AMD’s RX 6950 XT, the purportedly incoming refreshed RDNA 2 flagship, could run at some seriously fast clock speeds if a new leak is correct.
The latest from the GPU grapevine is that the RX 6950 XT will exceed 2.5GHz for boost speed, at least according to hardware leaker Greymon55 on Twitter, who has been very active regarding rumors around this graphics card of late.
Greymon55 says that the boost speed will be over 2.5GHz as you can see, and later in the thread, also adds that the power consumption is likely to be 350W. As VideoCardz, which flagged this leak, reminds us, for power usage that’s higher than the most powerful 6900 XT cards (using XTXH chips, with liquid cooling) which reach 330W.
Furthermore, as someone in the Twitter thread points out, there are models of the 6900 XT which already exceed 2.5GHz for boost speeds, though these are the liquid cooled models – some of which can creep over 2.7GHz for default boost.
So in theory, the 6950 XT could outdo these, as obviously AMD would need this new flagship to perform better than existing 6900 XT products. It does depend on the cooling solution the 6950 XT runs with, of course – as if it’s air cooling with a boost speed over 2.5GHz, then that beats out anything the 6900 XT can offer right now.
Analysis: Setting the stage for bigger overclocks and more record-setting?
Whatever the case, if the 6950 is indeed incoming – naturally we have to take all this with some skepticism, though the weight of rumors is certainly increasing of late – then it’s going to be an impressive performer, but also power-hungry as you might expect (some 6900 XT boards already demand an 850W power supply at minimum as it is, remember).
Professional overclockers will be drooling in anticipation of the release of such a new RDNA 2 flagship, as well, because in recent times we’ve witnessed the RX 6900 XT being overclocked to 3.3GHz and setting multiple new records in 3DMark. That’s with exotic cooling, of course, but there’s the possibility of reaching even bigger clocks with this 6950 XT, and shattering further world records.
While we don’t know if the 6950 XT will materialize for sure, we do know that Nvidia has an RTX 3090 Ti ready to debut – though it may have been delayed somewhat – but at any rate, AMD may feel it needs a response to that fresh flagship from Team Green, which will surely be capable of making its own mark in terms of benchmark records.
If both these GPUs do appear, though, it’s arguable how much stock might be available given the current component shortages, and indeed how pricey they might be. Certainly there’s been plenty of speculation around eye-watering prices popping up for the 3090 Ti in recent times.