AMD rumoured to be ditching future RDNA 5 graphics architecture in favour of 'unified' UDNA tech in a possible effort to bring AI smarts to gaming ASAP

A stylised image of AMD's RDNA 3 GPU design for its Radeon RX 7000-series graphics cards
(Image credit: AMD)

AMD hasn't even got its next-gen RDNA 4 gaming GPUs out the door, but already there are rumours RDNA 5 has been cancelled in favour of the "unified" UDNA graphics architecture. If true, the move could be all about adding AI capabilities to AMD's gaming GPUs as soon as possible.

AMD's current gaming graphics cards are based on the RDNA 3 architecture, while its enterprise, datacenter and AI GPUs are based on the CDNA technology. The idea is that the demands of gaming and data centers are sufficiently divergent to merit separate architectures.

At least, that was the narrative until September, when AMD announced plans to unify RDNA and CDNA into a single "UDNA" architecture. At the time, AMD said the new approach would be much easier for developers, though that implies that there are software developers creating games and, say, large language models at the same time, which seems unlikely.

Whatever the merits of the new approach, expectations in September were that UDNA would probably take a little while to hit gaming PCs. RDNA 4 is coming early in the new year and much had already been rumoured about its supposed but as yet unofficial successor, RDNA 5.

So, the assumption was that gaming graphics would make the jump to UDNA after RDNA 5. But no, not according to the latest rumour on Chiphell (via PC Guide). Established leaker zhangzhonghao claims that RDNA 5 is toast and that AMD is readying a UDNA-derived family of GPUs to succeed RDNA 4.

What's more, the poster says that UDNA will actually be GCN derived. Say what? GCN is the AMD graphics architecture that preceded RDNA and first appeared in 2012 in the Radeon HD 7000 family of GPUs. But GCN did not, in fact, die with the release of RDNA in 2019. Instead, it forked off into CDNA. So, if you can forgive all the acronyms, the idea is that UDNA is a development of CDNA, which in turn has its origins in GCN.

Now, it's worth pointing out that the notion of "unified" graphics architectures isn't quite what it first seems. It doesn't mean that AMD will be selling the same chips to gamers as AI developers.

There's lots of stuff related to the rendering pipeline and video output in a gaming GPU that doesn't go into an AI GPU, including raster and geometry hardware, render output, 2D engines, hardware video encode and decode, and so on.

What were really talking about is a shared architecture for the shader ALUs and the AI-accelerating matrix cores that Nvidia calls Tensor cores and are the cores found in various NPU or neural processing units. That's quite a lot for even a gaming GPU these days, what with the shaders being so important, of course. But it's by no means the whole chip.

Anyway, while a move to a "new" architecture that's based on the "old" GCN technology superficially seems like a retrograde step, once again it's hard to draw too many conclusions. The relationship to GCN may be more of a high-level philosophical approach than carrying over the nuts and bolts of the GCN architecture circa 2012.

Moreover, at this stage it's really impossible to say for sure what the pros and cons of AMD's new unified approach will be for gamers. However, perhaps the most obvious upside will be added AI smarts.

Right now, AMD doesn't use any AI acceleration in its graphics cards to process or enhance its FSR upscaling tech. That's quite a contrast with Nvidia, which leans into AI heavily with DLSS and bigs up the contribution of the Tensor cores built into the last three generations of Nvidia gaming GPUs.

Indeed, current RDNA 3 GPUs do not have matrix cores at all. But CNDA GPUs do, and UDNA GPUs surely will, too. In other words, UDNA gaming GPUs will be entering the AI age at last. There have been big hints that AMD's FSR is going to start matching up with Nvidia when it comes to using dedicated silicon to effect its upscaling and frame generation features, which means future GPUs will need to feature tech the current ones really don't. And, when you think of it in those terms, maybe AMD needed to move to UDNA ASAP, after all.

Best CPU for gamingBest gaming motherboardBest graphics cardBest SSD for gaming


Best CPU for gaming: Top chips from Intel and AMD.
Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.
Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.
Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game first.

Jeremy Laird
Hardware writer

Jeremy has been writing about technology and PCs since the 90nm Netburst era (Google it!) and enjoys nothing more than a serious dissertation on the finer points of monitor input lag and overshoot followed by a forensic examination of advanced lithography. Or maybe he just likes machines that go “ping!” He also has a thing for tennis and cars.

Read more
AMD slides about its new RDNA 4 graphics card architecture
AMD's RDNA 4 GPUs are about efficiency in terms of performance and price: 'We know where gamers buy products, it's well below that $1,000 price point'
Adler on a motorcycle
AMD's FSR 4 will use machine learning but requires an RDNA 4 GPU, promises 'a dramatic improvement in terms of performance and quality'
AMD slides about its new RDNA 4 graphics card architecture
AMD says 'the performance data out there for RDNA 4 is completely inaccurate'
A collage of Radeon RX 9000 series graphics cards, as shown in AMD's promotional video for the launch of RDNA 4 at CES 2025
AMD's 'official' performance figures for RDNA 4 leak out early, with the RX 9070 XT claimed to be 42% faster than the RX 7900 GRE at 4K
The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 RDNA 4 GPUs arranged in diagonal lines, taken from a CES 2025 presentation slide
AMD just gave us our first look at the Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 RDNA 4 GPUs and I am officially whelmed
Nvidia RTX 4080 Super Founders Edition graphics card
'Neural Rendering' could be the new AI-powered sorcery in Nvidia's next-gen RTX 50-series GPUs
Latest in Graphics Cards
Nvidia RTX 5080 Founders Edition graphics card from different angles
Nvidia says it really has sorted RTX 50-series black screen issues this time around as yet another driver fix finds its way to release
AMD RX 7900 XT with its original packaging.
AMD clawed back 7% graphics market share from Nvidia at the end of 2024, but the outlook for the whole industry in 2025 looks iffy
A collage of Radeon RX 9000 series graphics cards, as shown in AMD's promotional video for the launch of RDNA 4 at CES 2025
'Don't despair' says AMD to PC gamers as it continues to 'encourage' AIBs to supply MSRP-priced 9070 and 9070 XT GPUs
Nvidia RTX 5070 Founders Edition graphics card from various angles
Nvidia RTX 5060 graphics cards are said to be revealed 'in about 10 days' and are expected to 'be on the shelf a month later'
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 with an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 chip inside it.
Nvidia denies reports that the 'missing ROPs' debacle is hitting its RTX 50 laptop GPUs and could delay their launch
A plethora of RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT graphics cards at an angle on a dark gradient background
AMD's new RX 9070 GPUs sold out within 10 mins at launch, unless you were willing to pay ever more ludicrous prices
Latest in News
Pedro Pascal as Joel in a coat in winter looking unhappy
'Don't you know what he did?': The truth comes out in The Last of Us Season 2 trailer
Aloy
'Creepy,' 'ghastly,' 'rancid': Viewers react to leaked video of Sony's AI-powered Aloy
Split Fiction trailer still - Zoe and Mio standing side by side, wearing glowing neon sci-fi jammies
Split Fiction sells 1 million copies over 2 days
A soldier looks out over the Verdansk map, as a single tear rolls down his cheek.
The original Verdansk map is returning to Call of Duty: Warzone, to celebrate which we get a soldier crying to Nat King Cole
More than 5 years after launch, Control gets a surprise patch that lets everyone play the Hideo Kojima mission
Swen Vincke
Swen Vincke stamps seal of approval on Stardew Valley mod that yoinks the Baldur's Gate 3 cast out of D&D and into a cosy pastoral life