AMD Radeon RX 6950XT ‘RDNA 2’ Refresh Graphics Card With Full Navi 21 XTXH GPU & 18 Gbps Memory Rumored For April Launch

AMD might introduce its flagship RDNA 2 refresh graphics card, the Radeon RX 6950XT earlier than expected as per the latest rumors.

AMD Radeon RX 6950XT 'RDNA 2 Refresh' Graphics Card Rumored For April Launch

In a new rumor by Coreteks, it is reported that AMD's Radeon RX 6950XT would be launching in mid of April. That's at least 2 months earlier than the previously rumored June-July launch we got earlier from Greymon55. It is also reported that the Radeon RX 6950XT would be the only Navi 21 graphics card that's being refreshed and that the Radeon RX 6850XT isn't in the lineup. Earlier rumors point out to Radeon RX 6950XT, Radeon RX 6850XT, and Radeon RX 6750XT as the upcoming refresh but we now have to wait and see if all Navi 21 SKUs would be refreshed or just the top SKU.

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6950XT is planned for mid-april. There's no 6850XT etc as far as I know 🤷

— coreteks (@coreteks) February 3, 2022

AMD Radeon RX 6000 XT RDNA 2 Graphics Card Refresh

The AMD Navi 21 and Navi 22 GPUs are the ones that will be refreshed for the upcoming Radeon RX 6X50XT lineup. The AMD Navi 21 GPU currently powers the Radeon RX 6900 XT, RX 6800 XT & RX 6800 while the Navi 22 GPU powers the RX 6700 XT on the desktop platform. So if AMD was to use a similar GPU naming convention as their mobile lineup, then their replacements coming in Q2 2022 are going to be known as the Radeon RX 6950 XT, RX 6850 XT, RX 6750 XT.

From the previous rumor, we came to know that these cards would also feature 18 Gbps GDDR6 memory dies. Currently, all cards except the upcoming RX 6500 XT & the flagship RX 6900 XT LC, features 16 Gbps memory dies. The bump to 18 Gbps might offer higher bandwidth and increase performance by 2-5% but that doesn't indicate a huge difference with the refreshed series. AMD seems to not be considering Navi 23 GPUs for the upgrade as they are more mainstream offerings and were released recently compared to the higher-end variants which have been out for over a year now.

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It would've been worthwhile if AMD gave its existing desktop GPUs the 6nm treatment & managed to get more performance efficiency out of them but that clearly isn't happening. It looks like this soft refresh is going to be a very silent release and will only come specifically via AIB cards.

There would also be a small price difference and the TGP numbers are expected to go up slightly with the addition of the faster memory chips. These GPUs will likely compete with Intel's high-end ARC Alchemist GPUs that are launching in a few months.

The following table shows all the RDNA 2 graphics cards that AMD is currently offering:

AMD Radeon RX 6000 'RDNA 2' Desktop Graphics Card Lineup: