The R9 290X launched with a rushed out cooler,and one or two issues,but if AMD had held back the launch a bit longer to refine things and launch with aftermarkt coolers,the impression of the R9 290 series would have been better - I knew so many who ended up thinking it was hot and throttling and they were mostly not enthusiasts on forums,but gamers and I needed to explain to them it that the third party models were better.
Nvidia actually sent cards to reviewers to highlight "the issues" with the card especially on quieter settings - reviewers actually mention Nvidia sending them cards.
Look at the R9 390 series - virtually the same cards,yet have a far better impression.
It's great that ryzen wasn't delayed, people who don't mind testing, tweaking etc have some fun and those who like everything more stable can wait (like they would've anyway if it was delayed).
There is nothing wrong for consumers that it was released when it was. Everyone is aware it's new, it requires updates, support from everyone around so buyers know what they are getting. You'd prefer it was released 1-2 months later? just buy it in 1-2 months when it's more stable, what's the problem? That you can see all the testing, all the bugs that wouldn't have been found otherwise? or are you worried about financial state of AMD?
Because its the same with some of their other launches - enthusiasts will tweak,etc and ATM I have less techy friends of mine who think Intel is still better for gaming and Ryzen has bugs,going by the launch reviews. Then you need to keep explaining to them,give it some time,a month or two so don't judge it fully yet.
Its like with my mate who wants an R7 1700 for non-gaming use,after I told him about Ryzen before - he sees all these "issues" with the motherboards and just wants a stable build and this is why I am trawling through forums to make a list. It worries me,because even when some reviewers like JayzTwoCents basically said Ryzen CPUs are decent,but he cannot recommend it yet and then points to the motherboards,its not great PR for AMD especially considering people like him have like a million subscribers.
Its like on the graphics side - most of the time they compete really well with Nvidia even several times at the high end and then find some way to give room for their competitors,and all of us know in a few months that many of the AMD cards mature,and show decent improvement. Then you get people still buying Nvidia,so in the end its just this own goal mentality which I get annoyed about with AMD.
I mean the motherboards are not even available in quantity for a number of models,and BIOSes are not entirely there yet - so even the blasted launch reviews are probably not even going to be that accurate I think even in a month.
If they launched in a few weeks time,they could have had at least some of the Windows updates in place,more time for motherboards with more refined BIOSes,etc.
I mean if you listen to what AMD said within a day of the launch,they apparently were aware of the fact some of these fixes were incoming.
Remember I was the one who found that comment about the first Windows updates being released with the R5 1600X launch.
Plus that is another thing - launching the R5 and R7 together with the Windows updates would have been a 1,2 punch to Intel.
Thermalright are sending me the AM4 upgrade for free along with a couple of fans that I've paid for. I have a feeling that some of the parts weren't quite right. The AM3 holes on the backplate didn't match up with the holes on the top mounting plate for example. So I'll see if it's any better when the parts turn up.
Bought the gigabyte gaming 3 along with 1700 to go with some 16gb corsair lpx 3000mhz ram I bought previously.
