While the next generation of AMD Radeon RX 8000 RDNA 4 gaming GPUs is widely expected to launch in early 2025, rumors are already circulating about what will come with the new Radeon RX 9000 series. Not only is this new GPU lineup reportedly going to be the first to be based on the new UDNA architecture, but it will also apparently see AMD adopting a new overarching codename for its gaming GPUs, rather than the Navi moniker the company has used since the Radeon RX 5000 lineup.
Although AMD is widely expected to leave the very best graphics card category to Nvidia with its next-gen RDNA 4 lineup of GPUs, the company is reportedly working hard to get its next GPU architecture out the door in a much shorter timeframe than the usual two years. According to the latest rumors, AMD UDNA is coming in 2026, with the new graphics cards potentially in production as early as April of that year.
This latest rumor concerns the new codename, though, and it looks as though AMD is going to continue its tradition of naming its gaming GPUs after a significant star in the sky. We’ve just had Navi, which is the star that forms the top peak in the middle of the W in the Cassiopeia constellation, and now it looks as though AMD is adopting the Sirius name for its upcoming UDNA gaming GPUs.
This latest rumor comes from some heavy hints dropped by often-reliable tech leaker Kepler_L2. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Kepler_L2 simply said they were “waiting for someone to leak the actual codename of UDNA.” A reply to the thread then reposted a previous Kepler_L2 post, containing an image of the Sirius (Canis Major) constellation, containing the super-bright star Sirius, with a thinking emoji. Kepler_L2 then responded with the often-used animated GIF showing Joey from Friends tapping his head and pointing. We’ll take that as a yes.
AMD has already stated that its new UDNA architecture will see the company unifying its data center CDNA and gaming RDNA architectures into one single architecture, and it now looks as though the GPUs are going to feature the Sirius codename.
That’s not the only rumored name change, though. Previous leaks have even pointed to AMD dropping the Radeon brand for this generation of GPUs. AMD is also rumored to be taking a “clean sheet” approach to this new generation of GPUs, with a ground-up architecture redesign akin to the move to the Zen architecture for its first Ryzen CPUs.
This is all based on rumor and speculation right now, though, and bear in mind that AMD hasn’t officially confirmed the Sirius codename, or indeed any firm details about its next-gen gaming GPUs. We’ll have to wait and see what happens in the future, but I’m excited by the prospect of an AMD GPU design overhaul that could potentially enable the company to compete better with Nvidia, especially if AMD can do it quickly.
In the meantime, while you wait to see what AMD has in store for its GPU lineup, check out our Ryzen 7 9800X3D review, where we take AMD’s new gaming CPU with 3D V-cache for a spin.
