD Announces the Radeon RX 6000 Series: Performance that Restores Competitiveness

Latest GPU Drivers

New Forum Posts

Popular Reviews

Controversial News Posts

AMD Announces the Radeon RX 6000 Series: Performance that Restores Competitiveness

Related News

394 Comments on AMD Announces the Radeon RX 6000 Series: Performance that Restores Competitiveness

Latest GPU Drivers

New Forum Posts

Popular Reviews

Controversial News Posts