AMD’s new refreshed RDNA 2 GPUs – a trio of slightly faster spins on existing Big Navi models – are in plentiful stock in the US (and are seeing decent levels in other regions), with graphics cards firmly anchored at the Team Red recommended price.
This is the observation of one of the regular hardware leakers who logs in via Twitter, Greymon55, who tweeted in reference to these new 6×50 XT models (i.e. the flagship 6950 XT, plus the 6750 XT and 6650 XT).
Watched for a while and found that 6x50XT is in good stock and sold strictly by MSRP. It’s a good trend.May 17, 2022
The availability and pricing of these RDNA 2 offerings appear to be presented as Greymon55 claims, or at least that’s what we found after scouring the price tags ourselves – and it’s clearly a good trend.
For example, at Newegg (at the time of writing) there are two 6950 XT models available at MSRP in the US ($1,099) and a few 6750 XT products at the recommended price ($549) with others only a little . beyond that (with third-party cards we can always expect the more sophisticated ones to command a premium, of course).
In the case of the lowest-end 6650 XT, the same goes for a pair of MSRP models ($399 in this case), and again, there are other products that aren’t much more ( $20 or $30 more, an extra expense you won’t lose much sleep for).
In the UK we found an RX 6950 XT (at eBuyer) launched a touch below MSRP, and one at Scan just a little more (which is a deal for today only, so grab that GPU quick if you fancy), plus a few others elsewhere that are a bit more expensive (again, you’ll obviously pay more for a faster liquid-cooled 6950 XT).
There are a number of 6750 XT models floating around in the UK for slightly more MSRP (from around £20 or so, not much in other words), and at OCUK we found a 6650 XT launching at just ten on the MSRP, with other variants elsewhere putting a more premium touch at around £30 – but many are in the right ballpark.
I hope other regions will see a similar situation, but of course it’s not guaranteed (according to one of the replies to Greymon’s tweet, Australia doesn’t easily do this with the new RDNA GPUs 2).
Analysis: AMD digs deep to compete with Nvidia RTX 3000
All of this is more welcome news following the general trend of recent times where graphics card prices have already started to decline and normalize towards MSRP levels. We can hope we’ve seen the last of the hugely inflated GPU prices given that inventory availability should improve further as we head into the second half of 2022.
AMD seems to be on some sort of offensive to reclaim GPU turf, trying to push ahead with these new RDNA 2 launches. As we saw yesterday, Frank Azor, the Chief Gaming Solutions Architect and from the company’s marketing, has been busy telling us how much better Big Navi is than RTX 3000 in terms of performance per dollar (and per watt).
It’s perhaps unsurprising that AMD feels the need to push for more traction in the race against Nvidia, given a recent report that highlighted how Team Green dominates the top-selling GPU charts at Newegg in the United States.
So, have the new RDNA 2 cards had an impact on these Newegg cards? The answer is no, not yet, because the fact remains that Nvidia completely dominates, with no less than 48 of the top 50 GPUs. Yes, that’s right: AMD only has two graphics cards in this entire top 50, placed at numbers 18 (an RX 6600 product) and 46 (an RX 6700 XT).
Still, we have to give things time, but AMD also seems to be slipping in the battle waged via the rumor mill in terms of next-gen GPUs, with one leaker saying it’s rather “disappointed” with how RDNA 3 takes shape. compared to the RTX 4000 (which allegedly won’t be as power hungry as previously thought).
Either way, it’s good to see Team Red feeling pressured to be more competitive and hit MSRP with their new products, with further price drops possibly in the pipeline (it could still be paying to wait a little longer to see what happens with longer-term pricing, unless you absolutely must get a new GPU right now).