AMD will be launching a new "mainstream" Radeon RX 7000 series GPU by the end of June, according to comments made by CEO Lisa Su to investors during a quarterly earnings call. The comments, which largely just confirm what everyone had assumed would be coming, likely refers to the Radeon RX 7600 XT.
Why the Radeon RX 7600 XT? It all comes down to the wording. "We're on track to expand our RDNA 3 GPU portfolio with the launch of new mainstream Radeon 7000 series GPUs this quarter," were Su’s exact words, and in this case, it seems unlikely the word "mainstream" would be used to refer to a high-end cards like the Radeon RX 7800 XT or 7700 XT — and with a number of rumors pointing to a May 25 release for the Radeon RX 7600 XT, it seems like the most likely contender.
We can take a good stab at what to expect from the RX 7600 XT as well, since it’s expected to use the Navi 33 GPU, and is likely to have similar hardware to the RX 7600 XT mobile GPU, which has already been announced by AMD. Clock speed for that GPU sits at 2.3GHz, with 32 compute units, and 2,048 stream processors. You can probably assume the non-mobile RX 7600 XT will clock a little higher, but the numbers are likely to be broadly the same.
Those stats put the new GPU at roughly twice the power of the RX 6600 XT, though that may only equate to roughly 30% better performance during gaming. However, VRAM is likely to stay the same, at 8GB, and the clock speed isn’t likely to go far past the RX 6600 XT’s 2.6GHz, meaning this may not be a huge upgrade.
Price is going to be a major hurdle for AMD to clear here. The RX 6600 XT retailed for $379 from new, and it’s unlikely the RX 7600 XT is going to dip too far below that price. $300 is possible, but it’s much more likely to start over that point, making the RX 6600 XT’s current pricing of $250 a rather more tempting bargain.