AMD might still have some next-gen GPUs left in the tank — but I don’t buy it

AMD has said it’s done with new GPU dies, but a filing with the European Economic Commission (EEC) suggests that Team Red could still launch graphics cards in its RX 7000 range. The filing points to AMD releasing an RX 7600 XT sometime in the future, both in 12GB and 10GB variants. AMD’s Scott Herkelman says the RDNA 3 lineup is “complete,” so what gives? It comes down to the GPU dies. Both Nvidia and AMD repurpose their GPU dies for multiple graphics cards. For example, the new RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 XT both use the Navi 32 chip, just different amounts of compute units. When AMD said the lineup was complete, it specifically referred to GPU dies. But we could still see variants of graphics cards with the same die. And, the RX 7600 is a prime candidate. A supercharged version of the card in the form of the RX 7600 XT would make sense, especially given the large gap in AMD’s current lineup. The RX 7600 retails for $270, while the next step up, the RX 7700 XT, runs $450. The problem is that the RX 7600 already uses the full Navi 33 chip. If we do see the RX 7600 XT, it will likely be based on the Navi 32 chip. We actually haven’t seen a graphics card using the base version of this die, only the XL variant in the RX 7700 XT and the XT variant in the RX 7800 XT. This would also make sense given the filing and the 12GB of memory that’s rumored to come with the card. AMD probably isn’t under a lot of pressure to release new GPUs, though. The company already has some of the best graphics cards on the market — the recent RX 7800 XT obliterates Nvidia’s RTX 4070 in a head-to-head battle. The company doesn’t need a new graphics card, and releasing an RX 7600 XT could actually hurt the current lineup. With the RX 7800 XT, there was some backlash toward AMD given that the card performs about as well as last-gen’s RX 6800 XT. AMD is competing with itself, and that’s not a good thing when there’s a lot of last-gen stock to work through. An RX 7600 XT would likely be caught in the same position. Last-gen’s RX 6700 XT has become the go-to graphics card at around $350, and a potential RX 7600 XT would probably come in around that price. Given what we’ve seen out of AMD this generation, it’s not hard to speculate that an RX 7600 XT would offer a similar level of performance. But right now, all we can do is speculate. The EEC filing points to AMD potentially launching new graphics cards, but we’ve seen these filings in the past that haven’t turned into actual graphics cards you can buy. If we do see new graphics cards out of AMD, we likely won’t see them for a few months, given the recent launch of the RX 7700 XT and RX 7800 XT. Over a month after the initial announcement at CES 2025 (if you can even call it an announcement), we still don’t know much about the future of AMD’s RDNA 4 lineup. We know the cards are set to launch sometime in March, but their specs remain a mystery. However, there’s an even bigger secret that’s still yet to be revealed: The pricing. After a bumpy lead-up to the launch of the RX 9000 series, pricing is the one thing that AMD needs to get right. The latest leaks imply that AMD will price the cards “very aggressively,” which could be good news — but it might still not be enough for it to rival some of the best graphics cards.
A careful approach to pricing AMD announced its next graphics card, the RX 9070 XT, last month, but details about the GPU have been sparse. We might finally have some good news to share, though. According to VideoCardz, AMD is set to hold a press conference later this month that will detail the RDNA 4 architecture and the performance we can expect out of AMD’s next GPU. Although we’ve long known that AMD would concede the flagship battle to Nvidia in the face of the RTX 5090, Team Red was particularly light on details when it announced the RX 9070 XT. The company didn’t so much as share specs for the new card, instead leaving it to board partners to fill in the missing details. Then, the card was reportedly delayed. AMD originally told us it would launch in a matter of “weeks,” only to backtrack and point toward a March release later. The RTX 5080 arrived with a bit of a thud. As you can read in my RTX 5080 review, the card probably won’t be making among the best graphics cards any time soon. It falls short of Nvidia’s last-gen flagship, and in the vast majority of games, it doesn’t even crack a 20% lead over the RTX 4080 Super. It’s not the only GPU in town, though. Although AMD is sitting out the flagship battle this generation, there are still some excellent last-gen options to keep in mind. Here are three alternatives to the RTX 5080 and why you should consider picking them up over Nvidia’s latest.
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