AMD has finally unveiled its new RDNA 2 architecture as well as its Radeon RX 6000 series GPUs, the latter of which initially includes the Radeon RX 6800, Radeon RX 6800 XT, and the flagship Radeon RX 6900 XT. The company initially teased the Radeon RX 6000 series back in September and also recently unveiled its new Ryzen 5000 series desktop processors.
“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. 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,” said Scott Herkelman, corporate vice president and general manager, Graphics Business Unit at AMD.
Some of the features of the new RDNA 2 architecture include AMD Infinity Cache, AMD Smart Access Memory, support for DirectX 12 Ultimate and DirectX Raytracing (DXR), and Variable Rate Shaing (VRS), among others. Here are the details of the features of RDNA 2 and the new Radeon RX 6000 series:
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.,10
- Built for Standard Chassis – With a length of 267mm and 2×8 standard 8-pin power connectors, and designed to operate with existing enthusiast-class 650W-750W 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.
All three of the new Radeon RX 6000 series GPUs come with 16GB of GDDR6 memory, a 128MB cache, a 256-bit memory interface, and PCIe 4.0 support. Here are the specs of the three new GPUs:
| Model | Compute Units | GDDR6 | Game Clock (MHz) | Boost Clock (MHZ) | Memory Interface | Infinity Cache |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT | 80 | 16GB | 2015 | Up to 2250 | 256 bit | 128 MB |
| AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT | 72 | 16GB | 2015 | Up to 2250 | 256 bit | 128 MB |
| AMD Radeon RX 6800 | 60 | 16GB | 1815 | Up to 2105 | 256 bit | 128 MB |
The AMD Radeon RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT will be available on November 18, 2020, with an SRP of USD 579 and USD 649, respectively. As for the Radeon RX 6900 XT, it will be available on December 8, 2020, for USD 999. AMD’s board partners, including ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, PowerColor, SAPPHIRE and XFX, are also expected to release their own variants of the Radeon RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT in November 2020.