An Nvidia Miss Could be an AMD Win
Let’s talk about AMD’s biggest opportunity right now – and it’s not just about raw performance. NVIDIA has essentially handed AMD multiple golden tickets with the Blackwell launch. First, there’s the supply situation, but more importantly, there are serious technical issues that AMD needs to capitalize on in their marketing.
Starting with the elephant in the room – those missing ROPs in a batch of the Blackwell architecture. NVIDIA’s blunder here with having a batch leaving production not having the full ROP count, is for a simple term, not acceptable, and their wording heavily suggests they knew about it once production started. This affects performance, especially in specific rendering scenarios and this is exactly the kind of weakness AMD needs to exploit in their marketing assuming of course that they don’t have manufacturing issues like this themselves.
Now here’s where it gets really interesting – and potentially dangerous. We’re seeing reports of 12V 2×6 connectors on Blackwell cards literally melting and catching fire. Yes, you heard that right – catching fire. This isn’t just a minor quality control issue; it’s a serious safety concern. AMD needs to make hay while the sun shines here – or while their competitor’s cards burn. I suppose their traditional 8-pin connectors might not be as elegant a solution, but they’ve proven reliable over years of real-world use.
So AMD needs to hammer these points home: “Want a high-end GPU that won’t catch fire? Here’s one you can actually buy.” They need to ensure massive day-one availability while emphasizing their proven track record of reliable power delivery. Make sure every major retailer has stock, ensure board partners have plenty of chips, and most importantly, make sure their marketing team is ready to emphasize safety and reliability alongside performance. With that being said… we already have confirmed reports that some AIB models will also be using the 12V 2X6 connector, so maybe it’s only a matter of time until RDNA4 cards start igniting, time will tell. The software situation for AMD is… well, let’s just say it’s complicated, and the recent launch delay isn’t helping. FSR 4’s success isn’t just about raw performance – it’s about game support, and right now, that’s a major hurdle. Here’s the thing many people don’t realize: Major titles like Cyberpunk and GTA V are using FSR 3, not FSR 3.1. This isn’t just a minor versioning issue – it means these games can’t be automatically upgraded to FSR 4 by users. Each game needs specific developer intervention to implement the new version.
The decision to make FSR 4 exclusive to RDNA4 – which likely contributed to the January launch pullback – has already created a significant backlash in the gaming community. This creates an even bigger chicken-and-egg problem than usual. Developers won’t prioritize FSR 4 implementation without a large user base, but users won’t flock to AMD without strong game support, and the exclusivity to new hardware makes that user base even smaller. AMD needs to break this cycle, and that means spending serious money on developer relations. They need dedicated teams working with major studios, providing both technical support and, let’s be honest, financial incentives to implement FSR 4 properly.
What do I think? Well, I think that it's worth waiting a couple of days for the AMD announcement, and then a few more days for reviews. Speculation is nice and all, but we're close enough to the launch that large parts of this article will become irrelevant. Once we get answers to the questions this article raises, then it will be time for a real opinion piece about what AMD offers.
(Of course, there's the chance that you're writing this based on review samples and information that you can't publicly disclose, and just phrasing facts as questions, but even if that's the case, I certainly have no access to such data, and would therefore prefer to not make up my mind before I see the facts.)