GoKawiilFor the unaware, AMD just released its latest RDNA 4 GPU, the Radeon RX 9050. You'd be forgiven if the news had eluded you because, aside from an announcement on AMD's website, there wasn't much fanfare around this one. There were no launch reviews or anything like that, which already tells you this product is probably going to be bad.
In fact, we already know the RX 9050 is bad without even having one on hand to review, though we'll be getting one soon. For now, we're revisiting the subject of VRAM because it's particularly relevant to AMD's new RX 9050 series.
The retail version of the RX 9050 comes with 8GB of VRAM. That's not a lot, but arguably enough for an entry-level product. In a more normal market, we'd almost certainly demand at least 12GB at an MSRP of $280, but given the current state of the market, we'd probably give AMD a pass at 8GB.
But 8GB is the good option here, because there's also a 4GB version of the RX 9050. Yes, you read that correctly: AMD is releasing a discrete RDNA 4 GPU in 2026 with just 4GB of VRAM. Insane.
But somehow, it gets worse. AMD has decided to commit almost every possible sin with this release. Not only do the 4GB and 8GB versions of the RX 9050 share the exact same name, but the 4GB model hasn't just had its memory capacity slashed. Its memory bandwidth has been cut as well. Adding insult to injury, AMD is only selling the 8GB model through retail channels, while the dodgy 4GB version is destined for pre-built systems, where it's far more likely to end up in the hands of unsuspecting buyers.
If you want to research how the RX 9050 performs, you'll naturally turn to the internet for benchmarks, and in almost every instance you'll be looking at results for the much faster 8GB model. Very dodgy stuff from AMD, and the 4GB model will likely be even worse than you'd expect.
The old and equally horrible Radeon RX 6500 XT also launched with just 4GB of VRAM. AMD eventually released a much better, though still bad, 8GB clamshell version. Both models featured a 64-bit memory bus, providing 144 GB/s of bandwidth.
With the RX 9050, things are quite different. It uses the Navi 44 die, the same silicon found in the RX 9060 and 9060 XT. This design features a 128-bit memory bus, which AMD uses to achieve an 8GB capacity on the 9060 series, as well as on the 8GB RX 9050. To halve the memory capacity, AMD has therefore had to remove half of the memory chips, which also halves the memory bus width and, consequently, the memory bandwidth. Navi 44 doesn't require clamshell memory to achieve an 8GB capacity, so removing two of the four 2GB memory chips cuts the available bandwidth in half.
In short, whereas the 8GB RX 9050 offers 288 GB/s of memory bandwidth, the 4GB model has been reduced to just 144 GB/s, the same bandwidth as the RX 6500 XT models. This is going to significantly reduce performance relative to the 8GB RX 9050.
On top of that, many modern games are likely to struggle with just 4GB of VRAM, and that's what we want to explore here using the 4GB and 8GB versions of the RX 6500 XT.
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