Today at the AMD "together we advance_gaming" event, AMD revealed their new RDNA3 architecture along with the RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT GPUs. Both of these new cards will be available on December 13th, and AMD threw plenty of shade at NVIDIA of the power use and connector issues during the event talking about how "easy" it is to upgrade to it and noting the power use.
Pictured: RX 7900 XTX
Specifications:
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT | AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX | |
| Memory | 20 GB - GDDR6 Infinity Cache - 80 MB Ray Accelerators - 84 |
24 GB - GDDR6 Infinity Cache - 96 MB Ray Accelerators - 96 |
| Speed | Base Frequency - 1500 MHz Boost Frequency - Up to 2400 MHz Game Frequency - 2000 MHz |
Base Frequency - 1900 MHz Boost Frequency - Up to 2500 MHz Game Frequency - 2300 MHz |
| Connections | DisplayPort 2.1 HDMI 2.1 USB Type-C |
DisplayPort 2.1 HDMI 2.1 USB Type-C |
| Rendering | HDMI 4K Support 4K H264 Decode 4K H264 Encode H265/HEVC Decode H265/HEVC Encode AV1 Decode AV1 Encode |
HDMI 4K Support 4K H264 Decode 4K H264 Encode H265/HEVC Decode H265/HEVC Encode AV1 Decode AV1 Encode |
| Power | Typical Board Power (Desktop) - 300 W Minimum PSU Recommendation - 750 W |
Typical Board Power (Desktop) - 355 W Minimum PSU Recommendation - 800 W |
| Dimension | Length - 276 mm Slot Size - 2.5 slots |
Length - 287 mm Slot Size - 2.5 slots |
| Pricing | $899 | $999 |
They also teased FSR3, which will be due out next year but didn't go into much detail on it. According to AMD FSR3 is "expected to deliver up to 2X more FPS compared to AMD FSR 2 in select games".
- AMD RDNA 3 Architecture – Featuring an advanced chiplet design, new compute units and second-generation AMD Infinity Cache technology, AMD RDNA 3 architecture delivers up to 54% more performance per watt than the previous-generation AMD RDNA 2 architecture. New compute units share resources between rendering, AI and raytracing to make the most effective use of each transistor for faster, more efficient performance than the previous generation.
- Chiplet Design – The world’s first gaming GPU with a chiplet design delivers up to 15% higher frequencies at up to 54% better power efficiency. It includes the new 5nm 306mm Graphics Compute Die (GCD) with up to 96 compute units that provide the core GPU functionality. It also includes six of the new 6nm Memory Cache Die (MCD) at 37.5mm, each with up to 16MB of second-generation AMD Infinity Cache technology.
- Ultra-Fast Chiplet Interconnect – Unleashing the benefits of second-generation AMD Infinity Cache technology, the new chiplets leverage AMD Infinity Links and high-performance fanout packaging to deliver up to 5.3TB/s of bandwidth.
- Expanded Memory and Wider Memory Bus – To meet the growing requirements of today’s demanding titles, the new graphics cards feature up to 24GB of high-speed GDDR6 memory running at 20Gbps over a 384-bit memory bus.
Based on the pricing, they seem like pretty great value to me. Having a flagship under $1K is a very good move when compared to what NVIDIA are offering. If the performance is in any way comparable, it should sell quite well.
From the press release: “These new graphics cards are designed by gamers for gamers. As we were developing the new cards, we not only incorporated feedback from our customers, but we built in the features and capabilities we wanted to use,” said Scott Herkelman, senior vice president & general manager, Graphics Business Unit at AMD. “We also realized that we needed to do something different to continue pushing the envelope of the technology, and I’m proud of what the team has accomplished with AMD RDNA 3 and the Radeon RX 7900 Series graphics cards. I can’t wait for gamers to experience the powerhouse performance, incredibly vivid visuals and amazing new features these new graphics cards offer.”
Full event can be seen below:
Direct Link
Also, it's still fun to see the Steam Deck picture on such events. AMD made the APU so it's only natural for them to highlight it but nice to see it again like this for a device that's helping to do so much for Linux gaming as a whole.
But that also includes charging the car which since it is electric. Even though it's 10 years old, it's still cheaper than gas. The equivalent is 1$ for a gallon in terms of electrical cost.
Quoting: raptor85No, I'm thinking you dropped a 0 and you mean 1600, which is closer to average.
Quoting: denyasisUsage also depends on season and weather. In the fall/spring, I can keep the AC and heat off (like I have for the past 2 months). I'm sub 800w/h a day and that is worth a full family and 20 hour a day occupation/use. It doubles in the summer with HVAC and window AC use (older units).So let's see... half a year at 800, plus half a year at double that ie. 1600, is (800+1600)/2=1200, divided by "a full family", I'm guessing four? gives 1200/4=300 Watt, averaged over a year. Including the car. Which goes to show that economy of scale works here as well, who would have thought.
But that also includes charging the car which since it is electric. Even though it's 10 years old, it's still cheaper than gas. The equivalent is 1$ for a gallon in terms of electrical cost.
No, I don't think I have to be living in a mediaeval hovel to get to the 300–350ish numbers I gave earlier, in fact I'm surprised how high they are in comparison. I don't have a car, nor do I need one, living in a functioning city with public transport and shops in walking distance (for how long they will continue to exist is another matter entirely though).
And yes of course, peak usage; still mindboggling that using such a beast easily doubles your total average consumption *for that time*. Plus the CPU is also bound to get a good workout, so doubling isn't even enough...
I will add, my usage might be a bit low for a household. My region has very very cheap fossil fuel prices. It costs less to use natural gas is many cases compared to electric. So, all of my heat generating appliances use gas. The HVAC, oven, water heater, even the clothes dryer.
Efficiency matters a lot too. My home was purchased needing some work. All our appliances are new and more efficient(I hope). The microwave stands at 1600w (according to it's label) fridge is about 780w (according to math).
I will say the biggest change was this summer when I had my house insulated. I've never lived in an insulated house before and the change was dramatic! It chopped about 30% off our electrical consumption (mostly AC). Not to mention the temperature in the house was more stable. Whereas the upstairs bedrooms were about 10 C hotter in the summer, with insulation, it stuck to 3-5 C. I think it's also why I'm able to keep the heat and AC off longer this fall (not to mention very pleasant temps here this year).
By my math, the savings will balance out the cost in less than 8 years.
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