AMD's flagship Radeon RDNA 4 GPU to debut in early 2025, here's everything we know so far

AMD hasn't officially revealed any information about its next-generation Radeon graphics cards for PC gaming and desktop computers. However, we've heard rumors and rumblings about what to expect for over a year. The most recent gives us a time frame for when to expect the first Radeon RX 8000 Series product to debut - CES 2025 in January, where AMD will formally lift the lid on the flagship Navi 48 GPU.

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Navi 48 is the codename for the upcoming flagship RDNA 4 GPU, much like how the Navi 31 GPU was the flagship RDNA 3 chip found inside the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and Radeon RX 7900 XT. Based on how discrete GPUs are created, Navi 48 will power at least one or two different products - the upcoming Radeon RX 8800 XT and Radeon RX 8700 XT (product naming hasn't been confirmed or leaked).

Yes, this means there won't be a flagship Radeon RX 8900 XT or 8900 XTX equivalent this time - with AMD skipping a high-end enthusiast flagship model for its next-gen Radeon line-up. So what sort of performance can we expect, what kind of hardware configuration, and when will the mainstream RTX 3060 or RTX 4060 competitor arrive? Let's dig in.

AMD's RDNA 4 Flagship will be the Navi 48 Powered Radeon RX 8800 XT.

The original RDNA 4 flagship, a chiplet beast, was canceled by AMD allegedly due to R&D costs and other factors. In its place, we can expect the monolithic Navi 48 GPU to launch in early 2025 - a card with in-game performance somewhere between the Radeon RX 7900 XT and Radeon RX 7900 XTX.

The expectation is that AMD will target the existing (and popular) GeForce RTX 4070 price range and market sector for its flagship RDNA 4 GPU - where the correct price could make it a game changer for the current GPU market. Recent reports indicate that AMD is sticking with GDDR6 memory for RDNA 4, which should also help AMD keep the overall costs down to undercut the GDDR7-powered GeForce RTX 5070 when it launches.

RDNA 4 is more of an RDNA 3 fix, and RDNA 5 will be a 'clean sheet.'

Without a direct GeForce RTX 5080 or RTX 5090 competitor, NVIDIA will dominate the enthusiast PC gaming market for the upcoming Blackwell and RDNA 4 GPU generation. However, AMD is poised to return with an RDNA 5 flagship - a new architecture described as a complete redesign and 'clean sheet.' So much so that it could serve as a Zen-like moment for the company, a Radeon re-launch, RDNA 4, on the other hand, is an extension of RDNA 3, one that fixes several issues while improving efficiency.

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RDNA 4 will deliver a significant performance increase to Radeon ray tracing.

There is one area where RDNA 4 will deliver: ray-tracing. Ray-tracing performance is one area where AMD and Radeon have been a step or two or three behind NVIDIA and even Intel. RDNA 4 will feature brand-new ray-tracing hardware that will deliver when it comes to in-game performance. Rumors point to this year's PlayStation 4 Pro release featuring RDNA 4's new RT hardware, with early word reporting a 2-3X increase in ray-tracing performance compared to the baseline PlayStation 5 console. Considering that RDNA 4 will target the mid-range and mainstream GPU market, a massive boost to RT performance would be a big win for Team Red.

Navi 44 is the mainstream option arriving in Q2 2025.

The mainstream Radeon RX 8600 XT is set to be powered by the upcoming Navi 44 GPU, which is currently on track for a mid-2025 release and could arrive as early as April 2025. Not a lot of information is known about this SKU other than it will deliver a sizeable performance increase over the existing Radeon RX 7600 XT, and depending on what NVIDIA is planning to do with the GeForce RTX 5060, it could shake up the mainstream GPU market. Unfortunately, early reports indicate that the lower-end RDNA 4 offerings will only feature 8GB of VRAM.

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What about AI?

AI performance and hardware will be a big part of RDNA 4 and the next-gen Radeon RX 8000 Series line-up. AMD will undoubtedly ensure that its mid-range offerings feature 16GB of VRAM for generative AI workloads. However, it remains to be seen if AMD will implement AI-powered FSR upscaling and other game-specific technologies with RDNA 4.

• Read more: AMD's next-gen Radeon RX 8000 series GPUs rumored for 2025 debut: Navi 48 at CES, Navi 44 in Q2
• Read more: AMD's next-gen RDNA 4 Radeon graphics will feature 'brand-new' ray-tracing hardware
• Read more: AMD's new RDNA 4 Radeon RX 8000 generation will use the same GDDR6 memory as previous gen
• Read more: AMD all but confirms RDNA 4 is a pair of mid-range GPUs, Navi 48 and 44