Poll: ASUS STRIX AMD VEGA 64, under £450, interested?

[Nelly]

Hey Gibbo, apparently they fixed it with this you have in stock - 1 left! >> https://www.overclockers.co.uk/thermal-grizzly-minus-pad-8-20x-120x-2-0-mm-th-019-tg.html

I used a 120x20x2mm strip of Thermal Grizzly "Minus Pad 8". I left each 20mm wide, which extends coverage to contact more of the retention plate for the small strip, and widens the coverage to cover the FETs I talked about before. Notice there is even a nice wide area built under the heatsink to accomodate this width -- I drew the rough size of the previous grey stock pad under it.

Back to the main VRM bank! Here I used a 120x20x3mm strip of Thermal Grizzly "Minus Pad 8". I strongly recommend a 3mm pad here (as ridiculously thick as that is, it is required to make good contact).

Link as netdps mentioned >> https://www.overclockers.co.uk/thermal-grizzly-minus-pad-8-20x-120x-3.0mm-th-029-tg.html

EDIT: What was said above, didn't see before I posted.

 

[Gibbo]

Hey Gibbo, apparently they fixed it with this you have in stock - 1 left! >> https://www.overclockers.co.uk/thermal-grizzly-minus-pad-8-20x-120x-2-0-mm-th-019-tg.html

Did they double stack?
That is 2mm, Asus is 3mm.

 

[Nelly]

EDIT at 4:46pm: Shrunk the pictures abit as they was huge.

Did they double stack?
That is 2mm, Asus is 3mm.

See the full info in the link with the apparent fix >> https://imgur.com/gallery/GZJnFY2



I used a 120x20x2mm strip of Thermal Grizzly "Minus Pad 8". I left each 20mm wide, which extends coverage to contact more of the retention plate for the small strip, and widens the coverage to cover the FETs I talked about before. Notice there is even a nice wide area built under the heatsink to accomodate this width -- I drew the rough size of the previous grey stock pad under it.



Nice coverage of the FETs to the left now.



Back to the main VRM bank! Here I used a 120x20x3mm strip of Thermal Grizzly "Minus Pad 8". I strongly recommend a 3mm pad here (as ridiculously thick as that is, it is required to make good contact). Notice the 20mm width fills the base plate perfectly now. Remove tape cover before assembly!

 

[netdps]

Did they double stack?
That is 2mm, Asus is 3mm.

The one I linked was the 3mm version
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/thermal-grizzly-minus-pad-8-20x-120x-3.0mm-th-029-tg.html

 

[Gibbo]

See the info below, according to this link with the apparent fix >> https://imgur.com/gallery/GZJnFY2


I used a 120x20x2mm strip of Thermal Grizzly "Minus Pad 8". I left each 20mm wide, which extends coverage to contact more of the retention plate for the small strip, and widens the coverage to cover the FETs I talked about before. Notice there is even a nice wide area built under the heatsink to accomodate this width -- I drew the rough size of the previous grey stock pad under it.



Nice coverage of the FETs to the left now.



Back to the main VRM bank! Here I used a 120x20x3mm strip of Thermal Grizzly "Minus Pad 8". I strongly recommend a 3mm pad here (as ridiculously thick as that is, it is required to make good contact). Notice the 20mm width fills the base plate perfectly now. Remove tape cover before assembly!

OK were gonna try this, got them in stock.

 

[JamesM]

Can you confirm Gibbo that ASUS are ok with us removing the cooler to carry out this 'upgrade'?

Useful thread this, card is still fantastic.

Shame it doesn't appear that EK make a pre-filled MLC block for it, would have been perfect.

 

[ubersonic]

we tried an EK one, but it was thinner so had no effect.

Why don't you use the stock one AND the EK one and see what that does?

It sounds botchy but realistically as their heat transfer is conduction based then combined they would have the same properties as one thicker pad, albeit with the thermal transfer properties of the weaker of the two (which is going to be an ultra negligible difference between quality pads anyway)

Yes, currently £579 on OcUK and 9 left in stock.
Was looking to do them under £450 delivered with games.

If you are the only retailer on the planet selling Strix 64s with the design flaw fixed AND £100+ off then shifting 1000 units isn't going to be an issue

 

[Gibbo]

Can you confirm Gibbo that ASUS are ok with us removing the cooler to carry out this 'upgrade'?

Useful thread this, card is still fantastic.

Shame it doesn't appear that EK make a pre-filled MLC block for it, would have been perfect.

We will ask that question if we find a solution.

Why don't you use the stock one AND the EK one and see what that does?

It sounds botchy but realistically as their heat transfer is conduction based then combined they would have the same properties as one thicker pad, albeit with the thermal transfer properties of the weaker of the two (which is going to be an ultra negligible difference between quality pads anyway)



If you are the only retailer on the planet selling Strix 64s with the design flaw fixed AND £100+ off then shifting 1000 units isn't going to be an issue

We tried that, made the card run odd.

We won't fix the flaw, but we will get permission for owners to do it themselves, our time is money and you can't have £100 off and our guys spending time pulling cards apart and us not charge for that time, plus at this time of year unfortunately our SI department is too busy to pull apart 1000 graphics cards.

If we find the solution, we are happy to share, gain permission from Asus to allow end users to implement themselves without voiding warranty.

 

[nashathedog]

Are Asus using the same cooler as the Nvidia GTX 1080 Strix on these?

How can Asus be so stupid to release these cards if they don't reach advertised clocks properly? Maybe they just don't give a crap about AMD cards?

That isn't really on Asus, none of the Vega's hit the advertised clocks out of the box, I've had 4 different Vega's including the overengineered Nitro + Limited Edition (3x8pin) and they've all been the same so it's more on AMD than anyone as they shouldn't of been giving stock clock speeds they can't achieve in the first place, and the decision to do that would have been down to Raj Koduri as the then head of RTG so it's not all that surprising.

 

[Gibbo]

That isn't really on Asus, the vrm's are but none of the Vega's hit the advertised clocks out of the box, I've had 4 different Vega's including the overengineered Nitro + Limited Edition (3x8pin) and they've all been the same so it's more on AMD than anyone as they shouldn't of been giving stock clock speeds they can't achieve in the first place, and the decision to do that would have been down to Raj Koduri as the then head of RTG.

True but in fairness our AMD reference card here boost at 1570MHz and generally holds that speed, which I believe is above their advertised boost clock.
The Asus is advertised at 1590Mhz which it does hit for a few seconds, after thirty minutes or so of gaming and benchmarks in a closed case the boost clock is hovering around 1400MHz to keep temperatures under control.

The main advantage of the Asus its one of the quietest we have ever tested.

 

[JamesM]

I tended to just whack the fans up and put up with the noise!

 

[ubersonic]

That isn't really on Asus, the vrm's are but none of the Vega's hit the advertised clocks out of the box

In fairness to AMD here.

It's accepted practice in the GPU industry that when advertising your cards max boost clocks you list what they will do on an open rig in an air conditioned room, not what they will do in Steve Smith's Chieftec Dragon in his second floor bedroom. If you don't follow this practise when your competitors(s) do then your cards will look weaker on paper compared to the competition, and it wasn't AMD that started this practice.

 

[Gibbo]

I tended to just whack the fans up and put up with the noise!

The Asus fans at 100% are quiet and the VRM still gets hot.

 

[loftie]

You would have thought Asus would have noticed when they tested the card

This is what really sets us apart from any other reseller.

+1, good job guys. Maybe send Asus your testing method so they won't make the same mistake again

 

[Nelly]

You would have thought Asus would have noticed when they tested the card

Yeah dropping down by 200MHz isn't exactly a miniscule amount compared to other manufacturer cards and it's that was I was referring to. To me it just goes to show how dedicated Asus are when it comes down to quality control of their AMD cards.

 

[nashathedog]

In fairness to AMD here.

It's accepted practice in the GPU industry that when advertising your cards max boost clocks you list what they will do on an open rig in an air conditioned room, not what they will do in Steve Smith's Chieftec Dragon in his second floor bedroom. If you don't follow this practise when your competitors(s) do then your cards will look weaker on paper compared to the competition, and it wasn't AMD that started this practice.

Seriously? It's got nothing to do with testing on an open bench, AMD have done the opposite to what Nvidia do, Nvidia give boost clocks that their cards go far beyond without any tweaking, AMD give clocks their card struggle to reach with tweaking, They did it because on paper it makes their cards look like they're matching Nvidia's when they're not.

Yeah dropping down by 200MHz isn't exactly a miniscule amount compared to other manufacturer cards and it's that was I was referring to. To me it just goes to show how dedicated Asus are when it comes down to quality control of their AMD cards.

Sadly it's nothing new, They all do it which is why it's always best to go with an AMD only brand when buying an AMD card.

 

[Hades]

Sadly it's nothing new, They all do it which is why it's always best to go with an AMD only brand when buying an AMD card.

This was the advice I read somewhere when looking into the various V64's and especially the Strix. From what I read (can't remember where) the heat sink was reused from another card in their Strix lineup. It wasn't designed for the V64, which is why it doesn't quite fit the VRM's. The card is worth it at the right price. But one of the dedicated AMD brands such as Powercolour and Sapphire seemed to have the better cooling solution because of it.

 

[Nasher]

This was the advice I read somewhere when looking into the various V64's and especially the Strix. From what I read (can't remember where) the heat sink was reused from another card in their Strix lineup. It wasn't designed for the V64, which is why it doesn't quite fit the VRM's. The card is worth it at the right price. But one of the dedicated AMD brands such as Powercolour and Sapphire seemed to have the better cooling solution because of it.

I've had loads of trouble with Nvidia's "boost clocks" with cards just being unstable on them. Not a fan :/

 

[Boomstick777]

@Gibbo,

I'm happy to test this out if you wanna send me one of them strip things xD

Is this the one I need? https://www.overclockers.co.uk/thermal-grizzly-minus-pad-8-20x-120x-3.0mm-th-029-tg.html

 

[Gibbo]

@Gibbo,

I'm happy to test this out if you wanna send me one of them strip things xD

Is this the one I need? https://www.overclockers.co.uk/thermal-grizzly-minus-pad-8-20x-120x-3.0mm-th-029-tg.html

We've tested it, the VRM temp has reduced, the card held around 1570-1590MHz for a solid 30 minutes roughly before it started to throttle back, so it helps but due to the Asus fans been so quiet, eventually the card heat soaks, as even 100% fan speed they are still quiet.

I think it is quite simple if you want best performance, you buy Nitro or Devil.
If you want silence, reference levels of performance and good looks with good warranty you buy Asus.