The AMD Navi, the company’s potential next-generation graphics card, has long been rumoured to launch sometime this year. TweakTown has even suggested we’ll see a reveal during E3 2019.
Unfortunately, there’s not much information on the card’s specs or features so far, besides that the card is expected to use next-gen 7nm architecture and it will be a mid-range option with a comparable performance to Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1660 Ti.
However, with Wired recently confirming Sony’s next-gen PlayStation (speculatively called the PlayStation 5) will feature a custom-variant of the AMD Navi graphics card – as well as a bucket-load of extra information – additional detail on the AMD Navi can be assumed.
Related: Sony’s next-gen console will have ray tracing, AMD tech, and PS4 backwards compatibility
First of all, the custom-variant AMD Navi graphics card found in the PlayStation 5 will reportedly support ray tracing. This is the first legitimate source to hint towards such a high-end feature for AMD Navi.
If you’re not familiar with the term, ray tracing is a new technology that sees GPUs render more realistic lighting effects and reflections. Sun gleaming through a window will behave similarly to how it does in reality, and doesn’t need to be pre-mapped like with traditional rendering techniques. So far, Nvidia’s RTX cards are the only GPUs that can offer a high performance for ray tracing, but it looks likely AMD will be joining the party shortly.
It’s happening! We’re working with @Sony on their next-generation @PlayStationUK console powered by a custom chip with @AMDRyzen Zen2 and @Radeon Navi architecture. https://t.co/JX2ddKfRm9
— Joe Cowell (@JoeWritesStuff) April 16, 2019
Related: What is Ray Tracing?
Of course, you have to bear in mind that the PlayStation will be rocking a “custom variant” of the GPU rather than a commercially available card, so there’s no absolute guarantee the AMD Navi cards made available to the public will also support ray tracing .
That said, if the PlayStation news is accurate (which is likely) then this is confirmation that AMD Navi architecture is at least capable of ray tracing, which means the likelihood of the next-gen AMD card featuring the light simulation technology is sky high.
Are you excited to see potential ray tracing support with the AMD Navi graphics card? Let us know @TrustedReviews on Twitter
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
