AMD’s Radeon RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX made their debut in December 2022. They’re high-end playing cards made with probably the most highly effective RDNA 3 GPU: Navi 31. Flagship playing cards are at all times the primary to launch, and usually, the following GPU to be launched can be one tier decrease. Not this time, although.
The subsequent card to be launched was the Navi 33-based RX 7600, a full 5 months later than the RX 7900 playing cards. The place the heck are Navi 32-based RX 7800 playing cards? They continue to be conspicuously absent. There may very well be any variety of the reason why. Possibly AMD is not proud of the efficiency, or the GPU wanted a re-spin, or there was some surprising errata. We’ll most likely by no means know.
Whereas we watch for Navi 32 playing cards, Igor’s Lab undertook an fascinating experiment. He took AMD’s Radeon Professional W7800 graphics card, disabled half of its 32GB of reminiscence and tweaked the facility limits in an effort to simulate what to anticipate from a hypothetical RX 7800 XT.
Earlier than trying on the outcomes, it is essential to keep in mind that that is an experiment, and never one which claims to precisely simulate an RX 7800 XT. The precise specs of the Navi 32 GPU stay confidential, together with the variety of shaders, clock speeds and energy ranges.
Additionally, the W7800 makes use of the large Navi 31 GPU which it shares with the RX 7900 playing cards, making this very a lot an unscientific comparability. An applicable quantity of salt is required. Nonetheless, it is fascinating, and a enjoyable little experiment from Igor.
Wanting on the outcomes, we see the ‘RX 7800 XT’ is barely sooner than the RX 6800 XT. It is perhaps extra energy environment friendly, however and not using a first rate inter-generational leap in efficiency, there can be few causes to decide on an RX 7800 card over a 6800 XT or 6900 XT for enjoying video games.
We will count on the an RX 7800 to supply enchancment in ray tracing efficiency, however that will not imply a lot if its raster efficiency is not considerably higher than the most effective RDNA 2 playing cards. In fact, AMD might promote the RX 7800 at a beautiful worth, although clearly it does not wish to sacrifice its margins.
A rock and a tough place?
I spoke with a consultant from an AMD companion at Computex. At the moment they’d but to learn of AMD’s plans for RX 7800 or RX 7700 playing cards. That might have modified within the couple of weeks since, however because it stands now, I am not anticipating Navi 32 playing cards any time quickly. If I needed to look into my crystal ball and guess, I would recommend a launch in September or October can be probably, in time for Christmas.
AMD would certainly prefer to have playing cards priced someplace within the big hole between the RX 7600 and the way more costly RX 7900. I actually hope an RX 7800 card can beat an RX 6950 XT and compete with the RTX 4070 and 4070 Ti at an excellent worth. We want competitors to deliver costs down if nothing else!
We sit up for testing RX 7800 and RX 7700 playing cards if or once they do launch. Hopefully sooner reasonably than later.