The whisper comes from the habitual leaker Kepler on X who shared a terse note indicating that AMD's RX 8000 series graphics cards will utilise GDDR6 VRAM clocked at 18Gbps – a pace that's less brisk than some of the existing RX 7000 models.

Kepler specified that this would be the case for the entire RDNA 4 GPU range – all models are expected to be fitted with 18Gbps GDDR6.

Within the RDNA 3 lineup, AMD employs a blend of 18-20Gbps GDDR6, so setting a standard of 18Gbps for all next-gen models wouldn't just signify a halt in progress – it would be a slight regression.

This has led to some GPU aficionados throwing their arms up in dismay and grinding their teeth at what they perceive to be AMD's “absurd decision.” This is particularly so when considering that Nvidia is rumoured to be gearing up to use the swifter GDDR7 RAM for its upcoming Blackwell GPUs, at least for the more premium models.

However, AMD's decision to bypass GDDR7 for all its next-gen GPUs isn't as daft as it first appears and AMD might continue as per the RDNA 3's VRAM strategy (18-20Gbps), or it might even raise the bar. If it does this, then the advantage might be cost with AMD's chips coming in much cheaper with only a minor performance lag, which could be easily made up by other gains.