AMD seemingly confirms Radeon RX 8600 and RX 8800 GPUs via ROCm Github update

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An update to AMD's ROCm software hints that the RX 8800 and RX 8600 graphics cards may be on the horizon

AMD GPU
(Image credit: YouTube - AMD)

AMD has seemeingly inadvertently confirmed its upcoming Radeon RX 8600 and RX 8800 desktop GPUs through recent updates to its ROCm (Radeon Open Compute) libraries. The GPUs, which are expected to be part of AMD's RDNA 4 architecture, appeared in code changes (h/t VideoCardz), hinting at active development and future releases. We say "seemingly" as it's possible to fake credentials, but assuming they're real, an AMD employee committed updates to the ROCm repository.

The latest update references to "gfx12_rx8800" and "gfx12_rx8600" alongside existing "gfx11_rx7900" entries. This suggests "gfx12" denotes a new GPU architecture, and RX 8800/RX 8600 represent families of cards. A changelog entry explicitly mentions "add nav4x arch," confirming these GPUs are part of the next-gen Navi 4X series expected to power AMD’s upcoming Radeon line-up.

While the update doesn't reveal specific details such as specifications or release dates, the unexpected inclusion of the RX 8600 and RX 8800 in these libraries offers an early glimpse of AMD’s plans for its next-generation desktop GPU line-up. It seems that AMD is preparing to launch mid-range (RX 8600) and high-performance (RX 8800) graphics cards to succeed its RDNA3-based predecessors, the Radeon RX 7600 and RX 7800 series.

Just last week AMD's chief executive Lisa Su confirmed during its Q3 earnings call that the first products based on the all-new RDNA 4 architecture will launch by early 2025. "In addition to a strong increase in gaming performance, RDNA 4 delivers significantly higher ray tracing performance, and adds new AI capabilities. We are on track to launch the first RDNA 4 GPUs in early 2025."

AMD is expected to showcase its new Radeon RX 8000 series of GPUs during press event on 6 January at CES 2025 with a rollout of the new products in the following weeks.

AMD’s ROCm is an open-source software platform for high-performance computing and AI workloads. It provides tools for GPU programming, libraries for machine learning, and supports open standards like OpenCL. New GPU support in ROCm requires developers to update code, often shared via GitHub.

Considering Intel’s newly announced (coming next week) second-gen Arc GPUs based on the Battlemage architecture, it will be interesting to see how AMD prices its upcoming line-up, especially the entry-level RX 8600.

In other related news, AMD's unreleased Radeon RX 8800 XT graphics card recently surfaced on power supply manufacturer Seasonic's wattage calculator webpage. While there is no official confirmation, the leaked information suggests that the card will come with a 220W TDP (Thermal Design Power). If this holds true, then the newer RX 8800 XT could potentially draw about 43W less that its predecessor, the Radeon RX 7800 XT.

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Kunal Khullar
Kunal Khullar
News Contributor

Kunal Khullar is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware.  He is a long time technology journalist and reviewer specializing in PC components and peripherals, and welcomes any and every question around building a PC.

4 Comments Comment from the forums
  • usertests
    If RX 8600 (XT) is the top Navi 44 chip, I hope there are nice 8500/8400 options including 75W.
    Reply
  • okeribok
    Hope this means that ROCm compatibility now extends all the way down to the 8600 and that AMD will also have laptops that support ROCm
    Reply
  • Mama Changa
    8800XT gets more appealing if it supports ROCm. Hopefully good for AI work too with something equivalent to Tensor cores for matrix math.
    Reply
  • virgult
    okeribok said:
    Hope this means that ROCm compatibility now extends all the way down to the 8600 and that AMD will also have laptops that support ROCm
    EXACTLY! This is huge. It's as though AMD finally gained the willpower to close the 15-year gap with Nvidia.

    Because yes, CUDA is what made Nvidia rich. Not more gaming performance, not better drivers. The Nvidia tax is a CUDA tax. CUDA was there when the world of GPGPU needed it, and AMD was playing deaf and then half-heartedly supported OpenCL and then ROCm whilst also restricting it to Radeon Pro. They just didn't want to acknowledge that CUDA won exactly because it ran on consumer hardware and therefore AI students and free software could make use of it. Hopefully AMD now realised that they can use this same strategy against a monopolistic and enshittified Nvidia to take some revenue back.
    Reply