Despite the ongoing memory shortage, AMD is going against the grain and reportedly developing a new entry-level RDNA 4 graphics card to compete with the RTX 5050. Videocardz reports that AMD is cooking up an RX 9050 graphics card based on the Navi 44 die.
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Despite the name, the reported specs of the RX 9050 are very similar to the RX 9060 XT 8GB rather than the vanilla RX 9060. In fact, the RX 9050’s specs are so similar to its XT counterpart that the GPU has more cores than the vanilla RX 9060. Videocard’s report claims the RX 9050 will come with 2048 cores with a game clock of up to 1,920 MHz and a boost clock of up to 2,600 MHz. Memory is comprised of 8GB of GDDR6 operating at 18Gbps across a 128-bit bus. The GPU is also reported to come with a PCIe 5.0 x16 interface, two DisplayPort 2.1a ports, and one HDMI 2.1b port.
For the uninitiated, the RX 9060 XT 8GB also features 2048 cores, 8GB of memory, and a 128-bit memory bus. Where the two GPUs differ is in clock speeds — the RX 9060 XT has a 24% clock speed advantage over the RX 9050, featuring a boost frequency of up to 3.1 GHz. Memory bandwidth is also slightly higher thanks to the inclusion of 20 Gbps GDDR6 modules. There’s no word yet on the RX 9050’s target board power, but the recommended power supply requirements for the RX 9060 XT 8GB suggest it will consume more power than the RX 9050.
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| Row 0 - Cell 0 | RX 9050 | RX 9060 | RX 9060 XT 8GB |
GPU: | Navi 44 XT* | Navi 44 XL | Navi 44 XT |
Cores: | 2,048* | 1,792 | 2,048 |
CUs: | 32* | 28 | 32 |
Game Clock: | 1,920 MHz* | 2,400 MHz | 2,530 MHz |
Boost Clock: | 2,600 MHz* | 2,990 MHz | 3,130 MHz |
Memory: | 8GB GDDR6* | 8GB GDDR6 | 8GB GDDR6 |
Bus-width | 128-bit* | 128-bit | 128-bit |
Target Board Power | N/A | 132W | 150W |
*Specs unconfirmed by AMD
The RX 9050’s unorthodox specifications (in reference to its nomenclature) suggest AMD wants a better SKU to compete against the RTX 5050, specifically one more powerful than the vanilla RX 9060. If this weren’t the case, AMD could easily have repurposed its existing vanilla RX 9060 to serve both the OEM and DIY markets instead of creating a new SKU (the RX 9060 is currently OEM-exclusive). We have seen a report of the RX 9060 outperforming the RTX 5050 by 20%, but that's only one test. As usual, if the GPU does exist, we'll need to wait for third-party testing before drawing any conclusions.
Pricing is still unknown as well, but it is likely that AMD will target the RTX 5050’s street pricing with the RX 9050. The cheapest RTX 5050 at the time of writing is $289.
If AMD has a new GPU to announce, we'll likely hear about it at Computex, which kicks off in Taipei in just a few weeks. AMD won't have a Computex keynote this year, breaking with its usual live event schedule, but AMD's AIB partners will undoubtedly be ready to show off RX 9050 models if the GPU is indeed real.
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