AMD's Radeon RX 7900 XTX & Radeon RX 7900 XT might only be available in reference variants at launch as rumored by MyDrivers.
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX & RX 7900 XT In Reference Flavors First, Custom Graphics Cards 1-2 Weeks Later
It is mentioned that while AMD will indeed be launching the Radeon RX 7900 XTX & RX 7900 XT GPU lineup on 13th of December, the graphics cards will only be available in reference models. Gamers waiting to get custom graphics cards featuring the new RDNA 3 chips will have to wait a bit more.
While we have seen AMD board partners tease and reveal their Radeon RX 7900 XTX & RX 7900 XT custom designs (PowerColor / ASUS), they haven't made a formal introduction yet. It is likely that a full-on reveal will happen sometime early next month which is when we also expect the reviews to land for the cards. The reviews will soon be followed by the launch on the 13th of December but this launch is rumored to include only reference variants. The custom AIB cards are said to launch 1-2 weeks later but it is possible that pre-orders for the AIB variants might open up early on so buyers can book their cards early on.
But one interesting thing mentioned by the source is that the AIB partner cards will be much more expensive than the reference variants. We know that the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX has an MSRP of $999 US while the Radeon RX 7900 XT has an MSRP of $899 US. If we are looking at a $100-$200 US bump for premium AIB variants, that will end up in the same price range as the RTX 4080 which has an MSRP of $1199 US.
Considering the Radeon RX 7900 XTX is directly positioned against the 4080 & pricing is one of the most attractive features of the AMD flagship, the premium variants may not look as good against NVIDIA's absurdly priced card. But then, NVIDIA's 4080 AIBs cost above $1300 US, and some even end up above $1500 US. The rumor also makes sense considering AMD themselves stated that the reference cards will be available on 13th December while partners cards will be available beginning the mid of December:
AMD Radeon RX 7900 Series graphics cards are expected to be available from AMD.com beginning December 13, 2022, and from leading board partners including ASRock, ASUS, Biostar, Gigabyte, MSI, PowerColor, Sapphire, Vastarmor, XFX and Yeston beginning mid-December. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX has an SEP of $999 USD, while the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT has an SEP of $899 USD.
Yesterday, we reported that AMD might have a launch supply better than NVIDIA's RTX 40 series but it looks like the red team really wants users to have a taste of their reference designs first. It's definitely going to be a heated December with NVIDIA and AMD both battling out in the high-end GPU space.
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080
| Graphics Card | AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 |
|---|---|---|
| GPU | Navi 31 XTX | AD103-300-A1 |
| Process Node | TSMC 5nm+6nm | TSMC 4N |
| Die Size | 300mm2 (Only GCD) 522mm2 (with MCDs) | 379mm2 |
| Transistors | 58 Billion | 45.9 Billion |
| GPU Cores | 12288 | 9728 |
| TMUs/ROPs | 384 / 192 | 304 / 112 |
| Base Clock | 2.3 GHz | 2.2 GHz |
| Max Clock | 2.5 GHz | 2.5 GHz |
| FP32 TFLOPs | 61 TFLOPs | 49 TFLOPs |
| Memory Size | 24 GB GDDR6 | 16 GB GDDR6X |
| Memory Bus | 384-bit | 256-bit |
| Memory Clock | 20 Gbps | 22.4 Gbps |
| Memory Bandwidth | 960 GB/s | 716.8 GB/s |
| Cache | 96 MB | 64 MB |
| TBP | 355W | 320W |
| PCIe Interface | TBA | PCIe 4.0 x16 |
| Price | $999 US | $1199 US |
