We already knew the AMD Radeon RX 9050 4GB was looking bad, from the frame buffer size and 64-bit interface alone, but it turns out this isn’t all that’s holding back this budget GPU. According to the specs just released by AMD, the Infinity Cache has also been significantly reduced compared to the 8GB model.
The AMD Radeon RX 9050 has just 16MB of Infinity Cache listed in the spec – a detail that wasn’t revealed in earlier leaks. That’s half the amount found in the 8GB version of this card, which comes with 32MB of cache. That makes for a double-whammy of memory woes. It substantially increases the chance of a cache miss and the need for the GPU to page its slower VRAM for key data.
| RX 9050 4GB | RX 9050 8GB | RX 9060 XT 8GB | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stream processors | 1,024 | 1,024 | 2,048 |
| Boost clock | 2,600MHz | 2,600MHz | 3,130MHz |
| Compute units | 16 | 16 | 32 |
| RT cores | 16 (3rd-gen) | 16 (3rd-gen) | 32 (3rd-gen) |
| AI cores | 32 (2nd-gen) | 32 (2nd-gen) | 64 (2nd-gen) |
| ROPs | 64 | 64 | 64 |
| Infinity Cache | 16MB | 32MB | 32MB |
| Memory | 8GB | 8GB | 8GB |
| Mem. type | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | GDDR6 |
| Mem. clock | 18Gb/s | 18Gb/s | 20Gb/s |
| Mem. interface | 64-bit | 128-bit | 128-bit |
| Mem. bandwidth | 144GB/s | 288GB/s | 322GB/s |
| Board power | 92W | 92W | 160W |
Add in the super-tight 64-bit memory interface, which means you only get a measly 144GB/s of bandwidth, and this GPU is going to be regularly starved of data. In their recent designs, both AMD and Nvidia have attempted to offset the need for a wider memory bus, by loading up their GPUs with large amounts of cache.
If the extra cache means a GPU doesn’t need to page its VRAM as often, so the logic goes, then it doesn’t matter so much if the bandwidth isn’t as wide. That theory is obliterated by the Radeon RX 9050 4GB spec, though. Its 4GB of VRAM is tiny in 2026, the 144GB/s bandwidth is pitiful, and now we find out it has a smaller cache too.
AMD has previously confirmed that the 4GB version of this card is an OEM exclusive, so it will only be found in prebuilt PCs, and won’t be available to buy as a separate card. That’s a plus point, as it means there’s no chance of a mix up if you’re buying a GPU upgrade. However, anyone considering buying a Radeon RX 9050 PC should make sure they’re not getting the 4GB card if gaming is a priority.
Even the 8GB RX 9050 benchmarks haven’t turned out to be particularly inspiring. No tech outlets have been sent a card (including us) from either AMD or its board partners. However, Hardware Unboxed managed to get one on condition of anonymity, and its 10-game average of 49fps was well behind the 59fps of the RTX 5050, and even the 55fps from the ageing RTX 3060.
Once you get beyond memory and cache, the core GPU in both the 8GB and 4GB versions is otherwise the same. It offers 16 RDNA 4 compute units, giving it 1,024 stream processors and 32 AI accelerators. As a point of comparison, the integrated GPU in AMD’s Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip for handhelds has the same number of compute units, albeit based on the older RDNA 3.5 architecture.
Needless to say, this looks like a GPU with “avoid” written all over it, even with the memory crisis in mind. If you’re looking to buy a new graphics card, check out our guide to buying the best GPU, where we take you through all our top recommendations right now.
