AMD Radeon RX 8800 XT: the design on the run?

L’AMD Radeon RX 8800 XTone of the most anticipated graphics cards of the next generation based on the RDNA 4 architecture of the Reds, seems to be revealed through leaked images. If these photos published in an advertisement posted on Reddit prove to be authentic, they offer a first glimpse of AMD's reference design and technological ambitions for this new generation RX 8000.

The first images of the Radeon RX 8800 XT show an imposing graphics card that appears close to the dimensions of the RX 7900 XT. Likewise, this design is reminiscent of that of the models Ventus 3X from MSI with a silver plate framing inlets for a three-fan cooling system. These cover a large heat sink intended to manage the heat generated by the card.

One of the most striking aesthetic elements is theRadeon logo lighting on the front which seems designed to highlight the card when installed in a vertical slot, a configuration increasingly popular with users looking to enhance the appearance of their configurations. On the other hand, in standard installation, the design might not look as good due to the tilt angle.

Focus on performance and the consumer market

As we already know from company statements, the company is abandoning ultra high-end cards to focus on the ranges that sell the most on the market. There Radeon RX 8800 XT should thus become one of the fastest references in this series, without seeking to directly compete with NVIDIA's most expensive models like the RTX 5090.

Chip-based Navi 48 and exploiting the architecture RDNA 4this card promises significant advances in performance and energy efficiency. RDNA 4 not only incorporates improvements from the RDNA 3.5 architecture, but also introduces several key optimizations:

1. Improved IPC SIMD: RDNA 4 aims to increase the performance of SIMD units which constitute the heart of graphics calculations by optimizing their efficiency per cycle.
2. Improved Ray Tracing : The components dedicated to Ray Tracing have been redesigned to reduce the impact of this technology on overall performance. This could make games using this technology more accessible without compromising framerate too much.
3. Advanced Manufacturing Node : The RDNA 4 architecture could benefit from a more advanced etching process, thereby reducing power consumption while increasing transistor density and performance.