AMD is planning to launch its new RX 6000 series GPU on April 20th and according to a recent tweet by the RRA bot (via Videocardz) which monitors new releases of ICs - AMD seems to have changed its mind about not introducing any non-OEM version of the company's tiniest GPU: the RX 6400.
GIGABYTE RX 6400 EAGLE 4GB GDDR6 becomes the first non-OEM custom variant of AMD's tiniest GPU
RRA stands for National Radio Research Agency and all-new GPUs must receive certification before they are allowed to be sold in South Korea. This means that all new GPUs will eventually, inevitably be spotted here just before release. In fact, in the past companies like AMD and NVIDIA have gotten dummy cards certified to throw off the tech press - but this card isn't exciting enough to warrant tactics like that so we are fairly sure this one is legit.
The AMD Radeon RX 6400 is based on the cut-down Navi 24 XL chip with 768 cores. The card retains the original 4GB GDDR6 vRAM present in its older sibling (the RX 6500 XT) and features clock speeds in the 2.5 GHz range. It does not require any power connectors since its TDP is just 53W (the PCIe slot can provide 75Ws of power all on its own). It will feature 112 GB/s bandwidth and was originally designed as an OEM-only model and was not initially planned to have any custom variants. It is a very low-profile card that would trigger a sense of nostalgia in older gamers and is a single slot design with one HDMI port and a DP port.
Both the RX 6400 and RX 6500 XT are going to target the entry-level segment that are just looking for very very light gaming power (think 1080p, low settings). However, with technologies like FSR 2.0, even cards like the RX 6400 might yield a decent gaming experience at lower resolutions. Right now the RX 6600 is the card to get to have a decent 1080p gaming experience (even better with FSR 2.0?).
The reason we think that AMD seems to have changed its mind is the overarching decline in graphics cards prices (and demand from miners). OEM-only cards would previously have been required to secure supplies for important business customers as the larger chips would almost certainly be scooped up by miners. With the declining threat of miners, it seems like AMD has decided to release this little-card-that-could to gamers as well. It is unclear if the custom variant will have a power connector - although we would expect one since EAGLE cards usually have two cooling fans - which would exceed the total available power of the card. It might even have an optional power connector.
AMD RDNA 2 'Navi 2x' GPU Configurations:
| GPU Name | Navi 21 | Navi 22 | Navi 23 | Navi 24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPU Process | 7nm | 7nm | 7nm | 6nm |
| GPU Codename | Sienna Cichlid | Navy Flounder | Dimgrey Cavefish | Beige Goby |
| GPU Transistors | 26.8 Billion | 17.2 Billion | TBA | TBA |
| Die Size | 536mm2 | 336mm2 | 236mm2 | ~141mm2 |
| GPU Package | Monolithic | Monolithic | Monolithic | Monolithic |
| Shader Engines | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| SPs | 64 | 64 | 64 | 64 |
| Compute Units (Per Die) | 80 | 40 | 32 | 16 |
| Cores (Total) | 5120 | 2560 | 2048 | 1024 |
| Memory Bus | 256-bit | 192-bit | 128-bit | 64-bit |
| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | GDDR6 |
| Infinity Cache | 128 MB | 96 MB | 46 MB | 16 MB |
| Flagship SKU | Radeon RX 6900 XTX | Radeon RX 6700 XT | Radeon RX 6600 XT | Radeon RX 6500 XT |
| TBP | 330W | 230W | 160W | 107W |
| Launch | Q4 2020 | Q1 2021 | Q3 2021 | Q1 2022 |
