AMD’s next-gen flagship graphics card (Navi 31, presumably the RX 7900 XT) could not go for a multi-chip module (MCM) design sporting two separate GPUs as previously rumored, and will follow a single GPU (as historically used) as a substitute.
Earlier than we go into this, we should always make it clear that the twin GPU rumor is simply that – hypothesis that Group Crimson will construct the flagship round a pair of GCDs (graphics compute dies) – as is the likelihood that AMD may stick with the prevailing monolithic design it has all the time used for its Radeon shopper graphics cards.
With that firmly in thoughts, a number of sources, together with 3DCenter and RedGamingTech (as PC Gamer noticed, the YouTuber underlines that a number of outstanding Twitter leakers have joined in with this hypothesis), at the moment are arguing it could be the case that Navi 31 will run with simply the one GCD.
The speculation is that AMD may use a configuration of 1 principal GCD (5nm), hooked as much as six reminiscence chiplets (MCDs, constructed on 6nm), which might be a seven chiplet design.
RedGamingTech believes that we are going to see Navi 31 sporting 12,288 cores, and that it’ll run with 24GB of VRAM, greater than the 16GB quantity beforehand rumored (with a 384-bit reminiscence interface).
Evaluation: Two turns into one? Perhaps, or possibly not…
As PC Gamer suggests, it could be the case that AMD has not been in a position to understand the dream of getting two GPU chips working collectively seamlessly, in order that they’re solely seen as a single GPU by the system – avoiding the problems and issues which have traditionally plagued the likes of SLI and CrossFire options whereby two graphics playing cards are linked collectively. (In these circumstances, you don’t get twice the efficiency – the uptick could also be a lot lower than that, and different points can crop up too).
In brief, it’s a thorny conundrum to sort out, and RedGamingTech asserts that they’re ‘fairly assured’ AMD has deserted the 2 GCD configuration (which was also rumored to be for Navi 32, by the way), and can now run with a single GCD. RedGamingTech does make it clear that they’re not sure, although, and cautions in opposition to being too certain on this level. And certainly another leakers disagree that AMD is swerving away from the 2 GCD design for Navi 31.
Coreteks argues that AMD is sticking to the beforehand rumored plan, asserting that the variety of patents the corporate has relating to a brand new design with a number of GPU chips suggests that is the route Group Crimson intends to take. And in addition that having a single GPU with the theorized six reminiscence chiplets doesn’t make sense from a latency perspective (an vital consideration for gaming efficiency).
What all this underlines is how unsure the rumor mill is even at this comparatively late stage of improvement for RDNA 3 graphics cards. The playing cards may very well be out in round 4 months, in any case, if hypothesis on the launch timeframe proves appropriate, and it nonetheless isn’t clear whether or not the basic design for the next-gen will sport a number of GPUs or not. All we will do is watch this house in the meanwhile.
Regardless of the case relating to the precise design, all of the {hardware} leakers expect a strong flagship from AMD, and one that could well run rings around Nvidia’s next-gen Lovelace prime canine for power-efficiency (with Group Inexperienced rumored to be going very heavy on the facility utilization).
