Thanks to all the leaks, I thought I knew what to expect with AMD’s upcoming RDNA 4. It turns out I may have been wrong on more than one account.
The latest leaks reveal that AMD’s upcoming best graphics card may not be called the RX 8800 XT, as most leakers predicted, but will instead be referred to as the RX 9070 XT. In addition, the first leaked benchmark of the GPU gives us a glimpse into the kind of performance we can expect, which could turn out to be a bit of a letdown.
First, let’s talk about the naming scheme for RDNA 4, because that one came as a real surprise. Over the weekend, several leaks popped up, revealing that the presumed flagship of AMD’s next-gen lineup isn’t going to be the RX 8800 XT. VideoCardz spotted a Reddit ad form the official AMD account, which, coincidentally, appears to have leaked the official render for the GPU. In turn, frequent leaker Hoang Anh Phu responded, confirming that this GPU is indeed the RX 9070 XT. That’s not all.
— Hoang Anh Phu (@AnhPhuH) December 23, 2024
A leaker on the Chiphell forum also said as much, as shared by HXL on X (Twitter). VideoCardz also cites an anonymous motherboard vendor who claims that the RDNA 4 lineup is referred to as the Radeon 90-series. All of this adds up to a sudden change in naming scheme, as most sources believed that we’d be dealing with the RX 8000 series. Personally, I was especially excited about the RX 8800 XT, which by the most recent accounts might actually be the RX 9070 XT.
👀 ⛴️👑 pic.twitter.com/TbvuyV0uLu
— All The Watts!! (@All_The_Watts) December 23, 2024
This brings me to the leaked benchmark, shared by All_The_Watts on X. This leaker, who has a good track record, also confirmed the new naming convention — but they also shared a Time Spy benchmark for the RX 9070 XT. This is a synthetic benchmark and not a great indicator of real-world GPU performance, but it helps us see how it stacks up against the competition.
The RX 9070 XT scored 22,894 points in the Time Spy test, which makes it a competitor to cards like the RX 7900 GRE and the RTX 4070 Ti. It’s considerably slower than the RX 7900 XT, though — by over 15%. Considering that many claimed AMD’s new flagship to be comparable to the RTX 4080, it’s hard not to feel a twinge of disappointment over this first score.
However, it’s important to remember that this is just one isolated benchmark, so it’s too early to say just how fast the rumored RX 9070 XT may turn out to be. I expect there’ll be more benchmarks leaking out in the lead-up to January 6, when AMD is said to announce RDNA 4 and put an end to all the rumors once and for all.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.