AMD Navi 23 Radeon RX GPUs Feature 32 MB Infinity Cache, RDNA 2 Powered Van Gogh APUs & CDNA 2 Powered Instinct MI200 Without Infinity Cache

Mar 30, 2021 at 08:50am EDT
AMD Infinity Cache Technology For RDNA 2 Radeon RX GPUs

In the latest Linux Kernel Patch, AMD has confirmed the Infinity Cache sizes of its upcoming RDNA 2 Radeon RX GPUs based on the Navi 23 SKU. The company has also confirmed that neither RDNA 2 powered Van Gogh nor CDNA 2 powered Instinct accelerators will be featuring its Infinity Cache technology.

AMD RDNA 2 Navi 23 GPU Powered Radeon RX GPUs To Feature 32 MB Infinity Cache, A Quarter of Navi 21's Infinity Cache Pool

The information was spotted by Coelacanth-Dream (via Kepler_L2) and confirms cache sizes & GPU configurations of several RDNA 2 and CDNA 2 GPUs. The AMD Infinity Cache was first introduced on the Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards featuring the RDNA 2 architecture. The Navi 21 SKU, codenamed Big Navi, was the first to get it but it was followed by the Navi 22 SKU recently & now we are also going to get a third SKU in the form of Navi 23.

Related Story AMD Rolls Out FSR 4.1 For RX 7000 GPUs, Builds a Lightweight ML Model for RDNA 3.5 and RDNA 3 iGPUs

AMD RDNA 2 Powered Navi 23 GPU For Radeon RX 6000 Graphics Cards

The patch confirms the Infinity Cache size which is listed as a level-3 cache (L3) for all three RDNA 2 GPUs that will be coming to desktop PCs. The Navi 21 GPU 'Sienna Cichlid' features the biggest size of 128 MB Infinity Cache followed by the Navi 22 GPU 'Navy Flounder' which features 96 MB of L3 or Infinity Cache. The AMD Navi 23 GPU 'Dimgry Cavefish' is going to be the next GPU in the lineup of Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards and is going to feature 32 MB of Infinity Cache. That's a quarter of the L3 size featured on the Big Navi GPU.

It was previously expected that Navi 23 Radeon RX 6000 GPUs would feature 64 MB of Infinity Cache but that rumor is debunked now. The specifications of the Navi 23 GPU suggest a total of 2048 stream processors & 32 raytracing units inside the GPU package. The GPU will also be packed with 32 MB of Infinity Cache which will help it boost its bandwidth by a huge margin. For memory, we are looking at up to 8 GB GDDR6 capacity that will operate across a 128-bit bus interface and offer pin speeds of up to 16 Gbps. This should bring the total bandwidth to 256 GB/s.  The Navi 23 GPU will also be the smallest of the Navi 2X family with a die size reported at around 236mm2.

AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series "RDNA 2" Graphics Card Lineup:

Graphics CardAMD Radeon RX 6950 XTAMD Radeon RX 6900 XTAMD Radeon RX 6800 XTAMD Radeon RX 6800AMD Radeon RX 6750 XTAMD Radeon RX 6700 XTAMD Radeon RX 6700AMD Radeon RX 6650 XTAMD Radeon RX 6600 XTAMD Radeon RX 6600AMD Radeon RX 6500 XTAMD Radeon RX 6400
GPUNavi 21 KXTXNavi 21 XTXNavi 21 XTNavi 21 XLNavi 22 KXTNavi 22 XTNavi 22 XLNavi 23 KXTNavi 23 (XT)Navi 23 (XL)Navi 24 (XT)Navi 24 (XL)
Process Node7nm7nm7nm7nm7nm7nm7nm7nm7nm7nm6nm6nm
Die Size520mm2520mm2520mm2520mm2336mm2336mm2336mm2237mm2237mm2237mm2107mm2107mm2
Transistors26.8 Billion26.8 Billion26.8 Billion26.8 Billion17.2 Billion17.2 Billion17.2 Billion11.06 Billion11.06 Billion11.06 Billion5.4 Billion5.4 Billion
Compute Units808072604040363232281612
Stream Processors51205120460838402560256023042048204817921024768
TMUs/ROPs320 / 128320 / 128288 / 128240 / 96160/64160/64144/64128/64128/64112/6464/3248/32
Game Clock2116 MHz2015 MHz2015 MHz1815 MHz2495 MHz2424 MHz2330 MHz2410 MHz2359 MHz2044 MHz2610 MHz2039 MHz
Boost Clock2324 MHz2250 MHz2250 MHz2105 MHz2600 MHz2581 MHz2495 MHz2635 MHz2589 MHz2491 MHz2815 MHz2321 MHz
FP32 TFLOPs23.80 TFLOPs23.04 TFLOPs20.74 TFLOPs16.17 TFLOPs13.31 TFLOPs13.21 TFLOPs11.50 TFLOPs10.79 TFLOPs10.6 TFLOPs9.0 TFLOPs5.7 TFLOPs3.5 TFLOPs
Memory Size16 GB GDDR6 +128 MB Infinity Cache16 GB GDDR6 +128 MB Infinity Cache16 GB GDDR6 +128 MB Infinity Cache16 GB GDDR6 +128 MB Infinity Cache12 GB GDDR6 + 96 MB Infinity Cache12 GB GDDR6 + 96 MB Infinity Cache10 GB GDDR5 + 80 MB Infinity Cache8 GB GDDR6 + 32 MB Infinity Cache8 GB GDDR6 + 32 MB Infinity Cache8 GB GDDR6 + 32 MB Infinity Cache4 GB / 8 GB GDDR6 + 16 MB Infinity Cache4 GB GDDR6 + 16 MB Infinity Cache
Memory Bus256-bit256-bit256-bit256-bit192-bit192-bit160-bit128-bit128-bit128-bit64-bit64-bit
Memory Clock18 Gbps16 Gbps16 Gbps16 Gbps18 Gbps16 Gbps16 Gbps17.5 Gbps16 Gbps14 Gbps18 Gbps14 Gbps
Bandwidth576 GB/s512 GB/s512 GB/s512 GB/s432 GB/s384 GB/s320 GB/s280 GB/s256 GB/s224 GB/s144 GB/s112 GB/s
TDP335W300W300W250W250W230W220W176W160W132W107W53W
Price$1099 US$999 US$649 US$579 US$549 US$479 USTBD$399 US$379 US$329 US$199 US$159 US?

AMD CDNA 2 Powered Aldebaran GPU For Instinct MI200 HPC Accelerators

The other GPU is Aldebaran which is the codename for the chip powering AMD's Instinct MI200 accelerator. According to the data, the GPU carries 16 KB of L1 cache per CU which makes up 2 MB of the total L1 cache considering that the GPU will be packing 128 Compute Units. The GPU also carries 8 MB of shared L2 cache but carries 14 CUs per Shader Engine compared to 16 CUs per SE in the previous Instinct lineup. Regardless, it is stated that each CU on Aldebaran GPUs will have a significantly higher computing output.

Based on the naming convention itself, it looks like MI200 will be twice as fast as Instinct MI100 but to achieve this, AMD is expected to go all out with its MCM design. Do note that AMD's CDNA 2 GPU will be fabricated on a brand new process node & are confirmed to feature a 3rd Generation AMD Infinity architecture that extends to Exascale by allowing up to 8-Way coherent GPU connectivity.

AMD Radeon Instinct Accelerators

Accelerator NameAMD Instinct MI400AMD Instinct MI350XAMD Instinct MI300XAMD Instinct MI300AAMD Instinct MI250XAMD Instinct MI250AMD Instinct MI210AMD Instinct MI100AMD Radeon Instinct MI60AMD Radeon Instinct MI50AMD Radeon Instinct MI25AMD Radeon Instinct MI8AMD Radeon Instinct MI6
CPU ArchitectureZen 5 (Exascale APU)N/AN/AZen 4 (Exascale APU)N/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
GPU ArchitectureCDNA 4CDNA 3+?Aqua Vanjaram (CDNA 3)Aqua Vanjaram (CDNA 3)Aldebaran (CDNA 2)Aldebaran (CDNA 2)Aldebaran (CDNA 2)Arcturus (CDNA 1)Vega 20Vega 20Vega 10Fiji XTPolaris 10
GPU Process Node4nm4nm5nm+6nm5nm+6nm6nm6nm6nm7nm FinFET7nm FinFET7nm FinFET14nm FinFET28nm14nm FinFET
GPU ChipletsTBDTBD8 (MCM)8 (MCM)2 (MCM)
1 (Per Die)
2 (MCM)
1 (Per Die)
2 (MCM)
1 (Per Die)
1 (Monolithic)1 (Monolithic)1 (Monolithic)1 (Monolithic)1 (Monolithic)1 (Monolithic)
GPU CoresTBDTBD19,45614,59214,08013,3126656768040963840409640962304
GPU Clock SpeedTBDTBD2100 MHz2100 MHz1700 MHz1700 MHz1700 MHz1500 MHz1800 MHz1725 MHz1500 MHz1000 MHz1237 MHz
INT8 ComputeTBDTBD2614 TOPS1961 TOPS383 TOPs362 TOPS181 TOPS92.3 TOPSN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
FP16 ComputeTBDTBD1.3 PFLOPs980.6 TFLOPs383 TFLOPs362 TFLOPs181 TFLOPs185 TFLOPs29.5 TFLOPs26.5 TFLOPs24.6 TFLOPs8.2 TFLOPs5.7 TFLOPs
FP32 ComputeTBDTBD163.4 TFLOPs122.6 TFLOPs95.7 TFLOPs90.5 TFLOPs45.3 TFLOPs23.1 TFLOPs14.7 TFLOPs13.3 TFLOPs12.3 TFLOPs8.2 TFLOPs5.7 TFLOPs
FP64 ComputeTBDTBD81.7 TFLOPs61.3 TFLOPs47.9 TFLOPs45.3 TFLOPs22.6 TFLOPs11.5 TFLOPs7.4 TFLOPs6.6 TFLOPs768 GFLOPs512 GFLOPs384 GFLOPs
VRAMTBDHBM3e192 GB HBM3128 GB HBM3128 GB HBM2e128 GB HBM2e64 GB HBM2e32 GB HBM232 GB HBM216 GB HBM216 GB HBM24 GB HBM116 GB GDDR5
Infinity CacheTBDTBD256 MB256 MBN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
Memory ClockTBDTBD5.2 Gbps5.2 Gbps3.2 Gbps3.2 Gbps3.2 Gbps1200 MHz1000 MHz1000 MHz945 MHz500 MHz1750 MHz
Memory BusTBDTBD8192-bit8192-bit8192-bit8192-bit4096-bit4096-bit bus4096-bit bus4096-bit bus2048-bit bus4096-bit bus256-bit bus
Memory BandwidthTBDTBD5.3 TB/s5.3 TB/s3.2 TB/s3.2 TB/s1.6 TB/s1.23 TB/s1 TB/s1 TB/s484 GB/s512 GB/s224 GB/s
Form FactorTBDTBDOAMAPU SH5 SocketOAMOAMDual Slot CardDual Slot, Full LengthDual Slot, Full LengthDual Slot, Full LengthDual Slot, Full LengthDual Slot, Half LengthSingle Slot, Full Length
CoolingTBDTBDPassive CoolingPassive CoolingPassive CoolingPassive CoolingPassive CoolingPassive CoolingPassive CoolingPassive CoolingPassive CoolingPassive CoolingPassive Cooling
TDP (Max)TBDTBD750W760W560W500W300W300W300W300W300W175W150W

AMD RDNA 2 Powered Van Gogh APUs For Ultra-Low-Power Notebooks

The Patch also confirms that the hotly anticipated RDNA 2 and Zen 2 powered Van Gogh APUs for ultra-low-power notebooks won't be featuring Infinity Cache. The Van Gogh APUs do feature a 128 KB GL1 cache, 1 MB of L2 cache but the L3 cache is non-existent.

It makes sense for an entry-tier RDNA 2 iGPU which will be relying on LPDDR4X or even LPDDR5 memory for its primary memory bandwidth requirements. These APUs will be fabricated on the 7nm process node but we don't have an exact figure of what the maximum CU count on the RDNA 2 chip would be.

AMD GPU
cache info
RDNA L1 (GL1) L2 (TCC) L3 / Infinity Cache (MALL)
Raven / Picasso
Renoir / Lucienne / Cezanne
--- 1M ---
Raven2 --- 128K 2 ---
Vega20 --- 4M ---
Arcturus --- 8M? ---
Aldebaran --- 8M ---
Navi10 / Navi12 128K 4M ---
Navi14 128K 2M ---
Van Gogh 128K 1M ---
Sienna Cichlid 128K 4M 128M
Navy Flounder 128K 3M 96M
Dimgrey Cavefish 128K 2M 32M

About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.

Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.