AMD is rumored to be withdrawing from the enthusiast graphics segment with its next RDNA4 graphics architecture. This means there won't be a successor to its "Navi 31" silicon that competes at the high-end with NVIDIA; but rather one that competes in the performance segment and below. It's possible AMD isn't able to justify the cost of developing high-end GPUs to push enough volumes over the product lifecycle. The company's "Navi 21" GPU benefited from the crypto-currency mining swell, but just like with NVIDIA, the company isn't able to push enough GPUs at the high-end.

With RDNA4, the company will focus on specific segments of the market that sell the most, which would be the x700-series and below. This generation will be essentially similar to the RX 5000 series powered by RDNA1, which did enough to stir things up in NVIDIA's lineup, and trigger the introduction of the RTX 20 SUPER series. The next generation could see RDNA4 square off against NVIDIA's next-generation, and hopefully, Intel's Arc "Battlemage" family.

The GPU at the heart of the China-exclusive AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (Golden Rabbit Edition) sparked much curiosity. It is a physically different GPU from the one found in desktop Radeon RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX graphics cards. AMD wouldn't go through all that effort designing a whole different GPU just for a limited edition graphics card, which means this silicon could find greater use for the company—for example, this could be the package AMD uses for its upcoming mobile RX 7900 series. AMD wouldn't go through all the effort designing a first-party MBA (made by AMD) PCB for the silicon just for the RX 7900 GRE, and so this PCB, with this particular version of the "Navi 31" silicon, could see a wider global launch, probably as the rumored Radeon RX 7800 XT, or something else (although with a different set of specs from the RX 7900 GRE).

We compared the sizes of the new "Navi 31" package found in the RX 7900 GRE, with those of the regular "Navi 31" powering the RX 7900 XT/XTX, the previous-generation "Navi 21" powering the RX 6900 XT, and the NVIDIA AD103 silicon powering the desktop GeForce RTX 4080. There are some interesting findings. The new smaller "Navi 31" package is visibly smaller than the one powering the RX 7900 XT/XTX. It is a square package, compared to the larger rectangular one, and has a significantly thinner metal reinforcement brace. What's interesting is that the 5 nm GCD is still surrounded by six 6 nm MCDs. We don't know if they've disabled two of the six MCDs, or whether they're dummies. AMD uses dummy chiplets as structural reinforcement in some of its EPYC server processors. The dummies spread some of the mounting pressure applied by the IHS or cooling solution, so the logic behind surrounding the GCD with six of these MCDs could be the same.

GIGABYTE gave its previous-generation Radeon RX 6000 graphics card series an unexpected revision even as the new RX 7000 series is out. The company released the Radeon RX 6800 XT Gaming OC Pro, a new graphics card model in the company's main GIGABYTE Gaming brand, positioned a notch below the AORUS Gaming series. The new Gaming OC Pro features a significantly larger cooler than the original RX 6800 XT Gaming OC, measuring at least 33 cm in length, up from roughly 29 cm for the original RX 6800 XT Gaming OC. It's also significantly taller, by at least 1.5 cm.

It turns out that GIGABYTE is sitting on plenty of cooling solutions it originally ordered from its suppliers for the Radeon RX 6950 XT Gaming OC, and is now reusing them for other SKUs based on the same "Navi 21" GPU, such as the RX 6800 XT. The company is also reusing the same PCB. Selling for around $550-650, the RX 6800 XT remains a formidable 1440p gaming graphics card for classic raster 3D graphics, although its ray tracing performance is closer to those of mid-range GeForce RTX 30-series models, such as the RTX 3060 Ti. A reuse of the RX 6950 XT board design means that the new RX 6800 XT Gaming OC Pro has three 8-pin power inputs instead of two on the original RX 6800 XT Gaming OC.

AMD, in its technical presentation for the new Radeon RX 7900 series "Navi 31" GPU, gave us an elaborate explanation on why it had to take the chiplets route for high-end GPUs, devices that are far more complex than CPUs. The company also enlightened us on what sets chiplet-based packages apart from classic multi-chip modules (MCMs). An MCM is a package that consists of multiple independent devices sharing a fiberglass substrate.

An example of an MCM would be a mobile Intel Core processor, in which the CPU die and the PCH die share a substrate. Here, the CPU and the PCH are independent pieces of silicon that can otherwise exist on their own packages (as they do on the desktop platform), but have been paired together on a single substrate to minimize PCB footprint, which is precious on a mobile platform. A chiplet-based device is one where a substrate is made up of multiple dies that cannot otherwise independently exist on their own packages without an impact on inter-die bandwidth or latency. They are essentially what should have been components on a monolithic die, but disintegrated into separate dies built on different semiconductor foundry nodes, with a purely cost-driven motive.

XFX formally launched the Radeon RX 6900 XT Speedster ZERO WB, a graphics card it teased last month. The company's new flagship product, the Speedster ZERO WB is a graphics card with a factory-fitted full-coverage water-block, for those with DIY liquid-cooling setups. It appears to be based on an all new PCB with a more tuned-up 14+2 phase VRM setup than that of the air-cooled RX 6900 XT Speedster MERC 319, which pulls power from a trio of 8-pin PCIe power connectors.

Under the hood is a 7 nm "Navi 21" XTXH silicon, which is able to sustain 10% higher engine clocks than the standard "Navi 21," and XFX claims that it has unlocked overdrive slider limit (the de facto maximum overclock), beyond 3 GHz. Out of the box, the card comes with a maximum boost frequency of 2525 MHz, compared to 2250 MHz AMD-reference. The water block came about from a collaboration with EK Water Blocks, and combines a nickel-plated copper primary material with a slightly frosted acrylic top that's studded with addressable RGB LEDs. XFX didn't reveal pricing.

XFX put out a teaser picture of its upcoming Radeon RX 6900 XT Speedster Zero WB graphics card. Targeted at those with DIY liquid-cooling setups, the card comes with a factory-fitted full-coverage water-block. Sourced from EK Water Blocks, the solution appears to combine nickel-plated copper with an acrylic top that's studded with RGB lighting elements. This is combined with a metal backplate. The card appears to debut a new PCB not found on the air-cooled Speedster Merc 319 series cards. This board comes with three 8-pin PCIe power inputs, and likely a more robust power delivery setup. In all likelihood, the card features the "XTXH" variant of the Navi 21 silicon, designed to sustain 10% higher engine clocks than regular RX 6900 XT cards.

AMD's 7 nm "Navi 21" silicon powers the company's Radeon RX 6800 series and flagship RX 6900 XT graphics cards. It's a big chip, competitive with NVIDIA's fastest GeForce RTX 30-series products, and AMD set 16 GB as the standard memory amount for all products based on this chip, despite its 256-bit wide GDDR6 memory interface. Komachi Ensaka spotted a curious-looking Navi 21 product with 8 GB of memory, on the UserBenchmark database. The card is slower than the desktop RX 6800, but found trading blows with the RX 6700 XT. Speculation is rife as to what it could be.

The most plausible theory is that it could be a prototype, with its user testing out UserBenchmark. The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti has a shaky performance equation with the similarly-priced RX 6800, and any attempt to close the gap between the RX 6700 XT and the RX 6800 would cannibalize the latter, unless that's exactly what AMD wants—a product competitive with the RTX 3070 Ti, but with a leaner bill of materials than the RX 6800 on account of the 8 GB memory.

PowerColor's website has begun showing what is very likely the made-by-AMD (reference design) Radeon RX 6900 XT LC graphics card, as discovered by momomo_us. It bears the PowerColor SKU "AXRX 6900XT 16GBD6-MW2DHC," compared to the air-cooled reference version's SKU of "AXRX 6900XT 16GBD6-M2DHC." The webpage doesn't include any pictures. Some of the oldest leaks of the reference RX 6900 XT LC also pointed to a Sapphire branded card, which means a retail launch through AIB partners cannot be ruled out; as an SI or OEM-only launch would be handled by AMD, without involving AIBs.

The Radeon RX 6900 XT LC features a factory-fitted all-in-one liquid cooling solution, and possibly the new "XTXH" variant of the "Navi 21" silicon, which is able to sustain up to 10% higher engine clocks than the stock RX 6900 XT. AMD has reportedly gone a step further, and also given the LC version 15% faster memory, running at 18.48 Gbps data-rate, and so its performance could be very interesting to see. Some early testing is already out.

To preempt NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3080 Ti launch, AMD had worked with its partners to release a refreshed Radeon RX 6900 XT based on a swanky new ASIC internally dubbed "XTXH." This is essentially the highest bin of the "Navi 21" silicon that allows 10% higher clock speeds over the standard RX 6900 XT. Our testing of one such card, the ASRock RX 6900 XT OC Formula, showed that the XTXH is able to trade blows with the RTX 3090, making it competitive with the RTX 3080 Ti. Interestingly, there seemed to lack a reference design "made by AMD" card based on this silicon. Turns out, AMD had other plans. This card was earlier believed to be the "Radeon RX 6900 XTX," when it was first leaked in April, but turns out, that AMD is allowing partners to simply call this the RX 6900 XT.

The reference design card uses a liquid-cooled design. The card itself is two slots thick, and about the size of the reference Radeon RX 6800, but two coolant tubes emerge from its top, which head to a 120 mm x 120 mm radiator. This is a purely liquid-cooled card, with no secondary air-based cooling, like the ASUS ROG Strix LC RX 6900 XT. The only sources of noise are the AIO pump-block, and the single included 120 mm fan. Besides 10% higher GPU clocks, the reference design card has an ace in the hole that custom-design XTXH cards lack—faster memory.

AMD has recently published a short video teasing the launch of their upcoming Radeon Pro W6800 and W6600 graphics cards. The short video gives us a view of the GPU shroud design and the inclusion of six Mini DisplayPort connectors which are standard features of the Radeon Pro series and lineup with leaks for the W6800. The campaign email sent by AMD also confirms these suspicions as the URL reads "consumer-radeon-pro-w6800-w6600-pre-announce", the two new graphics cards are expected to feature the 7 nm Navi 21 GPU also found in the RX 6800, 6800 XT, and RX 6900 XT.

ASUS today updated its flagship AMD Radeon RX 6000 series graphics card lineup with the new ROG Strix LC Radeon RX 6900 XT TOP T16G. This card is visually identical to the ROG Strix LC RX 6900 XT O16G the company launched last December, but with a handful updates. The biggest of these is the new "Navi 21 XTXH" silicon, the highest bin of AMD's top RDNA2 chip, which enables at least 10% higher clock-speeds than the standard RX 6900 XT. ASUS has tuned this up further, with a max boost frequency of a stunning 2525 MHz, compared to 2365 MHz on the original (O16G). The game clocks have been increased to 2375 MHz, compared to 2135 MHz on the O16G. Notice how the game clocks of the new T16G are higher than the max boost clocks of the original O16G? That's the magic of the new XTXH silicon.

These apart, the company hasn't made any changes to the visual design. A liquid+air hybrid cooling solution dominates the product. The AIO liquid closed-loop cooling solution pulls heat from the GPU and surrounding memory chips, while a base-plate and a chunky back-plate pull heat from the other components, which is ventilated by a lateral blower. The AIO is cooled by a 240 mm x 120 mm radiator. The card continues to pull power from a combination of three 8-pin PCIe power connectors. The company didn't reveal pricing, but it's very likely to be close to 2 grand.

AMD's upcoming professional graphics card based on the 7 nm "Navi 21" silicon, the Radeon Pro W6800, will feature 32 GB of GDDR6 memory, according to a new leaked validation on the Userbenchmark database. The card was pictured and detailed in an older article that you can read here. It's likely that AMD achieved 32 GB over the chip's 256-bit wide memory bus using sixteen 16 Gbit memory chips, with two chips piggy-backed per 32-bit path. The picture leak from April also reveals a heatspreader over the reverse side of the otherwise bare PCB that points to the likelihood of memory chips being located there. On the client-segment Radeon RX 6800 XT, 16 GB is achieved using eight 16 Gbit chips, all of which are located on the obverse side. The exact specifications of the Pro W6800 remain unknown, but is expected to be comparable to the RX 6800 series.

GIGABYTE is joining the new wave of enthusiast-segment custom-design AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics cards that leverage the updated "Navi 21-XTXH" silicon that supports 10% higher clock-speeds. The company is ready with the RX 6900 XT AORUS Xtreme WaterForce WB, its first AMD Radeon graphics card to get its AORUS Xtreme brand-extension (it capped out at AORUS Master for RX 6000 series cards until now). As its name might suggest, the card comes with a factory-fitted full-coverage water-block, and is targeted at those with DIY liquid cooling setups.

The water block uses nickel-plated copper as its primary material, with an acrylic top that's further capped off with poly-vinyl film. The top is studded with addressable RGB LEDs that you control with RGB Fusion 2.0 software. As an AORUS Xtreme product, the card is also likely to receive GIGABYTE's innovative coolant leak detection feature. The company didn't reveal clock speeds, but it's likely to be in the same league as other XTXH cards, such as the Toxic Extreme Edition, OC Formula, Liquid Devil Ultimate, etc. There's no word on when this launches.

AMD's recently released Radeon Software Adrenalin 21.4.1 WHQL drivers lower non-gaming power consumption, our testing finds. AMD did not mention these reductions in the changelog of its new driver release. We did a round of testing, comparing the previous 21.3.2 drivers, with 21.4.1, using Radeon RX 6000 series SKUs, namely the RX 6700 XT, RX 6800, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6900 XT. Our results show significant power-consumption improvements in certain non-gaming scenarios, such as system idle and media playback.

The Radeon RX 6700 XT shows no idle power draw reduction; but the RX 6800, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6900 XT posted big drops in idle power consumption, at 1440p, going down from 25 W to 5 W (down by about 72%). There are no changes with multi-monitor. Media playback power draw sees up to 30% lower power consumption for the RX 6800, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6900 XT. This is a huge improvement for builders of media PC systems, as not only power is affected, but heat and noise, too.

Recently, Apple has updated its macOS operating system to support the next generation of GPUs for Mac devices, coming from AMD. The upcoming RDNA 2 GPU lineup in Macs will bring all the enhancements AMD made to the architecture, and pack it inside Apple's signature designs. Today, we have received information that Apple could refresh its Mac Pro lineup with AMD's Radeon Pro GPU based on RDNA 2 architecture. On Geekbench 5, there was a test run that was conducted on Apple Mac Pro "7.1" revision, that features not only Intel Cascade Lake-X processor but AMD's unreleased Radeon Pro W6900X graphics card designed for professional users.

While we don't know much about the exact specifications, we know that it features a Navi 21 GPU SKU. Judging by the naming scheme, the Radeon Pro W6900X is representing an Apple-exclusive GPU variant designed only for Mac Pro devices. A Chiphell leak has given us a sneak peek at the alleged card look, which you can see below. When it comes to performance, the Geekbench result measures Metal API performance and the Radeon Pro W6900X has managed to score 171448 points, which is even higher than the Radeon RX 6900 XT GPU, which tops out at 164294 points. Of course, this is representing a professional SKU, so there could be some tuning present as well.

AMD is in constant progress with its Radeon graphics card lineup and the company is always working on new models that will better suit the market. Today, we have interesting discovery. On Weibo, a Chinese microblogging website, a user has posted pictures of what appears to be an engineering sample of AMD's Radeon RX 6900 XTX graphics card variant. Having an all-in-one (AIO) water-cooled design with a 120 mm radiator, the card resembles a power-hungry design as we have seen with Radeon R9 Fury X and RX Vega 64 Liquid Edition, which were both graphics cards equipped with AIO water cooling. This engineering sample is no different.

Under the waterblock, there is a Navi 21 XTXH GPU SKU hidden. As we found out, this is a new Navi 21 XTX SKU that just features better binning compared to Navi 21 XTX, and thus it offers better overclocking potential. It is already present in three new models from various AIBs, like the PowerColor RX 6900 XT Liquid Devil Ultimate, ASRock RX 6900 XT OC Formula, and Sapphire RX 6900 XT Toxic Extreme graphics cards. It seems like AMD has prepared itself to launch this specific SKU in a reference design form, however, so far only AIBs have used the Navi 21 XTXH SKU. It is not yet clear if the Radeon RX 6900 XTX is ever going to hit the retail market, or it shall remain as it is - just an engineering sample.

PowerColor quietly launched the Radeon RX 6900 XT Red Devil Ultimate graphics card. Not to be confused with the RX 6900 XT Red Devil Limited Edition, which is essentially an RX 6900 XT Red Devil with a few more accessories in the box; the new Red Devil Ultimate ships with higher factory-overclocked speeds. The default "OC" BIOS runs the card at 2235 MHz game clocks and 2425 MHz max boost frequency; compared to 2105 MHz game and 2340 MHz max boost frequency on the standard RX 6900 XT Red Devil. The silent BIOS of the Red Devil Ultimate runs it at 2135/2335 MHz, which is the same as the "OC" BIOS on the standard Red Devil.

HotHardware, which reviewed the card, reports that the Radeon RX 6900 XT Red Devil Ultimate is based on a higher bin of the "Navi 21" silicon. Our own sources tell us that this card is part of a new wave of RX 6900 XT custom-design graphics cards that AMD partners will be launching in the coming days, based on higher bins of the silicon, enabling both higher clocks on the tin, and better boost frequency sustainability.

Update 17:26 UTC: The Red Devil Ultimate is based on AMD's new Navi 21 XTXH GPU, which has the device ID 0x73AF, whereas all existing Navi 21 variants are 0x73BF. There's claims that XTXH is a special bin with better OC potential, lower leakage, etc. Whether that is true is unknown at this time, it's also unknown whether these cards come with truly increased OC adjustment limits in Wattman, or whether a special BIOS/driver is necessary. Next GPU-Z release will add proper detection for Navi 21 XTXH.

When AMD introduced RDNA 2 architecture and higher-end Navi 21 GPU SKUs, it was only a matter of time before the company launches these GPUs inside professional-grade graphics cards. Today, thanks to the Chiphell forums, we have pictures and some specifications of AMD's upcoming Radeon Pro workstation graphics card. Pictured below is a new RDNA 2 based design that features AMD's Navi 21 GLXL GPU SKU. The new GLXL GPU SKU is supposed to be rather similar to the Navi 21 XL GPU found inside AMD's Radeon RX 6800 XT graphics card, judging by the number and arrangement of capacitors on the back of the card.

When it comes to memory, the upcoming Radeon Pro workstation card is featuring 16 GB of VRAM, likely a variant of GDDR6 found on gaming-oriented graphics cards from RDNA 2 generation. When it comes to cooler design, the Radeon Pro graphics card has a blower-type cooler helping tame the Navi 21 GLXL GPU. Given that blower-type coolers are suitable for situations with less airflow, the TDP of this card could be around or under 250 Watts. You can take a look at the card below, however, do note that it is an engineering sample and the final product can look a bit different.

AMD has revealed the Infinity Cache size for the upcoming Navi 23 GPU, as well as its absence in the next-generation Van Gogh APU, which features Zen 2 cores and an RDNA GPU. The reveal comes via a new patch done by AMD to the AMKFD, a Linux kernel HSA driver for AMD APUs. The patch file doesn't list Infinity Cache per se, but does clarify the last-level cache for AMD's GPUs - L3, which is essentially the same.

The patch reveals L3 size for Sienna Cichlid (Navi 21), Navy Flounder (Navi 22), and Dimgrey Cavefish (Navi 23). Navi 21 features 128*1024 (128 MB) of Infinity Cache, the just-released Navi 22 has 96 MB, as we know, and according to the file, Navi 23 is bound to feature 32 MB of it. Considering that Van Gogh lacks an infinity Cache, it would seem that it's making use of previous-gen Navi graphics, and won't leverage RDNA2, of which the Infinity Cache is a big part of. It remains to be seen if Van Gogh will materialize in an APU product lineup or if it's a specific part for a customer. It also remains to be seen which RX product will Navi 23 power - if an AMD RX 66000 series, or 6500 series.

AMD is slowly preparing to launch its next-generation of mid-range graphics cards based on the RDNA 2 architecture. Following the launch of Navi 21 GPU SKUs, next in line comes the slower Navi 22 variant with fewer compute units (CU). Envisioned to compete against NVIDIA's GA104 and GA106 GPU SKUs, the Navi 22 based GPU is targeting 1440p gamers mainly. Today, thanks to Andreas Schilling from the German website HardwareLuxx, we got a few pieces of information regarding AMD's upcoming Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics card. The source is claiming that we are getting this card sometime in the first half of this year, with the possibility to get it in Q1.

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics card is designed for 1440p gaming as mentioned, and its VRAM configuration is interesting. It features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory, which is more than enough for the types of workloads this card is meant for. The memory communicates using 192-bit bus. The Navi 22 GPU is configured for 40 CUs in total, with 2560 cores maximum. The Radeon RX 6700 XT features the Navi 22 XT variant with the fully enabled die, while its smaller brother Radeon RX 6700 is featuring Navi 22 XL die that has possibly fewer CUs and smaller TDP. The pricing of the upcoming cards is unknown.

AMD is about to enter the world of chiplets with its upcoming GPUs, just like it has been doing so with the Zen generation of processors. Having launched a Radeon RX 6000 series lineup based on Navi 21 and Navi 22, the company is seemingly not stopping there. To remain competitive, it needs to be in the constant process of innovation and development, which is reportedly true once again. According to the current rumors, AMD is working on an RDNA 3 GPU design based on chiplets. The chiplet design is supposed to feature two 80 Compute Unit (CU) dies, just like the ones found inside the Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics card.

Having two 80 CU dies would bring the total core number to exactly 10240 cores (two times 5120 cores on Navi 21 die). Combined with the RDNA 3 architecture, which brings better perf-per-watt compared to the last generation uArch, Navi 31 GPU is going to be a compute monster. It isn't exactly clear whatever we are supposed to get this graphics card, however, it may be coming at the end of this year or the beginning of the following year 2022.

AMD may be finding itself riding a new wave of success caused by its accomplishments with the Zen architecture, which in turn bolstered its available R&D for its graphics division and thus turned the entire AMD business on its head. However, success comes at a cost, particularly when you don't own your own fabs and have to vie for capacity with TSMC against its cadre of other clients. I imagine that currently, AMD's HQ has a direct system of levers and pulleys that manage its chip allocation with TSMC: pull this lever and increase number of 7 nm SOC for the next-generation consoles; another controls Ryzen 5000 series; and so on and so on. As we know, production capacity on TSMC's 7 nm is through the roof, and AMD is finding it hard to ship enough of its Zen 3 CPUs and RDNA2 graphics cards. The reported delay for the AMD RX 6700 series may well be a result of AMD overextending its product portfolio on the 7 nm process with foundry partner TSMC.

A report coming from Cowcotland now points towards a 1Q2021 release for AMD's high-performance RX 6700 series, which was initially poised to see the light of day in the current month of January. The RX 6700 series will ship with AMD's Navi 22 chip, which is estimated to be half of the full Navi 21 chip (which puts it at a top configuration of 2560 Stream Processors over 40 CUs). These cards are expected to ship with 12 GB of GDDR6 memory over a 192-bit memory bus. However, it seems that AMD may have delayed the launch for these graphics cards. One can imagine that this move from AMD happens so as to not further dilute the TSMC wafers coming out of the factory, limited as they are, between yet another chip. One which will undoubtedly have lower margins than the company's Zen 3 CPUs, EPYC CPUs, RX 6800 and RX 6900, and that doesn't have the same level of impact on its business relations as console-bound SoCs. Besides, it likely serves AMD best to put out enough of its currently-launched products' to sate demand (RX 6000 series, Ryzen 5000, cof cof) than to launch yet another product with likely too limited availability in relation to the existing demand.

AMD has recently launched its Radeon "Big Navi" 6000 series of graphics cards, making entry to the high-end market and positioning itself well against the competition. The "Big Navi" graphics cards are based on Navi 21 XL (Radeon RX 6800), Navi 21 XT (Radeon RX 6800 XT), and Navi 21 XTX (Radeon RX 6900 XT) GPU revision, each of which features a different number of Shaders/TMUs/ROPs. The highest-end Navi 21 XTX is the highest performance revision featuring 80 Compute Units with 5120 cores. However, it seems like AMD is preparing another similar silicon called Navi 21 XTXH. Currently, it is unknown what the additional "H" means. It could indicate an upgraded version with more CUs, or perhaps a bit cut down configuration. It is unclear where such a GPU would fit in the lineup or is it just an engineering sample that is never making it to the market. It could represent a potential response from AMD to NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics card, however, that is just speculation. Other options suggest that such a GPU would be a part of mainstream notebook lineup, just like Renoir comes in the "H" variant. We have to wait and see what AMD does to find out more.

AMD has launched its RDNA 2 based graphics cards, codenamed Navi 21. These GPUs are set to compete with NVIDIA's Ampere offerings, with the lineup covering the Radeon RX 6800, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6900 XT graphics cards. Until now, we have had reviews of the former two, but not the Radeon RX 6900 XT. That is because the card is coming at a later date, specifically on December 8th, in just a few days. As a reminder, the Radeon RX 6900 XT GPU is a Navi 21 XTX model with 80 Compute Units that give a total of 5120 Stream Processors. The graphics card uses a 256-bit bus that connects the GPU with 128 MB of its Infinity Cache to 16 GB of GDDR6 memory. When it comes to frequencies, it has a base clock of 1825 MHz, with a boost speed of 2250 MHz.

Today, in a GeekBench 5 submission, we get to see the first benchmarks of AMD's top-end Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics card. Running an OpenCL test suite, the card was paired with AMD's Ryzen 9 5950X 16C/32T CPU. The card managed to pass the OpenCL test benchmarks with a score of 169779 points. That makes the card 12% faster than RX 6800 XT GPU, but still slower than the competing NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, which scores 177724 points. However, we need to wait for a few more benchmarks to appear to jump to any conclusions, including the TechPowerUp review, which is expected to arrive once NDA lifts. Below, you can compare the score to other GPUs in the GeekBench 5 OpenCL database.

XFX, via its official Twitter account, has started teasing their own interpretation of AMD's upcoming Navi 21-based graphics cards, in the form of the RX 6800 XT and RX 6800. XFX has fallen into slight obscurity ever since its NVIDIA-exclusive days, but the company still manages to hold on to a somewhat cult following for its products. It appears XFX is staying with its THICC series nomenclature for this upcoming generation of graphics cards, as the cooler shroud mostly follows the same design philosophy as that found on the company's RX 5700 XT and RX 5700 graphics cards - with some minimal aesthetic changes.

We're seemingly looking at a full-custom triple-fan design, with a shortened PCB compared to the entire shroud's size. We'll have to wait an additional one or two weeks after November 18th, the official release for AMD's next generation of graphics cards. Only a week to go.