Update: The livestream has concluded – here's our breakdown of the speeds, feeds, and pricing:
AMD Unveils Big Navi: RX 6900 XT, RX 6800 XT and RX 6800 Take On Ampere
And here's a few details on the new Ryzen 5000 pairing:
AMD’s RX 6000 GPUs to Boost Perf With Ryzen 5000 CPUs via Smart Memory Access
Original article:
AMD will debut its new RDNA 2 architecture that will power its new RX 6000 series graphics cards, lovingly known as Big Navi in enthusiast circles, today at 12pm ET. We've embedded the video below so you can watch the event unfold in real-time. Also, keep your eyes peeled for our ongoing coverage both during and after the event.
Nvidia's Ampere GPU launch reset our expectations for performance and pricing for gaming GPUs, upsetting our GPU hierarchy and Best GPU recommendations in the process, but AMD certainly isn't going to let that go without a response. That response comes in the form of the RDNA 2 architecture, which AMD has already revealed offers 50% more performance per watt over the previous-gen RDNA 1 architecture. During AMD's Ryzen 5000 launch, the company teased us with gaming performance that looks similar to the RTX 3080 - you can read our full analysis of the only official performance demo here.
Of course, a string of leaks have kept us guessing on Big Navi's performance potential, but we expect the company to come gunning for not only the mid-range but also Nvidia's high-end RTX 30-series cards, so anything goes. We also expect support for some sort of hardware-accelerated ray tracing capability to level the playing field with Nvidia's Ampere.
We've already seen some new features officially added to Linux patches, and the reports of a new Infinity Cache, which is a new term AMD recently trademarked, portend possible radical new features that could boost performance.
In either case, AMD will set the record straight in today's webcast. Pricing, and the oh-so-important availability in the wake of the Ampere launch fiasco, could determine the winner in the GPU wars this year. While you wait, check out our Big Navi all-we-know article to get caught up on the latest chatter from around the GPU watercooler.