Last week we released the flagship graphics card in our AMD RDNA 2 architecture-powered AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT. Its extreme engineering and design deliver ultra-high frame rates in games, with powerful new compute units, the revolutionary new AMD Infinity Cache memory architecture, and 16GB of GDDR6 memory enabling the next generation of games.
However, although the AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series is primarily optimized to deliver the best possible gaming experiences, we recognize that there are also content creators who can take advantage of the power of AMD RDNA 2 architecture to supercharge demanding creative workflows.
The AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT lets you model, render, animate, and edit with no restraints, with significantly improved content creation performance versus the AMD Radeon VII, our previous flagship consumer product. Additionally, the new visual pipeline of the AMD RDNA 2 architecture with Ray Accelerators unlocks features like hardware-accelerated ray-traced rendering in supported applications to help bring photorealistic imaginary worlds to life at the speed of your imagination.
Powerful Performance for 3D Rendering
The AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT is ready to tackle even the most complex scenes and demanding Cycles renders in Blender, the free and open-source 3D creation suite, thanks to the improved OpenCL compute performance versus the AMD Radeon VII, with up to 2.7x the rendering performance. [1]
On top of this boosted Cycles rendering performance, we are also working with the Blender team to add hardware-accelerated ray tracing support on AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series graphics cards to Cycles to further accelerate render times when using AMD Radeon graphics.
“Thanks to our close technical partnership with AMD and their strong support for the Blender Development Fund, massive amounts of users of Blender (~1M downloads per month) will soon be able to take their Cycles rendering performance to the next level with built-in support for hardware-accelerated ray tracing on AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series graphics cards.”
-- Ton Roosendaal, Chairman, Blender Foundation and Director, Blender Institute
You can expect to learn more details about when this support will be coming to Blender early next year so stay tuned to our channels for updates.
Next-Level Rendering with AMD Radeon ProRender
AMD Radeon ProRender is our powerful rendering engine that lets you create stunningly photorealistic images in over a dozen leading digital content creation and CAD applications on virtually any GPU, CPU, or OS. [2]
It is both natively integrated into applications like SOLIDWORKS Visualize and Foundry Modo and available as free downloadable plug-ins for applications like Autodesk 3ds Max, Maya, Blender, SideFX Houdini, and Unreal Engine.
For the launch of the AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series, we updated the plug-ins for Autodesk Maya, Blender, and Houdini to use Radeon ProRender 2.0 [3], the next generation of our rendering engine with an improved rendering algorithm and support for hardware-accelerated ray tracing on AMD RDNA 2 architecture graphics cards, for even more rendering capability [4]. When compared to the AMD Radeon VII, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT GPU with hardware ray tracing delivers up to 2.8x the rendering performance in the Blender “Classroom” scene. [5]
AMD Radeon ProRender doesn’t just offer better performance thanks to hardware ray tracing, it also includes powerful features that can take your rendering workflow to the next level — for example, Radeon ProRender includes Vulkan API-based Full Spectrum Rendering for fully path-traced interactive viewport previews, AI-accelerated denoising, and comes with a separately installed Material Library with 300+ easy to use optimized materials.
On top of that, nearly every Radeon ProRender update we make adds new features and functionality, such as the latest updates to the plug-ins for Maya and Blender that add a new “Contour Rendering” setting for non-photorealistic outline style renders and optimized scaling across multiple devices — including enhanced heterogeneous rendering when using an AMD CPU + an AMD GPU.
High-Performance Post-Production and Video Editing
The AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT is not just a powerhouse for 3D rendering, it is also one of the most powerful graphics cards we’ve created for post-production workflows so you can create and edit your next cinematic masterpiece in less time.
With today’s video editing workflows using increasingly higher resolution content (up to 8K) that demands more of your system, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT with its 16GB of GDDR6 memory and PCIe 4.0 interface delivers the performance you need to work fast and be productive, with support for GPU-accelerated video effects and video decode and encode in applications like Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve Studio. [6]
Adobe Premiere Pro support for GPU-accelerated video decode and encode [6] can accelerate your editing workflows and the last step in your video creation journey — exporting your final edited masterpiece. And when you compare the performance of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT against the AMD Radeon VII using PugetBench for Adobe Premiere Pro, our newest flagship consumer graphics card delivers up to 3x the video editing performance. [7]
In DaVinci Resolve, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT provides up to 1.7x the performance over the AMD Radeon VII when tested with the Standard Candle Benchmark [8]. If you are using DaVinci Resolve Studio you can also take advantage of GPU-accelerated video decode and encode [6] to help further accelerate your video editing performance on AMD Radeon graphics.
Setting a New Standard for Content Creation with Radeon
The AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT is our flagship consumer graphics card for content creation workflows and sets a new standard for creating with AMD Radeon graphics. When compared to the AMD Radeon VII, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT is substantially faster in many different creative workflows, including 3D modeling, rendering, video editing, and post-production, and will supercharge your creativity to let you experience limitless content creation. We can’t wait to see what you’ll create with it!
LEARN MORE ABOUT AMD RADEON GRAPHICS CARDS FOR CREATORS
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE AMD RADEON RX 6900 XT
LEARN MORE ABOUT AMD RADEON PRORENDER
Alexander Blake-Davies is a Software Product Marketing Specialist at AMD’s Radeon Technology Group. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies, or opinions. Links to third-party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied. GD-5
FOOTNOTES
- Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of Nov 20, 2020, on the AMD Radeon™ 6900 XT and AMD Radeon™ VII graphics cards with pre-release AMD Radeon™ Software 20.45-201117a-361212E driver, on a test system comprised of an AMD Ryzen™ 9 5950X, 32GB DDR4-3600 RAM, MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk motherboard with BIOS version 7C91vA45 at default settings, and Windows® 10 Pro October 2020 Update. Benchmark Application: Blender® 2.90.1 Cycles rendering the Blender® scenes of “Car Demo”, “Classroom”, and “Barcelona Pavilion” with 1000, 250, 300 samples, respectively. Recorded the average render time of three runs in seconds (lower is better). Scores are based on AMD internal lab measurements and may vary. RX-607
- GPU or CPU support for OpenCL™ or Apple® Metal® required. Radeon™ ProRender supports Windows®, macOS®, and Linux®.
- AMD Radeon™ ProRender 2.0 available in the SDK for developers, SOLIDWORKS® Visualize 2021, and the plug-ins for Autodesk® Maya®, Blender®, and Houdini™.
- When using Blender® 2.91.0 with the Radeon™ ProRender 3.0.2 plug-in with hardware ray tracing support, the AMD Radeon™ 6900 XT can render at an average of 2.1x the speed of the AMD Radeon™ VII with no hardware ray tracing support. Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of Dec 5, 2020, on the AMD Radeon™ 6900 XT and AMD Radeon™ VII graphics cards with AMD Radeon™ Software 20.45-201201 driver, on a test system comprising of an AMD Ryzen™ 9 5950X, 32GB DDR4-3600 RAM, MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk motherboard with BIOS version 7C91vA45 at default settings, and Windows® 10 Pro October 2020 Update. Benchmark Application: Blender® 2.91.0 with the Radeon™ ProRender 3.0.2 plug-in with hardware ray tracing support rendering the AMD internal “F1 Garage Benchmark” Blender® scene with 512 samples. Recorded the average render time of three runs in seconds (lower is better). Scores are based on AMD internal lab measurements and may vary. RX-618
- Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of Nov 20, 2020, on the AMD Radeon™ 6900 XT and AMD Radeon™ VII graphics cards with pre-release AMD Radeon™ Software 20.45-201117a-361212E driver, on a test system comprising of an AMD Ryzen™ 9 5950X, 32GB DDR4-3600 RAM, MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk motherboard with BIOS version 7C91vA45 at default settings, and Windows® 10 Pro October 2020 Update. Benchmark Application: Blender® 2.90.1 with the Radeon™ ProRender 3.0.2 plug-in with hardware ray tracing support rendering the Blender® scenes of “Car Demo”, “Classroom”, and “Barcelona Pavilion” with 1000, 250, 300 samples, respectively. Recorded the average render time of three runs in seconds (lower is better). Scores are based on AMD internal lab measurements and may vary. RX-608
- Video codec acceleration (including at least the HEVC (H.265), H.264, VP9, and AV1 codecs) is subject to and not operable without inclusion/installation of compatible media players. GD-176
- Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of Nov 20, 2020, on the AMD Radeon™ 6900 XT and AMD Radeon™ VII graphics cards with pre-release AMD Radeon™ Software 20.45-201117a-361212E driver, on a test system comprising of an AMD Ryzen™ 9 5950X, 32GB DDR4-3600 RAM, MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk motherboard with BIOS version 7C91vA45 at default settings, and Windows® 10 Pro October 2020 Update. Benchmark Application: PugetBench for Adobe® Premiere® Pro v.0.92 beta, commercial version for Adobe® Premiere® Pro 14.5 “4K Heavy GPU Effects (59.94FPS)” sequence. running the “Extreme - Live Playback (Full Res)” test and the “Extreme - Export (ProRes 422HQ UHD)” test. Recorded the FPS (frames per second) results of three runs in (higher is better). Scores are based on AMD internal lab measurements and may vary. PugetBench is from Puget Systems. RX-610
- Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of Nov 20, 2020, on the AMD Radeon™ 6900 XT and AMD Radeon™ VII graphics cards with pre-release AMD Radeon™ Software 20.45-201117a-361212E driver, on a test system comprising of an AMD Ryzen™ 9 5950X, 32GB DDR4-3600 RAM, MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk motherboard with BIOS version 7C91vA45 at default settings, and Windows® 10 Pro October 2020 Update. Benchmark Application: Standard Candle Benchmark for DaVinci Resolve™ 16.2.7 running the 66 blur nodes test and the 6 TNR nodes test. Recorded the FPS (frames per second) results of three runs in (higher is better). Scores are based on AMD internal lab measurements and may vary. RX-609
ATTRIBUTIONS
Blender® Cycles “The Junk Shop” scene created by Alex Treviño, original concept by Anaïs Maamar.
Mercedes-AMG F1 W11 EQ Performance renders and animation created by The Pixelary using AMD Radeon™ ProRender and rendered using Render Pool™ powered by Morgenrot. 3D model courtesy of and copyright Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One™ Team. “Mercedes-Benz”, “Three-pointed star in a ring”, “Mercedes-AMG Petronas” are all registered trademarks of Daimler AG. Renders and animation created with permissions from Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited. All logos featured on the livery and tires are used with the permission of their respective owners all of whom reserve their respective rights in the same.
AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, Radeon, Ryzen, RDNA, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Adobe and Premiere are registered trademarks of Adobe in the United States and/or other countries. Autodesk, the Autodesk logo, and Maya are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. Blender is a registered trademark of the Blender Foundation in EU and USA. DaVinci Resolve, DaVinci, and Resolve are trademarks or registered trademark of Blackmagic Design Pty Ltd in the United States and other countries. The F1 FORMULA 1 logo, F1 logo, FORMULA 1, F1, FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, GRAND PRIX, and related marks are trademarks of Formula One Licensing BV, a Formula 1 company. Houdini, the Houdini logo, and SideFX are registered trademarks or trademarks of Side Effects Software Inc. registered in the USA and other countries. OpenCL is a trademark of Apple Inc. used by permission by Khronos Group Inc. PCI Express® is a registered trademark of PCI-SIG Corporation. SOLIDWORKS is a registered trademark of Dassault Systèmes or its subsidiaries in the US and other countries. Other product names used in this publication are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective companies.