Vega 64... worth it?

[Legend]

Giving serious consideration to going the AMD route but I'm not sure if it's worth it? £440 for the Gigabyte Windforce OC 8GB got my attention... more so in light of the fact I'm also shopping for a new monitor at the moment, and I'm seeing how much more costly the Nvidia/G-Sync route is going to be vs AMD/Freesync.

It's tricky when looking at Vega 64 reviews as so many are from months ago and coloured by the high price and availability of the cards at that time. But here and now, is it a good buy?

Any thoughts?

 

[melmac]

Any monitor in particular you are looking at? If you like the look of a certain Freesync monitor that it will definitely be worth getting a Vega 64.

 

[nashathedog]

You'll be better off keeping an eye out for a deal on one of the other Vega's, I think Gigabytes is the poorest of the bunch so while the price is quite good you should keep an eye on Gibbo's deal thread to see if & what he can get an offer on, he's looking at doing something with the Asus Strix but you'll need to do some reading in the thread to see what's what with that card. At the moment the Vega 64's a good deal with the 3 game bundle & a decent Freesync monitor is a good choice but note that you need to do your homework on the Freesync monitors as it's a bit of a minefield with some monitor makers not supporting it fully, The main thing is to make sure the monitor supports LFC, If it's a Freesync 2 monitor it automatically has LFC but those that are just Freesync monitors will need to be checked for the feature, LFC stands for Low Framerate Compensator and it's job is to smooth things over when the frame rates go below the monitors working Freesync range.

 

[Legend]

Any monitor in particular you are looking at? If you like the look of a certain Freesync monitor that it will definitely be worth getting a Vega 64.

Not really... open to recommendations, but would want Freesync 2 for sure, as @nashathedog says, LFC is a good thing to have. Has to be 1440p at least... I'd like 4K for productivity but obviously compromising there on refresh rate and ability to drive to decent FPS in games. Problem is that 32" @ 1440p is really too low a pixel density for me, but 27" is too small a screen size (coming from a 1440p ultrawide X34). Couple of ultrawide Freesync monitors I know... not sure if they are Freesync 2 though?

I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever find anything that I'm happy with.

If not the Gigabyte 64, are there other specific stand-out models that are worth keeping an eye out for on offer?

 

[Hades]

If the Sapphire Nitro ever comes back in stock (very, very unlikely then it is the one to go for). Otherwise the Powercolour Red Devil is the next best.

 

[nashathedog]

@Legend Is your X34 a G-sync model or did the originally do them without any adaptive sync tech? If it is G-sync and it's the prices of RTX cards putting you off grab a Pascal card on the mm maybe, If you're not already on one that is. At the moment there's not much of an upgrade path for a 3440x1440 gamer, at least not until the upcoming high hz 4K monitors release and maybe the upcoming Ultrawides with Freesync 2 or G-sync, quantum dot & 120hz + monitors release, but other than that there's not much you can move up to this year.

 

[Legend]

@Legend Is your X34 a G-sync model or did the originally do them without any adaptive sync tech? If it is G-sync and it's the prices of RTX cards putting you off grab a Pascal card on the mm maybe, If you're not already on one that is. At the moment there's not much of an upgrade path for a 3440x1440 gamer, at least not until the upcoming high hz 4K monitors release and maybe the upcoming Ultrawides with Freesync 2 or G-sync, quantum dot & 120hz + monitors release, but other than that there's not much you can move up to this year.

It is G-Sync yes, the original. I think you're right... I'm at a dead end at the moment, and it will take the high refresh 4K monitors (and a card capable of running them) to see any noticeable improvement from here. It's just a shame AMD are lagging so far behind in the GPU department.

Freesync 2 seems to have taken an age to get going as well... and only a handful of Samsung monitors seem to feature it at present.

I had a 1080Ti, sold it and just running a 1060 6GB for the time being.

 

[orbitalwalsh]

You'll be better off keeping an eye out for a deal on one of the other Vega's, I think Gigabytes is the poorest of the bunch so while the price is quite good you should keep an eye on Gibbo's deal thread to see if & what he can get an offer on, he's looking at doing something with the Asus Strix but you'll need to do some reading in the thread to see what's what with that card. At the moment the Vega 64's a good deal with the 3 game bundle & a decent Freesync monitor is a good choice but note that you need to do your homework on the Freesync monitors as it's a bit of a minefield with some monitor makers not supporting it fully, The main thing is to make sure the monitor supports LFC, If it's a Freesync 2 monitor it automatically has LFC but those that are just Freesync monitors will need to be checked for the feature, LFC stands for Low Framerate Compensator and it's job is to smooth things over when the frame rates go below the monitors working Freesync range.

You'll find its the Strix
OCUK tested it and VRM failed, even posted a thread about doing a deal on it. Had one of the worst cooling
Gigabyte has dual 100mm fans and 2.5 slot design . It's just more compact

 

[melmac]

Not really... open to recommendations, but would want Freesync 2 for sure, as @nashathedog says, LFC is a good thing to have. Has to be 1440p at least... I'd like 4K for productivity but obviously compromising there on refresh rate and ability to drive to decent FPS in games. Problem is that 32" @ 1440p is really too low a pixel density for me, but 27" is too small a screen size (coming from a 1440p ultrawide X34). Couple of ultrawide Freesync monitors I know... not sure if they are Freesync 2 though?

I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever find anything that I'm happy with.

If not the Gigabyte 64, are there other specific stand-out models that are worth keeping an eye out for on offer?

You have a Gsync monitor currently, Do you not like it?

I think I would be waiting if I were you, your next monitor should be a high refresh rate, HDR monitor with either Freesync or Gsync. Just a note, LFC works on monitors now, it's not just for Freesync 2 monitors. I don't think there is any monitor out there worth the cost of the changeover.

What Video card do you have now? Maybe consider a 1080ti?

 

[Legend]

You have a Gsync monitor currently, Do you not like it?

I think I would be waiting if I were you, your next monitor should be a high refresh rate, HDR monitor with either Freesync or Gsync. Just a note, LFC works on monitors now, it's not just for Freesync 2 monitors. I don't think there is any monitor out there worth the cost of the changeover.

What Video card do you have now? Maybe consider a 1080ti?

I don't DISLIKE it, but I have been considering 4K for a while now just for productivity reasons. Were there a 4K high refresh G-Sync at a reasonable price, I'd be all over it.

1060 6GB at the moment. I'll await reviews of the 20xx cards before I decide what to do I think.

 

[Poneros]

Imo if you have the PSU for a Vega 64 the current deals are insane, esp. with the game bundle. Also, the Gigabyte version isn't bad at all.

 

[Las Vega]

If you can't afford a 1080Ti or one of the new RTX cards then it might be worth it. But I would not personally buy a Windforce.

 

[melmac]

I don't DISLIKE it, but I have been considering 4K for a while now just for productivity reasons. Were there a 4K high refresh G-Sync at a reasonable price, I'd be all over it.

1060 6GB at the moment. I'll await reviews of the 20xx cards before I decide what to do I think.

Well, if you have a reason to switch and you need the extra desktop space for work, then a change to a Freesync monitor with a Vega 64 card will be so much better than what you have now. And it will save you a bundle compared to going 4K with Nvidia.

I think you are best to wait.