AMD RX 5700 series ceases production to clear room for Big Navi

(Image credit: Future)

AMD is reportedly ending their production of the RX 5700 series graphics card ahead of the announcement of their latest Big Navi 6000-series RX cards on October 28.

As reported by TechPowerUp, AMD has ceased production of the Navi-10 powered RX 5700 and RX 5700XT cards to help clear supplier inventories to make room for the upcoming Big Navi cards that will undoubtedly replace them.

The RX 5700 series is AMD's flagship graphics cards, going up against the GeForce RTX 2060 Super and the RTX 2070, though falling short of the RTX 2080 and later iterations of last generation's champ.

Still, the Radeon RX 5700 series proved popular with PC builders not keen on dropping a fortune on an RTX 2080, especially with the relative dearth of titles that utilized the new ray tracing tech. 

That is all about to change as this new generation of GPUs roll out since developers and studios have caught up with the technology and are set to truly deliver on the promise of ray tracing.

Big Navi set to replace the RX 5700 series but the RX 5600 will live on - for a while anyway

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 and RX 5700XT were both strong contenders against the GeForce RTX 2070 and GeForce RTX 2060 Super, offering competitive 1440p gaming at an affordable price.

They lacked ray tracing, though, making the Nvidia cards a favorite for early adopters of the new graphics technology. Big Navi is expected to bring ray tracing to this class of Radeon graphics cards for the first time, making it necessary to clear supplier inventory for the new cards so they can compete with Nvidia (they hope) on more equal footing technology-wise.

Meanwhile, the Radeon RX 5600XT will live on for a time. It is still being manufactured and the discontinuation of the 5700 series should consolidate remaining Navi-10 resources to supply the RX 5600XT until they are depleted. 

This indicates that the RX 5600XT is not ready to be replaced by a Big Navi card just yet. We'll know for sure where things stand after Team Red's big day at the end of October.

John Loeffler
Components Editor

John (He/Him) is the Components Editor here at TechRadar and he is also a programmer, gamer, activist, and Brooklyn College alum currently living in Brooklyn, NY. 

Named by the CTA as a CES 2020 Media Trailblazer for his science and technology reporting, John specializes in all areas of computer science, including industry news, hardware reviews, PC gaming, as well as general science writing and the social impact of the tech industry.

You can find him online on Threads @johnloeffler.

Currently playing: Baldur's Gate 3 (just like everyone else).

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