With GPUs and memory chips in incredibly high demand, 2027 is shaping up to be one of the more unusual graphics card release cycles.NVIDIA has been dominating the segment for years, but if recent rumors suggesting that the RTX 60 series is delayed until 2028 turn out to be true, AMD could find itself in a unique position to lure users toward its upcoming cards.NVIDIA could leave 2027 wide open for AMD RTX 60 series might not show up until 2028 Close A few days ago, prominent NVIDIA leaker kopite7kimi, who has a strong track record, posted on X that NVIDIA's upcoming GR20x (NVIDIA's internal codename for the Rubin-based RTX 60 series) launch is coming in 2028, rather than the previously suggested second half of 2027.
Another leaker, Kepler_L2, also suggested a 2028 release in a forum thread a few days before kopite7kimi's post.The RTX 50 series was launched in January 2025, so this would make it a full three years between the two generations instead of the usual two to two and a half years we see with graphics cards.Keep in mind that these are just rumors, and we have no official way to verify these claims, but given the recent shortage of memory chips, massive demand from AI companies, and the enterprise-first nature of the industry, it's not a huge surprise.
NVIDIA was previously planning to release an RTX 50 series Super refresh, which would've bumped up the VRAM across the board by swapping the 2GB VRAM modules on current models with 3GB ones.While the Super refresh probably isn't completely off the table and could still see a surprise release in 2027, current memory chip pricing makes this rather improbable.Or, if it does release, the cards could cost significantly more than the current models due to 3GB VRAM module pricing, to the point where they might not make much sense for most people.
While NVIDIA cards still outsell AMD's by a significant margin, this rumored lack of new releases in 2027 is leaving the door wide open for AMD to capitalize by converting enthusiasts looking for an upgrade to its next-gen cards.Plus, NVIDIA's current cards cost significantly more than both AMD's offerings and their own MSRPs, so a new card from AMD could simply make more sense for many users.AMD only needs one next-gen graphics card to make 2027 interesting If the rumored AT2 is as good as leaks suggest, things could go south for NVIDIA In the same forum thread where Kepler_L2 confirmed the 2028 release for NVIDIA, the leaker also claimed that AMD's upcoming RDNA 5/UDNA-based RX 10000 series cards are coming in 2028.
However, there was one notable exception — the AT2 chip, which is rumored to launch in the second half of 2027.This flagship-ish chip from AMD is rumored to pack 70 CUs (Compute Units), compared to the current flagship RX 9070 XT's 64 CUs.Those extra CUs, combined with higher clock speeds and other generational improvements, could place this rumored graphics card in the perfect place at the perfect time for 2027.
Given memory pricing, it's likely going to cost quite a bit more than the RX 9070 XT at launch.But it could be affordable enough that enthusiasts who don't want to spend a fortune on NVIDIA cards could upgrade, especially if there's enough of a performance improvement.It's an interesting prospect because the RX 9070 XT currently trails the RTX 5080 by approximately 20% in TechPowerUp's relative performance scores, so the upcoming AT2 card could very likely be on the same level.
Think about it: the AT2 chip could potentially deliver RTX 5080-class performance while costing hundreds of dollars less than the card's current $1,700+ price.RDNA 5 could be a surprisingly big jump over the RX 9000 Series AMD is going for NVIDIA's crown There are many reasons why NVIDIA is currently one of the world's most valuable companies, and one of those reasons is CUDA, the proprietary GPU computing ecosystem that powers everything from local AI to complex scientific data processing.AMD has made numerous improvements to its ROCm platform, but the real shift is likely yet to come, as AMD plans to combine RDNA (gaming) and CDNA (compute) into a unified UDNA architecture.
The cards could still be marketed as RDNA 5 toward gamers, but the point is that AMD is working toward a common architecture across consumer and compute products, potentially allowing developments in one area to benefit the other, much like NVIDIA's approach.AMD has also added GDDR7 support to its Linux drivers just a few days ago.It's not an official confirmation that all next-generation cards will use GDDR7, but it's another strong indication that AMD is preparing for the faster memory standard.
GDDR7 could give the next generation a significant bandwidth increase, further closing the gap with NVIDIA's RTX 50 series.But perhaps the most interesting part about all these leaks is that AMD could finally be bringing the fight back to the high end of the market.The aforementioned AT2 chip is rumored to be a 70-CU chip, but the real flagship is supposedly going to be the AT0, which will apparently pack 96 CUs and a 512-bit bus, potentially putting this AMD chip somewhere in line with NVIDIA's RTX 5090.
If RDNA 5 is priced right, AMD could tip the market in its favor Based on all the rumors we've seen so far, AMD's next generation of cards could mark a massive generational improvement over the outgoing RDNA 4 cards, which are already fairly solid.NVIDIA's delays could allow AMD to come a few months early to the market next year with the rumored AT2 chip.If the price is right (I'm hoping for well under $1,000), it could sell hundreds of thousands of units before NVIDIA even gets the chance to put a new card on the market.
In any case, competition in the industry is great.Remember what happened when Intel started becoming complacent in 2017, and AMD came out with Ryzen? We could see something similar happen with NVIDIA and Radeon.Related Why the RTX 50 Series Is the Most Disappointing NVIDIA GPU Generation Ever I expected nothing from RTX 50 GPUs, and I'm still disappointed.
Posts 2 By Goran Damnjanovic
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