AMD Guarantees to Attempt to Maintain GPU Costs Low Towards the Ravages of the RAM Scarcity

As we speak’s PC panorama is altering in methods few anticipated, and nearly no one needed. AMD, the eponymous Staff Purple, is coming into the brand new yr with an odd assortment of chips in tow. Possibly it’s sufficient to know there’s seemingly extra in retailer later this yr, however first AMD has to deal with the ravages of the ongoing RAM shortage.

In an interview with Gizmodo throughout CES 2026, AMD’s VP in control of Ryzen, David McAfee, talked to me in regards to the firm’s full PC gaming suite. I spoke with the exec the day after one among AMD’s oddest CES showcases so far, the place it revealed a few new chips in present households, together with the Ryzen 7 9850X3D CPU and a number of other extra Strix Halo APUs (accelerated processing items)—particularly the Ryzen AI Max+ 388 and 382—which have been additionally constructed for some future cell gaming gadget, maybe much more handheld PCs. Nonetheless, these chips are nonetheless utilizing older RDNA 3.5 GPUs, which means they received’t have entry to AMD’s newest upscaling updates that would actually push cell units for gaming.

AMD’s novel CPUs for light-weight laptops, the Ryzen AI 400 collection, didn’t get practically as a lot time within the limelight as Qualcomm and Intel’s competing CPUs. The Ryzen 7 9850X3D has the next clock velocity, which implies among the most hardcore avid gamers could make use of some further frames. McAfee informed me straight there received’t be an enormous distinction in efficiency between the Ryzen 7 9800X3D and this new, overclocked chip. Trendy DirectX 12-supported video games could not see as massive a rise as some “high-framerate” esports titles or older DirectX 9 titles, he added. Everybody else will really feel protected sticking with what works, and that appears to be AMD’s intent with this newest CPU. The sophomore chip and the brand new hotness might be offered alongside one another.

AMD is pushing to maintain GPU prices low(ish)

Retaining GPU prices low appears to be AMD’s total modus operandi for the beginning of 2026. What labored final yr will work this yr, as long as the corporate can comprise the worst excesses of reminiscence worth gouging. All the PC market is struggling underneath the RAM provide crunch. Certain, it is best to have the ability to purchase a brand new Ryzen 7 9850X3D when it will definitely goes on sale (we nonetheless don’t have an concept of its official worth), however will self-starters additionally endure the five hundred% markup on DDR5 RAM for the sake of a brand new PC?

AMD doesn’t have a GPU to compete in opposition to Nvidia’s top-end GeForce RTX 5080 and RTX 5090. One of the best it may possibly do is outcompete Staff Inexperienced on efficiency per greenback. The Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT have been each nice GPUs in the event you might nab them for near their recommended retail worth. The XT solely hit its fabled $600 near eight months after launch. With reminiscence costs going haywire, shoppers have causes to be involved that every one element costs might improve. Final yr, a customer support rep for main AMD GPU maker PowerColor told Reddit users that costs might “kick up” in 2026.

“Now we have very strategic partnerships over many, a few years with all of the DRAM producers to be sure that each the quantity of provide that we want and the economics of what we’re in a position to purchase from them are what we are able to assist in our graphics enterprise,” McAfee informed Gizmodo. Nonetheless, the Ryzen lead admitted that he can’t predict the long run. He added that AMD was attempting to work with the AIC (add-in card) producers to take care of costs near what AMD suggests. Contemplating how lengthy the RX 90-series stored above MSRP, that will not be sufficient to calm avid gamers’ nerves.

“With out the reminiscence on the proper worth, constructing graphics playing cards with our add-in-board companions that hit the fitting worth and market, that’s robust math to place collectively,” McAfee added. “So managing that reminiscence ecosystem very carefully is totally one thing that could be a core a part of what we do.”

Being cautious round multi-frame gen

Whereas AMD is competing with Nvidia on GPUs, it’s additionally attempting to turn into the contemporary face of AI upscaling know-how. The RX 90-series launched FSR 4, a brand new mannequin of AMD’s FidelityFX Tremendous Decision know-how that enhances recreation efficiency by making lower-resolution frames appear as if they’re working at the next decision. Final yr, AMD trotted out FSR Redstone as a mid-cycle replace to its upscaler. This replace added multi-frame interpolation, aka multi-frame era, to the get together. Basically, this know-how takes a number of AI-generated frames and sticks them in between rendered frames, artificially growing the body fee.

The broader PC gaming group is much extra hesitant to undertake body era than AI upscaling. Body gen essentially hits at a recreation’s latency, making controls really feel floatier than they need to. Redstone and Nvidia’s latest DLSS 4.5 have labored to scale back the visible glitches from AI-generated frames, however these imperfections nonetheless mar the expertise. McAfee tried to make it clear AMD was solely taking child steps into multi-frame era.

“We are going to proceed very cautiously and hearken to the gaming group and the response that they’ve to those multi-frame gen capabilities,” McAfee mentioned. “I believe plenty of avid gamers really feel like [frame gen technology has] gone too far in some circumstances. And so I believe that’s why you’re going to see us step very fastidiously as we construct this out over the subsequent a number of years.”

We may have to attend a short time longer earlier than we see any new PC or handheld APU sporting RDNA 4, the identical GPU structure because the RX 90 collection. As soon as that occurs, we might even see Redstone hit the cell market. Smaller and cheaper units could make higher use of upscaling than $600 graphics playing cards, one thing McAfee agreed with.

“The worth of body interpolation and upscaling on a handheld platform is extremely important,” he mentioned. “In order we’re searching at what we’re going to do in our handheld roadmap sooner or later, these are completely the conversations we’re having about… how will we ship a very high-quality expertise and be sure that the entire advantages that go alongside, each energy, smoothness of gameplay, and so on., make their manner onto these handheld platforms as nicely?”