Expect Ray Tracing graphics cards from AMD in 2020

After the reveal of AMD’s Radeon RX 5600 XT, we are left to wonder what the future holds for Radeon’s RDNA graphics architecture. Microsoft has confirmed that its next-generation Xbox Series X console will utilise a “next-generation” RDNA architecture. So far, AMD has not revealed anything meaningful about what the future has in store for Radeon. 

At a post-keynote interview (quotes via Anandtech), AMD’s Lisa Su, when answering a question from Venturebeat’s Dean Takahashi, stated that “You should expect that our discrete graphics as we go through 2020 will also have ray tracing.” This makes sense given the release timeframe of the next-generation consoles from Sony and Microsoft. Both of these systems are due in Q4 2020, which means that AMD should be more than capable of releasing a ray-tracing capable graphics card before then, as both consoles are set to support hardware-accelerated raytracing.  

When answering a question from PC World’s Gordon Ung, Lisa Su confirmed that AMD “have a high-end Navi” card in the works. Lisu Su then stated that she doesn’t usually “comment on unannounced products”. This confirms that AMD has plans to release a high-end graphics card in the near future, finally giving AMD competition for graphics cards like Nvidia’s RTX 2080 Ti and RTX 2080 Super. 

It remains unclear whether or not AMD’s high-end Navi card will feature the same graphics architecture as AMD’s existing GPU RX 5000 series lineup. Will raytracing come to AMD graphics cards through a new Navi II/New Navi architecture, or should we expect AMD to release a Radeon RX 5900 series card without raytracing?