We may have a new contender for the best graphics cards very soon. AMD is reportedly launching the Radeon RX 7900 GRE (Golden Rabbit Edition), a cutdown version of the Radeon RX 7900 XT, in the Chinese market. Two rumored launch dates are making the rounds: July 28 (via momomo_us) and August 3.
In Chinese culture, 2023 is the year of the rabbit, which is likely where the Golden Rabbit Edition moniker originated. It isn't the first time AMD has released an exclusive Radeon graphics card for the Chinese market. Back in 2020, AMD resuscitated Polaris and launched the Radeon RX 590 GME, a refreshed Radeon RX 580 with higher clock speeds, in China.
Being a Radeon RX 7900-tier SKU, the Radeon RX 7900 GRE likely features the same Navi 31 silicon AMD has used for the Radeon RX 7900 XT and Radeon RX 7900 XTX models. As a result, the GRE variant seemingly retains the 5376-shader configuration, but will likely have the same clock speeds as the Radeon RX 7900 XT. As rumor has it, the Radeon RX 7900 GRE allegedly received a substantial cutback in the memory subsystem.
The Radeon RX 7900 GRE purportedly has 16GB of GDDR6 memory, making it the first RDNA 3 graphics card to arrive with such a configuration. It has 4GB and 8GB less memory than the Radeon RX 7900 XT and Radeon RX 7900 XTX, respectively. The downgrade doesn't stop there. The GRE model seemingly has a memory interface reduced to 256-bit, instead of the 320-bit bus on the Radeon RX 7900 XT or the 384-bit one on the Radeon RX 7900 XTX.
Fortunately, AMD didn't skimp out on the GDDR6 memory chips. They still operate at 20 Gbps, but the narrower memory interface restricts the Radeon RX 7900 GRE's memory bandwidth to 640 GB/s, 20% lower than the Radeon RX 7900 XT and 33% below the Radeon RX 7900 XTX. The card should still have 80MB of Infinity Cache, like the Radeon RX 7900 XT.
Sapphire's Nitro+ AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE has emerged with two 8-pin PCIe power connectors, suggesting that the GRE variant will probably have a similar 300W TDP as the Radeon RX 7900 XT. If so, a 700W power supply from a reputable brand should suffice to power the new RDNA 3 graphics card.
It's uncertain if July 28 or August 3 is the lift on review embargos or the actual market launch date. Either way, it shouldn't be long before we learn more about the Radeon RX 7900 GRE, such as the performance and pricing, since we already know it's a China-exclusive SKU.
