Wednesday, December 9th 2020

AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6800 Reference Designs to be Discontinued Soon

Updated by
AleksandarK
 Updated: Discuss (100 Comments)
Yesterday, Cowocotland, a technology website, has published information that AMD's reference design cards like the latest Radeon RX 6900 XT, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6800 GPUs are getting discontinued. That means that AMD will stop the production of the reference designs and rely completely on the supply of GPUs coming from add-in board partners to satisfy the market needs. This does not mean that the availability of these GPUs is not going to exist. Rather, there will not be AMD reference designs available for purchase from the company. Only cards that are custom made by AIBs, that AMD provides GPU+VRAM for, will offer customers cards with these GPUs.

VideoCardz claims that they have been able to confirm some pieces of the information, so it is a done deal. From now on, it seems that only graphics cards with Radeon RX 6900 XT, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6800 GPUs inside them will be the ones offered by AIBs. The reference design cards will only be produced until early 2021, giving it a month or two for consumers to purchase cards from AMD. After that period the market will rely completely on AMD's partners.

Update 4:30 pm UTC: Scott Herkelman, CVP & GM of AMD Radeon Tweeted that they have "extended the reference design builds indefinitely due to popular demand." Meaning that the reference cards will remain in production. Mr. Herkelman also thanked for feedback, where community was loud and clear that they want to see reference boards for a while longer.
Here is an interesting quote from Cowcotland:
[…] RX 6900 XT MBA is already at the end of its life even though it has not yet been launched. Just like the RX 6800 MBA and the RX 6800 XT MBA, production has been one shot for this card. A brand told us that they only have about forty cards for France, not one more […] those who manage to have an RX 6900 XT MBA will have a real collector [item] in their hands.—Aurélien LAGNY, Cowcotland
Sources: Cowcotland, via VideoCardz

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100 Comments on AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6800 Reference Designs to be Discontinued Soon

#26
xkm1948
This is starting to feel like a scam move to get good recommendation from reviewer based on msrp. They pulled such a move with Vega i believe. Give a real low MSRP while nobody can get it at that price initially.

Reviewers are jebaited?
Posted on Reply
#27
Max(IT)
DeathtoGnomesNot really, if you read the article, you would see that AMD will continue to sell the chip to AID partners, there should be more bottom line in selling just the chips over manufacturing an entire card with a known low profit margin.
Yes, they will continue to sell chips (which chips ? There is none on the market...) to AIB, which can sell us cards (which cards ? There is none on the market) for a much higher price than MSRP.
Happy about that ?

AMD is becoming what they always criticized...
Posted on Reply
#28
Vayra86
xkm1948This is starting to feel like a scam move to get good recommendation from reviewer based on msrp. They pulled such a move with Vega i believe. Give a real low MSRP while nobody can get it at that price initially.

Reviewers are jebaited?
Nvidia is doing much the same since Ampere, if you consider the actual availability and forget about all the FUD news surrounding it. They even fail to come out saying they've actually discontinued them, or heavily limited production.

Reviewers jebaited? I think its US, end users getting the worst outcome here. Reviewers got their clicks...

The real question is if this should be rewarded with sales... I'm growing incredibly fond of my 1080 again right now tbh.
Posted on Reply
#29
nguyen
DeathtoGnomesNot really, if you read the article, you would see that AMD will continue to sell the chip to AID partners, there should be more bottom line in selling just the chips over manufacturing an entire card with a known low profit margin.
AMD has to pay TSMC and Samsung for their wafers/memory modules and sell those chips/memory to AIBs. At the current MSRP, someone has to lose money and AIBs ain't having any of that.
That's why AMD either have to sell their chips at a loss to AIBs in order to keep MSRP, or having AIBs manage their own MSRP, well it seems AMD has chosen the latter.
Posted on Reply
#30
Mouth of Sauron
To produce GPUs in mass quantities, AMD should have facilities. Production plants. I doubt they have large capacity ones, perhaps small pilot ones, or they outsource initial production to their tier1 partners, perhaps Saphire.

Their general policy was to make a crappy reference, ugly and with bad cooling, not because they didn't know how - but rather to limit "AMD Original" number of cards, and quickly switch the production, testing, logistic and so on - to the AIBs. They (AIBs) charge money for that, after all...

In 6xxx case, I don't think "they've learned their lesson", but rather did a better reference models because one of the chief NVIDIA trumps was that fancy 150g cooler - AMD probably wanted something that can't be directly characterized as crappy-cooling, appearing among "cons" in each review - stuff like that.

I'm not 100% sure about manufacturing capabilities, but the policy on not competing with own AIBs was always true for AMD, also for NVIDIA until they pulled that FE trick (which made AIBs thrilled)...
Posted on Reply
#31
Vya Domus
xkm1948Reviewers are jebaited?
At best they got Nvidia'd. Three months later and finding any 3000 series GPU at MSRP is a miracle as well seeing one in stock.

But AMD bad.
Posted on Reply
#32
ODOGG26
RedelZaVednoSapphire produces Navi 21 FE for AMD, so yeah we know. AIBs demand higher margins. Nitro+ $120 over MSRP, Pulse $80 over MSRP... 12-18% profit margin increase (at least) for Sapphire if it sells AIB instead of FE. AMD just caught Ngreedia virus by allowing AIBs to set market prices. MSRPs look more and more like a joke now, because AMD discontinued FE and decided not to regulate AIB pricing policies :(
No they dont. This was confirmed by AMD in a video interview that I watched on one of those techtube channels. Forgot who it was. I thought so too at first.
Posted on Reply
#33
Vayra86
Vya DomusAt best they got Nvidia'd. Three months later and finding any 3000 series GPU at MSRP is a miracle as well seeing one in stock.

But AMD bad.
Puzzling isn't it though because for once in a few generations now the products do really speak for themselves. We don't even need all this nonsense surrounding it., and in my view, its harming this generations' releases more than doing anything positive. Getting so tired of the nonsense... if they really dislike selling so much, fine!
Posted on Reply
#34
Vya Domus
Vayra86Puzzling isn't it though because for once in a few generations now the products do really speak for themselves. We don't even need all this nonsense surrounding it.
The reality is I have never really seen any GPU being sold at MSRP in the last few years, so seeing people get annoyed by a particular brand is ridiculous.
Posted on Reply
#35
Vayra86
Vya DomusThe reality is I have never really seen any GPU being sold at MSRP in the last few years, so seeing people get annoyed by a particular brand is ridiculous.
Turing definitely did sell at MSRP and so did Pascal, even during mining. At least here in NL.
Posted on Reply
#36
kruk
nguyenAMD has to pay TSMC and Samsung for their wafers/memory modules and sell those chips/memory to AIBs. At the current MSRP, someone has to lose money and AIBs ain't having any of that.
That's why AMD either have to sell their chips at a loss to AIBs in order to keep MSRP, or having AIBs manage their own MSRP, well it seems AMD has chosen the latter.
How about a link, a calculation or something? A loss? Seriously? They are probably having some hefty profit margins, but since the chip is so big, they would definitely make much more money by making Zen 3 out of these wafers ...
Posted on Reply
#37
RedelZaVedno
windwhirlBullshit. Instinct uses a different architecture.
windwhirlBullshit. Instinct uses a different architecture.
Uncut CDNA 1.0 750mm2 die is built on the same TSMC's 7 nm FinFET die as RDNA2, featuring 7680:480:-120 CUs. Cut versions will most likely have 80/72CU and 64/60CUs. What would you rather use your limited hired TSMC's 7nm production on: $579-1K worth dies or $2-5K worth dies (be it server CPUs or CDNA GPUs)? Reality is that AMD wants to sell tiny Polaris/Navi 10 sized dies to consoles, mobile platforms and PC gamers (overcharge only DIY PC gamers for it because they can) and reserve big die sizes for CDNA GPUs to triple profit margins on them, hence scarcity of high end gaming GPUs. It's called sound business decision (or greed from consumer perspective).
Posted on Reply
#38
DeathtoGnomes
nguyenThat's why AMD either have to sell their chips at a loss
I seriously doubt this, unless you have proof by source, this is FUD.
Posted on Reply
#39
Vya Domus
krukA loss? Seriously?
Just people talking out of their you know what. The chips themselves cost somewhere between 180-150$, GDDR6 is pretty cheap by now. If AMD is selling cards at a "loss", Nvidia must be filling in bankruptcy by now with their crazy expensive and difficult to make GDDR6X and even larger dies on a worse node.

Right.
DeathtoGnomesI seriously doubt this, unless you have proof by source, this is FUD.
It's not just FUD, it's downright stupid.
Posted on Reply
#40
RedelZaVedno
Nvidia profit margin hit all time high recently, outrageous 60% and AMD is hitting +40% recently, yet fanboys still act like they're near charity organizations working at a loss. I really hate fanboyism on both sides. People fail to understand that both NVidia & AMD are greedy corporations whose only job it is to pull as much money out of your pocket as they possibly can. Defending multibillion worth corporations especially in duopoly makes no sense if you're not a shareholder or their employee, yet some tech enthusiasts do that all the time, no matter how anti-consumer these companies behave.
Posted on Reply
#41
windwhirl
Vya DomusThe reality is I have never really seen any GPU being sold at MSRP in the last few years, so seeing people get annoyed by a particular brand is ridiculous.
I think that problem started to become a common thing at some point in the Polaris/Vega era? At least on AMD's side.
RedelZaVednoUncut CDNA 1.0 750mm2 die is built on the same TSMC's 7 nm FinFET die as RDNA2, featuring 7680:480:-120 CUs. Cut versions will most likely have 80/72CU and 64/60CUs. What would you rather use your limited hired TSMC's 7nm production on: $579-1K worth dies or $2-5K worth dies (be it server CPUs or CDNA GPUs)? Reality is that AMD wants to sell tiny Polaris/Navi 10 sized dies to console mobile platforms and PC gamers (overcharge for it) and reserve big die sizes for CDNA GPUs to triple profit margins, hence scarcity of high end gaming GPUs. It's called sound business decision (or greed).
Ah, I thought you were thinking of AMD reusing not just the wafers but the finished chips themselves for Instinct accelerators.

That aside, all the released RDNA2 cards use the exact same die. AMD either disables CUs or takes advantage of faulty ones when needed to fit the lower-performance SKUs.

And as nice as the reviews can be, AMD knows they don't mean jack unless there is actual stock available on the market. It's not just about getting cash for every card sold, it's about holding presence in the market. Imagine Zen CPUs without at least a certain amount of stock. Reviews could be nice, but everyone would buy Intel anyway because the Zen CPUs are not available when needed.

So no, what I think is going on here is:
  • TSMC being booked to the max, covering a wide range of products: Zen 2/3 CPUs/APUs, RDNA 1/2 GPUs, console SoCs, and whatever else they do at 7 nm.
  • AMD having to prioritize consoles because keeping their contracts with Microsoft and Sony makes for a good relationship with those two companies, giving AMD a way to try and influence gaming development and coax companies to the Red team's side. It's a long-term game, although it's not guaranteed to dramatically increase Radeon's marketshare.
  • high demand because last gen AMD didn't have much to compete with Nvidia, who btw raised prices across the board because they could, so there was little interest into updating the GPU until now.
  • Scalpers being the POS that they are.
  • I'd say miners but I thought those guys had sort of moved to ASICs, but apparently that's not the case?
RedelZaVednoSo true. Nvidia profit margin hit all time high recently, outrageous 60% and fanboys still act like Ngreedia is near charity organization. I really hate fanboyism on both sides. People fail to get that NVidia AND AMD are greedy corporations whose only job it is to pull as much money out of your pocket as they possibly can. Defending multibillion worth corporations especially in duopoly makes no sense if you're not their shareholder or employee, yet some tech enthusiasts do that all the time, no matter how anticonsumer they act.
Indeed. Both are corporations. Their first objective is to make a profit, second is to give money to the investors/shareholders. And while they both understand that they need to keep customers happy to remain in business, they will not bend backwards and play Twister for that.
Posted on Reply
#42
z1n0x
The backpedal was quick, but hey at least they're listening, i guess.
Posted on Reply
#43
MxPhenom 216
ASIC Engineer
ValantarWhile I don't doubt this report is accurate, there is something weird with how this is being reported: AMD doesn't sell their reference cards directly, and never have. They are always sold through partners, who buy the assembled card from AMD (and indirectly whoever makes them for AMD). So, if these are being discontinued, they will obviously only be available for as long as AIB partners have them in stock. So despite the weirdly vague wording of this news piece, what it should say is that reference-design RX 6800/6900 GPUs will only be "available" (lol) for a couple more months.
AMD does sell their cards directly. At least with this generation of cards. Same with CPUs you can buy them straight from their store website.
Posted on Reply
#45
SIGSEGV
AMD is trying to make a really bad joke on NVIDIA.
Posted on Reply
#46
windwhirl
SIGSEGVAMD is trying to make a really bad joke on NVIDIA.
Jebaited²
Posted on Reply
#47
jayseearr
"extended indefinitely due to popular demand"

Oh gee, how very kind of you to factor consumer demand into the equation. LOL
Posted on Reply
#48
Steevo
What a whiny thread.

AMD doesn't have the wafer capacity to keep up, which is why they are in short supply, they have contracts with Sony and MS to build chips for consoles, their CPU's and these new GPUs.

No one is forcing anyone to buy them.

Im fairly certain AMD set a price for the dies and sell them to AIBs and then its up to the AIBs to decide how much to spend on memory, the card, the cooler, and then what they can sell them for, and again, no one if forced to buy it, so suck it up sunshine and either ante up or use what you have or wait. None of you would complain about buying one for $5 in a few years, except there would be new tech and you would be whining about how much that costs.
Posted on Reply
#49
ShurikN
Did Frank "$10" Azor mention anything? Where should I send him my bank account number?

What a fucking joke Navi 21 launch has been, AMD just set a new industry low.
Let's see if their mid December (AIBs at msrp) promise actually comes true.
I'm setting my expectations for Navi 22 very very VERY low (part I'm actually interested in).
Posted on Reply
#50
Ravenas
RedelZaVednoLisa: 'F*** MSRP, let's charge 800/1000/1.2K bucks! It's time to milk some brainwashed FOMOs!'
Makes no sense. This reference designed boards have been the best reference design in at least a decade or more to come from AMD. So much so, that their most loyal suppliers, i.e., Sapphire have trouble showing considerable advantage of their non-reference NITRO boards.
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