AMD Resets Gaming GPU Strategy To Target Volume Products Over Top Tier Graphics
While we await the next powerhouse GPUs from NVIDIA, we have some interesting news from the AMD side. For RDNA 3, AMD put up a valiant effort at the upper echelons with GPUs such as the Radeon RX 7900 XTX. While it did not best the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, it certainly put up a good fight with the GeForce RTX 4080 in rasterization. Clocking in at a $999 MSRP, coupled with a healthy 24GB of VRAM, it filled in some of the high-end GPU gaps from the NVIDIA lineup. However, the battle of the titans may be short lived, according to a recent interview with AMD senior vice president Jack Huynh.
The analysis comes from a comment Huynh made on volume and developer interest, when he responded "I'm looking at scale, and AMD is in a different place right now."
If AMD only sells "King of the Hill" products, then it may only grab a smaller market niche' of ultra-enthusiast gamers. However, it's important to remember the mainstream buyer who may have a more modest budget. In turn, focusing on the biggest, most powerful GPUs means potentially less scale for all products and could also decreases the desire for developers to optimize for AMD. In this theoretical continued cascade of events, developers could then turn to more exclusively to NVIDIA, who has the largest GPU market share currently by a wide margin.
This will not be atypical for AMD, which had delivered midrange products with RDNA 1. GPUs such as the Radeon RX 5700 XT did well against the NVIDIA midrange products, never having to challenge the upper-end. With RDNA 2 and GPUs such as the Radeon RX 6900 XT, AMD pushed its 24GB of VRAM as a main point of competitor against NVIDIA. Gamers have complained that NVIDIA has been stingy with its VRAM complement, with even top-tier GPUs such as the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti with only have 12G of VRAM.
NVIDIA's Blackwell GPUs are shaping up to be very powerful, as you can surmise from architecture performance claims in the company's data center AI products. The slowing of the gaming market for GPUs during the last several years and data center focus for both AMD and NVIDIA is the current zeitgeist. With NVIDIA having a good lead with technologies such as ray tracing and its DLSS 3 with frame generation, AMD has been playing catchup with recent products, though the company has made great advances, with FSR 3 and improved ray tracing performance for RDNA 3.
One key aspect of having both AMD and NVIDIA produce top-end products is in competition and keeping high-end product pricing sane. With only NVIDIA at the top with its GeForce RTX 5090, the company will have free rein to do as it pleases with pricing and availability, since there are no other options, if this scenario proves true. The midrange, such as GeForce RTX 5070 GPUs and below, will have a lot more competition from AMD's next generation, however.
As an example, AMD has done well with its Radeon RX 7800 XT against the GeForce RTX 4070, which is priced aggressively to build market share in that midrange segment. While it is not clear if AMD will ever come back to focusing on high-end GPUs in the future, for now the Tom's Hardware interview points to a renewed effort on midrange products with broader demand.
The analysis comes from a comment Huynh made on volume and developer interest, when he responded "I'm looking at scale, and AMD is in a different place right now."
If AMD only sells "King of the Hill" products, then it may only grab a smaller market niche' of ultra-enthusiast gamers. However, it's important to remember the mainstream buyer who may have a more modest budget. In turn, focusing on the biggest, most powerful GPUs means potentially less scale for all products and could also decreases the desire for developers to optimize for AMD. In this theoretical continued cascade of events, developers could then turn to more exclusively to NVIDIA, who has the largest GPU market share currently by a wide margin.
This will not be atypical for AMD, which had delivered midrange products with RDNA 1. GPUs such as the Radeon RX 5700 XT did well against the NVIDIA midrange products, never having to challenge the upper-end. With RDNA 2 and GPUs such as the Radeon RX 6900 XT, AMD pushed its 24GB of VRAM as a main point of competitor against NVIDIA. Gamers have complained that NVIDIA has been stingy with its VRAM complement, with even top-tier GPUs such as the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti with only have 12G of VRAM.
NVIDIA's Blackwell GPUs are shaping up to be very powerful, as you can surmise from architecture performance claims in the company's data center AI products. The slowing of the gaming market for GPUs during the last several years and data center focus for both AMD and NVIDIA is the current zeitgeist. With NVIDIA having a good lead with technologies such as ray tracing and its DLSS 3 with frame generation, AMD has been playing catchup with recent products, though the company has made great advances, with FSR 3 and improved ray tracing performance for RDNA 3.
One key aspect of having both AMD and NVIDIA produce top-end products is in competition and keeping high-end product pricing sane. With only NVIDIA at the top with its GeForce RTX 5090, the company will have free rein to do as it pleases with pricing and availability, since there are no other options, if this scenario proves true. The midrange, such as GeForce RTX 5070 GPUs and below, will have a lot more competition from AMD's next generation, however.
As an example, AMD has done well with its Radeon RX 7800 XT against the GeForce RTX 4070, which is priced aggressively to build market share in that midrange segment. While it is not clear if AMD will ever come back to focusing on high-end GPUs in the future, for now the Tom's Hardware interview points to a renewed effort on midrange products with broader demand.
