is a Radeon VII an upgrade from a good Vega 64

terroristone · 16 Jul 2020 at 09:16

Hey guys, i can get a second hand Radeon Vii with waterblock for a decent price, i currently have a Vega 64 with water block running daily at 1700 core and 1100 hbm2. Would a VII card be much of an upgrade once overclocked? i game at 1440P 144hz monitor, games i play are BFV, COD, BattleFront 2 and halflife Alyx.

Any feedback is welcomed.

Regards Andrew

montymint · 16 Jul 2020 at 09:23

imo no, wait for big navi - unless you can sell your Vega to offset like 90% of the cost

Phixsator · 16 Jul 2020 at 09:24

As with everything it depends on the price. It would have to be fairly low for me to want to bother. I just don't see the value otherwise considering what's on the horizon and what is already here.

terroristone · 16 Jul 2020 at 09:36

where i live i would be able to offload my vega 64 fairly fast. $800 for the VII with waterblock. im sure i can get $400 for my vega. Im thinking the VII will be enough for me considering how much i use it, i've had the veha 64 since launch and its still going strong. Only in BFV i need to turn down the detail slightly to keep my frames above 144. The only reason i see to wait is that maybe a new Battlefield game will come out but that wont be till late next year and by then my 4790k will need upgrading anyway. I need to be convinced to either get it or not.

terroristone · 16 Jul 2020 at 09:46

i made a mistake and didnt read the ad, it has a Kraken G12 and Kraken X62 280mm AIO fitted so wont work for my custom loop. decision made. waiting for next gen ryzen and big navi.

Phixsator · 16 Jul 2020 at 09:57

terroristone said:
i made a mistake and didnt read the ad, it has a Kraken G12 and Kraken X62 280mm AIO fitted so wont work for my custom loop. decision made. waiting for next gen ryzen and big navi.

Smart move my man.

terroristone · 16 Jul 2020 at 10:46

Would my CPU be bottlenecking me now in BFV? ive not upgraded for some time now and im getting a massive upgrade itch and knowing whats coming its getting harder to wait. Here i am sinking a few beers and looking into a full cover block for the VII as the seller will separate for me....drunken purchases????....

Kelt · 16 Jul 2020 at 11:10

terroristone said:
Would my CPU be bottlenecking me now in BFV? ive not upgraded for some time now and im getting a massive upgrade itch and knowing whats coming its getting harder to wait. Here i am sinking a few beers and looking into a full cover block for the VII as the seller will separate for me....drunken purchases????....

Run the OSD from MSI Afterburner whilst running your games and check the CPU and GPU usage.

That will soon tell you your bottlenecks, if any.

And yeh, put the VII upgrade out of your mind, utterly pointless upgrade at this stage.

terroristone · 16 Jul 2020 at 11:16

Kelt said:
Run the OSD from MSI Afterburner whilst running your games and check the CPU and GPU usage.

That will soon tell you your bottlenecks, if any.

And yeh, put the VII upgrade out of your mind, utterly pointless upgrade at this stage.

Thank you, i needed to hear it. I'll wait. Thanks for the reality check.

Regards T1

TripleT · 19 Jul 2020 at 17:52

What frames do you get in BFV and Cod at 1440p?

I've got a reference Vega64 clocked at 1600 but I only have a 1080p monitor at the moment, want to more up but don't want to drop too much!

Gerard · 20 Jul 2020 at 02:34

Its an upgrade but not a substantial one, its a bit faster than the 5700xt so roughly 15 or so fps more depending on the game.

Dicehunter · 20 Jul 2020 at 09:11

It's about 5-10% faster at best and I'm talking the best case scenario.

Dave2150 · 20 Jul 2020 at 10:34

Dicehunter said:
It's about 5-10% faster at best and I'm talking the best case scenario.

Err, this is completely wrong. At 4k the Radeon VII is around 20% faster than a Vega 64 in many games.

Source > Anandtech (https://www.anandtech.com/show/13923/the-amd-radeon-vii-review/6)

Note the drivers have improved a bunch since release, further pulling away from Vega64.

Radeon VII is still the fastest 4K card AMD released, especially when you overclock the HBM2 and underclock the core.

Also, having 16GB VRAM is great for 4k and for VR. For example, Playing Half Life Alyx on my Index, I see over 11GB VRAM utilisation as a regular occurrence. This would lag on a 8GB card such as the Vega 64.

MissChief · 20 Jul 2020 at 10:36

Is it an upgrade? Clearly yes. Is it a worthwhile upgrade, both in cost and timing considering the pending announcement of new cards? Demonstrably, no.

ANDREW GREEN · 20 Jul 2020 at 10:42

Dave2150 said:
Also, having 16GB VRAM is great for 4k and for VR. For example, Playing Half Life Alyx on my Index, I see over 11GB VRAM utilisation as a regular occurrence. This would lag on a 8GB card such as the Vega 64.

I'm not sure we get that conclusion by memory allocation. Hardware unboxed tested this and just because it allocates more memory it doesn't mean it'll lag if you don't have the memory allocated

Dicehunter · 20 Jul 2020 at 10:46

Dave2150 said:
snip

I'm basing it on my own experience having had a Radeon 7 and Vega 64.

Dave2150 · 20 Jul 2020 at 10:54

Dicehunter said:
I'm basing it on my own experience having had a Radeon 7 and Vega 64.

I have owned both too. In fact I had the liquid cooled version of the Vega64, the fastest that was released.

If you believe Anandtech's numbers (and the plethora or other trusted reviews) to be incorrect, you should go into business mate. You could make a fortune, prove them all wrong, tear it all down.

At 4k, Radeon VII is at least 20% faster than a Vega64. I'm assuming your just trolling here, so won't reply further :rolleyes:

Dave2150 · 20 Jul 2020 at 10:59

ANDREW GREEN said:
I'm not sure we get that conclusion by memory allocation. Hardware unboxed tested this and just because it allocates more memory it doesn't mean it'll lag if you don't have the memory allocated

We get to that conclusion by running a demanding VR game (Half life Alyx) on a high resolution headset (Valve Index) on a 8GB card, and on a 11GB or 16GB card.

I've tested with a 8GB card (2070S) and 16GB card (Radeon VII). 2070S had stutters on max settings, especially in demanding scenes. These stutters simply aren't there on the Radeon VII, despite the 2070S being a slightly faster card.

Have you tried running Half Life Alyx on a Valve Index on a 8GB card, on high?

Dicehunter · 20 Jul 2020 at 12:08

Dave2150 said:
I have owned both too. In fact I had the liquid cooled version of the Vega64, the fastest that was released.

If you believe Anandtech's numbers (and the plethora or other trusted reviews) to be incorrect, you should go into business mate. You could make a fortune, prove them all wrong, tear it all down.

At 4k, Radeon VII is at least 20% faster than a Vega64. I'm assuming your just trolling here, so won't reply further

For frigg sake mate, No I'm not trolling, No need to make it into yet another pointless forum argument, I said 5-10%, Anandtech said 15-20%, Whoopdeedoo, It's not important at all in any way shape or form, Move on.

ANDREW GREEN · 20 Jul 2020 at 13:14

Dave2150 said:
We get to that conclusion by running a demanding VR game (Half life Alyx) on a high resolution headset (Valve Index) on a 8GB card, and on a 11GB or 16GB card.

I've tested with a 8GB card (2070S) and 16GB card (Radeon VII). 2070S had stutters on max settings, especially in demanding scenes. These stutters simply aren't there on the Radeon VII, despite the 2070S being a slightly faster card.

Have you tried running Half Life Alyx on a Valve Index on a 8GB card, on high?

Ahh okay fair enough mate, I'll take your word for it, I haven't taken the dive to VR yet, currently on a Vega 56. How is the change to VR for you?

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