Best AMD GPU manufacturer

senorgrande · 11 Jul 2018 at 08:29

My MSI RX480 is going to need to be RMA'd for the second time. Before this card I had an MSI 670 which also had to be replaced under warranty. Not only am I disappointed with the reliability but the last time I had to RMA the RX480 it took something like 6 weeks to get a return which was intolerably slow. It's going to be replaced (I hope) under warranty but I'm considering just getting a Vega 64. I definitely wont be getting MSI though.

So, just wanted to gather some opinions on the reliability and service of the various AMD GPU manufacturers.

I have a Freesync monitor so I dont plan to move to Nvidia.

Vince · 11 Jul 2018 at 08:57

IMO The best cards aside from cooling are the reference cards, vega reference boards are absolute tanks and are hideously over engineered boards. If you can find a reference design I would be tempted to go with that! A liquid reference is even better! Your experience with MSI is the same as mine! Every single MSI product I have ever owned has broken or gone back multiple times because frankly MSI stuff is utter rubbish. My old 280x went back 3 or 4 times and I never actually got a decent one. put simply MSI suck massive donkey balls.

Nasher · 11 Jul 2018 at 09:00

The XFX 480 XXX GTR I have has pretty good components on it. It's one of the best cards I've ever owned.

But yea, all the Geforce MSI ones I've had have died after 1-2 years too. I stopped buying them.

KillBoY_UK · 11 Jul 2018 at 09:21

Panos · 11 Jul 2018 at 10:51

senorgrande said:
My MSI RX480 is going to need to be RMA'd for the second time. Before this card I had an MSI 670 which also had to be replaced under warranty. Not only am I disappointed with the reliability but the last time I had to RMA the RX480 it took something like 6 weeks to get a return which was intolerably slow. It's going to be replaced (I hope) under warranty but I'm considering just getting a Vega 64. I definitely wont be getting MSI though.

So, just wanted to gather some opinions on the reliability and service of the various AMD GPU manufacturers.

I have a Freesync monitor so I dont plan to move to Nvidia.

Powercolor, XFX & Sapphire in that order.
I have no idea how the RMA of Asrock is.

Vince · 11 Jul 2018 at 10:55

Nasher said:
The XFX 480 XXX GTR I have has pretty good components on it. It's one of the best cards I've ever owned.

But yea, all the Geforce MSI ones I've had have died after 1-2 years too. I stopped buying them.

Isn't the xfx 480 XXX based on the reference design. I used to have that card and am sure it was a binned reference jobbie.

Nasher · 11 Jul 2018 at 10:56

Vince said:
Isn't the xfx 480 XXX based on the reference design. I used to have that card and am sure it was a binned reference jobbie.

Not sure but the VRMs are way over-spec. They don't even need heatsinks on them.

Unless I find future cards of that quality I'll be sticking with reference and modding the cooler myself instead from now on.

4K8KW10 · 11 Jul 2018 at 11:00

Panos said:
Powercolor, XFX & Sapphire in that order.
I have no idea how the RMA of Asrock is.

Sapphire is the official and first AMD partner. All the others are second-tier.
So, if you can find a reference card, if not Sapphire should be your choice number 1.

Vince · 11 Jul 2018 at 11:04

Nasher said:
Not sure but the VRMs are way over-spec. They don't even need heatsinks on them.

Unless I find future cards of that quality I'll be sticking with reference and modding the cooler myself instead from now on.

Just had a look and pretty sure it is - The ref vegas and rx480/580 are so over spec it is silly

BobShark · 11 Jul 2018 at 11:17

Only ever had good experiences with Sapphire. Card's seem solidly built.

4K8KW10 · 11 Jul 2018 at 11:20

BobShark said:
Only ever had good experiences with Sapphire. Card's seem solidly built.

Yes, Sapphire is rock solid.
Sapphire is to Radeon what EVGA is to GeForce.

Toasty · 11 Jul 2018 at 13:33

Another vote for Sapphire have a few Nitro + Vega and they are tanks very well built

LoadsaMoney · 11 Jul 2018 at 14:38

Another Sapphire vote here, had many of their cards over the years, and never had a prob with any.

nashathedog · 11 Jul 2018 at 14:47

Big companies like ASUS, Gigabyte & MSI often use components they developed for Nvidia cards with their AMD card, They've all done it and they've all been caught out by it in the recent past.

The best thing to do is go with one of the AMD only brands,
Companies like Sapphire, Powercolor & XFX offer the best AMD Graphics card's & they do so consistently.

Jason1973 · 11 Jul 2018 at 14:48

Got to agree with Sapphire.

Had my 7970 6 years before it died.

Vince · 11 Jul 2018 at 15:10

I am pretty sure my 56 is a Sapphire - Also with reference boards you can flash the 56 to 64 to put it within 2% of 64 performance so that is always worth noting.

senorgrande · 11 Jul 2018 at 15:35

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I guess Sapphire will be the way to go. I did have a Sapphire Radeon X800 Pro way back in the day before switching to Nvidia.

Vince · 11 Jul 2018 at 20:03

KillBoY_UK said:
TSMC

Just spotted this little gem

There isn't a Consumer Vega core on the market produced at TSMC (yet) as far as I am aware, I could be completely wrong but I thought 14nm Vega, Polaris, 14nm Zen (zeppelin cores) including threadripper and also Zen+ were all produced at global foundries using the 14nm LP node. After core production at global foundries Vega parts are shipped out and assembled in either Korea or Taiwan, hence the reason their are two core variants. The resin core and the (not so good) non resin core:

So the very best Vega you can feasibly have imo is a reference Vega that was assembled in Taiwan as there is a 0.4mm offset between hbm and core height on the Korean produced core so the hbm doesn't make contact with the cooling solution, mine for example seemed to be a very solid clocker and undervolter so I just had to know what was underneath:

I do believe that for 7nm they are using both global foundries and tsmc so perhaps in a few months you might be onto something.

MyBrainz · 11 Jul 2018 at 20:05

Sapphire For The Win..

Panos · 11 Jul 2018 at 20:27

Toasty said:
Another vote for Sapphire have a few Nitro + Vega and they are tanks very well built

Yeah that bracket holding the card straight is brilliant idea.... And also the cooler.....

However bought the Nitro+ because it has waterblock and the Powercolor doesn't :/
Knowingly that I will void warranty by replacing the block -_-

I could have bought Powercolor or XFX if anyone made block for their custom cards.