AMD Radeon VII release date, GPU specs, and performance

The AMD Radeon VII graphics card first came to light at the red team's first ever CES keynote, with Dr. Lisa Su referring to it as the “world’s first 7nm gaming GPU.” Radeon VII, Radeon 7, or Vega 2 (V II, geddit?), however you want to talk about it, this is the die shrink for the second generation of the AMD Vega GPU architecture and the company’s next-generation of high-performance graphics silicon. The shrink from 14nm to 7nm alone will be responsible for some extra GPU efficiency, and the ability to run the new Radeon VII at a higher clock speed for greater gaming performance. But from the early announcement it’s not necessarily clear what else has changed with the second-gen GPU design down at the consumer level. But we do know when it’s being released next month, and what sort of level of gaming performance AMD is aiming at with its new top-end graphics card. It’s interesting that team Radeon had previously stated its reticence to bring the pricey 7nm Vega core down to the consumer level, given the lukewarm reception that the original 14nm RX Vega cards received, and yet now gamers are being treated to the most expensive single-core gaming GPU AMD has ever created. Maybe someone proved people were willing to spend $699 on a graphics card...