AMD's Yellow Carp GPUs Swim Into Linux Drivers

AMD has begun to enable driver support for what could possibly be its new GPU based on the RDNA-series architecture and equipped with the company's next-generation DCN 3.1 display controller. At present, it is unclear whether the new "Yellow Carp" GPUs are high-end, midrange, or low-end graphics solutions, but we have some ideas. 

AMD's post about its Yellow Carp graphics processor (first noticed by Phoronix) says that the graphics processor is actually an ASIC (i.e., a standalone GPU). Meanwhile, Another AMD entry in a Linux repository indicates that Yellow Carp is actually a family of GPUs that includes Yellow Carp and Green Sardine, which is an integrated GPU set to be used for upcoming accelerated processing units (APUs).

The current speculation around the watercooler is that Yellow Carp will come to market in the Rembrandt APUs. The key features of both Yellow Carp and Green Sardine GPUs (which continue AMD's 'fishy traditions') are said to be an RDNA-series graphics architecture as well as AMD's next-generation display core next 3.1 (DCN 3.1) engine. AMD's RDNA2-based standalone Radeon RX 6000-series features the DCN 3.0 engine, yet the difference between version 3.0 and 3.1 is unknown.

AMD's Radeon RX 6000-Series Family of GPUs

AMD has used its Polaris/Vega-based GPUs (originally introduced in 2016) in its APUs for years. These APUs provide fairly decent performance and features for games, but their media decoding/encoding capabilities are half a decade old, so to produce a truly competitive APU, AMD needed a new GPU (with new graphics, media decoding/encoding, and display engines) for its upcoming Van Gogh and Rembrandt accelerated processing unit (APU). Yellow Carp could be just what the doctor ordered for these processors with integrated graphics. 

As with all unreleased products, AMD hasn't commented on the emergence of Yellow Carp, but with the GPUs swimming into Linux drivers already, we can expect more details to emerge soon.