Mac OS “Big Sur” reveals Navi 31 – customized circuit or larger Big Navi

It will blow up to a graphics storm during the autumn of 2020. In addition to AMD intending to release graphics cards that are part of the painting-named Big Navi family, Nvidia is also assumed to release Ampere for consumers, with similarly specified specifications. Previous reports say that the graphics circuit behind this beast is Navi 21. If the source code for the beta version of Mac OS “Big Sur” is to trust, AMD is brooding on an even larger circuit, reports Hardware Leaks.

Navi 31 is mentioned in the source code for drivers for Mac OS “Big Sur”, but more details than that do not appear. AMD’s naming for graphics circuits is based on the largest and most advanced circuit receiving the lowest number, and higher numbers are assigned to the simpler circuits in the middle and step class. Navi 21 is, for example, the stated name of Big Navi, AMD’s flagship of the architecture Radeon DNA 2 (RDNA 2), while Navi 22 and 23 form the basis for intermediate and entry-level models, respectively.

The fact that the number designation starts with the number two is due to the fact that the graphics circuits are based on the previously mentioned architecture RDNA 2, and the circuit family is therefore called Navi 2X. The fact that the name of the leaked circuit begins with the number three therefore suggests a new architecture, which may mean an early sign of the next generation Radeon. However, this need not be the case as AMD also supplies specially designed graphics cards and integrated circuits to Apple, where the specially designed variant Radeon Pro 5600M recently reached Apple’s product range.

Apple also recently revealed that the company is abandoning Intel on the processor front in favor of completely home-made ARM variants. From this perspective, the Navi 31 could potentially be several things – a specially designed graphics circuit for Apple’s needs or a variant of RDNA 3 that was brought forward due to Apple’s transition to proprietary processors. As Apple computers become more tailored with their own silicon on the processor front, it may require heavier adjustments from the graphics provider.

The same source code also reveals the portable processor family “Cezanne”, which is about APU processors with integrated graphics part signed previously mentioned RDNA 2. If AMD follows previous naming, the name of this Ryzen 5000 will be for laptops, which takes up the fight with Intel “Tiger Lake “with Xe graphics part. As before, the processors are expected to be divided into high-performance “Cezanne-H” and more energy-efficient “Cezanne-U”.

What do you think about the data? Do you think it’s an earlier RDNA 3 or a specially designed circuit for Apple?