Rumours suggest AMD preparing an RX 6000-series graphics card refresh

pcgamer.com:

AMD could be preparing a Radeon RX 6000-series refresh for release later this year, multiple leakers say. Not much is known about this refresh, nor what it could mean for the current lineup, though it may act as a stop-gap solution before graphics cards based on the RDNA 3 architecture roll around.

Two reports reference the update: one from Twitter leaker Greymon55 and another from Chiphell leaker wjm47196.

AMD seems to be preparing a new version of the RX 6000 series, I don't know the details, maybe an upgrade to 18Gbps?January 17, 2022

The Chiphell comment suggests a release between April and June, 2022, and that these new cards would likely replace the existing RX 6000-series graphics cards, such as the RX 6800 or RX 6800 XT.

What might be upgraded on these refresh cards is not yet known, if anything at all. The going theory is that faster GDDR6 memory chips will replace the existing 16Gbps ones fitted on most of the existing RX 6000-series—the speedier modules would most likely be rated to 18Gbps.

That's certainly a possibility, as AMD's recently announced RX 6500 XT uses 18Gbps memory chips.

Punters also posit that AMD may use TSMC's 6nm process for any possible refresh of the RX 6000-series, though neither leak so far backs up these claims.

There's no guarantee that AMD will refresh the RX 6000-series, however. A lot can happen in a short period of time, especially during the ongoing semiconductor shortage, and plans such as this can, and often are, canned at a moment's notice.

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But what does AMD have to gain from an RX 6000-series refresh? Well, it does have some incentive to do just that. Nvidia recently