PowerColor has updated its website with a Radeon RX 9070 XT Red Devil product page—this is the first example of an RX 9000 series model being officially listed alongside their existing selection of (exclusively) AMD GPU-based graphics cards. The Taiwanese brand has not published any technical specifications—Team Red RDNA 4 NDAs are likely still in effect—but a pleasing number of Radeon RX 9070 XT Red Devil promotional images have been uploaded. A limited edition package (with alleged bundled extras) seems to be in the pipeline—VideoCardz has provided visual evidence of a fancy container (see below).

Teaser images appeared online at the start of this year—close-ups of glowing signature red parts were accompanied by an ominous message: "every edge shines like a gem. Every second burns like fire. If power was in your hands, how would you use it?" Days later, TechPowerUp inspected a fully unveiled Red Devil demonstration sample at CES 2025—new Hellhound and Reaper designs were also within reach. PowerColor's freshly uploaded images reveal one major difference—VideoCardz adeptly points out the presence of two 8-pin power connectors on the promos, while the CES example possessed three physical inputs. They theorize that renders of PowerColor's Radeon RX 9070 (non-XT) Red Devil model have appeared on the XT's product page. Beyond discrepancies in connector counts, the overall design matches that of the Las Vegas showcase model.

The majority of AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT GPU-related leaks have emerged thanks to insiders playing around with pre-launch PowerColor RDNA 4 sample models. During and since CES, Team Red and its board partners have kept mum about specifications and performance figures—but happy accidents have allowed tech enthusiasts to pore over NDA-busting information. As reported by VideoCardz yesterday, Overclockers UK (OCUK) published a landing page that provided a brief look at basic Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 (non-XT) specs—the British retailer has since scrubbed this entry from its site.

Leaks have revealed alleged core counts—4096 for XT, and 3584 for non-XT—but Overclockers UK's charts listed a count of 4096 for both Navi 48 GPUs. They both sport 16 GB GDDR6 VRAM and 256-bit memory buses, and the leak reveals another shared trait: a 260 W TDP rating. VideoCardz reckons that this is an error—based on previous clock speed insider info, the Radeon RX 9070 non-XT's power consumption figure should be rated lower. The accidentally published clock speeds appear to be sourced from overclocked examples—AMD is reportedly not going to release full/finalized information until closer to launch, so OCUK could have relied on preliminary product guides. The FAQ section states that Team Red's RDNA 4 generation is sticking with a PCI-Express 4.0 x16 host interface—PCIe 5.0 systems are "thankfully" backwards compatible. NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 50 series will be leading the way into PCIe 5.0 spec territories.

Sapphire has half revealed its new PULSE graphics card design—yesterday's social media post provided an early look at the signature black/gray shroud adorned with red lines. This seems to be Sapphire's first push into marketing their upcoming AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT and 9070 (non-XT) custom designs. TechPowerUp handled and inspected a new Sapphire PURE model at last week's CES trade event—this particular sample was included in a round-up of Team Red's partner custom designs—but the newly revealed PULSE card was not showcased.

According to a VideoCardz report, Sapphire's new Radeon RX 9000-series NITRO+ model has been teased in AMD's CES-oriented marketing material. The Hong Kong-based tech graphics card specialist chose to not send their Navi 48-based flagship over to Las Vegas—industry experts believe that AIBs are eagerly waiting on Team Red to settle on and announce an official release date. Marketing campaigns are expected to fully kick in closer to RDNA 4's launch window.

AMD's official announcement of new RDNA 4 generation of GPUs—comprised of Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 9070—listed several manufacturing partners. YESTON did not join the likes of ASRock, PowerColor, Sapphire and XFX in showcasing custom designs "in-person" at CES, but their official social media accounts have unveiled a new Team Red GPU-based Sakura Atlantis edition card. YESTON has once again deployed its signature baby blue and pink color scheme—quite refreshing when compared to the slew of black/gray custom designs presented at last week's trade show.

Yeston was the first AMD AIB to publicly reveal Radeon RX 9070 XT's video memory allocation online—their social media post confirms the presence of 16 GB VRAM. Team Red partners in attendance at CES 2025 were not allowed to divulge this information, but a number of press outlets read model/name text on certain sticker attachments—corroborating previous leaks that listed 16 GB. Yeston's post outlines a white-lit breathing effects, as well as support for ARGB lighting. The new Sakura Atlantis shroud design is quite unconventional—breaking away from boxy aesthetics. Flowing lines and curved surfaces attract the eye, along with a pleasant pearlescent finish. Shell and starfish motif stickers adorn the card's three cooling fans. VideoCardz reports that Yeston has provided additional details—their Radeon RX 9070 XT-16G Sakura Atlantis model will feature an all-white PCB design and a white-colored I/O bracket. No surprises here, given the company's past choices.

The recently unveiled AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT has been the epicenter of a plethora of leaks in the past few weeks. We now have not only a rough idea of what kind of synthetic performance the highest-end RDNA 4 GPU is about to bring to the table, but also how much the card is expected to cost. Now, yet another leak seemingly sheds light on perhaps the most crucial aspect of any gaming GPU - it's in the name, gaming.

Hilariously enough, this leak, once again, has been sourced from a now-nerfed forum post on Chiphell. This time around, site admin nApoleon was able to run a few games on the brand-new RDNA 4 card, including Black Myth: Wukong and Cyberpunk 2077. The results have been added as screenshots below, but here is a summary - the RX 9070 XT performs decently well, trading blows with the RTX 4070 Ti Super. In NVIDIA's favorite Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K with ray tracing, the RX 9070 XT managed 26 FPS, neck and neck with the RTX 4070 Ti, whereas the RTX 4080 Super was well ahead with 32 FPS.

If the recent RDNA 4 performance leaks are anything to go by, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 and the RX 9070 XT GPUs are sizing up to be excellent mid-range contenders. That is, of course, if the pricing is sane enough. A subsequent leak revealed that the RX 9070 XT AIB models will command a price tag of roughly around $549, which would easily allow it to undercut the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070.

Now, a further leak has revealed a product listing of an RX 9070 XT by a retailer based in the Philippines. The variant in question is Gigabyte's Gaming OC model, with base and boost clocks of 2,400 and 2,970 MHz respectively. Moreover, 16 GB of GDDR6 memory is also offered, on a 256-bit memory bus. 4,096 shading units and 64 RT cores are present as well - nothing out of the ordinary.

As we reported yesterday, the Radeon RX 9070 XT appears to be all set to disrupt the mid-range gaming GPU segment, offering performance that looks truly enticing, at least if the leaked synthetic benchmarks are anything to go by. The highest-end RDNA 4 GPU is expected to handily outperform the RTX 4080 Super despite costing half as much, with comparison to its primary competitor, the RTX 5070, yet to be made.

Now, a fresh leak has seemingly hinted at how heavy the RDNA 4 GPU is going to be on its buyers' pockets. Also sourced from Chiphell, the Radeon RX 9070 XT is expected to command a price tag between $479 for AMD's reference card and roughly $549 for an AIB unit, varying based on which exact product one opts for. At that price, the Radeon RX 9070 XT easily undercuts the RTX 5070, which will start from $549, while offering 16 GB of VRAM, albeit of the older GDDR6 spec. There is hardly any doubt that the RTX GPU will come out ahead in ray tracing performance, as we already witnessed yesterday, although traditional rasterization performance will be more interesting to compare.

Although it has only been a few days since the RDNA 4-based GPUs from Team Red hit the scene, it appears that we have already been granted a first look at the 3D Mark performance of the highest-end Radeon RX 9070 XT GPU, and to be perfectly honest, the scores seemingly live up to our expectations - although with disappointing ray tracing performance. Unsurprisingly, the thread has been erased over at Chiphell, but folks have managed to take screenshots in the nick of time.

The specifics reveal that the Radeon RX 9070 XT will arrive with a massive TBP in the range of 330 watts, as revealed by a FurMark snap, which is substantially higher than the previous estimated numbers. With 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, along with base and boost clocks of 2520 and 3060 MHz, the Radeon RX 9070 XT managed to rake in an impressive 14,591 points in Time Spy Extreme, an around 6,345 points in Speed Way. Needless to say, the drivers are likely far from mature, so it is not outlandish to expect a few more points to get squeezed out of the RDNA 4 GPU.

Perhaps the biggest surprise at AMD's January 6 CES keynote address was the omission of the Radeon RX 9070 series desktop graphics cards, and the RDNA 4 graphics architecture. This was particularly because the CES Pre-brief slide-deck that AMD provided to press included materials about Radeon, but the actual presentation on stage lacked that content. Immediately after the event, AMD leadership, including David McAfee and Frank Azor agreed to sit down with a small group of tech journalists for a roundtable talk, and we had a seat. In this article, we will try to share what we can. The talk began with addressing the elephant in the room, about why AMD omitted Radeon-related announcements in Jack Huynh's keynote address and the company also confirmed that providing press with pre-brief Radeon info was intentional, and they knew that info wouldn't be included on the main stage.

AMD says that the 45-minute keynote address didn't provide sufficient time to properly announce the Radeon RX 9070 series and RDNA 4. The company pointed to other announcements it omitted in the keynote, such as the Ryzen Z2 line of gaming handheld chips. The company says that Radeon-related announcements, would have needed a much greater time-share in the keynote, to detail the change in the product naming (more on this later), where the RX 9070 series fit into the market, the advancements made by RDNA 4, and new technology such as FSR 4.

At CES 2025, GIGABYTE unveiled their latest Radeon RX 9070 series GPUs, showcasing the AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE and the Radeon RX 9070 GAMING OC models. Powered by AMD's new RDNA 4 architecture, GIGABYTE has prepared a massive triple-fan cooling setup for both cards. The AORUS RX 9070 XT ELITE stands out with its WINDFORCE cooling system, featuring a newly designed Hawk fan and a vapor chamber with composite copper heat pipes for enhanced thermal management. The card also glows with an RGB Halo lighting system, a reinforced structure with an RGB-illuminated metal backplate, and dual BIOS modes for performance and silent operation. Meanwhile, the RX 9070 GAMING OC offers similar cutting-edge features in a sleek package, tailored for gamers who demand a balance of performance and style.

These new GIGABYTE models, with features such as dual BIOS for overclocking, help AMD's RX 9070 series deliver performance comparable to the RX 7900 XT or even higher in rasterization while introducing innovations like 2nd gen AI accelerators, 3rd gen ray tracing accelerators, and the FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 (FSR 4) with frame generation and anti-lag technology. With these GPUs set to launch in Q1 2025, we will learn more about the pricing structure in the coming days.

AMD is at the 2025 International CES, and we join them for a brisk run of what they have in store for us through the year. We expect some important announcements, such as the next-gen Radeon RX gaming GPUs powered by RDNA 4, a new flagship desktop processor powered by 3D V-Cache technology, HX-segment Ryzen 9000 series processors for gaming notebooks and portable workstations, the fabled "Strix Halo" chip AMD plans to surprise Apple with; and a fleshing out of its mobile processor portfolio.19:02 UTC: The show is underway.19:02 UTC: Jack Huynh takes centerstage.

PowerColor has prepared its highest-end Radeon RX 9070 XT GPU in the "Red Devil" family. In a post on the social media platform X, PowerColor shared the below picture with the following words: "Every edge shines like a gem. Every second burns like fire. If power was in your hands, how would you use it?" The picture shows an interesting design with a black shroud holding a red acrylic core, which follows the design philosophy of Red Devil cards. On the backplate, PowerColor has embedded a Red Devil sign with a meshed plate on top of it to show the card branding. Suppose the previous generations of Red Devil cards are for reference. In that case, we assume that the Radeon RX 9070 XT Red Devil will deliver top-tier specifications and component selection for overclocking, meaning that this card will be one of the highest-end RDNA 4 designs that we will see. Of course, surprises are welcome, and we must wait for the CES launch to see more.

AMD is expected to have a rather lean lineup of next-generation gaming GPUs powered by the RDNA 4 graphics architecture. The series is expected to debut at AMD's 2025 International CES keynote address, with product launches of the series-leading Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 performance-segment GPUs later this month. The RX 9070 should be available by late-January, although add-in board partners from China expect availability to ramp in February 2025. The series will see expansion with more announcements in March.

The RDNA 4 generation is driven mainly by two chips—the larger "Navi 48," and the smaller "Navi 44." The "Navi 48" will power the RX 9070 series, which are performance-segment and designed to compete with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 series; but cut-down variants of the chip are also expected to power certain upper mid-range SKUs that go up against the RTX 5060 series. The "Navi 44" chip is expected to power certain high performance/price SKUs in the mid-range, which AMD will use to target price-points well under the $300-mark. This segment is expected to heat up as NVIDIA has current-generation RTX 4060 series, Intel just made a stab with the Arc B580, and is expected to launch a faster Arc B700-series SKU based on a maxed-out "BMG-G21" silicon.

AMD will continue using traditional PCI Express power connectors for its upcoming Radeon RX 9000 series RDNA 4 graphics cards, according to recent information shared on the Chiphell forum. While there were some expectations that AMD would mimic NVIDIA's approach, which requires the newer 16-pin 12V-2×6 connector for its GeForce RTX 50 series, the latest information suggests a more traditional power approach. While AMD plans to release its next generation of graphics cards in the first quarter, most technical details remain unknown. The company's choice to stick with standard power connectors follows the pattern set by their recent Radeon RX 7900 GRE, which demonstrated that conventional PCI Express connectors can adequately handle power demands up to 375 W. The standard connectors eliminate the need for adapters, a feature AMD could highlight as an advantage. An earlier leak suggested that the Radeon RX 9070 XT can draw up to 330 W of power at peak load.

Intel reportedly cited similar reasons for using standard power connectors in their Arc "Battlemage" graphics cards, suggesting broader industry support for maintaining existing connection standards. NVIDIA's different approach reportedly requires all board partners to use the 12V-2×6 connector for the RTX 50 series, removing the option for traditional PCI Express power connectors. In contrast, AMD's decision gives its manufacturing partners more flexibility in their design choices, and MBA (Made by AMD) reference cards don't enforce the new 12V-2×6 power connector standard. Beyond the power connector details and general release timeframe pointing to CES, AMD has revealed little about the RDNA 4 architecture's capabilities. Only the reference card's physical appearance and naming scheme appear to be finalized, leaving questions about performance specifications unanswered, as early underwhelming performance leaks are somewhat unreliable until final drivers and final optimizations land.

The "Navi 48" silicon powering AMD's next-generation Radeon RX 9070 series could feature AV1 hardware-accelerated encoding with support for AV1 B-Frames. In video compression, a B-frame is an intermediate frame that lacks image information, but has motion-vector and other data from the previous and next image frames (or I-frames), which helps the decoder reconstruct the image component of the frame based on temporal frame data. This is compute-intensive, but greatly reduces file-size or bitrate of the stream, as almost every other frame lacks image information. Support for AV1 B-Frame hardware-accelerated encode was sniffed out by HXL in a recent commit to one of the SDKs AMD maintains in a public repository through its GPUOpen initiative.

AMD's Radeon RX 9000 series generation powered by the RDNA 4 graphics architecture will be based almost entirely on two chips, the "Navi 48" and "Navi 44," with the latter powering mainstream and mid-range SKUs; while the former powers performance-segment ones. There is no enthusiast-segment chip this time around. The "Navi 48" is expected to feature a more advanced video encode/decode hardware than the one RDNA 3.5 comes with; and AV1 is likely to get the bulk of development as the royalty-free codec gains popularity with online video streaming services. It remains to be seen if next-generation architectures like RDNA 4 or NVIDIA's "Blackwell" support acceleration for VVC.

AMD's upcoming Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics card can boost its engine clock up to 3.10 GHz, a new leak that surfaced on ChipHell says. Depending on the board design, its total board power can reach up to 330 W, the leak adds. The GPU should come with a very high base frequency for the engine clock, with the leaker claiming a 2.80 GHz base frequency (can be interpreted as Game clocks), with the GPU boosting itself up to 3.10 GHz when the power and thermals permit. The RX 9070 XT will be the fastest graphics card from AMD to be based on its next-generation RDNA 4 graphics architecture. The company isn't targeting the enthusiast segment with this card, but rather the performance segment, where it is expected to go up against NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5070 series.

RDNA 4 is expected to introduce massive generational gains in ray tracing performance, as AMD is rumored to have significantly developed its ray tracing hardware, to reduce the performance cost of ray tracing. However, as it stands, the "Navi 48" silicon that the RX 9070 XT is based on, is still a performance-segment chip, which succeeds the "Navi 32" and "Navi 22," with a rumored compute unit count of 64, or 4,096 stream processors. Performance-related rumors swing wildly. One set of rumors say that the card's raster graphics performance is in league of the RX 7900 GRE but with ray tracing performance exceeding that of the RX 7900 XTX; while another set of rumors say it beats the RX 7900 XT in raster performance, and sneaks up on the RTX 4080. We'll know for sure in about a month's time.

Recent benchmark leaks have revealed that AMD's upcoming Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics card may not deliver the groundbreaking performance initially hoped for by enthusiasts. According to leaked 3DMark Time Spy results shared by hardware leaker @All_The_Watts, the RDNA 4-based GPU achieved a graphics score of 22,894 points. The benchmark results indicate that the RX 9070 XT performs only marginally better than AMD's current RX 7900 GRE, showing a mere 2% improvement. It falls significantly behind the RX 7900 XT, which maintains almost a 17% performance advantage over the new card. These findings contradict earlier speculation that suggested the RX 9070 XT would compete directly with NVIDIA's RTX 4080.

However, synthetic benchmarks tell only part of the story. The GPU's real-world gaming performance remains to be seen, and rumors indicate that the RX 9070 XT may offer significantly improved ray tracing capabilities compared to its RX 7000 series predecessors. This could be crucial for market competitiveness, particularly given the strong ray tracing performance of NVIDIA's RTX 40 and the upcoming RTX 50 series cards. The success of the RX 9070 XT depends on how well it can differentiate itself through features like ray tracing while maintaining an attractive price-to-performance ratio in an increasingly competitive GPU market. We expect these scores not to be the final tale in the AMD RDNA 4 story, as we must wait and see what AMD delivers during CES. Third-party reviews and benchmarks will give the final verdict in the RDNA 4 market launch.

AMD's interim RDNA 3.5 architecture will power the Radeon RX 8000 series integrated graphics in "Strix Halo" mobile processors, while the more advanced RDNA 4 architecture is reserved for the higher-tier Radeon RX 9000 series of discrete graphics, according to @9550pro on X. We previously believed that AMD's Ryzen AI MAX 300 Strix Halo processors would carry an iGPU with Radeon 8000S branding. However, at the same time, we expected the Radeon RX 8000 series of desktop GPUs to have a similar branding while being powered by RDNA 4. The new Radeon naming scheme is now transparent, thanks to the latest leaks of the naming schemes and early glimpses of reference design.

The RDNA 4-based RX 9000 series will be powered by the Radeon RX 9070 XT, built on the Navi 48 silicon. This GPU represents AMD's new focus on the high-volume midrange performance segment rather than competing in the ultra-enthusiast high-end space. The architecture promises enhanced SIMD IPC performance and a specialized ray tracing solution that significantly reduces performance overhead compared to current offerings. According to All The Watts, the RX 9000 lineup is expected to include various SKUs across different performance tiers, including the RX 9060, 9050, and 9040 series. Meanwhile, the RDNA 3.5-powered RX 8000 series will serve as a refined iteration of the current RDNA 3 generation. Still, they will be exclusive to AMD's mobile segment in the form of iGPU, integrated inside Strix Halo APU. Both RDNA 4 GPUs and RDNA 3.5-based APUs are scheduled for the CES 2025 event unveiling in January.

It turns out that the Radeon RX 8800 XT, the top SKU in AMD's next generation gaming GPU series, is actually named the Radeon RX 9070 XT. European computer hardware retailer may have leaked the name, along with that of the Radeon RX 9070 (non-XT), ahead of its January 2025 reveal. The two cards appeared in the store's search filters, where it was screengrabbed by enthusiasts. The RX 9070 XT is what was supposed to be the RX 8800 XT; while the RX 9070 is the RX 8800. Extrapolating this, the series could include the RX 9060 series, the RX 9050 series, and the RX 9040 series, says All The Watts.

What prompted this change in nomenclature probably has to do with the company's decision to withdraw from the enthusiast segment of gaming GPUs. While the RX 9070 XT technically succeeds the RX 7800 XT, a performance-segment, 1440p-class SKU, the company wouldn't want its product stack to have a "void" left by the lack of an "RX 8900 series." The company also took the opportunity to skip the RX 8000 series altogether, which probably give it room to rebadge some SKUs from the RX 7000 series over to the RX 8000 series. The RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 are based on the "Navi 48" silicon, and implement the RDNA 4 graphics architecture.

These are possibly the first pictures of the reference-design AMD Radeon RX 8800 XT graphics card. The pics surfaced on Reddit by a user who claimed to have access to an investor presentation that features images of the card placed next to an AMD Ryzen 9 PIB retail box. The card's design looks quite similar to MSI's Ventus 3X—a silver baseplate frames inlets to a triple fan setup, which cools a heatsink underneath. This is a fairly large card, roughly the size of a reference RX 7900 XT. The dark background accent which the silver plate contrasts, features a front-facing illuminated Radeon logo. This card is designed to look better when installed in a vertical slot, than it is with a standard installation.

The Radeon RX 8800 XT is expected to be the fastest SKU available from the generation, as AMD has ceded the enthusiast segment to focus on high-volume performance and mainstream market segments. The RX 8800 XT is based on the "Navi 48" silicon, and is powered by the RDNA 4 graphics architecture. Besides incorporating many of the graphics stack enhancements RDNA 3.5 introduced over RDNA 3, RDNA 4 is expected to improve the SIMD IPC, and come with a highly specialized ray tracing hardware solution that reduces the performance cost of ray tracing. It is also expected to implement a newer foundry node.

Update 15:43 UTC: It's likely that this card is called "Radeon RX 9070 XT," read our newer report for more.

PowerColor is planning to introduce a new line of custom-design graphics cards called "Reaper." This fits into the scheme of PowerColor's naming that include Red Devil, Red Dragon, HellHound, and Fighter. The company is planning to debut Reaper with AMD's upcoming Radeon RX 8000 series based on the RDNA 4 graphics architecture. It remains to be seen if Reaper is positioned above the flagship Red Devil series, or something lower, replacing Fighter.

Things are moving rather quickly with the AMD Radeon RX 8000 series, with the company reportedly planning to debut at least two new performance-segment SKUs along the sidelines of the 2025 CES. The two SKUs are rumored to be based on the "Navi 48" silicon, and AMD is gunning for sales volumes and market share by targeting the most bulky market segments, going after the GeForce RTX 5070 series and RTX 5060 series. The RDNA 4 graphics architecture is expected to make big strides in reducing the performance cost of ray tracing, through a more specialized ray tracing hardware setup, besides generational improvements in performance and performance-per-Watt.

TechPowerUp today released the latest update to TechPowerUp GPU-Z, the graphics sub-system information and monitoring utility for PC gamers and enthusiasts. Version 2.61.0 adds support for the new Intel Arc B580 and B570 "Battlemage" graphics cards. Preliminary support is also added for AMD "Navi 48" RDNA 4. This is also the first version of GPU-Z to support detection of Qualcomm Adreno 540, 630, 640, and 642L. GPU-Z is an x86 application, although you can run it on Windows on Arm platforms, where the operating system's emulation allows GPU-Z to detect the underlying hardware.

Among the other GPUs we've added support for, include the iGPU of the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, NVIDIA H100 80 GB HBM3, A4000H, A800 40 GB Active, RTX 5880 Ada, and Tesla K40st. We've also added PCI vendor detection for ONIX, the new Intel Arc board partner, and Shangke. A crash on some AMD Ryzen systems with older drivers, an installed discrete GPU, and disabled iGPU, has been fixed. Grab GPU-Z from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 2.61.0

AMD's upcoming Radeon RX 8000 series GPUs based on RDNA 4 architecture are just around the corner, with rumors pointing to a CES unveiling event. Today, we are learning that the Radeon RX 8800 XT GPU will feature a 220 W TDP, compared to its Radeon RX 7800 XT predecessor with 263 W TDP, thanks to the Seasonic wattage calculator. While we expect to see better nodes used for making RNDA 4, the efficiency gains stem primarily from the improved microarchitectural design of the new RDNA generation. The RX 8800 XT will bring better performance while lowering power consumption by 16%. While no concrete official figures are known about RNDA 4 performance targets compared to RDNA, if AMD plans to maintain the competitive mid-range landscape with NVIDIA "Blackwell" and, as of today, Intel with Arc "Battlemage," team red must put out a good fight to remain competitive.

We reported on AMD Radeon RX 8800 XT entering mass production this month, with notable silicon design a departure from previous designs. The RX 8800 XT will reportedly utilize a monolithic chip dubbed "Navi 48," moving away from the chiplet-based approach seen in the current "Navi 31" and "Navi 32" GPUs. Perhaps most intriguing are claims about the card's ray tracing capabilities. Sources suggest the RX 8800 XT will match the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080/4080 SUPER in raster performance while having a remarkable 45% improvement over the current flagship RX 7900 XTX in ray tracing. However, these claims must be backed by independent testing first, as performance improvements depend on the specific case, like games optimized for either AMD or NVIDIA yield better results for the favorable graphics card.

Apparently, AMD's next-generation gaming graphics card is closer to launch than anyone in the media expected, with mass-production of the so-called Radeon RX 8800 XT poised to begin later this month, if sources on ChipHell are to be believed. The RX 8800 XT will be the fastest product from AMD's next-generation, and will be part of the performance segment, succeeding the current RX 7800 XT. There will not be an enthusiast-segment product in this generation, as AMD looks to consolidate in key market segments with the most sales. The RX 8800 XT will be powered by AMD's next-generation RDNA 4 graphics architecture.

There are some spicy claims related to the RX 8800 XT being made. Apparently, the card will rival the current GeForce RTX 4080 or RTX 4080 SUPER in ray tracing performance, which would mean a massive 45% increase in RT performance over even the current flagship RX 7900 XTX. Meanwhile, the power and thermal footprint of the GPU is expected to reduce with the switch to a newer foundry process, with the RX 8800 XT expected to have 25% lower board power than the RX 7900 XTX. Unlike the "Navi 31" and "Navi 32" powering the RX 7900 series and RX 7800 XT, respectively, the "Navi 48" driving the RX 8800 XT is expected to be a monolithic chip built entirely on a new process node. If we were to guess, this could very well be TSMC N4P, a node AMD is using for everything from its "Zen 5" chiplets to its "Strix Point" mobile processors.

While the current generation of AMD graphics cards employs RDNA 3 at its core, and the upcoming RX 8000 series will feature RDNA 4, the latest leaks suggest RDNA 5 is not in development. Instead, UDNA will succeed RDNA 4, simplifying AMD's GPU roadmap. A credible source on the Chiphell forums, zhangzhonghao, reports that the UDNA-based RX 9000 series and Instinct MI400 AI accelerator will incorporate the same advanced Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) designs in both products, reminiscent of AMD's earlier GCN architectures before the CDNA and RDNA split. Sony's next-generation PlayStation 6 is also rumored to adopt UDNA technology. The PS5 and PS5 Pro currently utilize RDNA 2, while the Pro variant integrates elements of RDNA 4 for enhanced ray tracing. The PS6's CPU configuration remains unclear, but speculation revolves around Zen 4 or Zen 5 architectures.

The first UDNA gaming GPUs are expected to enter production by Q2 2026. Interestingly, AMD's RDNA 4 GPUs are anticipated to focus on entry-level to mid-range markets, potentially leaving high-end offerings until the UDNA generation. This strategic pause may allow AMD to refine AI-accelerated technologies like FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) 4, aiming to compete with NVIDIA's DLSS. This unification is inspired by NVIDIA's CUDA ecosystem, which supports cross-platform compatibility from laptops to high-performance servers. As AMD sees it, the decision addresses the challenges posed by maintaining separate architectures, which complicate memory subsystem optimizations and hinder forward and backward compatibility. Putting developer resources into RDNA 5 is not economically or strategically wise, given that UDNA is about to take over. Additionally, the company is enabling ROCm software support across all products ranging from consumer Radeon to enterprise Instinct MI. Accelerating software for one platform will translate to the entire product stack.