Get your first look at the AMD Radeon RX 6000 series

This design looks, stunning.
We do not have the measurements, but from the picture I think that the fans are finally a bit bigger than what they were on R_VII. If that is the case and they have managed to get decent power/performance ratio, then this could work really, really well this time around.
But, as with everything, all is but speculations until we see it in real life and some 3rd party reviewers have had the chance to dig deep into the cards. Hopefully this reference design is given a teardown by GamersNexus and if good, maybe we would even see it in stores.

But until then, ALL ABOARD THE HYPE-TRAIN! AYYY!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjCv6hEp_jI

(really, a joke... do not get on the train, please)

... or do?


Last edited by Kallestofeles on 15 September 2020 at 9:39 am UTC

If AMD's track record with the 5000 series is of any indication, I wouldn't consider the RX 6000 as usable in Linux with the open drivers for another 6 months after launch, minimum.

If AMD's track record with the 5000 series is of any indication, I wouldn't consider the RX 6000 as usable in Linux with the open drivers for another 6 months after launch, minimum.

You could be right. Although the fact that RDNA2 is basically just a refresh of RDNA might shave off a few months.

Hopefully, Rdna 2 should be really close to Rdna, we can hope mesa will be fully usable.


Last edited by TobyGornow on 15 September 2020 at 12:45 pm UTC

If AMD's track record with the 5000 series is of any indication, I wouldn't consider the RX 6000 as usable in Linux with the open drivers for another 6 months after launch, minimum.

You could be right. Although the fact that RDNA2 is basically just a refresh of RDNA might shave off a few months.

I wouldn't call a +50% perf/watt jump on the same 7nm node a simple refresh... and RDNA2 will have ray tracing support in the asic as well.

But I hope you're right, because day-1 RX 5000 support was tragic.

While not on my main system, I've been pretty happy with my RX 5500 XT these past few months. Happy enough to say that I'll be getting rid of the Nvidia card in favor of AMD for my main PC.

TIP: Consider getting a GPU support bracket to avoid potential sag.


Last edited by Avehicle7887 on 15 September 2020 at 1:54 pm UTC

If AMD's track record with the 5000 series is of any indication, I wouldn't consider the RX 6000 as usable in Linux with the open drivers for another 6 months after launch, minimum.

You could be right. Although the fact that RDNA2 is basically just a refresh of RDNA might shave off a few months.

I wouldn't call a +50% perf/watt jump on the same 7nm node a simple refresh... and RDNA2 will have ray tracing support in the asic as well.

But I hope you're right, because day-1 RX 5000 support was tragic.

I'm just going by AMD's own marketing. Didn't say it was simple, but it certainly isn't a brand new HW architecture. I recall similar power efficiency improvements between the RX300 and RX400 series of their Polaris GPUs, and that was a refresh as well. The ray tracing stuff technically shouldn't hinder bringing up support for anything else, seeing as it's additional and fairly separate functionality on top of the RDNA base.

In any case, let's hope for a better launch this time. I'm happy with my 5700 XT and will be skipping this generation completely unless something really unexpected happens, but I'd certainly prefer it if early adopters had a better time on Linux.

The fan design looks good. I noticed 2 8-pin connectors on the card which implies this generation of flagship cards will be power hungry regardless of team colors.

My current card is a 1660ti and it has a lot of life left in it. I do plan to upgrade this generation depending on real world test results from Phoronix, Anand, and others. Unless early testing shows some remarkable results for either Nvidia or AMD I'm likely to wait a few months though to let inevitable issues get sorted out. Also, I'd like to see what later card spins, like the 3060ti and analogous AMD model, look like before jumping into the first gen offerings.

This is a 2021 Q1 product at best. Unless AMD plans to bypass AIB and sell them direct. Because vendors are in the dark about these also, that means nobody has built any stock.


Last edited by TheRiddick on 16 September 2020 at 12:20 am UTC

This is a 2021 Q1 product at best. Unless AMD plans to bypass AIB and sell them direct. Because vendors are in the dark about these also, that means nobody has built any stock.

I wonder, a few days ago, we heard that the specs were being finalized and now we have leaks of the finalized cards already. It makes me seriously wonder, whether AMD is actually planning on pushing their own design into stores as fast as possible to make the October event into a Launch event? One month to get the cards to vendors would theoretically be enough (not to everyone ofcourse), but there is also production involved if they have just finalized everything... so who knows. I doubt the event will be a launch event, but you never know. If they rush it, they will probably fail with something again.


Last edited by Kallestofeles on 16 September 2020 at 7:35 am UTC