The AMD Radeon RX 6000 ‘Big Navi’ Graphics Card series which will feature the next-gen RDNA 2 GPU architecture has apparently been teased in Fortnite. The teaser comes as an easter egg that requires a certain code to be entered on a custom made map in Fortnite Creative to be unveiled as reveals HotHardware (Via Videocardz).
AMD’s First Official Radeon RX 6000 ‘Big Navi’ Series Teaser Spotted in Fortnite’s Easter Egg, Could We Be Getting An Announcement Soon?
Explained by HotHardware, the AMD Radeon RX 6000 series teaser is an easter egg that could be found in the AMD Battle Arena map which was custom designed by modder MAKAMAKES. Within the island, you need to enter a certain code for a cryptic message to appear which reads:
Something Big is Coming To The AMD Battle Arena!
The first person to spot this easter egg was an AMD-sponsored streamer on Facebook who goes by GinaDarling. This was most definitely a marketing stunt as Gina was not only playing the game on a custom map made for AMD but also knew to enter the 6000 code. It is definitely an interesting way to tease its next-generation RDNA 2 products. The 6000 code definitely points to the AMD Radeon RX 6000 series branding for the next-generation parts and it looks like we will be getting the launch soon since AMD’s competitor, NVIDIA, has already displayed its next-generation gaming products.
The AMD Radeon RX 6000 series will be powered by the 2nd Generation RDNA architecture known as RDNA 2 and will replace the 1st Generation RDNA architecture based lineup which was branded under the Radeon RX 5000 naming scheme.
Meanwhile, AMD’s employees have been teasing that the next-generation Radeon RX 6000 series is going to surprise everyone. The Chief Architect of Gaming solutions and marketing at AMD recently called GeForce RTX 30 series a nice launch by NVIDIA and also mentioned that he can’t wait to show the great products that the Radeon team has been working on. Scott Herkelman (CVP & GM of AMD Radeon) whose known for his Jebait tactics also replied to a user who seems to have made up his mind that there was no way AMD’s RDNA 2 would be reaching the same performance as the Geforce RTX 30 series cards. You can see the tweets below:
🤔
— Scott Herkelman (@sherkelman) September 1, 2020
Nice launch from @Nvidia yesterday on their new graphics cards, they are going to pair well with our latest @AMDRyzen CPUs. I can’t wait to show you all the great products our @Radeon team has been working on! What an awesome year to be a gamer!!!
— Frank Azor (@AzorFrank) September 2, 2020
Here’s Everything We Know About RDNA 2 Based Radeon RX Navi 2X Desktop GPUs
The AMD RDNA 2 based Radeon RX Navi 2x graphics card family is also touted to disrupt the 4K gaming segment similar to how Ryzen disrupted the entire CPU landscape. That’s a pretty bold claim from AMD themselves but leaks and rumors are suggesting that this might be the case for AMD’s next-generation Radeon RX graphics cards.
AMD unveiled that its RDNA 2 GPUs will deliver a similar performance jump over the first-gen RDNA GPUs like Zen 2 delivered over Zen 1. The first RDNA GPUs delivered a massive 50% increase in performance per watt over GCN architecture and RDNA 2 GPUs are expected to do the same over RDNA 1, delivering another 50% increase in performance per watt.
According to the roadmap shared by AMD, the RDNA 2 GPUs would feature three key features that will be part of the new GPU architecture. First and foremost is the performance per watt increase which is due to a number of reasons. AMD will be shifting from TSMC’s 7nm process to the more advanced 7nm process node. The new process node itself increases transistor efficiency on the new GPUs while decreasing its overall size, allowing AMD to cram more performance in a much smaller package.
The key changes that have led to a 50% increase in performance per watt include a redesigned micro-architecture with improved performance-per-clock (IPC), a logic enhancement that helps reduce design complexity and switching power, and physical optimizations such as increased clock speeds.
AMD has also announced that RDNA 2 GPUs would feature VRS (Variable Rate Shading) and hardware-accelerated ray tracing. AMD is following suit with NVIDIA here who have already implemented the said technologies on its Turing GPU based GeForce RTX graphics cards. With the launch of the new consoles from Microsoft and Sony imminent, AMD is going to work to provide these features with its own optimization framework to developers for integration within next-generation gaming titles.
AMD has also recently showcased its RDNA 2 GPUs running Microsoft’s DXR 1.1 (DirectX 12 API Ultimate) demo internally which utilizes hardware-accelerated ray tracing. AMD’s approach to ray tracing is to offer simplified development and speedy adopting and that is definitely possible through consoles where the mass majority of game developers focus their efforts towards.
AMD’s CEO, Dr. Lisa Su, has already stated that we can expect a new RDNA 2 GPU based Radeon RX high-end family and a 7nm RDNA refresh family to launch this year. The same was stated during the presentation in which it was stated that the “Navi 2x” lineup would scale from top to bottom and as the name suggests, would deliver twice the performance efficiency increase over the first-generation RX graphics cards. AMD’s CFO, David Kumar also shed some light on the RDNA 2 GPU based Radeon RX products for the PC platform, stating that PCs will be first to get a taste of the new architecture in the form of the Big Navi (Halo) graphics card followed by mainstream GPUs.
“There’s a lot of excitement for Navi 2, or what our fans have dubbed as the Big Navi“
“Big Navi is a halo product”
“Enthusiasts love to buy the best, and we are certainly working on giving them the best”.
“RDNA 2 architecture goes through the entire stack“
“it will go from mainstream GPUs all the way up to the enthusiasts and then the architecture also goes into the game console products… as well as our integrated APU products.
“This allows us to leverage the larger ecosystem, accelerate the development of exciting features like ray tracing and more.”
via AMD’s CFO, David Kumar
Some of the features to expect from 2nd Generation RDNA Navi GPUs would be:
- Optimized 7nm process node
- Enthusiast-grade desktop graphics card options
- Hardware-Level Ray Tracing Support
- A mix of GDDR6 graphics cards
- More power-efficient than First-Gen Navi GPUs
One of the key features on the Big Navi Radeon RX GPU is that it is going to disrupt the 4K gaming segment, similar to how Ryzen disrupted the entire CPU segment. These are some bold claims by AMD, but if those rumored specifications are anything to go by, then these claims may not be that far fetched.
“With the Radeon 5000-series we are essentially covering 90-something-percent of the total PC gamers today,” says Chandrasekhar. “And so that’s the reason why no 4K right now, it’s because the vast majority of them are at 1440p and 1080p.
“That doesn’t mean a 4K-capable GPU isn’t coming, it is coming, but for here and now we want to focus on the vast majority of gamers.”
“Similar to Ryzen,” he says, “all of us need a thriving Radeon GPU ecosystem. So, are we going after 4K, and going to similarly disrupt 4K? Absolutely, you can count on that. But that’s all I can say right now.”
Once again, AMD in its own presentation emphasized enthusiast-class performance for the RDNA 2 based Radeon RX ‘Navi 2X’ GPUs so that’s something to consider. The competition however from the other side won’t just go eyes closed as AMD launches its high-performance graphics cards. The next-generation NVIDIA based GeForce GPUs is shaping up to be a beast from what we’ve seen so far and will be available first to consumers on 17th September.
The second half of 2020 would definitely be interesting times for all the hardware enthusiasts and mainstream PC gamers who are looking forward to upgrading their PCs with the best hardware.
