Poll: The Vega Review Thread.

[Hotwired]

Pricing can only be blamed when there's stock on the shelf.

All the claims of mispricing are ******* into the wind when they're very obviously selling out round the world.

When we can see ocuk has meaningful stock sitting there for days instead of arriving to go straight into a dispatch box then "overpriced" might really have some weight to it.

Even then you need ocuk to confirm how well it's selling because it might be quietly selling enough between new deliveries to always be in stock.

 

[Gerard]

Did AMD sign some kind of contract to buy HBM memory instead of DDR5? I appreciate it has better bandwidth etc but if it makes it difficult to sell things for a reasonable price then I think it's dumb using it.

I think its more down to the last couple of cards being designed to use hbm, they partnered with some companies a few years back. Its not like they could just strip out the hbm and put gddr5 on it as it would require a totally new pcb design. That's even assuming the way they have designed the gpu is compatible with gddr.

 

[Kirby Wurm]

I have always felt nvidia deliberately gimped the 1070 a bit extra this generation because the 970 was way more popular than the 980 last generation.

Absolutely. The 970 OC'd to 980 reference speeds/slightly above where a max OC 1070 is still at least 10% behind a 1080. It still brought 980 Ti performance to a lower price point but comparatively it certainly felt constrained.

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Did AMD sign some kind of contract to buy HBM memory instead of DDR5? I appreciate it has better bandwidth etc but if it makes it difficult to sell things for a reasonable price then I think it's dumb using it.

They can't use GDDR5, as they don't do seperates like Nvidia, i.e one card for gaming, one card for compute etc..., they are a one for all, they do one card that does everything in one, so has to be HBM.

 

[Hedge]

I think its more down to the last couple of cards being designed to use hbm, they partnered with some companies a few years back. Its not like they could just strip out the hbm and put gddr5 on it as it would require a totally new pcb design. That's even assuming the way they have designed the gpu is compatible with gddr.

Well in that case I think they made the wrong decision by trying to push memory tech before Nvidia. I'm not too clued up on these things so someone will probably explain why. But I think changing things up is only good if you can show some real benefit in the real world.

 

[Gerard]

Well in that case I think they made the wrong decision by trying to push memory tech before Nvidia. I'm not too clued up on these things so someone will probably explain why. But I think changing things up is only good if you can show some real benefit in the real world.

Well one of the benefits of hbm was smaller card sizes, as we can see that was forgotten about 5 minutes after fury x launched as vega is back to 1080 size. Power draw was another benefit...which again looking at vega means almost diddily. It did supposedly simplify board design as they didn't have to lay out tons of traces for the memory modules surrounding the gpu. But looking at it the benefits are really null and void at this point as size is back to normal and power draw is through the roof.

 

[pagepack]

Pricing can only be blamed when there's stock on the shelf.

All the claims of mispricing are ******* into the wind when they're very obviously selling out round the world.

When we can see ocuk has meaningful stock sitting there for days instead of arriving to go straight into a dispatch box then "overpriced" might really have some weight to it.

Even then you need ocuk to confirm how well it's selling because it might be quietly selling enough between new deliveries to always be in stock.

Florists sell out every valintines day. Doesn't mean anything apart from folk are willing to pay over the odds every year. My Mrs thinks I'm a tight @rse as I don't buy into that either.

 

[silversurfer]

Did AMD sign some kind of contract to buy HBM memory instead of DDR5? I appreciate it has better bandwidth etc but if it makes it difficult to sell things for a reasonable price then I think it's dumb using it.

They are a partner or founder of sorts to HBM I think. To go back on their long term design is unlikely then. But Vega will come with DDR in some cases the cheapest versions like laptop designs I guess but I dont know it will be good to play then.

Vega isnt bad, the bad thing is lack of production. People will buy Vega/freesync if theres cards and with enough cards everyone can have one at an ok price. So to me the enemy is really that they are probably behind their own schedule, it makes them not exactly competitive and people want it at a certain price but AMD had the same R&D costs Nvidia got for their designs and has been paying off for a year.
So they are juggling chainsaws with all the costs and needs to various departments to meet sales targets and demand for every market Vega is used in and they threw it into every corner it seems.

You dont want Nvidia to be charging like Apple charges their customers, because they could be become like that if there is no AMD with alternatives.

if you'rr buying an RX Vega, you're also buying an instinct, a Frontier, a pro card etc....

They'll be other vega chips by year end afaik

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

Seems everyone turned into a tree hugging hippy in the run up to Vega

I think flowed over from the Threadripper vs Skylake X threads where people keep saying that one of the good things about TR is it's more efficient with better thermals.

I find it confusing to know when I need to worry about thermals and power efficiency. 100W more power usage on a graphics card isn't worth worrying about but when it's less than that on a CPU it's a valid reason why ThreadRipper is better than Skylake X?
Skylake X running hot is the end of the world but Vega running hot is just Nvidia trolling or something?

Are these rules written down somewhere or is it just a case that anything AMD do is good or at least not a problem and anything Intel or Nvidia do is a conspiracy by said company to end existence?

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Ive said it before, if all you do is game, and nothing else, then you want Nvidia, as only they do cards for gaming (their GeForce range), theres no point in AMDs cards, if all you do is game.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Can there be another option for the poll.

"No strong feelings one way or the other."

The Vega64 is like LOLWTFBBQ,and the Vega56 I am more positive about,but then price might scupper that.

 

[Hotwired]

Ive said it before, if all you do is game, and nothing else, then you only have Nvidia to buy from, as only they do cards for gaming, theres no point in AMDs cards, if all you do is game.

Oh look, an obviously false statement.

Someone should correct this obviously false statement, but maybe its an immature bait.

I will settle for quoting and calling it such.

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Oh look, an obviously false statement.

Someone should correct this obviously false statement, but maybe its an immature bait.

I will settle for quoting and calling it such.

Its not false, the RX, the Frontier, the Instinct etc... are all the same cards, AMD are one for all.

 

[Gerard]

If the frontier is the same card with the same gpu i wonder if that means rx also has 16 gigs of ram with 8 gigs somehow disabled?

 

[MichaelM]

Pricing can only be blamed when there's stock on the shelf.

All the claims of mispricing are ******* into the wind when they're very obviously selling out round the world.

When we can see ocuk has meaningful stock sitting there for days instead of arriving to go straight into a dispatch box then "overpriced" might really have some weight to it.

Even then you need ocuk to confirm how well it's selling because it might be quietly selling enough between new deliveries to always be in stock.

It's an odd one because I'm angry at the price being ludicrous but I'm happy someone is buying it and they are sold out.
This way AMD can put those profits into making a new/better GPU that's less embarrassing.

Now if we could just convince miners to install steam and run the hardware survey so they don't abandon PC gaming.

 

[ICDP]

It'll be interesting to see how people get on with these over the long term. Will the noise and heat just win out in the end.

Personal wouldn't touch these stock blower cards. Especially at current prices. And when we know they use a lot of power so presumingly run hot.

I'm very particular about noisy PCs, so I was reluctant to purchase Vega 64 reference model. Then I read reviews showing the different TDP settings and I saw it had a much more efficient power saving mode that also reduced noise levels to 40 - 42 dBA in a open PC case (lower in a closed case obviously). I have had a 980Ti reference and a 980 Reference that have similar noise levels according to TPU and I found them acceptable at stock speeds.

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Radeon_RX_Vega_64/30.html

If the Vega 64 is still too loud for me in powersaving mode I will simply sell it on and wait for AIB ones.

 

[~>Dg<~]

if the amd cards were the same speed and performance as nvidia id take amd everytime as i can see the image quality difference.amd is more colourful and vibrant . nvidia has better performance but a washed out look or soft in comparision.

 

[LoadsaMoney]

We saw it with the gaming reviews of the Frontier, its just the RX isn't it, with double the memory.

Loads of people were saying, don't judge the RX on those Frontier gaming reviews, as thats not for gaming, well can anyone on here say that the RX is different, apart from having half the memory ?

 

[Mauller]

We ave been through this rubbish before, give it a rest.

Does not change anything, it is not doing DSBR as it should be.

 

[old gamer]

I'm going to buy but £450 is the max I willing to spend on a 64