AMD continues to manufacture reference designers for the Radeon RX 6000 – “high demand”

The graphics card autumn 2020 has offered an unusual number of interesting products, something that has been blackened by fictitious prices and lack of access. The fresh Radeon RX 6900 XT rounded off the year and became a new low water brand with virtually no products on the market. At the same time, it was reported that AMD had already completed the production of the reference design for the RX 6900 XT.

Now AMD’s graphics manager Scott Herkelman responds on Twitter that due to high demand for an indefinite period of time, they will continue to manufacture their reference designs. The fact that he writes reference designers in the plural indicates that in addition to the latest flagship Radeon RX 6900 XT, he means the sibling models RX 6800 XT and RX 6800.

Reference designers refer to AMD’s and Nvidia’s own visions of their graphics cards. In addition to the graphics circuit and memory circuits that form the very backbone of a specific model, the reference designer has a circuit board (PCB) and a cooling solution signed by the company itself. These are often sought after as they guarantee compatibility with accessories and other cooling solutions, such as water blocks, but also because they are usually available for purchase at a recommended price.

A problem from AMD at the launches of the Radeon RX 6800, RX 6800 XT and most recently the RX 6900 XT is that they have been released with the reference designs in extremely limited edition at the recommended price. They have since been replaced by alternatives with significantly higher prices from partner manufacturers, which refer to the fact that AMD has pushed margins so hard that it is impossible for them to reach the recommended price on their own.

* Reference point is Geforce RTX 2070 Super as index 100

In talks with Hardware Unboxed, AMD has previously stated that they will “enable” their partners to reach the recommended price by the beginning of 2021. In addition to lowering the prices of their partners’ partnerships and going out with time-limited discounts at retailers, a possibility for manufacturers to sell reference designs but with their own marking in the form of stickers on the fans.

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