AMD's new RDNA 4 Radeon RX 8000 generation will use the same GDDR6 memory as previous gen

According to insider @Kepler_L2, known for revealing hardware info for upcoming unannounced GeForce and Radeon hardware, AMD's next-generation RDNA 4 graphics cards will skip GDDR7 and stick with GDDR6 for the memory configuration.

AMD won't be upgrading or changing the memory spec and will stick with 18 Gbps GDDR6 for all cards in the lineup. As previously reported, NVIDIA is moving its Blackwell and GeForce RTX 50 Series to the new GDDR7 standard, starting with 28 Gbps speeds.

Sticking to older tech for its supposed next-gen RDNA 4 lineup might sound strange, but the reasoning makes sense when you factor in that the Radeon RX 8000 series won't target the high-end.

As previously reported, RDNA 4 will not have a Radeon RX 7900 XTX equivalent; in fact, the top GPU will be 'slower' than the 7900 XTX, with average performance rumored to be roughly 15% or so faster than the Radeon RX 7800 XT.

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RDNA 4 will include cards that use Navi 48 and Navi 44. As they won't be competing with the likes of the GeForce RTX 5080 or RTX 5090 (NVIDIA is going to be all alone on the top-end next-generation), choosing 18Gbps GDDR6 will allow AMD to price the cards more aggressively. It could even lead to them adding more VRAM capacity for AI workloads.

Assuming RDNA 4 is more efficient than current RDNA 3 offerings, Radeon RX 7900 XT performance in a smaller and cheaper-than-a-7800-XT GPU could shake up the mid-range and enthusiast market currently dominated by the GeForce RTX 4070 and RTX 4070 SUPER. With more affordable memory, AMD could also bring its mid-range and mainstream RDNA 4 lineup to market before NVIDIA - with a potential Radeon RX 8800 XT, 8700 XT, and 8600 XT combo out before the end of the year.

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