Gigabyte Reportedly Launching High-Wattage Radeon 6800 XT | Tom’s Hardware

Gigabyte is reportedly prepping another iteration of its Radeon RX 6800 XT graphics card, one that uses an enhanced cooling system and a printed circuit board which was perhaps meant for more advanced Radeon RX 6900-series boards, according to VideoCardz. While the idea that there is another Radeon RX 6800 XT card coming seems curious, perhaps a more interesting question is why it would come at this time.

The rumored Radeon RX 6800 XT Gaming Pro graphics card is based on the Navi 21 graphics processor with 4608 stream processors enabled and carries 16GB of GDDR6 memory. Yet, it allegedly  uses a printed circuit board with an enhanced voltage regulating module (VRM) as well as a cooling system originally designed for a much more powerful add-in-card with all 5120 SPs enabled, the Gigabyte Gaming OC Radeon RX 6950 XT.  

Because of its almost unlimited voltage regulation module and three eight-pin PCIe power connectors that grab up to 450W, this might end up being one the best graphics cards for overclocking.

The information about the Gigabyte Radeon RX 6800 XT Gaming Pro graphics card comes from an unofficial source so take it with a grain of salt. Launching another AIB based on RDNA 2 architecture barely makes sense these days for many reasons. Yet, there could be some rationality here. 

One of the reasons why Gigabyte might want to release another Navi 21-based graphics card in late Q1 2023 — about time when one could expect AMD to release its new high-end offering that is going to sit below the Radeon RX 7900-series enthusiast-grade offerings — is indeed the approach of AMD’s next-generation. Disposing of Navi 21 GPU silicon, PCBs, and cooling systems makes sense to clear the road for newer offerings. 

The only question is when exactly these newer AMD Radeon products are set to arrive.

Anton Shilov is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.