AMD previewed its next-gen RDNA 4 GPU architecture during CES 2025. This latest generation of graphics processing from Team Red emphasizes "performance and immersions, supercharged with AI." This is an area AMD has suffered with compared to Nvidia's hard-hitting (and incredibly powerful) AI-driven technologies, such as DLSS. Intel continues to develop its own XeSS technology, so it only makes sense for AMD to push AI hard with RDNA 4. Alongside the RDNA 4 preview, AMD confirmed plans to switch up how it names its GPUs with the new RX 9000 series (and 8000 series for mobile GPUs).
Shaking things up with new chips and names
According to AMD, RDNA 4 will deliver improved raytracing performance per compute unit, better media encoding quality, and more with optimized compute units and supercharged AI computing. RDNA 4 will be based on a 4nm process, using 2nd-gen AI accelerators, 3rd-gen raytracing accelerators, and 2nd-gen AMD Radiance Display Engine. The new AI and RT accelerators are expected to aid the company in improving overall performance and quality for supported games, something AMD has struggled with against Intel and Nvidia. Progress has been made through new software updates, but AMD needed to up its hardware game.
To that end, AMD teased FidleityFX Super Resolution (FSR) 4 with machine-learning upscale support. It's developed specifically for RDNA 4 GPUs and will offer 4K upscaling, high-performance gains with AMD's frame generation tech, and low latency. How FSR 4 will compare against DLSS from Nvidia will be interesting to see, but hopefully, AMD will have made considerable gains on all fronts and not be left behind by the competition. Intel made waves with its B580 launch, offering excellent 1440p performance with XeSS for just $250. 2025 should be the year we see notable moves from AMD and Nvidia.
What is FSR? Everything you need to know about AMD's DLSS3 competitor
FSR is just like DLSS, but its open-source nature makes all the difference.
As for the GPUs themselves, RDNA 4 will see the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 launch in Q1 2025. You may have noticed the slight difference in the naming for AMD's graphics cards and that's because the company wants to position its GPU range more closely against Intel to make comparisons easier for customers. AMD plans to use the RX 9070 series to presumably compete against Nvidia's mid-range RTX 5000 GPUs and RX 9060 for the low end (and the Intel B580). I'm not sure if I'm a fan of this name switch, but it'll take some getting used to — at least it matches AMD Ryzen 9000 CPUs.
We'll likely see more GPUs launch as the year progresses, but AMD will recreate the RX 7000 launch with two flagship cards, the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070.