AMD will continue to release the reference Radeon RX 6000 at least until the end of March, but there won’t be enough cards for everyone

In an interview with BabelTechReviews, Ritche Corpus, Director of Software Alliances and Developer Relations at the Radeon Technologies Group, said that the company will continue to release reference versions of its Radeon RX 6000 series GPUs until the end of the first quarter of 2021. He also added that AMD will actively support its partners in the production of non-reference graphics accelerators.

“But based on feedback on our reference models, the Radeon RX 6800 series as well as the Radeon RX 6900 XT, we have decided to continue with their release. We will try to make them available to as many gamers as possible. By the end of the first quarter of 2021, new deliveries of graphics accelerators are expected. We will also continue to work with our partners who are developing and manufacturing non-reference versions of Radeon graphics cards, ”said Copus.

At the end of last year, AMD changed its decision several times related to the release of the reference graphics accelerators of the Radeon RX 6000 series. In November, Scott Herkelman, senior vice president of the Radeon Technologies Group, said that production would continue until early 2021. Then in December, it was reported that the company had already discontinued the reference versions of the Radeon RX 6800, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6900 XT. Several of the company’s partners then announced that AMD had canceled additional shipments of reference graphics cards. However, literally, a day later, another message followed, which said that the company would still continue to release new video cards in the reference performance for some indefinite time.

Typically, the release of reference versions of graphics accelerators lasts for several months after their release. After that, all tasks for the production of a new series of video cards are assigned to third-party partners who release them in a non-standard performance. However, this time, for a number of reasons, the situation was completely different. First, the reference Radeon RX 6000 models have gained immense popularity among buyers for their efficient and quiet cooling system. Secondly, the market situation puts pressure on AMD. On the one hand, there is a deficit. On the other hand, non-standard video cards are sold at two, or even two and a half times more expensive than reference versions. AMD sells its reference models of video cards only through its official online store. In other words, this is actually the only place

In any case, despite the words of Rich Copus, the additional release of reference versions of Radeon RX 6000 video cards will not be able to radically change the situation with their shortage on the market. There won’t be enough offers for everyone anyway. Presenting the latest financial report, AMD CEO Lisa Su noted that the supply of components for gaming platforms, including for the PC market, will remain limited until the second half of 2021.