AMD's RDNA 2 refresh is on track to launch before June

New rumors point towards the existence of three refreshed Radeon RX6000 series cards. According to new information posted on Twitter by Moore's Law is Dead, AMD is set to release the RX 6950 XT, RX 6750 XT, and RX 6650 XT. This would indicate that the RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT won’t be getting the refresh treatment. 

I can now confirm that #AMD does NOT plan to release an "RX 6850 XT". Also:1) 6950 XT is on track!2) 6750 XT & 6650 XT are CURRENTLY planned for Q2I briefly talk about it on Broken Silicon tomorrow, and I actually suggested most of this last week:https://t.co/GPPkxcov8tFebruary 15, 2022

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The leak suggests that the Radeon RX 6950 XT will come before the launch of the RX 6750 XT and RX 6650 XT later in Q2 2022. As we’re now in the second half of February, we may even see the 6950 XT as soon as the end of March. 

It’s interesting to note that it appears as though AMD won’t launch a 6800 or 6800 XT refresh. This does make sense as such a card would probably at best tie with a 6900 XT. It also means that AMD is launching refreshes of three separate GPUs, the Navi 21 (6950 XT), Navi 22 (6750 XT), and Navi 23 (6650 XT). That would make a lot of sense from a product positioning perspective.

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Details on the new cards are scarce, but we can expect them to include higher clock speeds and faster GDDR6 memory. The current models include 16Gbps memory, while the cheap and underwhelming RX 6500 XT includes 18Gbps memory. It’s a safe assumption that the more expensive refreshed cards will come with memory at least that fast. Unless AMD is using a refined 7nm process, it's also probable that each card will get a TDP increase and probably a price increase too. Hopefully not a big one though.

Will the RX 6000 series refresh be short lived? For now, RDNA 3 is on track to release before the end of 2022. At least one will incorporate a multi-chip design which could be a game changer. Or not. We have some time to go before they launch, and in the meantime we’ll be hoping to get out hands on the RX 6000 series refresh when they land.