The leak of the technical specifications for AMD’s upcoming Radeon RX 8000 series on Geekbench offers an early glimpse into what the new GPUs might bring. The codename “GFX1201” strongly suggests that these GPUs are based on the new RDNA4 architecture, signaling AMD’s continued evolution in graphics technology.
The “GFX1201” codename is consistent with AMD’s naming conventions, where RDNA3 models had codenames like “GF11XX,” and RDNA3.5 models used “GF115X.” This aligns with expectations that RDNA4 is the next step in AMD’s GPU evolution.
While RDNA3 brought major improvements in power efficiency and performance, and RDNA3.5 refined these advancements further, RDNA4 is expected to introduce even more significant enhancements. Although specific performance metrics were not disclosed in the leak, the architecture is anticipated to offer substantial gains in processing power and efficiency.
The GPU tested might be an early sample or an engineering model, which means the final product could differ in performance or specifications once it hits the market. This stage of testing typically involves fine-tuning the hardware and software before release.
The appearance of these specifications in a benchmarking test indicates that AMD might be gearing up for an official announcement or launch shortly, though no specific dates have been confirmed.
Radeon RX 8000 Specifications
The recent Geekbench leak revealed that the upcoming AMD GPU features 56 Compute Units (CUs) and 16GB of VRAM. The clock speed was noted at 2.1GHz, which is lower than the current RDNA3 models, which can go up to 2.6GHz. This suggests that the GPU is still in the development phase and that its performance is likely to improve as work on it continues.
In comparison to existing models, the RX 7700 XT has 54 CUs, and the RX 7800 XT has 60 CUs. This places the new GPU’s processing power somewhere between these two models. The 16GB of VRAM and the 256-bit memory bus align it with high-performance GPUs on the market, like the RX 7800 XT and RX 7900 GRE.
AMD is expected to use GDDR6 memory for this GPU instead of the newer GDDR7. This decision aligns with recent rumors that AMD may be shifting focus away from high-end models to cut production costs and lower the final price. Despite this, the new GPU should still meet the demands of modern gaming and graphics applications.
Radeon RX 8000 Performance
In terms of performance, the Geekbench OpenCL tests showed underwhelming results for the new GPU, placing it on the same level as the GTX 1650 and about four times below the RX 7800 XT.
These low scores are typical for early-stage samples and shouldn’t be seen as a reflection of the final performance of the card. It’s expected that significant improvements will be made before the official release, particularly with the introduction of new ray tracing engines that are anticipated to offer a substantial performance boost over the previous generation.
When will the RX 8000 be released?
The Radeon RX 8000 graphics cards are rumored to be launching at CES 2025, along with the new Ryzen 9000X3D processors. These new GPUs are expected to deliver high performance at competitive prices, likely in the $400-$500 range.
As the launch date approaches, we can expect more details and leaks to provide a better idea of what this next generation of AMD GPUs will offer.
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