AMD confirms ‘enthusiast’ RDNA 3 GPUs are imminent – should Nvidia be worried?

AMD has let us know that it will have new RDNA 3 graphics cards coming out in Q3 which will be ‘enthusiast class’ to fill the large gap between the RX 7600 and RX 7900 (the only two series of current-gen GPUs available now from Team Red).

Tom’s Hardware spotted that CEO Lisa Su commented on the incoming launches as part of AMD’s earnings call (for Q2 fiscal, in which revenue dropped considerably, but still outperformed expectations in a weak PC market).

Su stated that: “In gaming graphics, we expanded our Radeon 7000 GPU series in the second quarter, with the launch of our mainstream RX 7600 cards pertaining to gaming. We’re on track to further expand our RDNA 3 GPU offerings with the launch of new enthusiast class Radeon 7000-series cards in the third quarter.”

Those new launches could be RX 7700 or RX 7800 models of some kind.

Of course, we’ve also recently seen a fresh vanilla RX 7900 offering, the 7900 GRE – the existing models available being the XT and XTX spins – which reportedly runs with a shrunk Navi 31 chip (presumably using silicon that didn’t make the cut for those mentioned spins).

The RX 7900 GRE runs with 80 Compute Units or CUs, which is 4 fewer than seen on the 7900 XT.

Analysis: What GPUs are we likely to see from AMD this quarter?

What graphics cards will AMD launch, exactly, inside the next couple of months? It’s difficult to say as the GPU grapevine has been very confusing as to what might be in the pipeline.

The theory is that’s because AMD itself is still deciding where to pitch what could be RX 7700 or 7800 models, in terms of naming and pricing.

From what we’ve heard recently from one of the more regular leakers on all things GPU, Moore’s Law is Dead (MLID) on YouTube, there will be two new RDNA 3 graphics cards coming – maybe three at a stretch – and they’ll be revealed at Gamescom (in late August, ahead of a September release).

The most likely candidates are a straight RX 7700 and RX 7800, though there could be an XT spin thrown in as well, perhaps. Or they could both be XT models, with no vanilla releases. It’s unusual for the rumor mill to be so unsure about what models are due at this apparently late stage, that’s for sure – another indication that plans are still somewhat up in the air for AMD.

Whatever the case, pricing is expected to be aggressive, and we can but hope that speculation turns out to be true. With Nvidia’s RTX 4060 offerings seemingly falling flat on their faces in terms of sales – even if that fate wasn’t really deserved, certainly not for the vanilla card – AMD has an opportunity to grab some mid-range (and upper-mid-range) sales here, and let’s hope Team Red really goes for the jugular.