AMD presented its new graphics cards, the RX 6000 series or “Big Navi,” on October 29. Especially PC gamers can be pleased about this, as Nvidia now faces competition in the high-end market again.
On October 29, 2020, AMD officially unveiled its new Radeon graphics cards, the RX 6800, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6900 XT . This made it clear to PC gamers that the manufacturer intends to offer graphics cards in the high-end market again. This was also supported by corresponding benchmarks and comparisons to Nvidia’s current 3000 series.
The benchmarks and data promise a great success for AMD so far. And all PC gamers are likely to benefit from this success in the long run – whether they buy an AMD or a Nvidia graphics card. Because for PC players, this offers various advantages:
- AMD is again offering GPUs in the high-end range, giving customers a larger selection.
- The success of AMD means renewed competition for Nvidia. This should lead to lower prices in the long run.
AMD’s success helps lower graphics card prices
In 2019, the market research institute Trendforce expected significantly rising prices for graphics cards in 2020 (via GameStar.de). Nvidia has a reputation among many gamers for being able to demand high prices for hardware in the high-end market. This is because there was a lack of competition for Nvidia in this area, allowing the company to offer its graphics cards at high prices.
In 2019, AMD had initially reoriented itself in the mid-range with the RX 5000 series. Nvidia then countered with its Super graphics cards. (via GameStar.de) Upon launch, AMD directly lowered the prices of the Radeon RX 5700 XT and the 5700 by $50 and $30, respectively, and is now roughly $100 below the RTX 2060 Super, which initially cost $419. Nvidia charged $529 for its RTX 2070 Super at release (via GameStar.de).
So far: Until now, Nvidia offered the best performance but also charged corresponding prices for it. AMD had always taken the route of price, offering its graphics cards at lower prices than the competition, and was always regarded as a good price-performance option. Thus, AMD intentionally set its RX 5000 series significantly lower than the competition.
Nvidia correctly assesses competition: However, Nvidia took a different approach with the release of the RTX 3080. For a long time, the prices and performance were not known. At release, Nvidia set the prices lower than usual, thus undercutting its own expensive high-end model, the RTX 2080 Ti.
Nvidia had correctly suspected that AMD had not been idle in the past and finally wanted to reach the competition with Big Navi. This is also shown by Nvidia CEO Jensen, who explained in an interview that business is risky.
New competition in the high-end sector?
So far: If you wanted the strongest and fastest graphics card, you had to go for Nvidia in the high-end sector, as AMD simply couldn’t provide an alternative.
What is changing right now? With AMD’s presentation on October 29, it is now clear that Nvidia’s concerns were not entirely unfounded. According to official benchmarks, AMD’s RX 6800 XT can easily compete with the RTX 3080 while also offering significantly more video memory for a slightly lower price. This increases AMD’s pressure on Nvidia.
For interested gamers looking for an upgrade, the selection is now larger, as they essentially have to choose between two graphics cards:
- They can either opt for AMD’s new Radeon RX 6800 XT, which is the direct competitor to Nvidia’s strongest gaming graphics card, the GeForce RTX 3080. However, buyers will get a weaker ray tracing performance; Nvidia performs better here.
- Or they can go for the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080, which offers only 10 GB of video memory, which could become tight for 4K in the long run. Here, AMD currently offers 16 GB of memory. However, there has already been speculation that Nvidia may give the RTX 3080 a memory upgrade.
Why gamers benefit from AMD’s success
The impact of AMD’s success on Nvidia is already visible in the release of the GeForce RTX 3070. Many testers are already saying that there has never been so much performance for just 500 euros. This is likely also thanks to AMD, as the prices for new graphics cards are lower than before, especially if AMD can manage to have enough graphics cards available at launch.
This is how users see it: In various forums, users are discussing AMD’s recent presentation, and many share this view. For example, Nik_P writes in the AMD subreddit:
That AMD is competitive and RDNA2 [AMD’s new generation] is being adopted everywhere means a healthier technological landscape for PC gaming and less reliance on manufacturers. Good for us.
And user sauzbozz adds:
I am really looking forward to seeing the next generation of AMD’s and what Nvidia and Intel will do now. AMD is serious competition for top-tier gaming performance.
Will graphics cards be available at launch? The most important question now is whether AMD will have enough copies of its new graphics cards available at launch to satisfy buyer interest.
This will be revealed on November 18, when the two Radeon cards RX 6800 XT and RX 6800 are released. If AMD can deliver well, it should have a huge advantage over the competition. And the “RTX 3080” problem may present additional advantages for AMD.
