RDNA (microarchitecture)
RDNA (Radeon DNA[2][3]) is a graphics processing unit (GPU) microarchitecture and accompanying instruction set architecture developed by AMD. It is the successor to their Graphics Core Next (GCN) microarchitecture/instruction set. The first product lineup featuring RDNA was the Radeon RX 5000 series of video cards, launched on July 7, 2019.[1][4] The architecture is also used in mobile products.[5] It is manufactured and fabricated with TSMC's N7 FinFET graphics chips used in the Navi series of AMD Radeon graphics cards.[6]
Release date | July 7, 2019[1] |
---|---|
Fabrication process | |
History | |
Predecessor | Graphics Core Next |
Support status | |
Supported |
The second iteration of RDNA was first featured in the PlayStation 5[7][8] and Xbox Series X/S consoles.[9] Both consoles utilize a custom RDNA 2-based graphics solution as the basis for their GPU microarchitecture. On PC, RDNA 2 is featured in the Radeon RX 6000 series of video cards, which first launched in November 2020.[10] RDNA 2 is also featured in Samsung's Exynos 2200 as the graphics architecture.[11]
The third iteration of RDNA was announced on November 3, 2022, and is featured in the Radeon RX 7000 series of consumer desktop and mobile graphics cards.[12]
RDNA 1
Release date | July 7, 2019 |
---|---|
Codename | Navi 1x |
Fabrication process | TSMC N7 (FinFET) |
History | |
Predecessor | Graphics Core Next 5 |
Successor | RDNA 2 |
Support status | |
Supported |
RDNA 1 (also RDNA1)[13][14] is the first implementation of the RDNA microarchitecture and is the successor to the Radeon RX Vega series.[15][16] The launch occurred on July 7, 2019.[17]
Architecture
The architecture features a new processor design, although the first details released at AMD's Computex keynote hints at aspects from the previous Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture being present for backwards compatibility purposes, which is especially important for its use (in the form of RDNA 2) in the major ninth generation game consoles (the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5) to preserve native compatibility with their pre-existing eighth generation game libraries designed for GCN. It features multi-level cache hierarchy and an improved rendering pipeline, with support for GDDR6 memory.
Starting with the architecture itself, one of the biggest changes for RDNA is the width of a wavefront, the fundamental group of work. GCN in all of its iterations was 64 threads wide, meaning 64 threads were bundled together into a single wavefront for execution. RDNA drops this to a native 32 threads wide. At the same time, AMD has expanded the width of their SIMDs from 16 slots to 32 (aka SIMD32), meaning the size of a wavefront now matches the SIMD size.[5]: 2
RDNA also introduces working primitive shaders. While the feature was present in the hardware of the Vega architecture, it was difficult to get a real-world performance boost from and thus AMD never enabled it. Primitive shaders in RDNA are compiler-controlled.[5]: 2
The display controller in RDNA has been updated to support Display Stream Compression 1.2a, allowing output in 4K@240 Hz, HDR 4K@120 Hz, and HDR 8K@60 Hz.[5]: 2 [18]
Instruction set
AMD's GPUOpen website hosts a PDF document aiming to describe the environment, the organization and the program state of RDNA devices. It details the instruction set and the microcode formats native to this family of processors that are accessible to programmers and compilers.[19]
Differences between GCN and RDNA
There are architectural changes which affect how code is scheduled:
- Single cycle instruction issue:
- GCN issued one instruction per wave once every 4 cycles.
- RDNA issues instructions every cycle.
- Wave32:
- GCN used a wavefront size of 64 threads (work items).
- RDNA supports both wavefront sizes of 32 and 64 threads.
- Workgroup Processors:
- GCN grouped the shader hardware into "compute units" (CUs) which contained scalar ALUs and vector ALUs, LDS and memory access. One CU contains 4 SIMD16s which share one path to memory.
- RDNA introduced the "workgroup processor" ("WGP"). The WGP replaces the compute unit as the basic unit of shader computation hardware/computing. One WGP encompasses 2 CUs. This allows significantly more compute power and memory bandwidth to be directed at a single workgroup.
Chips
discrete GPUs:
- Navi 10 found on Radeon RX 5600, Radeon RX 5600 XT, Radeon RX 5600M, Radeon RX 5700, Radeon RX 5700M, Radeon RX 5700 XT, Radeon Pro 5700, Radeon Pro 5700 XT, Radeon Pro W5700X, and Radeon Pro W5700 graphics cards
- Navi 12 found on Radeon Pro V520 branded graphics card, Radeon Pro 5600M branded mobile graphics card and BC-160 mining card for cryptocurrency
- Navi 14 found on Radeon RX 5300, Radeon RX 5300 XT, Radeon Pro 5300, Radeon Pro W5300, Radeon RX 5500, Radeon RX 5500 XT, Radeon Pro 5500, Radeon Pro 5500 XT, and Radeon Pro W5500, branded graphics cards; Radeon RX 5300M, Radeon Pro 5300M, Radeon Pro W5300M, Radeon RX 5500M, Radeon Pro 5500M, and Radeon Pro W5500M branded mobile graphics cards
RDNA 2
Release date | November 18, 2020 |
---|---|
Codename | Navi 2x |
Fabrication process | |
History | |
Predecessor | RDNA 1 |
Successor | RDNA 3 |
Support status | |
Supported |
RDNA 2[20] (also RDNA2)[21] is the successor to the RDNA microarchitecture. It was first publicly announced in early 2020 with a projected release in Q4 2020.[21][22] According to statements from AMD, RDNA 2 would be a "refresh" of the RDNA architecture.[23]
More information about RDNA 2 was made public on AMD's Financial Analyst Day on March 5, 2020.[24][22][25] AMD claimed that it would provide a 50% performance-per-watt improvement over RDNA, with increases in clock speed and instructions-per-clock.[26] Additional features confirmed by AMD include real-time, hardware accelerated ray tracing, "Infinity Cache", mesh shaders, sampler feedback and variable rate shading.[26][10] The company announced that RDNA 2 would be used in next-generation gaming consoles and PC graphics cards[26] code-named "Navi 2X" and also nicknamed as "Big Navi".[26]
AMD unveiled the Radeon RX 6000 series, its next-gen RDNA 2 graphics cards at an online event on October 28, 2020.[27][28] The lineup initially consisted of the RX 6800, RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT.[29][30] The RX 6800 and 6800 XT launched on November 18, 2020, with the RX 6900 XT being released on December 8, 2020.[10] Further variants including a Radeon RX 6700 (XT) series based on Navi 22, later launched on March 18, 2021.[31][32][33][34]
On May 31, 2021, AMD launched the RX 6000M series of GPUs designed for laptops.[35][36] These include the RX 6600M, RX 6700M, and RX 6800M. These were made available beginning on June 1, 2021.[35]
On June 1, 2021, AMD's CEO Dr. Lisa Su and Tesla, Inc.'s CEO Elon Musk confirmed that the entertainment systems of Tesla's new Model S and Model X are powered by RDNA 2.[37] The same microarchitecture was also announced to be used for an upcoming flagship Samsung Exynos SoC,[38] later introduced in January 2022 as Exynos 2200, utilizing a custom Xclipse 920 GPU with 3 workgroup processors.[39][40]
An RDNA 2 integrated GPU with 2 compute units is included in the I/O die on AMD's Zen 4-based Ryzen 7000 Series CPUs.[41][42] According to AMD, the integrated RDNA 2 graphics in Ryzen 7000 are not intended for gaming and is instead intended for diagnostic purposes and offering video encode and decode capabilities.[43]
Chips
discrete GPUs:
- Navi 21
- Navi 22
- Navi 23
- Navi 24
integrated into APUs/CPUs:
- Rembrandt (as "Radeon 660M" and "Radeon 680M" models found on Ryzen 6000 series mobile APUs)
- Raphael (as "Radeon Graphics" branded iGPU found on Ryzen 7000 series desktop CPUs)
- Mendocino (as "Radeon 610M" model found on Ryzen 7020 series mobile APUs)
- Rembrandt-R (as "Radeon 660M" and "Radeon 680M" models found on Ryzen 7035 series mobile APUs))
- Dragon Range (as "Radeon 610M" model found on Ryzen 7045 series mobile APUs)
Usage in video game consoles
Custom configurations of the RDNA 2 graphics microarchitecture are used in the PlayStation 5[7][44] from Sony, Xbox Series X and Series S consoles[9] from Microsoft, with proprietary tweaks and different GPU modifications in each system's implementation. Valve announced on July 15, 2021, that their Steam Deck would feature the RDNA 2 architecture. The Steam Deck was released in February 2022.[45]
RDNA 3
Release date | December 13, 2022 |
---|---|
Codename | Navi 3x |
Fabrication process | |
History | |
Predecessor | RDNA 2 |
Support status | |
Supported |
RDNA 3 (also RDNA3) is the successor to the RDNA 2 microarchitecture and was projected for a launch in Q4 2022 per AMD's gaming GPU roadmap.[46][47][48] At an August 29 reveal event for Ryzen 7000 series CPUs, AMD CEO Lisa Su teased RDNA 3 and revealed that it would utilize chiplets built on TSMC's N5 node.[49] On September 19, 2022, Sam Naffziger, the current senior vice president at AMD, stated in a blogpost that improvements made to the RDNA 3 microarchitecture allow for considerable performance gains and efficiency, with an estimated 50% increase in performance-per-watt compared to the RDNA 2 microarchitecture.[50] Additionally, the RDNA 3 architecture features the next generation of Infinity Cache, a modified graphics pipeline, adaptive power management and rearchitected compute units, leading to an overall robust uplift in rasterization and ray-tracing performance over the previous consumer architecture.[51]
On November 3, 2022, AMD unveiled the RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT graphics cards, based on the RDNA 3 microarchitecture. These are the first commercial GPUs to be based on multi-chip module (MCM) design.[52]
Chips
discrete GPUs:
- Navi 31 found on Radeon RX 7900 XT, Radeon RX 7900 XTX, Radeon Pro W7800 and Radeon Pro W7900 branded graphics cards
- Navi 33 found on Radeon RX 7600S, Radeon RX 7600M, Radeon RX 7600M XT and Radeon RX 7700S branded mobile graphics cards
integrated into APUs/CPUs:
- Phoenix (as "Radeon 740M", "Radeon 760M" and "Radeon 780M" models found on Ryzen 7040 series mobile APUs)
Comparison of RDNA chips
Microarchitecture | RDNA 1 | RDNA 2 | RDNA 3 | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chip | Navi 10[53] | Navi 12[54] | Navi 14[55] | Navi 21[56] | Navi 22[57] | Navi 23[58] | Navi 24[59] | Navi 31[60][61] | Navi 32[62] | Navi 33[63] |
Code name | Gaming | ? | Fighter | Sienna Cichlid | Navy Flounder | Dimgrey Cavefish | Beige Goby | Plum Bonito | Wheat Nas | Hotpink Bonefish |
Fab | TSMC N7 | TSMC N6 | TSMC N5 (GCD), TSMC N6 (MCD) | TSMC N6 | ||||||
Package | Monolithic | Multi-chip module (MCM) | Monolithic | |||||||
Die size (mm2) | 251 | Unknown | 158 | 520 | 335 | 237 | 107 | ~531 | ~350 | 204 |
Graphics compute dies | — | 1 | — | |||||||
Memory cache dies | — | 6 | 4 | — | ||||||
GCD size (mm2) | — | 306 | 200 | — | ||||||
MCD size (mm2) | — | 37.5 | — | |||||||
Transistors (billions) | 10.3 | Unknown | 6.4 | 26.8 | 17.2 | 11.06 | 5.4 | 57.7 | 28.1 | 13.3 |
Transistor density (MTr/mm2) |
41.0 | Unknown | 40.5 | 51.5 | 51.3 | 46.7 | 50.5 | 109.2 (MCM) 132.4 (GCD)[64] | 65.2 | |
Shader engines | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 6 | TBA | 2 | ||
Shader arrays | 4 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 12 | TBA | 4 | ||
Workgroup processors | 20 | 12 | 40 | 20 | 16 | 8 | 48 | 30 | 16 | |
Compute units | 40 | 24 | 80 | 40 | 32 | 16 | 96 | 60 | 32 | |
Stream processors | 2560 | 1536 | 5120 | 2560 | 2048 | 1024 | 6144 | 3840 | 2048 | |
Texture mapping units | 160 | 96 | 320 | 160 | 128 | 64 | 384 | 240 | 128 | |
Render output units | 64 | 32 | 128 | 64 | 32 | 192 | 96[66] | 64 | ||
RT accelerators | — | 80 | 40 | 32 | 16 | 96 | 60 | 32 | ||
AI accelerators | — | 192 | 120 | 64 | ||||||
L0 cache (KB) | 32 per Workgroup processor (WGP) | 64 per WGP | ||||||||
L1 cache (KB) | 128 per Shader array (SA) | 256 per SA | ||||||||
L2 cache (MB) | 8 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
L3 cache (MB) | — | 128 | 96 | 32 | 16 | 96 | 64 | 32 | ||
Memory type | GDDR6 | HBM2 | GDDR6 | |||||||
Memory bus (bits) | 256 | 2048 | 128 | 256 | 192 | 128 | 64 | 384 | 256 | 128 |
Display Core Next | 2.0.0 | 3.0.0 | 3.0.2 | 3.0.3 | 3.2.0 | 3.2.1 | ||||
Video Core Next | 2.0.0 | 2.0.2 | 3.0.0 | 3.0.16 | 3.0.33 | 4.0.0 | 4.0.4 | |||
Launch | Jul 2019 | Jun 2020 | Oct 2019 | Nov 2020 | Mar 2021 | May 2021 | Jan 2022 | Dec 2022 | Sep 2023 | Jan 2023 |
Introduced with |
|
Radeon Pro 5600M |
|
Radeon RX 6700 XT | Radeon RX 6600M |
|
|
|
References
- AMD press release: "AMD Announces Next-Generation Leadership Products at Computex 2019 Keynote". AMD (Press release). Santa Clara, CA. May 26, 2019. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
- Smith, Ryan (May 26, 2019). "Home> GPUs AMD Teases First Navi GPU Products: RX 5700 Series Launches in July, 25% Improved Perf-Per-Clock". AnandTech. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
- "AMD RDNA Architecture". AMD. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
- Wilson, Matthew (June 11, 2019). "AMD launches RX 5700 XT and RX 5700 GPUs with RDNA architecture". KitGuru. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
- Smith, Ryan (June 10, 2019). "GPUs AMD Announces Radeon RX 5700 XT & RX 5700: The Next Gen of AMD Video Cards Starts on July 7th At $449/$379". AnandTech. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
- James, James (October 30, 2019). "AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT release date, price, specs, and performance". PCGamesN. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- Funk, Ben (December 12, 2020). "Sony PS5 Gets A Full Teardown Detailing Its RDNA 2 Guts And Glory". Hot Hardware. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
- Radeon [@Radeon] (June 11, 2021). "We're proud that our groundbreaking RDNA 2 and Zen architectures helped enable incredible next-gen PS5 experiences like Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart! #RatchetPS5" (Tweet). Retrieved June 11, 2021 – via Twitter.
- Smith, Ryan (February 24, 2020). "Microsoft Drops More Xbox Series X Tech Specs: Zen 2 + RDNA 2, 12 TFLOPs GPU, HDMI 2.1, & a Custom SSD". AnandTech. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
- Judd, Will (October 28, 2020). "AMD unveils three Radeon 6000 graphics cards with ray tracing and RTX-beating performance". Eurogamer. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
- "Samsung Introduces Game Changing Exynos 2200 Processor With Xclipse GPU Powered by AMD RDNA 2 Architecture". Samsung Newsroom. Korea. January 18, 2022. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
- Cunningham, Andrew (November 3, 2022). "AMD's next-gen Radeon RX 7900 XTX and XT launch December 13 for $999 and $899". Ars Technica. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
- ""RDNA 1.0" Instruction Set Architecture Reference Guide" (PDF). AMD. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
- "AMD RDNA Architecture". AMD. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
- Ung, Gordon (May 26, 2019). "AMD flexes 7nm muscle with a 12-core Ryzen 9 CPU and Radeon RX 5000 graphics cards". PCWorld. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
- Chacos, Brad (July 7, 2019). "AMD Radeon RX 5700 and 5700 XT review: Blazing new trails". PC World. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
- Ridley, Jacob (June 14, 2019). "AMD announces $449 Radeon RX 5700 XT and $379 5700 for July 7 launch". PCGamesN. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
- Stobing, Chris (June 10, 2019). "AMD Details Radeon RX 5700 'Navi' GPUs: Here's What You Need to Know". PCMag. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
- "AMD RDNA 1.0 Instruction Set Architecture". GPUOpen. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- "AMD Investor Relations presentation (PDF)". AMD. 2019. Archived from the original on February 5, 2020. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
- Smith, Ryan (January 28, 2020). "Navi Refresh and RDNA2 Both In 2020, According to AMD". AnandTech. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
- Thomas, Bill (February 3, 2020). "AMD 'Big Navi' GPU might be right around the corner – but don't hold your breath". TechRadar. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
- Alcorn, Paul (January 29, 2020). "AMD to Introduce New Next-Gen RDNA GPUs in 2020, Not a Typical 'Refresh' of Navi". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
- Ridley, Jacob (January 29, 2020). "AMD will unveil RDNA 2 graphics cards on March 5". PCGamesN. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
- Alcorn, Paul (March 5, 2020). "AMD Financial Analyst Day 2020: CPU and GPU Roadmaps, X3D Die Stacking Revealed". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
- Smith, Ryan (March 5, 2020). "AMD's RDNA 2 Gets A Codename: "Navi 2X" Comes This Year With 50% Improved Perf-Per-Watt". AnandTech. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
- Garreffa, Anthony (September 9, 2020). "AMD to reveal next-gen Big Navi RDNA 2 graphics cards on October 28". TweakTown. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
- Lyles, Taylor (September 9, 2020). "AMD's next-generation Zen 3 CPUs and Radeon RX 6000 'Big Navi' GPU will be revealed next month". The Verge. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
- Smith, Ryan (October 8, 2020). "AMD Teases Radeon RX 6000 Card Performance Numbers: Aiming For 3080?". AnandTech. Retrieved October 25, 2020.
- Smith, Ryan (September 9, 2020). "AMD Announces Ryzen "Zen 3" and Radeon "RDNA2" Presentations for October: A New Journey Begins". AnandTech. Retrieved October 25, 2020.
- Hollister, Sean (March 3, 2021). "AMD announces $479 Radeon RX 6700 XT, says it will have 'significantly more GPUs available'". The Verge. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
- Mujtaba, Hassan (November 30, 2020). "AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT 'Navi 22 GPU' Custom Models Reportedly Boost Up To 2.95 GHz". Wccftech. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
- Tyson, Mark (December 3, 2020). "AMD CEO keynote scheduled for CES 2020 on 12th January". HEXUS. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
- Cutress, Ian (January 12, 2021). "AMD to Launch Mid-Range RDNA 2 Desktop Graphics in First Half 2021". AnandTech. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
- Chin, Monica (May 31, 2021). "AMD announces the Radeon RX 6000M series with RDNA 2 architecture". The Verge. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
- Takahashi, Dean (May 31, 2021). "AMD launches Radeon RX 6000M GPUs for gaming laptops". VentureBeat. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
- Alvarez, Simon (June 1, 2021). "AMD confirms Tesla's new Model S and Model X will boast RDNA 2 GPUs". TeslaRati. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
- "It's official! Flagship Exynos chip with AMD RDNA2 GPU is coming later this year". SamMobile. June 1, 2021. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
- "Die analysis: Samsung Exynos 2200 with RDNA2 graphics". April 26, 2022. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
- "Samsung Announces Game Changing Exynos 2200". Samsung Semiconductor Global. January 18, 2022. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
- Cunningham, Andrew (September 26, 2022). "Everything you need to know about Zen 4, socket AM5, and AMD's newest chipsets". Ars Technica. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
- "AMD confirms Ryzen 7000 series feature RDNA2 graphics". VideoCardz. August 30, 2022. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
- Roach, Jacob (May 25, 2022). "AMD Ryzen 7000 graphics aren't powerful enough for gaming". Digital Trends. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
- Gartenberg, Chaim (March 18, 2020). "Sony reveals full PS5 hardware specifications". The Verge. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
- "Steam Deck". Steam. July 15, 2021. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
- Gapo, Branko (July 28, 2021). "AMD: Zen4 and RDNA3 on track for 2022 launch". VideoCardz. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
- "AMD RDNA 3 Release Date, Price And Specs". GPU Mag. June 23, 2021. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
- Soutter, Neil (January 25, 2021). "AMD RX 7000 series could be a performance monster, with much better ray tracing performance". Game Debate. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
- Wickens, Katie (August 30, 2022). "AMD's Lisa Su confirms chiplet-based RDNA 3 GPU architecture". PC Gamer. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- Naffziger, Sam (September 19, 2022). "Advancing Performance-Per-Watt to Benefit Gamers". AMD. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
- Garreffa, Anthony (September 19, 2022). "AMD says its next-gen RDNA 3 GPU will be the true leader in efficiency". TweakTown. Retrieved October 2, 2022.
- Gamers Nexus (November 3, 2022). "AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX & 7900 XT Specs, Price, Release Date, & "8K" Gaming". YouTube. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
- "AMD Navi 10 GPU Specs". TechPowerUp. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
- "AMD Navi 12 GPU Specs". TechPowerUp. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
- "AMD Navi 14 GPU Specs". TechPowerUp. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
- "AMD Navi 21 GPU Specs". TechPowerUp. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
- "AMD Navi 22 GPU Specs". TechPowerUp. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
- "AMD Navi 23 GPU Specs". TechPowerUp. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
- "AMD Navi 24 GPU Specs". TechPowerUp. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
- "AMD Navi 31 GPU Specs". TechPowerUp. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
- "AMD Unveils World's Most Advanced Gaming Graphics Cards, Built on Groundbreaking AMD RDNA 3 Architecture with Chiplet Design". AMD (Press release). November 3, 2022.
- "AMD Navi 32 GPU Specs". TechPowerUp. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
- "AMD Navi 33 GPU Specs". TechPowerUp. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
- btarunr (November 4, 2022). "AMD Announces the $999 Radeon RX 7900 XTX... (endnote RX-819)". TechPowerUp.
- Walton, Jarred (June 5, 2023). "AMD RDNA 3 GPU Architecture Deep Dive: The Ryzen Moment for GPUs". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved September 11, 2023.