AMD recently launched the Radeon RX 7800 XT and 7700 XT at Gamescom to compete with the best graphics cards. Scott Herkelman, senior vice president and general manager of the Graphics Business Unit at AMD, made a surprising statement, revealing that no more new RDNA 3 ASICs will come after the RX 7800 XT and 7700 XT. Herkelman didn't discard new graphics cards based on existing ASIC.
This news will be sad for some who were expecting AMD to release a vanilla RX 7800 and 7700 (non-XT) and an entry-level RX 7500 series product stack to compete with Nvidia's potential GeForce RTX 4050. But alas, it appears AMD is content with sticking to just six SKUs for this season and doesn't see a big enough reason to launch more models. Instead, AMD may have to rely on its previous-generation Radeon RX 6000 series product stack to fill the gaps where its current RX 7000 series lineup cannot compete.
The current AMD Radeon RX 7000 series GPU lineup comprises six desktop SKUs, including the Radeon RX 7900 GRE. For comparison, the Radeon RX 6000 series had double the amount of SKUs. Herkelman stated in the short interview that AMD may launch different versions, but the graphics cards aren't a new ASIC. However, he didn't provide any insight on the mobile side. Thus far, the Radon 7000M series only has the Radeon RX 7600M XT and Radeon RX 7600M.
.@sherkelman: AMD "RDNA3 portfolio is now complete" pic.twitter.com/e92ioJPcy1August 26, 2023
AMD's decision to release only six SKUs for the RDNA3 generation isn't that surprising, given how disappointing the last year of GPU launches has been. If you've read our previous coverage, you'll know that we have been underwhelmed by most of Nvidia and AMD's latest GPU releases. The dominant issue with today's GPUs is the amount of performance you are getting for the money, which is about the same as the last generation (with some exceptions). As a result, there's minimal incentive to upgrade if you already have a previous-generation card.
To recap, AMD's full RDNA3 lineup now includes the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, RX 7900 XT, RX 7900 GRE (regional availability), RX 7600, and the new mid-range RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 XT. The RX 7900 XTX and 7900 XT launched in December of last year for $999 and $899, respectively, as competitors to Nvidia's RTX 4080 and RTX 4070 Ti. Five months later, AMD released the RX 7600 for $269 to compete with Nvidia's RTX 4060. Then, out of nowhere, AMD released the RX 7900 GRE for $649 a month ago, a cut-down version of the 7900 XT focused on the Chinese market — with GRE standing for Golden Rabbit Edition.
Then, of course, AMD finally unveiled the RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 XT yesterday for $499 and $449, respectively, to compete with the RTX 4060 Ti (8GB and 16GB) and the RTX 4070.
