New AMD Radeon RX 6000 GPU could relieve the great graphics card stock shortage

AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
(Image credit: AMD)

AMD just announced on Twitter that it’s unveiling the next Radeon RX 6000 graphics card on March 3, potentially bringing in the mid-range RX 6700 XT GPU. 

If you’ve been struggling to find where to buy the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, or find yourself unable to grab the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 when it releases later today, then it appears you won’t have to wait long for an alternative. 

AMD's tweet includes an image of the upcoming GPU, which looks highly similar to previous render leaks of the rumored AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT. Since we’ve already had the high-end Radeon RX 6900 XT, Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radon RX 6800, a more affordable mid-ranger would be the next logical step.

Indeed, AMD was rumored to have cut the Radeon RX 6700 XT from its CES presentation last month. YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead suggested this was to give itself a little more time to tweak the card so it can better compete with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-series.

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We’ve also heard whispers that the RX 6700 XT will feature 12GB of GDDR6 memory, the same as what the RTX 3060 is packing, and is slated for a full release on March 18.

As for what we know for sure, AMD said this new Radeon RX 6000 card is based on its RDNA 2 architecture and the Navi 22 processor. Like the Navi 21 GPU that powers the higher-end Radeon RX 6000 cards, this is built with an efficient 7-nanometer manufacturing process and provides support for ray tracing in games.

Its closest Nvidia rival appears to be the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, so we’d expect pricing to come close to the GeForce card’s $399. The MSRP might, anyway: ongoing supply shortages, compounded by a bot-assisted reseller market and demand from digital currency miners, currently has graphics card stock levels and pricing completely out of whack.

Hopefully, the addition of another new card will spread out demand to the extent that it might be easier to buy one. If this is the Radeon RX 6700 XT, though, an affordable price might also make it more vulnerable to mass-purchasing by less scrupulous parties. We’ll have to wait and see.

At least we won’t have to wait long to see more of this card, though. AMD’s reveal event kicks off at 11 a.m. ET on March 3, less than a week away.

James Archer

James is currently Hardware Editor at Rock Paper Shotgun, but before that was Audio Editor at Tom’s Guide, where he covered headphones, speakers, soundbars and anything else that intentionally makes noise. A PC enthusiast, he also wrote computing and gaming news for TG, usually relating to how hard it is to find graphics card stock.