Radeon RX 6800 XT and RX 6700 XT, 60% smaller die!

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT comes equipped with Navi 22, a GPU that would be 60% smaller than Navi 21. The latter comes in the RX 6800 XT or RX 6900 XT, but the news also illustrates the importance of GDDR6 memory and its location on the PCB.

It is confirmed that the size of the Navi 22 and Navi 21 is completely different, with a rather large size distinction. In the end, there is less surface area to install hardware on the die, which quickly translates into the datasheet. The novelty between the Radeon RX 6000 ranges is not only in the die of the GPU but in the placement of the memories.

The RX 6700 XT has a much smaller die than the 6800 XT

Navi 22 is the GPU that will power the RX 6700 range, while Navi 21 powers the RX 6800 and 6900. Officially, the size of the Navi 21 die is 520mm ², which would equal the size of 46 x 46mm. Instead, the Navi 22 comes with an approximate die of 325 mm² (the source calculates 320.4 mm²), whose equivalent is 37 x 37 mm.

Translated into numbers, we are talking about a 60% difference in size or even more. In this way, it is possible to understand the great difference in performance between the RX 6700 range and the RX 6800 range. However, how big of a die do its rivals have?

According to AMD, the main rivals of the RX 6700 XT are the RTX 3060 Ti and the RTX 3070, which are manufactured in an 8nm process from Samsung. In the case of the RX 6000, the lithography is 7 nm, which gives it extra efficiency and optimization compared to the NVIDIA die.

In the case of the NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti and RTX 3070, the size of the die is the same: 392 mm², since they are equipped with the same GPU ( GA104 ). Well, in principle, the rivals of the AMD RX 6700 XT will have a smaller die than the one we see in the GA104.

The placement of GDDR6 memory and VRMs, vital for cooling

Not much is said about the composition of the GDDR6 memories in the RX 6000 and where they are placed. First of all, the RX 6700 XT configuration is 2GB x 6 GDDR6 memory (3 and 3). These flank the Navi 22 GPU on the top and right side, and we know why.

Before, GDDR memory was placed on both sides of the chip, but today it is impossible to do so because otherwise, heat dissipation would be impossible. Inevitably this translates to having to create a bigger and thicker GPU to properly dissipate heat.

On the other hand, there would be the GPU VRMs, which are placed on the left side of the AMD RX 6700 XT PCB. Because of this, there is no longer as much freedom when it comes to configuring the layout of these. In this way, AMD engineers have to figure out how to improve the cooling of their GPUs.

What do you think of these differences? Do you think there will be a big difference in performance?