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

[btarunr]

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.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Metroid]

AMD wants margin, reason only 6800/6900 will be launched, amd wants to capitalize on the $600 gpus first then 6700 and so on around $400. AMD still have some rx 5700 to be sold at $400 anyway, amd not keen to cannibalize its rx 5700 even though is eol. Aside from this, I want to know more about infinity cache, that has given amd a huge boost to ryzen 5xxx series and now big navi aka 6xxx series.

 

[dicktracy]

No 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!

 

[AusWolf]

AMD wants margin, reason only 6800/6900 will be launched, amd wants to capitalize on the $600 gpus first then 6700 and so on around $400. AMD still have some rx 5700 to be sold at $400 anyway, amd not keen to cannibalize its rx 5700 even though is eol. Aside from this, I want to know more about infinity cache, that has given amd a huge boost to ryzen 5xxx series and now big navi.

Yeah, AMD is pure evil because they want to make money. Hey wait... does that make every other company evil too?

Come on guys, these new gpus aren't even out yet, and you're already being negative about them. Is it really that hard to be happy that nvidia might end up having real competition again? (Regardless of personal preference)

 

[SKD007]

3090 performance for 999$ is awesome

 

[Chrispy_]

They're matching Nvidia's pricing but not moving the performance/$ forward for anyone against their own product stack; These 6800 and 6900 cards aren't supposed to supplant the 5700-series, they're complementing them at similar performance/$.

The real question is when will AMD release the 6700 series that match the next-gen consoles and bring AMD raytracing/DXR to the mainstream market? We can enjoy reading about flagships but honestly even among TPU readers the number of us running GPUs north of $500 is a pretty small minority.

 

[Metroid]

Yeah, AMD is pure evil because they want to make money. Hey wait... does that make every other company evil too?

Come on guys, these new gpus aren't even out yet, and you're already being negative about them. Is it really that hard to be happy that nvidia might end up having real competition again? (Regardless of personal preference)

I'm not being negative at all, that is a business practice, nvidia has done and do a lot of that too. People need to understand that AMD is here to make money, they will not sell something better for much less than the competition. If people think AMD would come out at top of performance segment and be 50% cheaper than Nvidia then they lost their minds. This shows exactly what is all about, at the end of the day, profit margin matters, especially if you have almost called bankruptcy few years ago.

I'm not surprised about AMD pricing at all, they have seen scalpers and people creating lines to buy the rtx 3080, scalpers sold rtx 3080 for thousands of dollars and the timing is impeccable for AMD. People have not being spending their money on things like used to do due to covid19, so they have money and nothing to do with it, so upgrading computers parts and gaming is very attractive at moment. I'm surprised AMD have not asked for more money hehe because at moment people have more money than sense in order to buy a gpu and we have seen it with the rtx 3080.

 

[Chrispy_]

No 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!

3DMark Port Royal leaks published by Igor's Lab put the 6800XT at 2080Ti levels of raytracing performance, so a bit behind Ampere but not enough that it's going to be a deal-breaker. You've also got to remember that Port Royal was made with Nvidia's help specifically for the RTX architecture, so you can't even read too much into that leak, other than assuming it's a worst-case scenario for AMD and DXR.

 

[rhaoul]

Yeah, AMD is pure evil because they want to make money. Hey wait... does that make every other company evil too?

Come on guys, these new gpus aren't even out yet, and you're already being negative about them. Is it really that hard to be happy that nvidia might end up having real competition again? (Regardless of personal preference)

There's a difference between the necessity for a company to make money and profit excessively from a situation like this: poor competition. It's a tacit agreement.

 

[SKD007]

Tho it looks very promising and great, if 3080 is better with RT enabled game FPS, I will go with 3080. I need RT no matter what others say.. I love RT effect and I need it badly.. been waiting for a while to upgrade my crappy Vega64 :/

 

[Turmania]

Shadowlands is out November 10th? Don't think so...

 

[rhaoul]

I'm surprised AMD have not asked for more money hehe because at moment people have more money than sense in order to buy a gpu and we have seen it with the rtx 3080.

Is this a bad joke ?

 

[Zubasa]

Shadowlands is out November 10th? Don't think so...

The pre-expansion patch is already out, and it does support ray-traced shadows. It is barely noticeable in game.

 

[spnidel]

No 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!

moving the goalposts like the cute little shill that you are lmao

 

[Metroid]

Is this a bad joke ?

It calls reality, lots of people paid thousands of dollars for the rtx 3080 and 3090 on ebay, there will always be people with more money than sense, those people buy bottles of wines for thousands of dollars, pay 5k for a 100 dollar ticket for the privilege to stay in the first row of an event, need to accept it and move on ehhe

 

[ZoneDymo]

performance is good, price not so much, sigh.

like take the RX6800, beats the 2080ti so it will be a bit faster then an RTX3070, but it also costs 580 dollars vs 500 dollar for the RTX3070, so not really a clear winner in the "What to buy" discussion.

 

[GhostRyder]

A lot of interesting pieces in the announcements today. They have many new techs that sound interesting but will be more interesting in how (And if) they are implemented in a wide array of games.

I think the most interesting part though was the 6900XT. I honestly thought it was just a rumor and not actually something that exists (At least that was coming out this soon). That has me intrigued.

 

[Ashtr1x]

They really caught up very fast in Raster technology vs Nvidia, they didn't had an answer for the 1080Ti for a long time, and now they beat 2080Ti so quick. The perf/watt is also good but the big problem is Ray Tracing HW/SW stack and the DLSS/AI, they did mention Super Resolution. But not sure how they are going to do it. Along with the existing pool of RT games, like for eg want to see Metro Exodus RT performance.

Nvidia is definitely going to refresh their HW, I'm expecting Ti / SUPER revisions of 3080 and 3070. They still hold that Ray Tracing upper hand along with G6X memory, it all boils down to price and availability AND Drivers. Also the NVENC too. A shame that AMD is not even saying anything on CFX, with Nvidia killing SLI on their side I think this was expected..still a 3090 gets NVLink to have some points.

On a sidenote, with 6800 having 60CUs competing against a 2080Ti, the clock speed is at 1.8GHz and so the 52CUs Xbox is going to be really fast by the performance estimates then... PS5 probably will be a touch slower even with it's 2.2GHz clocks as we can compare the 6800XT's 2GHz base of 70CUs and 32CUs on PS5. Damn.

 

[birdie]

I'm waiting for reviews and AMD kinda skimped on RTRT performance figures: "we have it, great, but we won't show the numbers". Perhaps as predicted, RDNA 2.0 cards have a great rasterization performance but not so much RTRT performance. Still, it's really great the we finally have competition at high end graphics for the first time in many many years. Also, AMD hasn't mentioned any DLSS alternative which further casts doubt into their RTRT performance. It surely looks like NVIDIA will remain the king of RTRT enabled games whose number is only going to go up now that both consoles support RTRT.

And lastly, let me calm down everyone's excitement here: absolute most people out there won't buy any of RTX 3070/3080/3090 RX 6800(XT)/6900 XT cards: they are all priced very high.

I'm waiting for midrange products where we'll see these vendors' true colors: RTX 3050/3060(Ti), RX 6500/6600. It's what really matters. Cards for the rich Europeans and Americans - no so much. Again, the real money and the real market are below $300 for a GPU. We haven't yet seen anything from either AMD or NVIDIA in this regard.

 

[Cheeseball]

It calls reality, lots of people paid thousands of dollars for the rtx 3080 and 3090 on ebay, there will always be people with more money than sense, those people buy bottles of wines for thousands of dollars, pay 5k for a 100 dollar ticket for the privilege to stay in the first row of an event, need to accept it and move on ehhe

Yeah it's sad that scalping is happening. I'm lucky to be living in the US (I'm laughing at this statement, I know) and to be able to reserve a spot on EVGA.com to get my RTX 3080 at MSRP ($810.00 + sales tax + shipping). I definitely would have not bought the RTX 3080 at $900, $1000 or whatever high prices are going on now.

 

[Fluffmeister]

performance is good, price not so much, sigh.

like take the RX6800, beats the 2080ti so it will be a bit faster then an RTX3070, but it also costs 580 dollars vs 500 dollar for the RTX3070, so not really a clear winner in the "What to buy" discussion.

Yeah they are okay in many ways but ultimately nothing really changes the market much, it's great that they have undercut the 3090 by $500, but we are talking $1000 smackers here, and Nv doesn't care because their 3090's are sold before they hit the shelves anyway.

Meh, I need a CPU anyway.

 

[AusWolf]

There's a difference between the necessity for a company to make money and profit excessively from a situation like this: poor competition. It's a tacit agreement.

It's been nvidia that haven't had real competition for years. Now that AMD is (or seems to be) catching up, it's only natural that they're matching prices. Like it's been said: you can't expect them to match performance and sell at half price.

 

[mak1skav]

Prices should be lower I think. Maybe they have quite a good stock and want to take advantage that NVIDIA can't produce then new 3xxx series fast enough and then get their prices lower when the production from NVIDIA is up again.

 

[milewski1015]

Shadowlands is out November 10th? Don't think so...

Nov 10th is the release date for the Shadowlands feature video on AMD's website

 

[AusWolf]

I'm waiting for reviews and AMD kinda skimped on RTRT performance figures: "we have it, great, but we won't show the numbers". Perhaps as predicted, RDNA 2.0 cards have a great rasterization performance but not so much RTRT performance. Still, it's really great the we finally have competition at high end graphics for the first time in many many years. Also, AMD hasn't mentioned any DLSS alternative which further casts doubt into their RTRT performance. It surely looks like NVIDIA will remain the king of RTRT enabled games whose number is only going to go up now that both consoles support RTRT.

And lastly, let me calm down everyone's excitement here: absolute most people out there won't buy any of RTX 3070/3080/3090 RX 6800(XT)/6900 XT cards: they are all priced very high.

I'm waiting for midrange products where we'll see these vendors' true colors: RTX 3050/3060(Ti), RX 6500/6600. It's what really matters. Cards for the rich Europeans and Americans - no so much. Again, the real money and the real market are below $300 for a GPU. We haven't yet seen anything from either AMD or NVIDIA in this regard.

I'm not so much into DLSS, but I agree on the RT part. Would have been nice to see numbers on that front too.

To be honest, I've been planning on getting a 6900 XT because I thought it would be a 3070/3080 competitor. Seeing that it's more than that is great, but I'm not willing to pay a thousand bucks for a graphics card. Maybe I'll go for a 6700 or 6800 XT which will be more than enough for 1080p anyway. We'll see when the reviews (and the 3060) come.