For the last few years, AMD's flagship every generation has been coming up short when compared to Nvidia's flagship. It happened with the RX 6900 XT and RX 7900 XTX, and this time, AMD decided it wouldn't play king of the hill with Nvidia, confirming that it was limiting itself to the mid-range segment. The RTX 5090 took its spot at the top of the charts, as expected, and AMD delivered perhaps the most exciting mid-range card in a long time: the RX 9070 XT.

However, that hasn't stopped people from wondering whether AMD can actually come out with an RTX 5090 competitor. There has been no official word about anything of the sort, but as always, the rumor mill seems to think we could have something in the works at AMD. I don't think AMD already has something under wraps, but things could change quickly depending on the response to the RX 9000 series. Besides, there's always the next generation to take the fight to Nvidia.

There is a rumored 32GB AMD GPU

Could this be the real RTX 5090 competitor?

A few weeks ago, there was a rumor circling about a 32GB AMD GPU being a potential competitor to the RTX 5090. At the time, before AMD launched the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070, the upcoming GPU was thought to be the RX 9070 XT. AMD's Frank Azor jokingly refuted the RX 9070 having 32GB of VRAM. After the launch event, however, it became clear that the rumored GPU might be something AMD had in the works, planning to pit it against the RTX 5090. The 32GB framebuffer is especially telling, considering that's the same amount of VRAM on the Blackwell flagship.

It's unlikely that AMD has been hiding its RTX 5090 killer all along, planning to unveil it out of the blue, surprising not only consumers but Nvidia too. What is possible is that this 32GB card turns out to be an RX 9080 XT (or whatever AMD wants to call it). After all, providing double the amount of VRAM as the RX 9070 XT on a higher-tier card isn't out of character for AMD. The rumored GPU might not be an RTX 5090 competitor, but AMD might be planning to beat the RTX 5080 in both performance and VRAM. Sadly, it could also be a workstation card, disappointing us all.

AMD has a strong foundation for some high-end action

In this generation or the next

As it stands, neither the official channels nor the rumor mill are abuzz with any major leaks about a high-end GPU from AMD. However, we still have a long time left for the RX 9000 generation, considering the lengthening cadence of GPU releases of late. This gives AMD enough time to cook up an RTX 5090 competitor if it sees enough traction for its already launched GPUs. Some surveys even show that RX 9000 cards have already outsold all the RTX 50 series cards.

AMD has officially bowed out of the high-end competition, but the response to the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 in the coming weeks and months might make the company reconsider. AMD's RDNA 4 architecture has a lot going for it, thanks to drastically improved FSR performance and a massive uplift in ray tracing performance. If nothing else, AMD could even slap two Navi 48 dies together on a monster graphics card, beating the RTX 5090 by a slim margin. Well, a guy can dream.

Lastly, if an RTX 5090 competitor doesn't materialize this generation, it could very realistically be a thing with AMD's next lineup. With RDNA 4, AMD is finally competing with Nvidia in a lot of areas where it used to be significantly behind. Building on the success of the RX 9000 series, and launching a true RTX 5090 (or RTX 6090) competitor isn't out of the question in the next generation.

Will the success of RDNA 4 return AMD to high-end competition?

AMD's RX 9000 launch went better than anyone expected. The pricing was just right, the performance was fiercely competitive, and ray tracing was vastly improved compared to the previous generation. Even FSR 4 saw huge improvements over FSR 3 in terms of image quality, almost bridging the gap with DLSS 4. If AMD manages to make a significant dent in Nvidia's market share this generation, it could see itself returning to competing at the high-end, matching the RTX 5090 or its successor. We'll have to wait and watch.