OcUK evening RX7900GRE review thread

[tommybhoy]

Back in the days of yore I had an x800 pro that I happily unlocked to x800xt-pe spec. Would be nice if it was that simple these days, though I'd imagine the differing vram amounts would screw things up, unless the card still carries the correct amount for 7900xt.

Doubt it would be that easy.

Wouldn't try n flash 79GRE to 79XT.

Bios flashed unlocked 6950>70 in Crossfire then 290>290X bios mods were my BBFB ever.

And then on the 79 series, you worked out your max stable overclcock and created a bios to run it@stock!

Custom clocks/voltages you could apply to custom/water cooled 7950's back in the day-were insane, they were more more fun than the 7970's.

Now we undervolt.

 

[Gerard]

Wouldn't try n flash 79GRE to 79XT.

I'd try if the card had dual bios, nothing to lose but the MBA cards only seem to have a single bios.

 

[tommybhoy]

Just in case anyone's trying to decide whether to go 78XT or GRE, Asus is doing a cashback offer(OcUK is on the list but don't see anything on OcUK's website about it) but the GRE isn't included:

Participating Models & Cashbacks:​

Spoiler

Model	Cashback	Rate My Gear*
TUF-RX7900XTX-O24G-GAMING	£85.00	£25.00
TUF-RX7900XT-O20G-GAMING	£75.00	£25.00
TUF-RX7800XT-O16G-GAMING	£60.00	£25.00
DUAL-RX7800XT-O16G	£60.00	£25.00
TUF-RX7700XT-O12G-GAMING	£55.00	£25.00
DUAL-RX7700XT-O12G	£55.00	£25.00
TUF-RX7600XT-O16G-GAMING	£40.00	£25.00
DUAL-RX7600XT-O16G	£40.00	£25.00
DUAL-RX7600-O8G-V2	£35.00	£25.00

ASUS Promotion

RECEIVE UP TO £115 CASHBACK WITH THE PURCHASE

promotion.asus.com

 

[humbug]

I did, you said he used a China only model (that's an AMD reference card from what I can tell) instead of using a global release version (with altered power targets I assume?).


What is the "global release" reference card and what are it's power limit? Or has it not been released yet? If AMD choose not to release a reference card in other markets, that's on them. If AMD however have a different reference card for other markets, even if it's not out yet and only annoucned, that's on HUB.

I'd also point out, if AMD have a china reference model gre, and are planning on releasing another, differently spec'd, global spec gre that's also on AMD because that'd be stupid, they should have named it differently.

I see no issue testing a reference model as a base line, testing an aftermarket one with altered specs as a baseline is a no IMHO. It's fine if they're reviewing specific card, i.e. comparing a Nitro+ to an XFX Merc, but not for trying to establish baseline, otherwise which do you put into charts? The slowest one? The fastest one? All of them? Then do you need to do that to all the cards to make it fair?

You put the same card on the charts that everyone else did. The one that AMD sent to HUB, there is no retail reference 7900 GRE outside of China.

 

[humbug]

Starting to wonder if the site advertising the reference MBA card even has in stock what they're advertising after looking at this pic...This is from the GRE listing, yet the backplate says 7900xt. They do list it as an XFX brand card, so maybe their images are wrong. Or maybe they're correct but the text on the backplate never got changed?

Also in this pic.

That's dodgy, i'd be interested to see if it comes in a plain brown box or if it the OEM box if has chinese writing on it.

 

[humbug]

Just in case anyone's trying to decide whether to go 78XT or GRE, Asus is doing a cashback offer(OcUK is on the list but don't see anything on OcUK's website about it) but the GRE isn't included:

Participating Models & Cashbacks:​

Spoiler

Model	Cashback	Rate My Gear*
TUF-RX7900XTX-O24G-GAMING	£85.00	£25.00
TUF-RX7900XT-O20G-GAMING	£75.00	£25.00
TUF-RX7800XT-O16G-GAMING	£60.00	£25.00
DUAL-RX7800XT-O16G	£60.00	£25.00
TUF-RX7700XT-O12G-GAMING	£55.00	£25.00
DUAL-RX7700XT-O12G	£55.00	£25.00
TUF-RX7600XT-O16G-GAMING	£40.00	£25.00
DUAL-RX7600XT-O16G	£40.00	£25.00
DUAL-RX7600-O8G-V2	£35.00	£25.00

ASUS Promotion

RECEIVE UP TO £115 CASHBACK WITH THE PURCHASE

promotion.asus.com

Maybe not over price your crap to begin with, then you wouldn't have to offer cashbacks to try and shift your crap. mean holly ____ even after the £60 cashback your 7800 XT still costs more than what mine costs.

I

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

Isn't Asus also famously slow at honouring their cashback offers?

 

[humbug]

Isn't Asus also famously slow at honouring their cashback offers?

Probably, obviously they would rather you were enticed by the offer but not actually bother claiming that cashback, certainly they will honour it, they have to, but they will waste as much of your time as they can in the process and hope you give up.

This is true for all cashback offers, its why they wouldn't just discount at sale.

Kinda happy to see it, it means Asus are not selling enough cards, at least on the AMD side, dunno if this offer exists on the Nvidia side, Asus are too expensive.

The Sapphire Nitro + is as good if not probably better, and much cheaper.

 

[loftie]

You put the same card on the charts that everyone else did. The one that AMD sent to HUB, there is no retail reference 7900 GRE outside of China.

Which one is that?
HUB used a nitro+ in the follow up but had 4 in the original video, L1 used a nitro+, GN used a pulse, Kitguru used the AMD reference card, Techpowerup looks like they did a Sapphire Pure first, DF used a pulse and looks like they threw up the reference specs on their table. For ***** and giggles, the home of how to build a PC, the verge, used an XFX in their pictures - so it's probably an MSI or something

Again, just because AMD chose not to release the reference else where, it doesn't mean there's not a reference. If they used the Nitro+ as their baseline, when they come to review the Pulse their performance figures would be negative looking at TPUs review. Another thing to consider - what happens if one of the AIB partners decide to release a budget version spec'd like the reference?
At the end of the day, if you're looking at a review of any model other than the one you're thinking of buying for performance/power/cooling/noise results - you're researching wrong.

The reference also brings up the question, why did they make it so anemic? Is it to allow chinese AIB partners to cut cost and produce worse products?

 

[humbug]

Which one is that?
HUB used a nitro+ in the follow up but had 4 in the original video, L1 used a nitro+, GN used a pulse, Kitguru used the AMD reference card, Techpowerup looks like they did a Sapphire Pure first, DF used a pulse and looks like they threw up the reference specs on their table. For ***** and giggles, the home of how to build a PC, the verge, used an XFX in their pictures - so it's probably an MSI or something

Again, just because AMD chose not to release the reference else where, it doesn't mean there's not a reference. If they used the Nitro+ as their baseline, when they come to review the Pulse their performance figures would be negative looking at TPUs review. Another thing to consider - what happens if one of the AIB partners decide to release a budget version spec'd like the reference?
At the end of the day, if you're looking at a review of any model other than the one you're thinking of buying for performance/power/cooling/noise results - you're researching wrong.

The reference also brings up the question, why did they make it so anemic? Is it to allow chinese AIB partners to cut cost and produce worse products?

Wait, what? TPU's Pulse review puts it 10% ahead of the 7800 XT, that tallies, at least with the rest of reviews. Its also very much cooler and quieter than the reference one.

I honestly don't know if i'm being trolled at this point, there is a reference one, we all know there is a reference one, that reference one is just not available to you and its different to the one that is.

HUB reviewed the card that is not available to you while he had the one that is at hand, the one not available to you that he did review is also slower than the one that is.

Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 GRE Pulse Review

The Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 GRE Pulse emerges as the best GRE model released today, offering exceptional value at AMD's MSRP of $550. Outperforming the RX 4070 Super in raster, it operates whisper-quiet, catering to gamers and enthusiasts seeking top-tier performance without exceeding their budget.

www.techpowerup.com

 

[GhostDog1981]

Wait, what? TPU's Pulse review puts it 10% ahead of the 7800 XT, that tallies, at least with the rest of reviews. Its also very much cooler and quieter than the reference one.

I honestly don't know if you're trolling at this point, there is a reference one, we all know there is a reference one, that reference one is just not available to you and its different to the one that is.

HUB reviewed the card that is not available to you while he had the one that is at hand, the one not available to you that he did review is also slower than the one that is.

Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 GRE Pulse Review

The Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 GRE Pulse emerges as the best GRE model released today, offering exceptional value at AMD's MSRP of $550. Outperforming the RX 4070 Super in raster, it operates whisper-quiet, catering to gamers and enthusiasts seeking top-tier performance without exceeding their budget.

www.techpowerup.com

Is the reference one that Steve really all that different to the XFX reference one that was available recently in the UK?

Would have thought that both would have the same level of performance limiting etc.

 

[Robert896r1]

Isn't Asus also famously slow at honouring their cashback offers?

Nope. Prob done about 5 cashback’s with them over the last 3 years. Quick and no issues

 

[humbug]

Is the reference one that Steve really all that different to the XFX reference one that was available recently in the UK?

Would have thought that both would have the same level of performance limiting etc.

We don't know what that XFX one is, its using 7900 XT imagery on the sales page.

 

[Gerard]

That's dodgy, i'd be interested to see if it comes in a plain brown box or if it the OEM box if has chinese writing on it.

Well they're out of stock at the minute for the second time. I shot them a mail asking if the card in the pics matches the actual product. Hopefully get a reply on Monday.

 

[humbug]

Well they're out of stock at the minute for the second time. I shot them a mail asking if the card in the pics matches the actual product. Hopefully get a reply on Monday.

Yeah, post back if you get an answer

 

[humbug]

Wait, what? TPU's Pulse review puts it 10% ahead of the 7800 XT, that tallies, at least with the rest of reviews. Its also very much cooler and quieter than the reference one.

I honestly don't know if i'm being trolled at this point, there is a reference one, we all know there is a reference one, that reference one is just not available to you and its different to the one that is.

HUB reviewed the card that is not available to you while he had the one that is at hand, the one not available to you that he did review is also slower than the one that is.

Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 GRE Pulse Review

The Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 GRE Pulse emerges as the best GRE model released today, offering exceptional value at AMD's MSRP of $550. Outperforming the RX 4070 Super in raster, it operates whisper-quiet, catering to gamers and enthusiasts seeking top-tier performance without exceeding their budget.

www.techpowerup.com

Oh... hang on, do you mean Toms Hardware? @loftie

 

[humbug]

no... not Toms either, they also reviewed the Pulse as good.

On a side note, good grief Toms, are you trying to get all the revenue from advert banners? Even while running adblcok you can feel the web page trying desperately to force through a thousand ad banners, horrible website to use.... it insta' boils my i5 Laptop.

 

[loftie]

Wait, what? TPU's Pulse review puts it 10% ahead of the 7800 XT, that tallies, at least with the rest of reviews.

Why are you talking about the 7800xt?

You said, steve should have used the card he was sent from AMD. Steve, afterwards, tested with a 7900 Nitro+, but had 3 other cards to choose from. The 7900 Pulse is slower than the 7900 Nitro+, if Steve had used the 7900 Nitro+ as his baseline, then when/if he reviews the 7900 Pulse, the 7900 Pulse will have a negative performance compared to his baseline (the 7900 nitro+ you're suggesting he use) because according to TPU, the 7900GRE Pulse is slower than the 7900GRE Nitro+ (unsurprisingly).
At no point did I mention the 7800XT.

I honestly don't know if i'm being trolled at this point, there is a reference one, we all know there is a reference one, that reference one is just not available to you and its different to the one that is.

Yep, we know there is an AMD reference. We know it's not available to us. We know that the AIB Partner cards are different/better - this isn't news. It's still a reference card, complain to AMD for not making it globally available and generally anemic.

You also suggested he should use the same card everyone else used, and then I listed a handful of sites all using, mostly sapphire, but a collection of cards in different tiers.

HUB reviewed the card that is not available to you while he had the one that is at hand, the one not available to you that he did review is also slower than the one that is.

Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 GRE Pulse Review

The Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 GRE Pulse emerges as the best GRE model released today, offering exceptional value at AMD's MSRP of $550. Outperforming the RX 4070 Super in raster, it operates whisper-quiet, catering to gamers and enthusiasts seeking top-tier performance without exceeding their budget.

www.techpowerup.com

So again, you're suggesting he use an OC'd Nitro+ (not even a base tier model from sapphire) to create a baseline to compare other cards of the same model?


TBH, I feel like this isn't something we are going to agree on Humbug and it'll end up us just going back and forth.

Oh... hang on, do you mean Toms Hardware? @loftie

I didn't look at Toms tbh! I kinda forgot they even existed I've not looked at them for so long.

On a side note, good grief Toms, are you trying to get all the revenue from advert banners? Even while running adblcok you can feel the web page trying desperately to force through a thousand ad banners, horrible website to use.... it insta' boils my i5 Laptop.

It shows me the price comparison at the end, but that's it as far as adverts. This one right? https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/amd-radeon-rx-7900-gre-review
What adblock are you using?

Also disappointed my snipe at the Verge didn't get a chuckle from you humbug

Edit: added underlining

 

[humbug]

Sorry, i did see that about the Verge but it didn't click in my head.

The card that HUB used is designed for prebuilds, its designed to use less power than the retail version and with that is about 10% slower than the retail version.

Imagine this, Nvidia launch the RTX 5060, there are actually two of them, one is specifically designed for retail and the other for prebuilds, the one for prebuilds is 10% slower than the retail one,
You cannot buy the prebuild designed one as a stand alone card.
Steve Walton buys a Dell prebuild, pulls the prebuild designed RTX 5060 out of it and reviews it as if its the retail RTX 5060, then complains the performance is not much better than the RTX 5050 Ti and its not worth buying.

A week later he comes back and says everyone else reviewed an AIB version of the RTX 5060 and i reviewed the reference one, that's why my numbers are different, but i will review this AIB one and add it to the chart as an AIB reference point.

Do you see anything wrong with what's going on there?

 

[loftie]

Sorry, i did see that about the Verge but it didn't click in my head.

Comedy gold wasted

The card that HUB used is designed for prebuilds, its designed to use less power than the retail version and with that is about 10% slower than the retail version.

If it's a custom BIOS doing this being used by the prebuilt manufacturer, and HUB didn't check that, that's on HUB. Again, if AMD purposefully released that card, even if it's with prebuilds in mind and it is using a lower power target on purpose and it's not using a custom BIOS from the prebuilt manufacturer, that's on AMD. They should have named it differently.

Imagine this, Nvidia launch the RTX 5060 there are actually two of them, one is specifically designed for retail and the other for prebuilds, the one for prebuilds is 10% slower than the retail one,

This goes back to it's a naming issue and should never have been named the same. There should never have been two 5060s in the first place if one is purposely power limited - the Max Q gpus for laptops comes to mind.

You cannot buy the prebuild designed one as a stand alone card.

But they are available somewhere, and it is possible the same card could come west in prebuilds here. It was originally only a china card.

Steve Walton buys a Dell prebuild, pulls the prebuild designed RTX 5060 out of it and reviews it as if its the retail RTX 5060, then complains the performance is not much better than the RTX 5050 Ti and its not worth buying.

They can also be pulled, so it's possible they can be sold too.

A week later he comes back and says everyone else reviewed an AIB version on the RTX 5060 and i reviewed the reference one, that's why my numbers are different, but i will review this AIB one and add it to the chart as an AIB reference point.

As he should, the numbers are different because it's a different SKU. I think I mentioned before, if people expecting the same performance from one SKU to another SKU they're doing it wrong. You wouldn't look at a Pulse review to see how quiet the Nitro+ is. So you shouldn't look at the reference review to find out how the Nitro+ performs.

Do you see anything wrong with what's going on there?

See above. Unless I've missed something you were hinting at, then please elaborate.

At the end of the day, the reference cards exist. If AMD didn't want the comparison then they should have named the non china one something else - it would have solved almost everything. They couldn't be pulled and potentially sold to unsuspecting buyers on say ebay if the card was named different for example (at least without more work).

But then he still shouldn't use the Nitro+ as his AIB baseline - it's an OC'd more expensive model.

Speaking of OC, I think HUB mentions in the second video that the OC limit on the GRE is a bug. So it'll be interesting to see what it can do once that's sorted.