AMD’s upcoming RX 7650 GRE, a new take on a lower-end GPU designed for RDNA 3, might not be the budget champion we were hoping for. The news, reported by Chinese tech site Benchlife, is a bit of a downer for those seeking an affordable RDNA 3 card.
The RX 7650 GRE is expected to use the Navi 33 GPU, the same chip found in the current RX 7600 models. However, this new card won’t offer any additional performance in terms of compute units, as the vanilla 7600 and 7600 XT already max out the configuration. This is disappointing news for those who hoped the 7650 GRE might switch to the Navi 32 chip.
To make the 7650 GRE stand out, it seems AMD plans to use the Navi 33 XT flavor, offering higher clock speeds through a boosted TDP compared to the Navi 33 XL. This means the 7650 GRE will need to deliver significantly faster performance than the existing 7600 XT to justify its existence.
The rumors initially suggested a CES 2025 launch alongside the RDNA 4 range. However, that appears to be off the table. Moreover, the RX 7650 GRE is likely to be a China-exclusive product, unlike the 7900 GRE. It is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2025 in China. While a US release isn’t entirely ruled out, it seems highly unlikely.
This news is not exactly what enthusiasts were hoping for. The RX 7650 GRE, while aiming to offer an entry point into RDNA 3, may lack the competitive edge needed to entice buyers in a market dominated by the current RX 7600 series.