The thread which sometimes talks about RDNA2

danlightbulb · 29 Oct 2020 at 14:48

KentMan said:
Thats the AMD Reference design, all the Partners will be selling that design in their own box.. its like the FE Basically, but with partner stickers lobbed on it. Rumors are Sapphire will have a Pulse, Nitro and a Toxic.. Vapor-X would also be nice

So is the AMD reference design available as a card actually made by AMD (like the Nvidia ones) or are they all reference designs made by various partners?

snips86x · 29 Oct 2020 at 14:48

Richdog said:
Which AIB do you guys will be the best mix of price and quality for the 6800XT? I haven't bought an AMD card in ages.

Sapphire I would have thought, solid cards, well known for their cooling ability. They'll probably be the better priced of them all.

Howling said:
Do we have pre-order dates or is it just waiting for full release Nov 18th?

If it's anything like the CPUs, we'll see Pre-Orders on release day with stock shortly after. I guess it's all down to how many OcUK order and how many actually get delivered.

Aretak · 29 Oct 2020 at 14:51

Richdog said:
Which AIB do you guys will be the best mix of price and quality for the 6800XT? I haven't bought an AMD card in ages.

Sapphire are almost always right up there with the best for AMD cards. Last time they really fell on their face was with the RX 480, which they massively improved on for their RX 580. PowerColor also generally make very good cards, especially the Red Devil models. XFX are a little hit and miss. They botched their initial RX 5700/5700 XT, but came back with a massively-improved version and offered people free upgrades. I have that improved version and it's a superb card. MSI have also been making pretty good AMD cards in recent years.

The only ones I'd really hesitate about are Asus and Gigabyte, who've both treated AMD users with utter disdain more often than not. Their cards have generally been utterly awful on the AMD side, with dreadful coolers (often designed for Nvidia GPUs and just slapped on) and quality control issues.

snips86x · 29 Oct 2020 at 14:52

Aretak said:
Sapphire are almost always right up there with the best for AMD cards. Last time they really fell on their face was with the RX 480, which they massively improved on for their RX 580. PowerColor also generally make very good cards, especially the Red Devil models. XFX are a little hit and miss. They botched their initial RX 5700/5700 XT, but came back with a massively-improved version and offered people free upgrades. I have that improved version and it's a superb card. MSI have also been making pretty good AMD cards in recent years.

The only ones I'd really hesitate about are Asus and Gigabyte, who've both treated AMD users with utter disdain more often than not. Their cards have generally been utterly awful on the AMD side, with dreadful coolers (often designed for Nvidia GPUs and just slapped on) and quality control issues.

At least they've made an effort this time and gone with a triple fan design for their reference models. 100x better than what they've done previously.

KentMan · 29 Oct 2020 at 14:53

Richdog said:
Which AIB do you guys will be the best mix of price and quality for the 6800XT? I haven't bought an AMD card in ages.

Having used AMD cards for a few generations now i personally rate them thus

Sapphire - #1 Partner, they are like the EVGA of AMD Cards (minus the stepup program) Their cards are generally the best built, Dual Bios, Awesome coolers, nice aesthetics and decently OC'd, there are rumors of a Toxic edition which is traditionally Sapphires highest end cards (alongside Vapor-X)

Powercolor - I am running a Powercolor Red Devil, nice looking, really good overclock on it out of the box and the cooler is second to none, another really good partner, no dual bios though.

XFX - Can be a bit hit and miss, id steer clear of their cheaper stuff as the cooling isnt always that great and they can be loud.

Asrock - New to the party, ive not read brilliant things about them, but ive not used them personally except for my X570 Taichi which has been superb

HIS - Rarely we see a HIS Card, they are often marmite designs you either love or hate, they generally perform ok though for the money.

Gigabyte - Pretty garbage tier really, i dont think they bother too much with Radeon cards, or it seems they dont, coolers are often poorly designed.

MSI - Utter garbage company, had 2 x 290X Gaming X cards and returned them as they were not fit for purpose, backplates got stupidly hot, plus MSI ethics leave a lot to be desired.

Asus - Tripe for AMD cards, utter tripe, no one can forget them prizing an Nvidia cooler onto an AMD card, and you have to pay the glorious Asus tax for that privilege, id steer clear of their stuff unless you are a ROG Drone and absolutely must have their dross ;l)

Mesai · 29 Oct 2020 at 14:55

I'd be happy if AMD gave most of their chips to Sapphire and Powercolor and avoid diluting stock with the half-assed attempts from the likes of Asus, since that's likely where most people will look first.

Richdog · 29 Oct 2020 at 14:55

snips86x said:
Sapphire I would have thought, solid cards, well known for their cooling ability. They'll probably be the better priced of them all.

If it's anything like the CPUs, we'll see Pre-Orders on release day with stock shortly after. I guess it's all down to how many OcUK order and how many actually get delivered.

Aretak said:
Sapphire are almost always right up there with the best for AMD cards. Last time they really fell on their face was with the RX 480, which they massively improved on for their RX 580. PowerColor also generally make very good cards, especially the Red Devil models. XFX are a little hit and miss. They botched their initial RX 5700/5700 XT, but came back with a massively-improved version and offered people free upgrades. I have that improved version and it's a superb card. MSI have also been making pretty good AMD cards in recent years.

The only ones I'd really hesitate about are Asus and Gigabyte, who've both treated AMD users with utter disdain more often than not. Their cards have generally been utterly awful on the AMD side, with dreadful coolers (often designed for Nvidia GPUs and just slapped on) and quality control issues.

KentMan said:
Having used AMD cards for a few generations now i personally rate them thus

Sapphire - #1 Partner, they are like the EVGA of AMD Cards (minus the stepup program) Their cards are generally the best built, Dual Bios, Awesome coolers, nice aesthetics and decently OC'd, there are rumors of a Toxic edition which is traditionally Sapphires highest end cards (alongside Vapor-X)

Powercolor - I am running a Powercolor Red Devil, nice looking, really good overclock on it out of the box and the cooler is second to none, another really good partner, no dual bios though.

XFX - Can be a bit hit and miss, id steer clear of their cheaper stuff as the cooling isnt always that great and they can be loud.

Asrock - New to the party, ive not read brilliant things about them, but ive not used them personally except for my X570 Taichi which has been superb

HIS - Rarely we see a HIS Card, they are often marmite designs you either love or hate, they generally perform ok though for the money.

Gigabyte - Pretty garbage tier really, i dont think they bother too much with Radeon cards, or it seems they dont, coolers are often poorly designed.

MSI - Utter garbage company, had 2 x 290X Gaming X cards and returned them as they were not fit for purpose, backplates got stupidly hot, plus MSI ethics leave a lot to be desired.

Asus - Tripe for AMD cards, utter tripe, no one can forget them prizing an Nvidia cooler onto an AMD card, and you have to pay the glorious Asus tax for that privilege, id steer clear of their stuff unless you are a ROG Drone and absolutely must have their dross ;l)

Thanks guys that is extremely useful and much appreciated. I am happy to see you all agree on Sapphire too as I will home in on one of those the moment I can order.

Surprised ASUS are that bad for AMD cards though! :eek:

KentMan · 29 Oct 2020 at 14:56

snips86x said:
At least they've made an effort this time and gone with a triple fan design for their reference models. 100x better than what they've done previously.

Afaik i know, and how it seems to have been for years and years, AMD design the Reference model alongside Sapphire its rumored, and they are produced by PC Partner (Who own Zotac), basically the model Lisa Su and co were holding up at the reveal event with the 3 fans is the Reference model, this will be built by PC Partner or Sapphire or whoever it is that does it for AMD then shipped to the various partners so they can lob it in a box and sell it. This is why we all laugh when they go on sale and Asus reference is £150 more than everyone else lmao.

LePhuronn · 29 Oct 2020 at 14:56

snips86x said:
Doubtful, they'll just throw a new card in, 3080Ti/Super. They're not known for dropping prices.

And that card would be DOA.

TrM · 29 Oct 2020 at 14:57

KentMan said:
Having used AMD cards for a few generations now i personally rate them thus

Sapphire - #1 Partner, they are like the EVGA of AMD Cards (minus the stepup program) Their cards are generally the best built, Dual Bios, Awesome coolers, nice aesthetics and decently OC'd, there are rumors of a Toxic edition which is traditionally Sapphires highest end cards (alongside Vapor-X)

Powercolor - I am running a Powercolor Red Devil, nice looking, really good overclock on it out of the box and the cooler is second to none, another really good partner, no dual bios though.

XFX - Can be a bit hit and miss, id steer clear of their cheaper stuff as the cooling isnt always that great and they can be loud.

Asrock - New to the party, ive not read brilliant things about them, but ive not used them personally except for my X570 Taichi which has been superb

HIS - Rarely we see a HIS Card, they are often marmite designs you either love or hate, they generally perform ok though for the money.

Gigabyte - Pretty garbage tier really, i dont think they bother too much with Radeon cards, or it seems they dont, coolers are often poorly designed.

MSI - Utter garbage company, had 2 x 290X Gaming X cards and returned them as they were not fit for purpose, backplates got stupidly hot, plus MSI ethics leave a lot to be desired.

Asus - Tripe for AMD cards, utter tripe, no one can forget them prizing an Nvidia cooler onto an AMD card, and you have to pay the glorious Asus tax for that privilege, id steer clear of their stuff unless you are a ROG Drone and absolutely must have their dross ;l)

powercool have been shown to have the higher RMA rate at certain stores

https://wccftech.com/mindfactory-report-amd-gpus-fail-more-often-than-those-from-nvidia/

all new stuff does fail and ive had many fail from all manuaftors powercool does seem to be higher then most

KentMan · 29 Oct 2020 at 15:00

In all honesty if going for a Custom Partner card i would keep an eye on Sapphire, the Pulse will be the low tier custom, Nitro/Nitro+ Mid Tier and Toxic will be the highest tier, unless they add a Vapor-X with an AIO Or something. Powercolor - Red Dragon will be Entry Tier but even then it will be a decent card, Red Devil will be the high tier, they may well release a limited run of Red Devil 13's which are generally the best silicon and very highly clocked etc.

XFX cards change generation to generation, some of their cards have been absolutely stunning, and some like the Thicc editions have been underwhelming and have had a few revisions...

Personally i would say keep an eye on Sapphire and Powercolor for cards, they are likely to be the best performers.

snips86x · 29 Oct 2020 at 15:00

LePhuronn said:
And that card would be DOA.

haha

I'm pretty sure most of us are aware of this, will be interesting to see what they try to do next.

KentMan · 29 Oct 2020 at 15:01

TrM said:
powercool have been shown to have the higher RMA rate at certain stores

https://wccftech.com/mindfactory-report-amd-gpus-fail-more-often-than-those-from-nvidia/

all new stuff does fail and ive had many fail from all manuaftors powercool does seem to be higher then most

Yeah? nice! thankfully my Red Devil 5700XT has been running since release perfectly fine!

LoadsaMoney · 29 Oct 2020 at 15:01

KentMan said:
AMD Raytracing visuals in action

https://twitter.com/x/status/1321819318615707649

Theres **** all difference, or is it just me ?

Begbie · 29 Oct 2020 at 15:02

Richdog said:
Thanks guys that is extremely useful and much appreciated. I am happy to see you all agree on Sapphire too as I will home in on one of those the moment I can order.

Surprised ASUS are that bad for AMD cards though!

My Sapphire Vega 56 is amazing. Proper cool, and has the 0 fan stuff so silent when not gaming. I'll pretty much always Sapphire form now on.

Steampunk · 29 Oct 2020 at 15:02

Richdog said:
Which AIB do you guys will be the best mix of price and quality/quietness for the 6800XT? I haven't bought an AMD card in ages.

In general, it's hard to go wrong with Powercolor or Sapphire. IIRC, these two are AMD-only AIBs, and tend to do a good job on the coolers without straying too far from the reference design on the boards, generally making them solid, reliable and quiet, without doing bonkers things that push the price up, or having price premiums like the Asus tax.

Obviously check the review of the products when they come out, but those two companies would be the first ones I would look at. I've had both with various AMD GPUs, and they've been solid.

jonneymendoza · 29 Oct 2020 at 15:04

KentMan said:
Having used AMD cards for a few generations now i personally rate them thus

Sapphire - #1 Partner, they are like the EVGA of AMD Cards (minus the stepup program) Their cards are generally the best built, Dual Bios, Awesome coolers, nice aesthetics and decently OC'd, there are rumors of a Toxic edition which is traditionally Sapphires highest end cards (alongside Vapor-X)

Powercolor - I am running a Powercolor Red Devil, nice looking, really good overclock on it out of the box and the cooler is second to none, another really good partner, no dual bios though.

XFX - Can be a bit hit and miss, id steer clear of their cheaper stuff as the cooling isnt always that great and they can be loud.

Asrock - New to the party, ive not read brilliant things about them, but ive not used them personally except for my X570 Taichi which has been superb

HIS - Rarely we see a HIS Card, they are often marmite designs you either love or hate, they generally perform ok though for the money.

Gigabyte - Pretty garbage tier really, i dont think they bother too much with Radeon cards, or it seems they dont, coolers are often poorly designed.

MSI - Utter garbage company, had 2 x 290X Gaming X cards and returned them as they were not fit for purpose, backplates got stupidly hot, plus MSI ethics leave a lot to be desired.

Asus - Tripe for AMD cards, utter tripe, no one can forget them prizing an Nvidia cooler onto an AMD card, and you have to pay the glorious Asus tax for that privilege, id steer clear of their stuff unless you are a ROG Drone and absolutely must have their dross ;l)

excellent post thanks

Richdog · 29 Oct 2020 at 15:05

KentMan said:
In all honesty if going for a Custom Partner card i would keep an eye on Sapphire, the Pulse will be the low tier custom, Nitro/Nitro+ Mid Tier and Toxic will be the highest tier, unless they add a Vapor-X with an AIO Or something. Powercolor - Red Dragon will be Entry Tier but even then it will be a decent card, Red Devil will be the high tier, they may well release a limited run of Red Devil 13's which are generally the best silicon and very highly clocked etc.

XFX cards change generation to generation, some of their cards have been absolutely stunning, and some like the Thicc editions have been underwhelming and have had a few revisions...

Personally i would say keep an eye on Sapphire and Powercolor for cards, they are likely to be the best performers.

Steampunk said:
In general, it's hard to go wrong with Powercolor or Sapphire. IIRC, these two are AMD-only AIBs, and tend to do a good job on the coolers without straying too far from the reference design on the boards, generally making them solid, reliable and quiet, without doing bonkers things that push the price up, or having price premiums like the Asus tax.

Obviously check the review of the products when they come out, but those two companies would be the first ones I would look at. I've had both with various AMD GPUs, and they've been solid.

Thanks guys. Is there any significant benefit in getting anything above the bog-standard (Pulse) model?

LePhuronn · 29 Oct 2020 at 15:05

Richdog said:
Surprised ASUS are that bad for AMD cards though!

I wouldn't say Asus were bad, I'd say they literally just don't care. That's worse. The Strix coolers are generally exceptional pieces of design, but they are designed for Nvidia boards. There is no consideration for AMD boards in the design, but they slap the things on anyway and then stick their fingers in their ears when things go wrong.

Was it the Vega or 5700XT where the cooler didn't even make contact? Owners did a repaste and washer trick and then the card ran exceptionally. But it wouldn't be needed if Asus gave a **** and did a proper job to begin with.

As an aside, I wonder if the story would've been different for their AREZ line if Nvidia didn't back out of the GPP nonsense.

LoadsaMoney · 29 Oct 2020 at 15:05

Yeah when i was on AMD, i always bought the Sapphires, cracking cards those, never had a prob with any of em