Wednesday, August 28th 2024
AMD RDNA 4 GPU Memory and Infinity Cache Configurations Surface
AMD's next generation RDNA 4 graphics architecture will see the company focus on the performance segment of the market. The company is rumored to not be making a successor to the enthusiast-segment "Navi 21" and "Navi 31" chips based on RDNA 4, and will instead focus on improving performance and efficiency in the most high-volume segments, just like the original RDNA-powered generation, the Radeon RX 5000 series. There are two chips in the new RDNA 4 generation that have hit the rumor mill, the "Navi 48" and the "Navi 44." The "Navi 48" is the faster of the two, powering the top SKUs in this generation, while the "Navi 44" is expected to be the mid-tier chip.
According to Kepler_L2, a reliable source with GPU leaks, and VideoCardz, which connected the tweet to the RDNA 4 generation, the top "Navi 48" silicon is expected to feature a 256-bit wide GDDR6 memory interface—so there's no upgrade to GDDR7. The top SKU based on this chip, the "Navi 48 XTX," will feature a memory speed of 20 Gbps, for 640 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The next-best SKU, codenamed "Navi 48 XT," will feature a slightly lower 18 Gbps memory speed at the same bus-width, for 576 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The "Navi 44" chip has a respectable 192-bit wide memory bus, and its top SKU will feature a 19 Gbps speed, for 456 GB/s of bandwidth on tap.
Another set of rumors from the same sources also point to the Infinity Cache sizes of these chips. "Navi 48" comes with 64 MB of it, which will be available on both the "Navi 48 XTX" and "Navi 48 XT," while the "Navi 44" silicon comes with 48 MB of it. We are hearing from multiple sources that the "Navi 4x" GPU family will stick to traditional monolithic silicon designs, and not venture out into chiplet disaggregation like the company did with the "Navi 31" and the "Navi 32."
Yet another set of rumors, these from Moore's Law is Dead, talk about how AMD's design focus with RDNA 4 will be to ace performance, performance-per-Watt, and performance cost of ray tracing, in the segments of the market that NVIDIA makes the most volumes in, if not the most margins in. MLID points to the likelihood of the ray tracing performance improvements riding on there being not one, but two ray accelerators per compute unit, with a greater degree of fixed-function acceleration for the ray tracing workflow (i.e. less of it will be delegated to the programmable shaders).
Sources:
Kepler_L2 (memory speeds), Wccftech, VideoCardz (memory speeds), Kepler_L2 (cache size), VideoCardz (cache size), Moore's Law is Dead (YouTube)
According to Kepler_L2, a reliable source with GPU leaks, and VideoCardz, which connected the tweet to the RDNA 4 generation, the top "Navi 48" silicon is expected to feature a 256-bit wide GDDR6 memory interface—so there's no upgrade to GDDR7. The top SKU based on this chip, the "Navi 48 XTX," will feature a memory speed of 20 Gbps, for 640 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The next-best SKU, codenamed "Navi 48 XT," will feature a slightly lower 18 Gbps memory speed at the same bus-width, for 576 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The "Navi 44" chip has a respectable 192-bit wide memory bus, and its top SKU will feature a 19 Gbps speed, for 456 GB/s of bandwidth on tap.
Yet another set of rumors, these from Moore's Law is Dead, talk about how AMD's design focus with RDNA 4 will be to ace performance, performance-per-Watt, and performance cost of ray tracing, in the segments of the market that NVIDIA makes the most volumes in, if not the most margins in. MLID points to the likelihood of the ray tracing performance improvements riding on there being not one, but two ray accelerators per compute unit, with a greater degree of fixed-function acceleration for the ray tracing workflow (i.e. less of it will be delegated to the programmable shaders).
104 Comments on AMD RDNA 4 GPU Memory and Infinity Cache Configurations Surface
These leakers were saying RDNA3 has a bug because the performance wasn't as expected during launch. But fast forward to today and it brings a significant uplift over their previous flagship even after taking a performance hit by going MCM. There's no bug that magically reduces it's performance by 20%, it is what it is. Even going by transistor count, it's competitive with the RTX4080.
Also, many silicon have bugs but they're just not stated as generally the performance penalty is inconsequential. Zen 4 had one, Zen 5 has one too. I believe a geforce 1xxx and 2xxx had a couple as well. But does it matter? Nope.
I provided a link where you can see many of the lower level changes in RDNA4 and some are pretty significant. It might not target the highest end but that doesn't mean it can't possibly be a good GPU. None of these seem like a 'bugfix' but pretty fundamental architectural changes. That's why I keep telling you to read it instead of the leaks but you are literally repeatedly stating that leak as fact. It's not.
RDNA4 will be competing with 4070 and 4060 series, in raster-only that is. Sadly for AMD, 5070 and 5060 launches like a few months later.
I provided links, explanations and some guidance to you underlining some changes in RDNA4 which aren't bugfixes like you keep stating. Yet you keep repeating leakers and state your own opinions like a broken record. Just note that when you're stating your own opinion, mention it as much. Because your opinions aren't facts.
I can't stop laughing when people think best RDNA4 will deliver 7900XT performance at 200 watts. RDNA4 is monolithic and core count will be massively lower. Its all about performance per dollar and regaining marketshare but won't happen unless AMD does very very aggressive pricing, because drivers, support and features are just not on par with Nvidia. 99% of gamers won't bother to save 50-100 bucks buying a GPU that uses more power, has worse features and lower resell price. The money you "save" - are lost eventually.
Do I hope RDNA4 will be a succces? Yes. We need a second player. It's not going to be an impressive release by any means tho. It's all about regaining marketshare and they will not come anywhere close to current high-end cards with RDNA4, 7900XTX and 7900XT will continue to be faster and best RDNA4 will probably end up around 4070/7900GRE.