*** The AMD RDNA 4 Rumour Mill ***

[KentMan]

Does it reallly matter what it looks like if it’s stuck in your case and the case is on the floor or you don’t a window etc?

Even if it’s on show you’re staring at a monitor not at the card right? What’s the worst that can happen someone pops by and says wow that’s an ugly GPU? Lol

I don’t get the issue with how a card looks, as long as it’s thermally good, acoustically good and gives the performance I want what does it really matter what it looks like? As I say you don’t spend much if any time staring at it surely lol

 

[GhostDog1981]

Does it reallly matter what it looks like if it’s stuck in your case and the case is on the floor or you don’t a window etc?

Even if it’s on show you’re staring at a monitor not at the card right? What’s the worst that can happen someone pops by and says wow that’s an ugly GPU? Lol

I don’t get the issue with how a card looks, as long as it’s thermally good, acoustically good and gives the performance I want what does it really matter what it looks like? As I say you don’t spend much if any time staring at it surely lol

If your spending £500 odd quid (or more) you don’t want it to be made out of plastic.

 

[Nate75]

Does it reallly matter what it looks like if it’s stuck in your case and the case is on the floor or you don’t a window etc?

Even if it’s on show you’re staring at a monitor not at the card right? What’s the worst that can happen someone pops by and says wow that’s an ugly GPU? Lol

I don’t get the issue with how a card looks, as long as it’s thermally good, acoustically good and gives the performance I want what does it really matter what it looks like? As I say you don’t spend much if any time staring at it surely lol

I do like nice-looking cards but yeah.

The case is under the desk or with my second machine in between the desk and the wall.

Depends on your situation I guess.

 

[KentMan]

If your spending £500 odd quid (or more) you don’t want it to be made out of plastic.

Hang on, the PCB and components are the important parts, then the cooling, the aesethics are normally always plastic? I’m not actually sure what you mean here?

A lot of the gimmicks they add to GPUs actually hinder their thermal performance, I had massive issues with metal backplates in the past heating up and trapping heat into the card.

I think you what actually trying to say is you don’t want something that “looks cheap and tacky due to amount of erroneous plastic In use”? In which case I kind of agree.

But again I go back to the point of, if it hits the price budget, thermal acceptance, acoustic acceptance does it really matter?

 

[GhostDog1981]

Hang on, the PCB and components are the important parts, then the cooling, the aesethics are normally always plastic? I’m not actually sure what you mean here?

A lot of the gimmicks they add to GPUs actually hinder their thermal performance, I had massive issues with metal backplates in the past heating up and trapping heat into the card.

I think you what actually trying to say is you don’t want something that “looks cheap and tacky due to amount of erroneous plastic In use”? In which case I kind of agree.

But again I go back to the point of, if it hits the price budget, thermal acceptance, acoustic acceptance does it really matter?

Your penultimate paragraph is what I meant. Yeh I want the shroud and backplate to be all metal if I’m spending 1/2 a grand. Maybe unreasonable now in this market?

But yeh at the end of the day I’d take a cheap XFX 7900XTX (mostly plastic except a metal backplate) for £670 like they were in November 2024. I’m kicking myself for not buying then.

 

[uscool]

Does it reallly matter what it looks like if it’s stuck in your case and the case is on the floor or you don’t a window etc?

Even if it’s on show you’re staring at a monitor not at the card right? What’s the worst that can happen someone pops by and says wow that’s an ugly GPU? Lol

I don’t get the issue with how a card looks, as long as it’s thermally good, acoustically good and gives the performance I want what does it really matter what it looks like? As I say you don’t spend much if any time staring at it surely lol

My case is on the desk and I also enjoy building for aesthetics , that's why also vertical mounts exist for GPUs

 

[Mercurial]

Pretty much this although I’d probably put Asrock higher than ASU’s and Gigabyte, and MSI don’t make AMD GPU’s anymore I believe, not that big would buy one after the 2 MSI 290’s I had both had terrible heat issues tied to their poor engineering, cooling and backplates.

I agree with your Asrock comment, I've a 6900XT Phantom D and it's built like a truck, so i'd certainly consider Asrock again. You also mirror my experience with an MSI R9 290 I had, not a blower, but the noisiest cooler known to man installed. The rest of my AMD cards have been Sapphire and been faultless.

 

[will13]

Most of the AIB 9070 XT designs that have been shown off are pretty ugly IMO.

Powercolor Reaper is my favourite. Followed by the Hellhound. XFX Swift and Sapphire Pure look pretty nice for white builds. The rest range from passable to vomit-inducing.

Hellhound looks way better this year meanwhile XFX went from a really great looking simple/elegant card too that....

 

[mahius]

Slightly off topic but when did XFX get good? Back in the day they were renowned for selling cards with slower memory and cheaper PCBs than the likes of Sapphire. I do notice most of the cheaper deals are on XFX cards.

May consider them if they've improved.

The non-XT XFX models look alright in my book.

Though I did see a picture of a garish XT RGB model that looks a bit... eh. Maybe it's the RGB that ruins it.

Pretty much this although I’d probably put Asrock higher than ASU’s and Gigabyte, and MSI don’t make AMD GPU’s anymore I believe, not that big would buy one after the 2 MSI 290’s I had both had terrible heat issues tied to their poor engineering, cooling and backplates.

Best Cards to look for are

Sapphire Nitro (Toxxic if they ever redo them)

Powercolor Red Devil or Liquid Devil

XFX Merc was decent but they have changed their naming so waiting to see

Asrock Taichi series

Sounds good. Though with the XFX naming change, I prefer the new naming just because it seems easier to understand the branding. The old names just seemed way too confusing to me.
Swift > Quicksilver > Mercury

A Sapphire Nitro or Powercolour Red Devil would be nice, but my concern is both the size and power draw (they recommend 900W, but I have 750W). Technically size poses no issue as I have space in my case for even a 5-slot card. Just that I don't like the bigger heavier cards, due to the weight causing sag on the bracket and potential damage to the motherboard. Plus blocking up the extra PCIe slots. I'd want to use the other slots for network cards and extra rear I/O connectivity.

At the moment it's a toss up between Sapphire Nitro or XFX Quicksilver. Or if there's a nice reference model of the non-XT and it's priced nicely well below £500, then there's that too.

All depends on if these new AMD GPUs are decent or terrible. By which I mean price and availability.

 

[terley]

Surely they cant be that dumb..

 

[humbug]

People are complaining about the Nvidia prices but then saying AMD being 20% cheaper is a good price?
Didn't they try that already and drop to 10% marketshare?

Seems crazy that £750 for the market leader is a crazy price but 20% lower for a company with just 10% marketshare is a good price for a product we don't have any actual performance figures for (unlike the Nvidia card) just leaks.

If Dyson made a £300 vacuum cleaner and people said the price was a bit high following reviews and then some unknown Chinese brand announce one for 20% less, people would say that was a good price without seeing reviews?

I'm getting pretty tired of responding to the same dumb arguments.

If you don't think they provide good value then you should buy the alternative.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pc-components/graphics-cards/nvidia-graphics-cards/nvidia-geforce-rtx-5070-ti-graphics-cards

 

[humbug]

Surely they cant be that dumb..

He just can't help himself...

 

[TNA]

I'm getting pretty tired of responding to the same dumb arguments.

If you don't think they provide good value then you should buy the alternative.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pc-components/graphics-cards/nvidia-graphics-cards/nvidia-geforce-rtx-5070-ti-graphics-cards

People have been, hence the dire state of their market share.

 

[humbug]

People have been, hence the dire state of their market share.

Well ok then.... whats the problem?

 

[TNA]

Well ok then.... whats the problem?

Just that.

They need to get their marketshare back up. Or do you disagree?

 

[humbug]

Just that.

They need to get their marketshare back up. Or do you disagree?

No i don't necessarily agree. if they are to gain marketshare i want them to do it by the merits of their products, not because they are half the price.

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

I'm getting pretty tired of responding to the same dumb arguments.

If you don't think they provide good value then you should buy the alternative.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pc-components/graphics-cards/nvidia-graphics-cards/nvidia-geforce-rtx-5070-ti-graphics-cards

It's not about me though is it?
90% marketshare vs 10% marketshare. It's about making it attractive to the 90%. That's how you gain marketshare. Selling it to the 10% that already buy AMD won't help marketshare, probably doesn't help profits too much either. Like I said before, if you don't want marketshare just charge silly prices like Nvidia. £1000 for the non-XT model. Who cares about marketshare as long as your making big profit on each card right?
Maybe that's what AMD wants, to keep the status quo as it is so it can focus elsewhere. But then you have to wonder, if you don't want to make dGPUs, why bother at all?

I guess if we're going by Overclockers prices then £600 would mean that the AMD MSRP would be £500-£550 for the XT, which does seem better. Or if you mean the top end AIB models are £600, then again that does seem more reasonable.

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

No i don't necessarily agree. if they are to gain marketshare i want them to do it by the merits of their products, not because they are half the price.

In fairness it does feel like releasing good products should've been something AMD tried.

 

[humbug]

It's not about me though is it?
90% marketshare vs 10% marketshare. It's about making it attractive to the 90%. That's how you gain marketshare. Selling it to the 10% that already buy AMD won't help marketshare, probably doesn't help profits too much either. Like I said before, if you don't want marketshare just charge silly prices like Nvidia. £1000 for the non-XT model. Who cares about marketshare as long as your making big profit on each card right?
Maybe that's what AMD wants, to keep the status quo as it is so it can focus elsewhere. But then you have to wonder, if you don't want to make dGPUs, why bother at all?

I guess if we're going by Overclockers prices then £600 would mean that the AMD MSRP would be £500-£550 for the XT, which does seem better. Or if you mean the top end AIB models are £600, then again that does seem more reasonable.

Oh i think for a lot of people advocating for cheaper AMD GPU's its about cheaper Nvidia GPU's, only being 20 - 30% cheaper than Nvidia clearly isn't working in that context so... be 30 to 40% cheaper and if that doesn't work be 40 to 50% cheaper and so on......

 

[TNA]

No i don't necessarily agree. if they are to gain marketshare i want them to do it by the merits of their products, not because they are half the price.

Why not both? Why do you care so much how much money they make? Why not leave that up to them?

No one is asking them to provide a loss leader. We just want cards with much smaller margins. Nvidia pricing is stupid. £100 of a stupid price is still stupid.