AMD aims Big Navi launch for November as 'show of strength' for RDNA 2

AMD's next-gen RDNA 2 architecture powers the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and the family of next-gen Radeon graphics cards.

@anthony256

Published Jul 19, 2020 9:42 PM CDT
Updated Nov 3, 2020 12:42 PM CST

5 minutes & 47 seconds read time

AMD is having one of the best years in its history, with the successful launches of its new Zen 2-powered CPUs in the Ryzen 3000 series desktop CPUs, Ryzen 4000 series mobile CPUs, new Ryzen Threadripper PRO chips, new EPYC processors, and so much more.

AMD aims Big Navi launch for November as 'show of strength' for RDNA 2 502

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But the GPU dominance hasn't started just yet, and while AMD might have shaken the GPU tree with the RDNA-powered Radeon RX 5000 series and its flagship Radeon RX 5700 XT -- we ain't seen nothing yet. The new rumors from Moore's Law is Dead suggests we should expect AMD to outright dominate 2020 in more ways than one.

We are already expecting a huge 40-50% increase in performance from the flagship RDNA 2 card over the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, which would make the -- let's call it the Radeon RX 6700 XT -- twice as fast as the Radeon RX 5700 XT.

Where things get really interesting, is that Tom from Moore's Law is Dead said his sources told him that "AMD has its sights set on November, preferably around Thanksgiving, for their Big Navi "NVIDIA killer" launch. This is based on rumblings he's heard within AMD from his superiors. AMD wants to launch their NVIDIA killer alongside the [Xbox] Series X and/or PS5 as a 'show of strength' with RDNA 2X, as well as grab the performance crown from NVIDIA".

Big Navi / RDNA 2 launching in November key points

November 2020 launch: Firstly, AMD aiming for November means it puts the next-gen Radeon a couple of months behind NVIDIA is the rumors (and my sources) are true about an "August 2020 launch, September 2020 release" for the next-gen Ampere-based GeForce RTX 3000 series graphics cards.
How AMD benefits from a November launch: It will allow the company to have a couple of months to see where NVIDIA has priced its next-gen cards, and to gauge how performance is once it hits the hands of customers. AMD would then have a couple of months to be ready for a possible KO blow (at least for 2020) with Big Navi.
Thanksgiving launch: This is big for obvious reasons, but AMD being able to be inside of the next-gen Xbox Series X, the next-gen PlayStation 5, and have an NVIDIA Killer with Big Navi -- all for thanksgiving? What better gift can AMD bring to the table for Thanksgiving than that?!
Launching alongside PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X: The stars have truly aligned for AMD to make this happen, and if performance of Big Navi is truly double that of RDNA1 and a 40-50% boost over the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti? Well, we could see AMD take out the end of 2020 with Intel and NVIDIA destroying products. Amazing.
Lisa Su did say Big Navi was coming in 'late 2020': You can read more about that here, but November is pretty damn spot on with "late 2020", right?!