The ongoing component shortage is taking its toll on the gaming PC scene, and both Nvidia and AMD graphics cards are still going for double their MSRP. However, if you’re batting for the red team and looking for a low-cost graphics solution, you might be in luck, as a new duo of entry-level Radeon GPUs could crop up in early 2022.
According to Bilibili user Enthusiastic Citizen, AMD’s Radeon RX 6500 XT might launch mid-January 2022, while the cut-down Radeon RX 6400 is suspected to emerge in March. The leaker also says that both cards will feature 4GB GDDR6 memory, and the RX 6400 won’t require a PSU connection, something that’s sure to appeal to micro gaming PC enthusiasts.
While the low spec nature of both cards restricts you to 1080p, reduced VRAM means they can’t mine Etherium, which might help keep stock available. That said, the GPUs are still capable of mining other cryptocurrencies with a small enough DAG size, so we can’t be so sure that miners won’t take an interest.
AMD isn’t the only company cooking up entry-level graphics card options for 2022, as Nvidia’s 12GB RTX 2060 is coming on December 7, and a new RTX 3050 desktop card could also arrive in January. Intel will also join the graphics fold next year, and its Arc Alchemist a380 GPU apparently boasts performance on par with a GTX 1660 Super.
Of course, if you’d rather invest in the best graphics card available, you might want to wait for Nvidia’s revamped RTX 3070 and RTX 3080 cards, both of which could release January 11 2022. Factories are also gearing up to manufacture RTX 4000 series GPUs, so if you’re not in dire need of an upgrade, holding off for a few months and diving headfirst into the green team’s next-gen tech late 2022 may be preferable.