Skip to main content

New AMD GPUs pictured, but there is some bad news

A reliable source has just revealed that the upcoming AMD RDNA 2 graphics card refresh will be delayed.

Instead of being released on the previously reported date (April 20), the GPUs are now rumored to launch on May 10. Photos of the cards have also leaked, giving us some insight into their design.

Three upcoming AMD Radeon graphics cards.
VideoCardz

It’s worth noting that the April 20 release date was not yet confirmed by AMD, but speculation around the GPU market pointed to that date for AMD’s upcoming RDNA 2 refresh. April 20 definitely made sense — after all, AMD will be launching many new processors on that day, so adding graphics cards into the mix would make it an even bigger event for the company.

Recommended Videos

According to the leak, the release date has been pushed back to May 10, but no reason has been given. It could be any number of things. Perhaps AMD didn’t want to dampen the effect of its own product release and wanted to give the innovative Ryzen 7 5800X3D the spotlight it deserves. Various issues could have affected the release date as well, but the fact that it has only been pushed by 20 days implies that it’s probably not very serious.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Before AMD moves on to the next generation of graphics cards, it’s launching several updated models of existing RDNA 2 GPUs. The rumored lineup includes the Radeon RX 6950XT, Radeon RX 6750 XT, Radeon RX 6650XT, and lastly, the entry-level RX 6500 and RX 6400. The photo, shared alongside the leaked release date, shows that all the GPUs share the same design as the RX 6800XT Midnight Black Edition.

AMD Radeon RX 6500XT graphics cards stacked on top of each other.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

The graphics cards have a fully black shroud with only the red Radeon name to brighten the dark design. Some of the cards receive cooler upgrades through this as well in these reference models from AMD. The RX 6650XT now comes with a dual-fan setup as opposed to the previous single-fan design, while the RX 6750XT goes up from two fans to three.

In terms of specs, the XT GPUs will allegedly all have 18Gbps of memory bandwidth, but everything is still up in the air. The top variant RX 6950XT may arrive with 5,120 stream processors and 16GBP of GDDR6 memory across a 256-bit memory bus. The power requirements are expected to be at 350 watts. However, none of this has been confirmed by AMD just yet. In any case, the RX 6950XT is expected to be a powerful GPU that could rival Nvidia’s RTX 3090 Ti in some ways.

The information comes from Disclosuzen who sent the leaks directly to VideoCardz. While Disclosuzen has a good track record when it comes to leaks, we won’t know anything for certain until AMD itself confirms it.

Monica J. White
Monica is a computing writer at Digital Trends, focusing on PC hardware. Since joining the team in 2021, Monica has written…
Not this again — AMD’s RX 9070 XT may cost up to $250 more than MSRP
Gigabyte's RX 9070 XT GPU.

AMD is joining the battle against some of Nvidia's best graphics cards. The RX 9070 XT and its non-XT counterpart should now (hopefully) start flooding the shelves, and gamers are hoping to see them at their recommended list price (MSRP). Unfortunately, some models may cost up to $250 more from the get-go, which is similar to all of Nvidia's recent RTX 50-series releases where the GPUs cost much more than they should.

Although the cards aren't technically up for sale just yet, Best Buy seems to have plenty of RX 9070 XT and non-XT models listed -- they're just marked as "coming soon."

Read more
An AMD RX 9060 XT with 16GB would ruin Nvidia’s second-hand market
Several AMD RX 9000 series graphics cards.

I know, I know we're all hopped up about the RX 9070 XT and 9070 launch -- I know I am. But looking beyond the potential big win AMD is on for with its first RDNA4 graphics cards, I'm also particularly excited about the potential for the rumored 9060 XT. Not because it'll be cheaper again -- it will be -- but because it might have up to 16GB of VRAM. That's going to wreck Nvidia's long-term second-hand card market, which could have a much greater impact on AMD's market share over the long term.

It's all just rumors for now, and some of my colleagues are much less excited by this than I am, but I think there's some real potential here for this little card to be a game changer.
Hitting the VRAM wall
Video memory, or VRAM, has been a front-and centre feature of graphics card spec sheets for generations, but it's started to matter a lot more in recent years. While flagship graphics cards have exploded in their VRAM quantities, with the 5090 now offering 32GB, most mainstream cards have been getting by with less. It was only a couple of generations ago that the flagship RTX 3080 only had 10GB of VRAM, and outside of the top few models, you'll still see 12GB, 10GB, or even 8GB.

Read more
AMD’s latest GPUs may have an unexpected motherboard problem
AMD Radeon RX 9070 GPUs from different brands

Component companies are constantly upgrading their protocols and AMD is no different. The brand, known for its graphics cards, is transitioning its latest 9000 series GPUs to the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) firmware standard. This means shifting away from the pre-boot BIOS setup that has been the customary way of performing various system tasks for many years.

PC World noted that many computer enthusiasts may believe that UEFI and pre-boot BIOS are interchangeable. However, AMD detailed in support documentation that it is moving forward with UEFI as its sole firmware standard for graphics cards including the Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT, for several reasons. These include improved security, interoperability for different interfaces, swift firmware updates, support for large hard drives, support for new PC hardware, Windows Secure Boot compatibility, as well as faster shutdown, startup, sleep, and resume times.

Read more