AMD's mid range Navi 33 GPU could beat out the 6900 XT

It’s always a bit of fun to speculate about the relative performance of next gen GPUs. There’s a new leak that suggests that AMD’s next generation Navi 33 GPU, which is reputed to be used in the RX 7600 or 7700, could end up faster than the current flagship RX 6900 XT, with much lower power consumption.

The rumour comes from @greymon55 (via Hardware Times). It suggests that the Navi 33 GPU is likely to feature FP32 performance that beats out the 6900 XT. FP32 is a measure of floating-point performance. It’s far from the only relevant measure of graphics card performance, but it’s a good sign that AMD has the basis of a powerful architecture on its hands.

The source goes on to state that the first batch of GPUs is being tested internally by AMD, a process known as 'bring-up' which follows the initial chip tape-out. It’s believed to be a monolithic die built on TSMC’s 6nm node. Greymon further believes that the GPU will end up consuming between 220 and 250W.

Again, we stress that this is just a rumour, but if AMD is able to beat out the 6900 XT while keeping power similar to that of a 6700 XT, it bodes well for performance per watt for next gen mid-range GPUs.

As we move deeper into 2022, we get ever closer to the launch of next gen GPUs. Rumours indicate that both Ada Lovelace and RDNA 3 cards could deliver big performance increases.  We can’t forget Intel either with its Arc Alchemist cards.

It’s not all rosy though. Other rumours indicate that the high end cards could come with very steep TDPs and require new power supplies with 12-pin power connectors. Whatever form, performance levels and power efficiency next gen cards end up with, If we can actually buy them, it’ll be a step in the right direction!