AMD has finally officially announced its AMD Radeon RX 7900 series graphics cards and we're ecstatic with the specs.
The first GPUs in the new AMD Radeon RX 7900 series have been unveiled, with AMD showcasing the RX 7900 XTX 24GB and the RX 7900 XT 20GB during its reveal event.
AMD made some bold claims about the Radeon RX 7900 XTX's frame rates. So of course, I can't wait to get my hands on it to test it out for myself and see if it actually rings true. Apparently, we can expect to see 190fps on an 8K Ultra-Wide TV when playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – which sounds absolutely insane, frankly. And if that doesn't shock you, then maybe the the fact that you'll allegedly get a whopping 833fps in Valorant when playing in 1440p will.
These numbers are based on AMD's internal testing, so to be honest, I'll believe it when I see it for myself. I'll likely be benchmarking the cards on release day and comparing them to the Nvidia 40 series cards to see if they do hold up. For those of you who don't really know much about frame rates, it's worth noting that some experts have stated that the average human eye perceives frames at 60fps; so we're not sure what to do with the other 770 AMD claim you'll get in Valorant.
AMD didn't come to play with the performance of these GPUs, and if they do hold up to these promises in testing they will likely take the spot of best graphics cards on the market
The good news keeps on coming
The graphics cards will set you back just $999 (around £895.30 / AU$1587.71) and $899 (around to £895.30 / AU$1587.71) respectively. This is extremely aggressive pricing – which was to be expected since AMD is hoping to compete with multiple other GPUs including the Intel Arc series and the Nvidia 40 series. But was a surprise, nevertheless. The Nvidia RTX 4080 will retail at £1,269 / $1,199 / AU$1,659, which really puts into perspective how affordable these new cards will be by comparison.
I really didn't think AMD would deliver on the cost front. Especially when taking into account the power these cards will present and the price of the previous series. The AMD RX 6900 launched at £999 / $999.99 / AU$1599 – the 7000 series features much higher specs and boasts a lot more power. So it's a veritable miracle that they're sporting heavier price tags.
The release date has been confirmed for Tuesday, December 13, 2022.
As we knew before today's AMD event, the new cards will feature RDNA 3 architecture, which AMD stated will provide new levels of performance, efficiency, and functionality. Based on the specs alone it seems like both of these cards will compete with the Nvidia RTX 4090, rather than one competing with the 4080, just due to the vast power both of AMD's iterations bring to the table.
The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX will feature 24GB of memory, matching that of the Nvidia RTX 4090, and a total board power of 355W – which is actually 100W lower than the competing card. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT will feature 20 GB of memory and has a total board power of 300W.
AMD made a point of telling viewers how easy it'll be to upgrade to the new cards, firing shots at Nvidia. You won't have to pick up any new bits and pieces in order for this card to function in your setup. The same goes for the board powers on offer here, and AMD's recommendation of a minimum power supply of 800W. That means you probably won't need to pick up a new power supply, as long as your current machine is running a PSU above the minimum.
The high memory on these cards, when compared with older models, means you'll be able to provide your graphics cards with fast access to even more essential data than before. This leads to much more efficient performance. The Nvidia RTX 4090 also features 24GB of memory but the RTX 4080 (which will be retailing at a higher price than both of these cards) will only have 16GB of memory. Based on these specs, we can expect the AMD iterations to run more efficiently in comparison.
