AMD Radeon VII without partner models – can be released in less than 5,000 copies

This year’s Consumer Electronics Show was the first time AMD took the big stage at the fair. In a cavalcade of different announcements, the company unexpectedly showed a completely new graphics card for consumers – the flagship Radeon VII. This came as a surprise as AMD had previously been too clear that Vega at 7 nanometers would not be released to consumers.

At the heart of the graphics card is the Vega 20 circuit, which is the world’s first graphics circuit to be manufactured at 7 nanometers. The graphics circuit in question houses 4,096 stream processors, of which 3,840 are powered by Radeon VII. These should run at a clock frequency of up to 1,800 MHz.

This includes a 4,096-bit memory bus with no less than 16 GB HBM2 with an effective clock frequency of 2,000 MHz, which gives the record-breaking bandwidth 1 TB / s. The graphics card is expected to draw around 300 W and is cooled by a large cooler, with three axial fans and semi-passive operation.

In SweClocker’s conversation with AMD, it appeared that Radeon VII will be sold on the company’s own website and that there are currently no plans for tailor-made models from partner manufacturers. However, they do not close doors if anyone should show interest in this.

According to information to Tweaktown, the upcoming flagship will be sold in an extremely limited edition with less than 5,000 copies. There is also talk that each graphics card will be sold at a loss, which in addition to a low number of graphics circuits would explain the lack of partner models.

If the information is correct, it is difficult to answer why AMD would like to release a graphics card in so few copies and at a loss. One possibility is that the company wants to tense the muscles and show the market that they are still relevant at the top, before the next generation graphics card family “Navi” is ready for the limelight.

AMD Radeon VII has a recommended price of 699 USD and thus goes on a collision course with Nvidia’s Geforce RTX 2080. An identical price on paper is accompanied by performance that should also be in line with Nvidia’s performance model. The launch will take place on 7 February.

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