AMD Navi: Everything we all know thus far about “Big Navi”, from ray tracing to launch date

AMD’s Navi GPUs have been making fairly the splash since they first got here out final July. The RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT shortly established themselves as worthy rivals to Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 2060 and RTX 2070 graphics playing cards, and their entry-level RX 5500 XT and RX 5600 XT playing cards are at present my high best graphics card suggestions for these after one thing a bit cheaper.

The solely piece of the graphics card pie that’s at present lacking is AMD’s 4K graphics playing cards – the “Big Navi” GPUs, so to talk, which AMD are additionally calling Navi 2X. We don’t know a lot about them but, reminiscent of how a lot they’ll price, or precisely after they’re popping out, however AMD’s latest monetary analyst day did reveal some telling clues about what we will anticipate. Here’s all the things we find out about Big Navi thus far.

AMD Navi: what’s it?

Navi is the identify of AMD’s new household of Radeon RX 5000 graphics playing cards. So far, AMD have launched 4 Navi GPUs primarily based on their present RDNA (or Radeon DNA) structure, which makes use of a extra environment friendly 7nm (nanometer) manufacturing course of in comparison with their earlier Vega graphics playing cards.

There are extra Navi playing cards on the way in which, too. These have been dubbed AMD’s Big Navi GPUs, and will likely be primarily based on a 2nd Gen model of RDNA often called RDNA 2. We don’t know an enormous quantity about RDNA 2 simply but, however AMD have mentioned it should deliver enhancements to efficiency per watt, in addition to introduce different applied sciences reminiscent of ray tracing, variable fee shading (two issues that Nvidia’s RTX playing cards at present do) and extra.

It seems like AMD will likely be sticking with their RDNA structure for the foreseeable future, too, as AMD’s present GPU roadmap (pictured above) reveals they’ll finally transfer to their third Gen RDNA structure, which they’re at present calling RDNA three someday in 2021 or 2022. Again, little or no is understood about this for the time being, however provided that AMD are calling this an “advanced node” slightly than one other 7nm GPU for the time being, it’s potential we might see a brand new manufacturing course of right here as effectively.

For now, although, it’s all about RDNA 2, and I’ll replace this text with extra details about AMD’s 2nd Gen GPU structure as quickly because it’s accessible.

AMD Navi launch date

The first two AMD Navi GPUs arrived in July 2019. The RX 5500 XT then adopted in December 2019, and the newest addition to AMD’s Navi household is the RX 5600 XT, which got here out on the finish of January earlier this yr.

As for when AMD’s Big Navi GPUs will arrive, it at present seems like they’ll be arriving on the late 2020, in keeping with AMD’s latest monetary analyst day – which kind of is smart contemplating AMD are additionally powering the subsequent era of consoles, which will even use customized variations of AMD’s RDNA 2-based GPUs and are at present because of launch round November or December 2020.

AMD Navi worth

The subsequent query, although, is how a lot these Big Navi GPUS are going to price? Well, given the RX 5700 XT at present retails for round £350 / $390, you may in all probability anticipate they’ll price much more than that.

Indeed, contemplating the RX 5700 XT is extra of a direct competitor to Nvidia’s RTX 2070 and RTX 2070 Super playing cards, we will in all probability make a reasonably educated guess about Big Navi’s potential costs by taking a look at how a lot Nvidia’s RTX 2080 Super and RTX 2080 Ti at present price. As you may see from our Best graphics card deals round-up, the most cost effective RTX 2080 Super goes for round £630 / $700 today, whereas the RTX 2080 Ti at present clocks in round £1100 / $1080.

Fortunately, AMD have a behavior of pricing their playing cards barely under Nvidia’s respective GPUs, so it’s potential they may are available nearer to £550 / $600 or £900 / $950, for instance, however there’s merely no telling till AMD put a correct worth on them.

AMD Navi specs

As talked about above, all present AMD Navi GPUs are primarily based on their 7nm RDNA structure, and you may see how their varied specs examine within the desk under. AMD’s Big Navi graphics playing cards will even be primarily based on a 7nm manufacturing course of, however they’ll use AMD’s 2nd Gen RDNA structure, RDNA 2.

Of course, we received’t know any particular Big Navi specs till AMD formally announce them. However, it seems like they’re going to be fairly darn highly effective, as AMD have mentioned these will likely be “top-of-stack GPUs with uncompromising 4K gaming” efficiency.

AMD’s Big Navi playing cards will even help hardware-based ray tracing (which is one thing present Navi GPUs don’t have), placing them on a stage enjoying area with their RTX rivals. In case you’ve forgotten, ray tracing is a flowery kind of lighting tech that permits for lifelike reflections and correct shadows. We’ve already seen it put to nice impact in games reminiscent of Control and Metro Exodus, however the variety of games that support ray tracing remains to be comparatively small. However, we must always begin to see extra games with ray tracing help crop up over the course of 2021, as AMD’s ray tracing tech will even be current within the Navi-powered PS5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series X.

AMD’s Big Navi reference playing cards (that are the graphics playing cards they make themselves earlier than sending out the designs to 3rd get together producers) will even be taking one other leaf from Nvidia’s playbook within the type of new cooling options. As you may see within the image under, the reference variations of the RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT have been launched with single, blower-style followers, which usually aren’t as environment friendly or nearly as good at holding graphics playing cards cool as, say, twin and even triple fan designs like those Nvidia selected for his or her RTX reference playing cards.

Of course, each the RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT playing cards are actually available with twin and triple fan coolers, nevertheless it did take fairly a very long time after their preliminary launch earlier than these have been available for purchase on store cabinets.

Fortunately, it seems like that received’t be the case for AMD’s Big Navi reference playing cards, as AMD’s Scott Herkelman took to Reddit earlier in March to substantiate that “there will be no blower reference fans for gamers on next gen” after AMD’s monetary analyst presentation teased an AMD reference card with two followers (see under).

No extra blower followers for AMD’s Big Navi reference playing cards.

It’s extremely seemingly that AMD’s Big Navi playing cards will even help their present crop of Navi options, too, reminiscent of their Fidelity FX and Radeon Anti-Lag tech. The former is an open-source toolkit designed to make low-contrast areas of a game look simply that teensy bit sharper with out taking a knock on efficiency (as demonstrated by the Borderlands three instance under), whereas the latter is supposed to chop down the quantity of lag there may be between you clicking your mouse and the motion showing onscreen.

Arguably, neither characteristic is sort of as immediately horny as ‘Hey, look at all these incredible new lighting effects!’ however for aggressive, esports-y varieties, AMD’s Radeon Anti-Lag might be fairly enticing. In AMD’s E3 2019 presentation, they claimed the RTX 2070’s enter lag was round 59ms, whereas the RX 5700 XT got here in just under it at round 56ms. That’s undoubtedly not one thing you’re going to note in on a regular basis use, however allow AMD’s Radeon Anti-Lag and that determine drops to round 44ms, which AMD claims gives you an additional body and a half of efficiency again. Again, us plebs with regular human reflexes in all probability received’t discover this within the slightest, however should you’re a twitchy shooter fan who lives, breathes and eats minuscule body charges for dinner, then Navi would possibly simply be capable to offer you that aggressive edge in opposition to Nvidia gamers.

That’s all we find out about AMD’s Big Navi GPUs in the intervening time, however I’ll be updating this text recurrently with extra data as quickly as I hear something. In the imply time, why not have a learn of our AMD RX 5700 vs Nvidia RTX 2060 and AMD RX 5700 XT vs Nvidia RTX 2070 Super comparability items to see how AMD’s present crop of Navi graphics playing cards examine to their Nvidia rivals, or head to our best graphics card checklist to search out out extra about what AMD’s Big Navi GPUs are up in opposition to.