Discussion RDNA4 + CDNA3 Architectures Thread

[DisEnchantment]

With the GFX940 patches in full swing since first week of March, it is looking like MI300 is not far in the distant future!
Usually AMD takes around 3Qs to get the support in LLVM and amdgpu. Lately, since RDNA2 the window they push to add support for new devices is much reduced to prevent leaks.
But looking at the flurry of code in LLVM, it is a lot of commits. Maybe because US Govt is starting to prepare the SW environment for El Capitan (Maybe to avoid slow bring up situation like Frontier for example)

See here for the GFX940 specific commits

History for llvm/lib/Target/AMDGPU - llvm/llvm-project

The LLVM Project is a collection of modular and reusable compiler and toolchain technologies. - History for llvm/lib/Target/AMDGPU - llvm/llvm-project

github.com

Or Phoronix

More AMD "GFX940" Enablement Work Landing In LLVM - Phoronix

www.phoronix.com

There is a lot more if you know whom to follow in LLVM review chains (before getting merged to github), but I am not going to link AMD employees.

I am starting to think MI300 will launch around the same time like Hopper probably only a couple of months later!
Although I believe Hopper had problems not having a host CPU capable of doing PCIe 5 in the very near future therefore it might have gotten pushed back a bit until SPR and Genoa arrives later in 2022.
If PVC slips again I believe MI300 could launch before it

This is nuts, MI100/200/300 cadence is impressive.



Previous thread on CDNA2 and RDNA3 here

Question - Speculation: RDNA3 + CDNA2 Architectures Thread

Man I have been dying to make this one for a while now. First rumours for RDNA3 are here so new thread time! Just going to start off with this one for now: kopite7kimi on Twitter: "@VideoCardz Ah, I mean a simple mcm design with 10240 cores is not enough. Because the lift from RDNA2 to RDNA3...

forums.anandtech.com

 

[marees]

Nothing new other than the launch date

Now, the 9060xt launch is delayed (probably due to Tariffs) — MLID

 

[eek2121]

I think he's referring to the 32 GB on the 9070 XT. Unless I missed something AMD hasn't announced anything beyond a 16 GB model.

About this. AMD is dropping a 32gb card apparently (if rumors are true), just not a gaming card. It is a workstation card.

 

[blackangus]

Explain it to me like I'm 5: what would a fully programmable RT pipeline do? I'm guessing the usual answers more efficient, more performant RT calculations, but would it allow for more effects as well?

Programmable shaders sort of made sense since shaders are used for basically every visual element in the scene, but a programmable RT pipeline... lighting is lighting right?

Seems like a very specific task to make fully programable.

I am no expert for sure, but I have read some conversations around this point.
1. Ray tracing isnt just 1 operation there are many parts to it and some of those parts are black boxes to developers
2. One of those black boxes is the BHV format and query mechanisms
My high level take away is that the black box parts mean that devs have to fit that into their engine vs having the ability to more tightly integrate RT to make better sense with the rest of the rendering decisions for the engine/game.

 

[jpiniero]

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-radeon-rx-9070-gre-to-feature-3072-cores-and-12gb-memory-further-specs-leaked

9070 GRE specs - it has 15% less cores than the 9070 but higher stock boost. I have a feeling the reduction in memory bandwidth will hurt a lot... but it should still be a lot faster than the 5060 Ti.

 

[Mopetar]

I wonder what they try to price that at. Given what some are asking for a 5060 Ti, I think AMD will price it at $500, even though it should be a lot less than that.

The memory bandwidth will kill the 1440p performance in some games, but it should still perform well at 1080p. I wouldn’t buy it for a long term card for anything above that though as the 12 GB VRAM will be an issue more and more games over the lifespan of the card.

 

[jpiniero]

I wonder what they try to price that at. Given what some are asking for a 5060 Ti, I think AMD will price it at $500, even though it should be a lot less than that.

I think the Real MSRP will be $500, yeah. But I imagine it will be China only for some time.

 

[gdansk]

It'll be 4000 RMB after tax.

 

[Mopetar]

I think the Real MSRP will be $500, yeah. But I imagine it will be China only for some time.

They could sell it in any market right now, even at $500, so I don't think this will be a China exclusive.

The only upside of a $500 MSRP is that I don't think it leaves any room for scalpers.

 

[jpiniero]

They could sell it in any market right now, even at $500, so I don't think this will be a China exclusive.

The 9070 is already decently cut down except for the memory controllers. The % remaining shouldn't be that much. Should be able to unload the inventory in China without having to do much more than that. If that changes, then they can send it worldwide.

 

[Mopetar]

The 9070 is only a 12.5% chop (87.5% of full die). The bigger difference is that the clocks are much lower, so it has a shade under 80% of the FLOPs as the XT.

The GRE specs posted are another 12.5% chop (75% of the full die), but clocks comparable to the XT. That gives it 95% of the FLOPs of the 9070 (a bit above 70% of the XT).

In situations where the 9070 isn't memory bound the 9070 GRE should have similar performance to the 9070. That means the 1080p performance will be similar, but that the performance will fall off harder at higher resolutions.

They can unload the cards wherever they want to in this market. There's no reason for them to restrict themselves to only China at the launch. If I were them I'd go with wherever the scalpers are getting the biggest markup because that's where they can sell these at $500 the easiest.

 

[Jan Olšan]

Now, the 9060xt launch is delayed (probably due to Tariffs) — MLID

Just a few days ago he claimed his sources are saying it's coming out this month (that immediately looked unlikely given how we have seen no leaks of cards), so this is could be just MLID trying to walk-back that claim with a cover story, because Chiphell/VideoCardz immediately said it's May after that (and Hoang Anh Phu who says "may/computex launch but june availability").

 

[TESKATLIPOKA]

192-bit bus with 48SM is good enough, what I don't like is 18Gbit instead of 20Gbit modules.
The biggest issue as already mentioned will be 12GB Vram, not very future-friendly.
But I question If $499 is not a bit much.

Performance wise It should perform better than 7090GRE at 1080p maybe even 1440p and worse at 4K.

 

[SolidQ]

But I question If $499 is not a bit much.

7800XT was 500 already, this going be cheaper. Probably 430

 

[basix]

192-bit bus with 48SM is good enough, what I don't like is 18Gbit instead of 20Gbit modules.
The biggest issue as already mentioned will be 12GB Vram, not very future-friendly.
But I question If $499 is not a bit much

I have the same thoughts about it. Performance should be OK, maybe around 5070 stock or a little bit lower (depends on clocks and TDP). 499$ would still be cheaper than the 5070 but 449$ would probably be better and more suitable.

 

[Timorous]

I think 9070 GRE will perform around 7800XT to 7900GRE levels judging from the specs.

12GB is a bit of a shame at that performance level but if the price is in the $400-$450 range then I think it is okay.

As for 9060XT I think the performance level will be in and around 7700XT. That is what a 35%-40% performance bump over the 7600XT would look like and I see no reason why the 9060XT would have a significantly lower performance bump over the most closely specced RDNA3 counterpart than the 9070XT does over the 7800XT.

I see the 9060XT being to the 5060Ti what the 9070XT is to the 5070Ti. Slightly worse but a lot cheaper.

 

[TESKATLIPOKA]

9060XT 16GB will probably get favorable reviews, If the price is right and they don't skimp on some features present in N48.
Although power consumption will be criticized compared to RX 9070.
$349 would be a very good price, $379 is what I expect and $329 the same as 7600XT 16GB would be terrific, but highly unlikely.

 

[GTracing]

Hmm seems Charlie got upset https://www.semiaccurate.com/2025/02/28/amds-radeon-9070-isnt-very-good/

This article is halarious to read through now. He claimed:

• The 9070 XT is slower than the 7900 XT
• The 9070 XT is less efficient than RDNA3.
• AMD cheated on their benchmarks by using frame generation and/or upscaling.
• AMD cheated on their benchmarks by including Ray Tracing results.
• AMD didn't include 9070 benchmarks in their slide deck (especially confusing since he has a slide with 9070 benchmarks on it)
• "AMD consistently and intentionally does NOT do technical briefings on consumer products anymore"
• Nobody knows what the media engine does.
• Scheduling the review embargo one week after the product announcement is "slimy PR tactics"

 

[jpiniero]

$349 would be a very good price, $379 is what I expect

Real or Fake MSRP?

 

[TESKATLIPOKA]

Real or Fake MSRP?

Of course Fake MSRP.

 

[gdansk]

Real or Fake MSRP?

Who knows about other countries but there will be no real MSRP in the US for sometime.

 

[Mopetar]

12GB is a bit of a shame at that performance level but if the price is in the $400-$450 range then I think it is okay.

$400 is what it should be, but with the market the way it is right now they may as well charge $500 and invest in more production. Otherwise the scalpers will pocket it.

There's still going to be a fairly large gap between this and the 9060 cards though. Those don't seem like they'll be able to match a 7700XT.

 

[Timorous]

$400 is what it should be, but with the market the way it is right now they may as well charge $500 and invest in more production. Otherwise the scalpers will pocket it.

There's still going to be a fairly large gap between this and the 9060 cards though. Those don't seem like they'll be able to match a 7700XT.

The 9060XT not matching the 7700XT (give or take a bit) would be odd given the 9070XT performance uplift over the 7800XT.

As such I don't think there will be a huge gap.

 

[Mopetar]

The 9060XT not matching the 7700XT (give or take a bit) would be odd given the 9070XT performance uplift over the 7800XT.

As such I don't think there will be a huge gap.

Navi 44 has 32 CU based on all reliable information so far. That's the same as a 7600XT.

The 7700 XT was based on Navi 32 and was the cut down chip with 54 CU. That's about 70% more cores over a 9060. Meanwhile the 7900 XTX is only 50% more cores and Navi 32 also benefited from fixes to allow it to clock better than the initial RDNA3 cards.

Maybe the 9060 XT will be an absolute monster in clock speeds, but it'll be power hungry for it. Maybe top silicon can get there, and if it does I'll be impressed, but I think it'll be nipping at the heels of the 7700 XT by 10% across the board at best.

 

[adroc_thurston]

Maybe the 9060 XT will be an absolute monster in clock speeds

Yeah like that's kinda the thing, >3Ghz boosts.

 

[Mopetar]

Yeah like that's kinda the thing, >3Ghz boosts.

It's going to need much more than that. The silicon may well be capable of it, but how many people want a 9060 XT that draws as much power as a 9070 XT?