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AMD Announces New RDNA2 Graphics Cards

AMD aims to compete with Nvidia’s new 3000 series GPUs

By Pedigo Mon 02 Nov, 2020 3:13 PM
AMD has announced their next generation “Big Navi” RDNA2-based graphics cards on Wednesday, October 28th. Their aim is to compete directly with Nvidia’s RTX 3070, 3080, and 3090. Like Nvidia’s RTX 3000 series, AMD’s new Radeon cards offer 60+ frames per second 4K gaming, full DirectX 12 Ultimate support, and hardware-accelerated real-time ray tracing.

AMD’s new lineup will initially come in three flavors: the RX 6900XT, RX 6800XT, and the RX 6800. The 6900XT will come with 5,120 stream processors, the 6800XT will have 4,608, and the 6800 will have 3,840. All those numbers are a large increase from the last generation 5700XT that only had 2,560.

Max boost clocks across the series range from 2.1 to 2.25 GHz and all will have 16GB of GDDR6 memory. Another interesting improvement is 128MB of Infinity Cache which promises to double effective bandwidth. Additionally, AMD’s upcoming FidelityFX enhancements hope to offer a viable alternative to DLSS, a highly touted feature of Nvidia’s 3000 series lineup.

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AMD’s presentation included various benchmark slides pitting the cards against their respective Nvidia competition and the results look promising. The 6900XT fared quite well against the RX 3090, outperforming it in some tests and matching performance in others. Similar stories can be found when comparing the 6800XT to the RX 3080 and the 6800 to the 2080Ti (a comparable stand-in for the 3070). Considering how far behind AMD’s last several generations of GPUs have been, it’s impressive to see how much ground has been made up.

Additionally, if AMD’s benchmarks against Nvidia hold up to third-party reviews, they will be giving the market reinvigorated competition just in time for the holiday season especially considering AMD’s cards will consume less power and are priced lower in the 6900XT and 6800XT varieties. The 6800 will be $80 more than the Nvidia RX 3070 but may significantly outperform it.

The 6800 and 6800XT begin shipping on November 18th for $579 and $649 USD respectively. The 6900XT will launch on December 8th for $999 USD.

How do you all think AMD’s new cards will compete against Nvidia? Are you thinking about picking up a new GPU this holiday season? Let us know in the comments below.


WRITTEN BY Pedigo
EDITED BY Silek
17 Comments
Mon 02 Nov, 2020 3:19 PM
Uk Prices are expected to be

6800 -> £540 - £580
6800XT -> £620 - £660
6900XT -> £940 - £1000
Mon 02 Nov, 2020 3:57 PM
Excellent time for PC building (well, ignoring the stock issue) as Team Red is finally bringing out products which look to be competitive at the high end again and Team Green's 30 series is a big step up over 20 series.
Mon 02 Nov, 2020 7:18 PM
After the price hike of the 2000 series, the 3000 series is much better bang for your buck. AMDs recent gains to match Intel and Nvidia in performance, while also maintaining great value, has also been nothing short of astounding considering 5 years ago AMD could not compete on performance.

Exciting times for innovation with this healthy competition, instead of stagnated re-re-re-releases of existing architectures (looking at your Intel) with marginal improvements.
I'm seriously considering picking up a Zen 3 CPU and jumping ship from TeamBlue. The value vs the performance is just too good to ignore and it goes on the AM4 socket which is a huge bonus considering you don't need to worry about socket compatibility. I'm considering an AMD graphics card too, but I think I'll likely get a 3080. The tools you get with Nvidia are a big selling point for me since I use Shadowplay and Ansel a fair amount.
Mon 02 Nov, 2020 8:04 PM
and it goes on the AM4 socket which is a huge bonus considering you don't need to worry about socket compatibility.
The AM4 socket has reached it's supported time frame till 2020 so next gen AMD CPU's will probably have a new Socket.
Mon 02 Nov, 2020 8:13 PM
I will be grabbing a 6800xt and steupup my zen2 to a 5000 series cpu, coupled with my x570 I am hoping SAM pays off in realworld.
Mon 02 Nov, 2020 8:49 PM
The AM4 socket has reached it's supported time frame till 2020 so next gen AMD CPU's will probably have a new Socket.
Agreed the issue is at the mo if they can produce DDR5 or not if we see DDR5 i suspect we will see them go AM5 if not they may either extend AM4 or go with AM4+
Mon 02 Nov, 2020 8:56 PM
Agreed the issue is at the mo if they can produce DDR5 or not if we see DDR5 i suspect we will see them go AM5 if not they may either extend AM4 or go with AM4+
They will probably go with AM5, that way they are no longer limited to physical specs of AM5 and it allows them to add new features.
Mon 02 Nov, 2020 9:05 PM
They will probably go with AM5, that way they are no longer limited to physical specs of AM5 and it allows them to add new features.
I imagine we'll see AM5 for Zen 4.
Mon 02 Nov, 2020 9:21 PM
Some additional benchmarks

AMD Releases More Radeon 6000 Benchmarks on Ryzen 5000 CPUs


https://www.eteknix.com/amd-releases...medium=twitter
Mon 02 Nov, 2020 9:26 PM
Some additional benchmarks

AMD Releases More Radeon 6000 Benchmarks on Ryzen 5000 CPUs


https://www.eteknix.com/amd-releases...medium=twitter
If these benchmarks hold up when the reviewers get hold of them, especially Linus, Jayz2cents and Gamernexus. This is going to be a game changer for AMD.
Mon 02 Nov, 2020 9:35 PM
If these benchmarks hold up when the reviewers get hold of them, especially Linus, Jayz2cents and Gamernexus. This is going to be a game changer for AMD.
Very true. Cant wait to see the benchmarks from those channels, especially GN as they are often the most impartial.
Mon 02 Nov, 2020 9:36 PM
My computer has been limping the last year, and I have been waiting eagerly to rebuild it completely. There's never been a better time with some good options now on the market (if only they'd either be released or keep in stock!). That and I've been saving for awhile for this rebuild...

I've been running a 4th Gen Intel Core i7 and a GTX 980 with 16Gb of RAM for the last several years, with the only part recently updated was the computer case (SilverStone Raven R02E to a Lian Li Dynamic O11XL) and monitor (ASUS 34 Ultrawide). I'm definitely going for the new AMD Zen 3 5000 series (hoping for a 5800X or 5900X) along with an EVGA RTX 3080 Hybrid. Already purchased 32Gb of DDR4 3200, but still need to pick out a good motherboard (preferably ASUS) and power supply (thinking 850w).

Love building computers, and can't wait to start this build!
Mon 02 Nov, 2020 9:43 PM
Very true. Cant wait to see the benchmarks from those channels, especially GN as they are often the most impartial.
You're not saying that the other two have a bias now are you lol.

I like tiny tom logan from OC3D
Tue 03 Nov, 2020 2:33 PM
Godfall will be AMD optimised also if you're waiting for it

https://www.eteknix.com/godfall-dev-...medium=twitter

Tue 03 Nov, 2020 3:02 PM
Godfall will be AMD optimised also if you're waiting for it

https://www.eteknix.com/godfall-dev-...medium=twitter

Wow I will say that looks AMAZING! As I said earlier if these new AMD cards hold up to scrutiny I think I'll start making plans to switch over to team red.
Sun 22 Nov, 2020 10:00 PM
Tue 24 Nov, 2020 4:22 PM
Now all I need is about 4000 Canadian dollars to afford a rig that makes games look that good.