Unidentified AMD Radeon GPU cooler discovered on Chinese forums exhibits size similar to RX 7900 XTX, boasting a substantial heatsink and three 8-pin power connectors - potentially hinting at the nonexistent RX 7950 XTX.
A leaked prototype cooler has stirred up excitement in the tech community, indicating that AMD may have contemplated developing a more powerful Radeon RX 7000 series graphics card during the RDNA 3 era. The cooler, shared on Korean forum Quasarzone and sourced from a Chinese marketplace, is larger and more power-hungry than the RX 7900 XTX reference cooler.
Measuring approximately 34 cm in length and 5.5 cm thick, the prototype cooler is a significant size increase compared to the RX 7900 XTX's 29 cm and 4.2 cm dimensions. The cooler is also designed to accommodate three 8-pin power connectors, suggesting a power draw well above 450W, putting it on par with the RTX 4090.
The heatsink of the prototype cooler has three painted red fins, a characteristic of the RDNA 3 era. The internal layout of the cooler is also different from the 7900 XTX, hinting at a beefier configuration. The heatsink itself is a centimeter longer than the RX 7900 XTX reference edition.
The cooler's unique mounting pattern makes it incompatible with retail designs, and the lack of I/O at the back prevents an accurate guess as to the model it was intended to house. However, the triple-slot, triple 8-pin design suggests a GPU potentially more powerful than a 4090-class Radeon.
If realised, this GPU could have bridged the gap between the RTX 80-class and 90-class cards. The rationale was that while the high-end Navi 31 GPU (used in RX 7900 XTX) was already fully unlocked with 96 compute units, AMD could have improved performance by increasing power and cooling headroom, possibly boosting clock speeds and memory speed.
This prototype cooler is thought to have belonged to a potential “RX 7950 XTX” card that never launched. The prototype's existence is a reminder of what might have been if AMD had decided to compete directly with NVIDIA at the very top end. The discovery of this prototype offers a rare look at AMD's internal experiments and discarded plans.
- The unique design of the prototype cooler, featuring three 8-pin power connectors and a larger heatsink, indicates that AMD may have considered developing a gadget with more power than a 4090-class Radeon.
- The existence of this unearthed prototype, which showcases features like a triple-slot, triple 8-pin design and a heatsink suited for a high-performing GPU, suggests that AMD was exploring technology capable of bridging the performance gap between their RTX 80-class and 90-class cards.
