After a so-called “lost generation” for graphics cards plagued by shortages and scalpers, things are finally looking up for PC gamers—and the battle for next-generation GPU supremacy has finally arrived. Nvidia launched its ferocious GeForce RTX 4090 mere weeks ago, but its monitor-melting lead isn’t going uncontested for long. This week, AMD revealed its next-gen RDNA 3 architecture and two GPUs serving as its paragon: the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and 7900 XT.
This ain’t your momma’s GPU throw-down, though. AMD is doing some radically different things with RDNA 3 and the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, and we’ve before. We’ve already covered the Radeon RX 7900 XTX’s technical notes in-depth in our announcement coverage, but if you don’t feel like sifting through a discussion of dual-issue wave 32 instructions and memory-controller vagaries, here are the five key facts about RDNA 3 and the Radeon RX 7900 XTX that PC gamers absolutely need to know before the launch on December 13.
