AMD may not have shown its strongest RDNA 2/Big Navi GPU at their Ryzen event

Earlier this week, AMD showcased their first RX 6000 series graphics card, highlighting performance levels which appear to be similar to Nvidia’s RTX 3080 GPU. If these results are accurate, AMD’s Radeon graphics cards have finally returned to competitiveness within the high-end GPU market. That said, AMD may not show RDNA 2 at its best during this event. 

As we have previously discussed, AMD has not revealed which RDNA 2 graphics card they showcased during their Ryzen event. AMD listed this graphics cards as an RX 6000 series GPU, never stating that they were testing their RDNA 2/Big Navi flagship. In a comment to PC World, AMD’s Scott Herkelman also stressed that AMD never said which Radeon RX 6000 series GPU they were running. 

With this in mind, it is possible that AMD wasn’t showcasing their RDNA 2 gaming flagship. This move would allow AMD to surprise gamers with a higher-performance graphics card at their RDNA 2 reveal on October 28th. If this isn’t AMD’s plan, why could Scott Herkelman not say whether or not AMD’s early benchmarks were from their RDNA 2 flagship? 

In other comments, Herkelman also stated that AMD still could fine-tune their RDNA 2 graphics cards before launch, further suggesting that performance could improve. 

AMD’s RDNA 2 teaser already show impressive performance levels from team Radeon, though it remains to be seen whether or not RDNA 2 will become the Zen 3 of the GPU market. We will have to wait until AMD’s RDNA 2 reveal on October 28th to get a full rundown on AMD’s RDNA 2 architecture and products.