For the first time ever, we got to see an engineering sample of the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, which comes with just 16 GB VRAM.
Redditor Shows Off Radeon RX 7900 XTX Prototype With Red PCB; Comes With 16 GB VRAM Instead of 24 GB
A Redditor was extremely lucky to find a pre-production sample for the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX. This is a rare find, and as per the user u/Shav_tech, he found the prototype at the marketplace at a low price. This is the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, the flagship RDNA 3 GPU in the RX 7000 series, which remains the strongest desktop gaming graphics card from AMD till today.
As per the pics, the prototype uses a completely red PCB and has some extra connectors on the top of the card. It's said that these connectors are used for debugging or validation during development, and as you might already know, these connectors are not present on the retail cards. As far as the blue connector is concerned, it is composed of 12C, PMBus, and JTAG connectors, where the latter allows engineers to collect diagnostic data directly from the GPU core or the memory controller.
The card PCB shows the Navi 31 die and has 12 memory packages around it. However, the user reports that the GPU-Z software only detected 16 GB VRAM, while 12 x 2GB GDDR6 modules should result in a 24 GB memory configuration. User also says that he tried benchmarking the card, and it performs closer to the XT despite featuring specs closer to the RX 7900 GRE.
He also tried flashing the card with the GRE BIOS, but it failed. This was weird considering the GPU-Z software revealed a configuration that's closer to the RX 7900 GRE than the RX 7900 XTX. The card detected the memory size as 16 GB through a 256-bit bus, while we know the XTX uses a 384-bit bus and 24 GB memory capacity. So, it's possible that this engineering sample uses some disabled memory channels.
News Source: Reddit
About the author: Sarfraz Khan is a hardware reporter with a focus on PC components and the builder community. With years of experience writing about PC hardware and laptops, his work has been featured on several reputable technology publications. Sarfraz's hands-on experience is demonstrated through his first-person accounts of using and comparing different hardware configurations, providing practical and relatable insights for everyday users. His technical analysis is respected by peers in the enthusiast community and has been cited by specialized hardware sites such as Germany's Igor's Lab.
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