AMD Quietly Releases Re-Badged 6XX Graphics Card Range

When AMD released their 4XX series of graphics cards 3 years ago, they provided a solid solution for those looking for a moderate upgrade while at a price that was very friendly on the wallet. It was essentially a brand that (at least at the time) represented what AMD did best. Put simply, bang for buck!

A year later they followed this up with the 5XX series. A range that was largely entirely based on the existing 4XX series that provided minimal, but still discernible improvements. It did, however, fall into some criticism as to just how lazy the ‘update’ was. Taking the 480 and 580 flagships, for example, there wasn’t a lot between the two and if you were willing to risk some higher temperatures, the 480 could actually be flashed to match the performance of the 580.

It seems, however, that in a report via TechSpot, AMD has very quietly decided to repeat this exercise again as a 6XX GPU range is reportedly set to hit the market imminently.

AMD 6XX Series Graphics Card

Based on the leaked information above, if you know your AMD entry-level graphics cards you will be able to very quickly tell that this is, quite simply, just a rebadge. There is, as far as we can tell, absolutely nothing new on offer here. In fact, some of it has already (quite rightly) been accused of being a rebadge of a rebadge.

As far as we can tell, the 6XX range will be exactly the same as the 5XX. Just with a different more ‘modern-sounding’ name. AMD, however, may not be entirely to blame here.

OEMs Want ‘New’ Cheap Cards

While some may be already brandishing their pitchforks accusing AMD of attempting to turn a quick buck here, it’s very likely that this has been more at the request of their OEM partners than the company itself.

Put simply, outside of the AMD 5XX range (which is now 2 years old), there are very few ‘entry-level’ cards that are both inexpensive while appearing relatively modern. Comparatively speaking an AMD 580 can be picked up for around half the price of a current Nvidia entry-level model (16XX/20XX). A card which, even in modern gaming terms, can still offer a perfectly solid 1080p gaming experience.

Therefore, the release of an AMD 6XX range solves two problems for PC manufacturers. It’s a cheap card that performs well and, most importantly, with this name change looks like it’s brand new! As such, while it might be tempting to pick some fault and laugh at an obvious rebadging, we suspect that there’s a good reason why AMD has kept this quiet. They, very likely, didn’t really want to do this!

If you do, therefore, start seeing some systems featuring AMD 6XX graphics cards, don’t worry. It’s not a misprint! The only thing new here, however, (at least as far as we can tell) is the name!

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!