AMD, on November 3 in Las Vegas, held a launch event to remove the wrapper of its next-generation desktop graphics family. The event was a refreshingly concise but powerful overview of the innovation that AMD continues to bring to the graphics space.
In a bizarre yet fascinating way, it was interesting to see that the ho-hum or negative pre-launch rumor mill feedback given by the leaker paparazzi was way off base as these pundits didn’t have post-launch access. Information
What AMD announced was really surprising and impressive in a number of ways. It’s also a testament to the fact that AMD’s return to silicon glory, largely due to CEO Lisa Su’s leadership, has turned the company into an execution juggernaut since her arrival in October 2014, only eight years ago. It’s worth pointing out what I believe are the three biggest takeaways from AMD’s announcement.
Takeaway #1: RDNA 3 is a remarkable opportunity for AMD to disrupt the graphics space.
If AMD’s performance claims are to be believed — and industry benchmark experts will be the judge in the coming weeks — RDNA 3 will potentially disrupt Nvidia’s 80% share in the desktop graphics space.
Remember that AMD claims that RDNA 3 provides an additional 50% to 70% performance improvement over what Nvidia accomplished with its RTX 4090.
More importantly, RDNA 3 is the first realization of AMD’s “chiplet” design capability in the graphics area. The chiplet approach, which enabled AMD to turn its Ryzen processor family into a highly capable and more affordable offering against Intel’s processors, consists of a 5 nm compute processor that resides on an interposer with six memory caches and internally Lowers cost.
RDNA 3 Chiplets Process Overview (Image Credit: AMD)
Of course, this comes at the expense of spec clock speed and overall pure performance at the silicon level. But the more important point is that while the architecture features a 2.3GHz core clock speed that is only marginally faster than RDNA 2, this design technique is groundbreaking in the graphics space, and has the potential for future products that scale dramatically. But will champion the gamers. bit.
Truth be told, beyond delivering a message about AMD’s pioneering chiplet design, RDND 3 can be seen as a fine-tuning of RDNA 2. In other words, AMD is bringing more compute power to the table with the RDNA 3, but the compute units look noticeably smaller. Similar to the company’s previous generations of graphics architecture.
Still, that doesn’t diminish what AMD has achieved with the RDNA 3. The silicon game is all about reducing die size to reduce costs and system wattage requirements, and the RDNA 3 has all of that in spades.
Takeaway #2: The RDNA 3 will turn Nvidia on its head when it comes to pricing.
Anyone covering the PC gaming space knows that the winners are the companies that can offer a compelling value proposition mix of performance and competitive pricing. Value has always been a powerful component of AMD’s brand DNA, so RDNA 3 represents a substantial opportunity to disrupt things in the graphics space.
After all, Nvidia’s premium offerings — like its upcoming RTX 4090 with 24GB of GDDR6X VRAM — cost $1,699. AMD spooked onlookers by announcing the pricing of its new flagship cards, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and Radeon RX 7900 XT, at less than $1,000 each ($999 and $899, respectively).
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To be sure, the company positioned its new graphics cards at the event against Nvidia’s “mid-range” RTX 4080 (which carries a healthy $1,199 MSRP), presumably because AMD thinks it can drive meaningful volume. This is the correct interrupt point for . In my view, this is a wise marketing move for AMD because if the benchmark data pans out, the company could gain considerable traction in Nvidia’s wheelhouse.
One more point deserves mention. Nvidia’s RTX 4XXX cards have always had a reputation with some gamers for being huge and requiring a power supply upgrade. AMD’s newer cards only require two eight-pin inputs because their power requirements are lower than those of the latest Nvidia cards.
This observation begs the question of whether the RDNA 3 architecture can be used with larger power supplies and even greater performance. But Tape’s story will be the early review that will assess just how efficient these new AMD cards are.
Takeaway #3: The AMD Advantage Could Be a Game Changer for “DIY Wannabes”.
As the marketing executive who launched Dell’s XPS gaming brand in the early 2000s to the likes of Alienware (prior to Dell’s acquisition), I’ve had the pleasure and accomplishment of building many gaming rigs over the years. I can talk in the spirit of
However, I can testify that building a gaming PC is not for the faint of heart. Despite the thrill of picking out the exact components I wanted (eg, motherboard, processor, graphics card, chassis, power supply, etc.), I always found myself frustrated with the actual building of a DIY setup.
Amusingly, I always had leftover parts and screws that I somehow didn’t use, and my cable management skills were less than elegant. What’s more, don’t get me started on how DIY systems can be a nightmare to upgrade from a firmware and driver perspective because there are so many different components involved.
The AMD Advantage hopes to solve that. The company is using its extensive expertise and know-how, derived from extensive research, to create what it calls a “user-centered” system that has all the benefits of a DIY system without the hassle.
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To be clear, AMD isn’t entering the whole system PC business. Replicating the approach successfully adopted with AMD Advantage laptops, AMD Advantage is a “framework” program that essentially certifies desktop systems from major system integration partners.
These certified desktop PCs will be optimized for use with AMD’s top-of-the-line Ryzen 7950x processor and Radeon XTX 7900 graphics card. AMD’s Adrenalin software will provide enhanced performance and manage firmware/driver updates. But most importantly, these certified systems will be designed in a highly customizable way that should make PC upgrades painless and more future-proof.
The new AMD Advantage desktop systems are expected to be available soon at CSL, CyberPower, eBuyer, Falcon, Northwest, Maingear, Origin PC, and Xidax.
analyst comments
There’s a lot to like in what AMD announced last week. While the growth of the overall PC market is slowing down sharply after a two-year Covid-19 binge, AMD’s new graphics cards have the potential to drive growth in the PC gaming segment.
In addition, the AMD Advantage program could expand the market with “DIY wannabes” who dreamed about building their own PCs but didn’t have the time or technical skills to do so.
While the PC gaming space doesn’t have a natural launch cadence catalyst that operated as the consumer PC market did in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the launch of a new Windows operating system could ignite sales, Other factors may be driving the growth.
Highly anticipated new games in 2023, such as Alan Wake 2, Aliens: Dark Descent, Ark 2, Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, and Atlas Fallen, could have an adrenaline-like effect on gaming PC sales, as 2022 was not a very exciting year for the game of.
Although AMD’s graphics market share may be in the 20% range, AMD PC gaming enthusiasts are among the most animated and energetic PC users I’ve encountered. My interviews with several AMD executives at the RDNA 3 event conveyed that vibrancy.
I was particularly taken by my brief discussion with HipHopGamer, a YouTube influencer who channeled the enthusiasm of the gamers in attendance at the event. People have a strong opinion about these graphics cards. You can see HipHopGamer’s excitement for yourself and my other interviews with AMD executives in this video:
While it’s difficult to assess the impact of these new AMD graphics cards until industry benchmarking experts compare these solutions to Nvidia’s offerings, credit AMD with keeping its innovation pedal to the metal, which should give Nvidia a boost. Must be kept on your toes.
Designed to power high frame rate 4K and high resolution gaming through its innovative chiplet implementation and second-generation ray-tracing capability, AMD’s RDNA 3-based graphics cards enable developers to bring immersive games to market Will do, which we could not even think of. Many years ago.
Creative professionals producing high-capacity digital video and multimedia content will also see possibilities with these new solutions. It’s a powerful message that I’d like to see AMD put more emphasis on marketing.