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AMD is skipping RDNA 5, says new leak, readies new UDNA architecture in time for PlayStation 6 instead

RDNA 4 will reportedly be the last
Last Updated on November 19, 2024
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX GPU with Radeon logo
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A couple of months ago, AMD announced its unified UDNA GPU architecture. This brings together RDNA and CDNA architecture in one place, providing a fresh start that could eventually allow AMD to take on Nvidia in the high-end again. While RDNA is found in Team Red’s discrete graphics cards and integrated graphics on devices like the PS5 or Steam Deck, CDNA is designed for data center graphics cards.

With the news of unification comes a new era of graphics from AMD. The current generation of dGPUs is utilizing RDNA 3, while the upcoming RX 8000 series will utilize RDNA 4 technology. However, according to a new leak, RDNA 5 is off the table and UDNA will be taking its place, including for upcoming hardware such as the Sony PS6.

New leak suggests UDNA is next after RDNA 4

According to a thread on the Chiphell forums from well-known leaker zhangzhonghao, “there is no RDNA5 code name. After RDNA4, it will be UDNA.” The post suggests that both the unconfirmed RX 9000 series and the Instinct MI400 AI accelerator will be using the same UDNA architecture. An ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit) design will be used in a similar vein to AMD’s previous GCN architecture that preceded the split graphics designs in 2019.


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It’s worth pointing out that we don’t yet know the naming convention of the ‘RX 9000’ series, and a switch to new architecture could call for refreshed branding as well.

As per the leak, the UDNA gaming GPU is “tentatively” scheduled for production in Q2 2026. AMD won’t be releasing a high-end card for the upcoming generation; the next-gen RDNA 4 line-up is expected to target the entry-level to mid-range market instead. With that in mind, the shift to UDNA may give AMD the chance to focus efforts on a high-end card again, all the while they work on AI-accelerated FSR 4 tech to compete with DLSS.

Sony’s PS6 will reportedly use UDNA

Along with the update on unification, the leak also details that the upcoming PlayStation 6 will be using UDNA architecture as well. The PS5 is based on RDNA 2, and the recently launched PS5 Pro is also said to be based on the same, though it may be modified and apparently benefits from next-gen RDNA 4 ray tracing, so there’s still some uncertainty regarding specifics.

Going back to the leak, it is not yet known if the PS6 will use Zen 4 or Zen 5 architecture on the CPU side. For reference, both the PS5 and PS5 Pro use an AMD Ryzen Zen 2 8-core and 16-thread processor.

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