Wednesday, October 28th 2020

AMD Radeon RX 6000 "Big Navi" RDNA2 Graphics Card Launch Liveblog

After thoroughly appetizing us with its "Where Gaming Begins: Episode 1" event announcing the Ryzen 5000 series "Zen 3" processors that offer up to 19% IPC gains, in the second Episode, we see the company announcing its next-generation Radeon RX 6000 "Big Navi" graphics cards based on the RDNA2 graphics architecture that introduce full DirectX 12 Ultimate readiness, including real-time raytracing hardware. In the run up to the RX 6000, NVIDIA is already reportedly preparing product-stack updates. In this liveblog, we uncover what has NVIDIA riled up, and whether AMD can pull off better pricing and availbility than the RTX 30-series.

Update 15:59 UTC: It is time! Welcome to the Radeon RX 6000 Series live blog.
Update 16:01 UTC: AMD CEO Dr Lisa Su takes centerstage, fresh off a good quarterly results announcement, and that big Xilinx acquisition announcement.
Update 16:03 UTC: FarCry 6 seems like an AMD optimized title.

Update 16:03 UTC: Possibly the flagship product.
Update 16:04 UTC: AMD is where gaming begins because next-gen consoles trust it. - Dr Su

Update 16:05 UTC: 50% generational improvement in perf/W.
Update 16:06 UTC: 26.7 billion transistors, almost as big as GA102
Update 16:07 UTC: RDNA2 has a breakthrough high-speed design.
Update 16:08 UTC: AMD RDNA2 compute unit 30% more energy efficient.
Update 16:09 UTC: InfinityCache works to significantly improve memory bandwidth, based on the Zen L3 cache. More than 2.17x bandwidth gain despite 256-bit.
Update 16:10 UTC: 30% higher frequencies on the same 7 nm node.
Update 16:10 UTC: DirectX 12 Ultimate and DirectStorage support.
Update 16:11 UTC: Over 2X performance gain over RX 5700 XT.
Update 16:11 UTC: The RX 6800 XT!
Update 16:12 UTC: 4K Gaming from AMD is here! Matches RTX 3080!!!
Update 16:13 UTC: Hello competition!
Update 16:14 UTC: Welcome back ATI Rage, as the AMD Rage Mode.
Update 16:15 UTC: When paired with Ryzen, you get a gaming performance boost, 13% perf increase.

Update 16:15 UTC: AMD introduces its take on the NVIDIA Reflex, announcing latest Radeon Lag and Radeon Boost. No special API needed.
Update 16:16 UTC: Full DX12 Ultimate support, including ray-tracing. Woirking on a DLSS-rival.
Update 16:18 UTC: AMD is leveraging studios working on Xbox Series X / PS5 devs to integrate its Radeon features on the PC.

Update 16:18 UTC: FarCry 6, DiRT 5, WoW Shadowlands (which gets raytracing), RiftBreaker, are AMD-optimized.

Update 16:21 UTC: Available Nov 18, starts, $649

Update 16:21 UTC: Also announcing RX 6800 : faster than RTX 2080 Ti, 4K + raytracing ready
Update 16:22 UTC: $579, November 18 availability for the RX 6800.

Update 16:22 UTC: Lisa gets ready for a "one more thing"

Update 16:23 UTC: Radeon RX 6900 XT: 80 CUs, 65% perf/Watt over 5700 XT.
Update 16:25 UTC: RTX 3090 BEATEN!!!!
Update 16:26 UTC: December 8 for the RX 6900 XT, priced $999.
Update 16:26 UTC: OOF, we cannot wait to test these cards out!

Update 17:08 UTC: The press-release can be found here.

Update 17:19 UTC: The complete AMD slide deck follows.
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351 Comments on AMD Radeon RX 6000 "Big Navi" RDNA2 Graphics Card Launch Liveblog

#1
kapone32
The Youtube video already has almost 85000 viewers!
Posted on Reply
#2
MxPhenom 216
ASIC Engineer


Come on AMD, you already got me believing in you again on CPUs. Now for GPUs
Posted on Reply
#3
windwhirl
Man, the YT chat is going mad lmao
kapone32The Youtube video already has almost 85000 viewers!
130k+ by now!
Posted on Reply
#4
kapone32
Are you not impressed!!!!!
Posted on Reply
#5
TheDeeGee
windwhirlMan, the YT chat is going mad lmao

130k+ by now!
Where does one even find this link, why isn't it posted in this blog?
Posted on Reply
#6
kapone32
TheDeeGeeWhere does one even find this link, why isn't it posted in this blog?
Youtube
AMD channel
Posted on Reply
#7
windwhirl
TheDeeGeeWhere does one even find this link, why isn't it posted in this blog?
Posted on Reply
#8
MxPhenom 216
ASIC Engineer
Holy 300w board power for 6800XT
Posted on Reply
#9
QUANTUMPHYSICS
All I'm concerned with is my AMD Stock share value.
Posted on Reply
#10
kruk
It's really nice to see how a great leadership can rescue a struggling company. With a fraction of resources they managed to catch up with Intel and nVidia in the same year, which is kind of crazy. Can't wait to see if their product stack scales down to PCIE only powered GPUs. 2020/2021 looks really exciting for gamers :D
Posted on Reply
#11
kapone32
Where is that post that Cache had no influence on GPUs?
Posted on Reply
#12
B-Real
If I was right in quick maths, it seems it may be faster than the RTX 3080 in the averaged games shown in the graphs. :O Or equal at worst.
Posted on Reply
#13
kapone32
krukIt's really nice to see how a great leadership can rescue a struggling company. With a fraction of resources they managed to catch up with Intel and nVidia in the same year, which is kind of crazy. Can't wait to see if their product stack scales down to PCIE only powered GPUs. 2020/2021 looks really exciting for gamers :D
Not looks...will
Posted on Reply
#14
MxPhenom 216
ASIC Engineer
B-RealIt seems it may be faster than the RTX 3080. :O
Trades blows based on their graphs. A little faster in a good chunk of them.
Posted on Reply
#15
windwhirl
OK, so 6800 XT equal or better than RTX 3800? SHOTS FIRED
Posted on Reply
#16
B-Real
MxPhenom 216Trades blows based on their graphs. A little faster in a good chunk of them.
Yep!
Posted on Reply
#17
MxPhenom 216
ASIC Engineer
Radeon Anti-Lag/Boost = Nvidia Reflex
Posted on Reply
#18
Turmania
I want that T-Shirt he is wearing.
Posted on Reply
#19
kapone32
MxPhenom 216Holy 300w board power for 6800XT
That includes memory and everything else
Posted on Reply
#20
MxPhenom 216
ASIC Engineer
Show us Ray tracing performance for fuck sakes.
kapone32That includes memory and everything else
I'm aware. Wasn't expecting it that high for 6800XT. Thought the 6900XT would be around there.

Also that Godfall game is going to be good.

No one cares about Far Cry 6!
Posted on Reply
#21
windwhirl
MxPhenom 216Show us Ray tracing performance for fuck sakes.
Saving the best for last? lmao
Posted on Reply
#22
kapone32
I am peeing my pants right now this is insane!
MxPhenom 216Show us Ray tracing performance for fuck sakes.



I'm aware. Wasn't expecting it that high for 6800XT. Thought the 6900XT would be around there.

Also that Godfall game is going to be good.
I can't wait to run one of these through it's paces. Godfall does look like it will get a run through. I can't wait to oh I said that already.
Posted on Reply
#23
Cheeseball
Not a Potato
MxPhenom 216Radeon Anti-Lag/Boost = Nvidia Reflex
The first implementation of Radeon Boost was not so good. It basically lowers the resolution of the entire screen when there is mouse/keyboard movement. It's pretty bad if you set it to max making everything extremely pixelated. Not too helpful in competitive shooters like PUBG.

Early implementation was causing Anti-Lag to crash when I enabled it on my RX 5700 XT. Hopefully they improved it with the next Adrenalin release.

EDIT: Sounds like $649 for the RX 6800 XT. Not bad.
Posted on Reply
#24
B-Real
$649 with ~same performance, less power consumption, +6GB VRAM. Holy $hit.
Posted on Reply
#25
windwhirl
B-Real$649 with ~same performance, less power consumption, +6GB VRAM. Holy $hit.
With the non-XT 6800 also equipped with 16 GB of VRAM... Damn.
Posted on Reply
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