Radeon RX 6700 Could Feature Less VRAM than Radeon RX 6600XT

A potential leak from the EEC (Eurasian Economic Commission) shows that Asrock has filed information pertaining to the currently unannounced Radeon RX 6600XT and an RX 6700 (vanilla). The info suggests Asrock's RX 6600XT's might feature 12GB of VRAM, and 8GB of VRAM for the RX 6700 variant.

Beware that ECC filings can be VERY misleading. We've seen false information pertaining to the RTX 30 series show up on the ECC database, so take this data with a grain of salt.

If this info is at all true about the RX 6600XT and RX 6700, it would seem AMD is duplicating Nvidia's shenanigans with video memory in the mid-range graphics card market. We're specifically talking about Nvidia's RTX 3060 featuring 12GB of VRAM, while its higher-tiered siblings — the RTX 3060 Ti and RTX 3070 — only include 8GB of VRAM.

Generally, it's more sensible to include more VRAM on your higher-tiered graphics cards, and decrease that amount for less powerful cards. The more GPU horsepower you have the more VRAM you need.

It would certainly be strange if AMD took this same approach with its mid-ranged parts. However, if history is anything to go by, the 8GB of VRAM on the RX 6700 could legitimately be just one of two VRAM options the GPU will feature. Previously, the RX 470/480 RX 570/580 cards of the past came in both 4GB and 8GB models. The RX 6700 might include two memory options as well, only this time they could be 8GB and 16GB. The same could be said of the RX 6600 XT, perhaps we'll see a 6GB model and a 12GB model for that card.

Nvidia's upcoming RTX 3060 12GB might not be the only option there, either. Nvidia has 8GB and 16GB mobile RTX 3080 solutions. Similarly, we know the mobile RTX 3060 variants currently use 6GB, but nothing is preventing Nvidia from doing 6GB desktop and 12GB mobile options. Well, nothing except perhaps the supply of GDDR6 memory. That could be the reason behind both AMD and Nvidia potentially shipping 6GB and 12GB models of some GPUs in the near future.

We'll have to wait and see what AMD does. Again, take this data with a grain of salt as ECC fillings are not always 100 percent accurate information. The Radeon RX 6600 XT and RX 6700 haven't been officially announced, and we don't have clear knowledge of the other specs either. Our best guess is that Navi 22 or Navi 23 will be used to build the 6600XT and/or 6700, and that the cards will ship most likely in the March or April timeframe.