AMD Vega MegaThread! FAQ and Resources

[Sakkura]

VisionTek are an official AMD RX Vega North American launch partner...So AMD must also have a hand somewhere in this..

New on Tom's site confirms that VisionTek's RX Vega 64 stand alone is retail $699...So we have been taken for a ride by AMD..

While you could blame AMD for the 499 -> 599 jump, they have nothing to do with Visiontek going for 699.

No? AMD doesn't own Visiontek, they can't dictate pricing like that.

 

[-Fran-]

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-vega-package-problem,35281.html

This is an interesting subject to notice.

That being said, it doesn't change the problem AMD is facing and I don't think it has a solution in the short term anyway from the manufacturing perspective. What it does highlight though, is that 3rd party cooling for Vega will be key to the success of the product.

I hope all reviewers read that information and take it into account when reviewing 3rd party Vega cards. Knowing the batches and tracking them is going to be quite tricky if not impossible. That permeates to a "luck of the draw" scenario I really dislike myself, but it seems there's no other option for AMD to improve the situation in the short term. I hope the foundries doing the packaging get good soon if it is indeed causing problems.

Cheers!

 

[goldstone77]

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-vega-package-problem,35281.html

This is an interesting subject to notice.

That being said, it doesn't change the problem AMD is facing and I don't think it has a solution in the short term anyway from the manufacturing perspective. What it does highlight though, is that 3rd party cooling for Vega will be key to the success of the product.

I hope all reviewers read that information and take it into account when reviewing 3rd party Vega cards. Knowing the batches and tracking them is going to be quite tricky if not impossible. That permeates to a "luck of the draw" scenario I really dislike myself, but it seems there's no other option for AMD to improve the situation in the short term. I hope the foundries doing the packaging get good soon if it is indeed causing problems.

Cheers!

It will be interesting to see if testing with custom coolers will show a significant difference.

 

[Martell1977]

It will be interesting to see if testing with custom coolers will show a significant difference.

I have a feeling that performance will increase a decent amount with the custom coolers. Especially ones like Sapphire's Nitro cards with 3 fans. I seen reports of the memory throttling and Fury has shown us that the memory speed makes a real difference to these GPU's.

 

[renz496]

VisionTek are an official AMD RX Vega North American launch partner...So AMD must also have a hand somewhere in this..

New on Tom's site confirms that VisionTek's RX Vega 64 stand alone is retail $699...So we have been taken for a ride by AMD..

While you could blame AMD for the 499 -> 599 jump, they have nothing to do with Visiontek going for 699.

No? AMD doesn't own Visiontek, they can't dictate pricing like that.

i'm not sure if that is pricing Visiontek put themselves or the retail price based on current demand (meaning Visiontek just put the link there) but as one of AMD partner AMD have direct control of what price the partner should sell their card. that's why the mark up due to mining only benefit retailer not AMD nor their partner. if partner did not follow the instruction that AMD already put for certain product AMD have the right to punish them. Palit for example used to sell both nvidia and AMD card. but during HD4k generation Palit equip some of their 4850 with GDDR5 instead of GDDR3 (the difference between HD4870 and HD4850 is the former is using GDDR5 while the later is using GDDR3). so what Palit did was selling HD4870 for HD4850 price (good for consumer then). the end result was Palit no longer allowed to sell AMD card after that.

 

[renz496]

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-vega-package-problem,35281.html

This is an interesting subject to notice.

That being said, it doesn't change the problem AMD is facing and I don't think it has a solution in the short term anyway from the manufacturing perspective. What it does highlight though, is that 3rd party cooling for Vega will be key to the success of the product.

I hope all reviewers read that information and take it into account when reviewing 3rd party Vega cards. Knowing the batches and tracking them is going to be quite tricky if not impossible. That permeates to a "luck of the draw" scenario I really dislike myself, but it seems there's no other option for AMD to improve the situation in the short term. I hope the foundries doing the packaging get good soon if it is indeed causing problems.

Cheers!

ever since i saw that HBM sitting very close to GPU core (Fury X) i was thinking how that will going to complicate the cooling solution especially if you want to replace the thermal paste later. i even heard stories some people end up damaging the HBM stack when they re-apply the thermal.

 

[Sakkura]

VisionTek are an official AMD RX Vega North American launch partner...So AMD must also have a hand somewhere in this..

New on Tom's site confirms that VisionTek's RX Vega 64 stand alone is retail $699...So we have been taken for a ride by AMD..

While you could blame AMD for the 499 -> 599 jump, they have nothing to do with Visiontek going for 699.

No? AMD doesn't own Visiontek, they can't dictate pricing like that.

i'm not sure if that is pricing Visiontek put themselves or the retail price based on current demand (meaning Visiontek just put the link there) but as one of AMD partner AMD have direct control of what price the partner should sell their card. that's why the mark up due to mining only benefit retailer not AMD nor their partner. if partner did not follow the instruction that AMD already put for certain product AMD have the right to punish them. Palit for example used to sell both nvidia and AMD card. but during HD4k generation Palit equip some of their 4850 with GDDR5 instead of GDDR3 (the difference between HD4870 and HD4850 is the former is using GDDR5 while the later is using GDDR3). so what Palit did was selling HD4870 for HD4850 price (good for consumer then). the end result was Palit no longer allowed to sell AMD card after that.

Changing specs is another matter. Price is out of AMD's hands. Even Nvidia can't dictate prices to their board partners.

 

[renz496]

VisionTek are an official AMD RX Vega North American launch partner...So AMD must also have a hand somewhere in this..

New on Tom's site confirms that VisionTek's RX Vega 64 stand alone is retail $699...So we have been taken for a ride by AMD..

While you could blame AMD for the 499 -> 599 jump, they have nothing to do with Visiontek going for 699.

No? AMD doesn't own Visiontek, they can't dictate pricing like that.

i'm not sure if that is pricing Visiontek put themselves or the retail price based on current demand (meaning Visiontek just put the link there) but as one of AMD partner AMD have direct control of what price the partner should sell their card. that's why the mark up due to mining only benefit retailer not AMD nor their partner. if partner did not follow the instruction that AMD already put for certain product AMD have the right to punish them. Palit for example used to sell both nvidia and AMD card. but during HD4k generation Palit equip some of their 4850 with GDDR5 instead of GDDR3 (the difference between HD4870 and HD4850 is the former is using GDDR5 while the later is using GDDR3). so what Palit did was selling HD4870 for HD4850 price (good for consumer then). the end result was Palit no longer allowed to sell AMD card after that.

Changing specs is another matter. Price is out of AMD's hands. Even Nvidia can't dictate prices to their board partners.

for custom card that might be the case because board partner are charging extra price for things that did not come with reference design (better PCB, higher clock than reference out of the box, better cooling etc). but for reference design that using exact design from AMD or nvidia they still have to follow MSRP. just look at Fury X. some of AMD board partner did not like AMD decision to price the card at $650. if AMD have no control over the pricing Fury X launch price will be even higher than $650 (that still not counting the price increase from retailer due to demand).

 

[Sakkura]

for custom card that might be the case because board partner are charging extra price for things that did not come with reference design (better PCB, higher clock than reference out of the box, better cooling etc). but for reference design that using exact design from AMD or nvidia they still have to follow MSRP. just look at Fury X. some of AMD board partner did not like AMD decision to price the card at $650. if AMD have no control over the pricing Fury X launch price will be even higher than $650 (that still not counting the price increase from retailer due to demand).

But AMD clearly didn't price Vega this way. This pricing clearly clashes with the general pricing of the other cards.

 

[renz496]

for custom card that might be the case because board partner are charging extra price for things that did not come with reference design (better PCB, higher clock than reference out of the box, better cooling etc). but for reference design that using exact design from AMD or nvidia they still have to follow MSRP. just look at Fury X. some of AMD board partner did not like AMD decision to price the card at $650. if AMD have no control over the pricing Fury X launch price will be even higher than $650 (that still not counting the price increase from retailer due to demand).

But AMD clearly didn't price Vega this way. This pricing clearly clashes with the general pricing of the other cards.

i think the pack scheme got some retailer confused. for example Vega 64 that bundled with two "free" games was supposed to sell at $599. the stand alone version was supposed to be $499. but since the pack that bundled with "free" games must be price $100 higher than the stand alone version some retailer probably think the stand alone actual pricing is also $599. because the one that pack with extra games are "free" games. if anything i think it is AMD marketing that screwing things up. they should not called the bundled game as free when the version that bundled with games must be sold at much higher price.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Well my XFX Rx Vega 64 Liquid from Amazon has finally shipped, I think it was just dumb luck that I could put the order in as it has still never showed again as available on the site. I got it at $699 with the games. Should have it Saturday.

 

[-Fran-]

Well my XFX Rx Vega 64 Liquid from Amazon has finally shipped, I think it was just dumb luck that I could put the order in as it has still never showed again as available on the site. I got it at $699 with the games. Should have it Saturday.

Don't forget to give us your subjective review and first impressions 😀

Cheers!

 

[Rogue Leader]

Well my XFX Rx Vega 64 Liquid from Amazon has finally shipped, I think it was just dumb luck that I could put the order in as it has still never showed again as available on the site. I got it at $699 with the games. Should have it Saturday.

Don't forget to give us your subjective review and first impressions 😀

Cheers!

First thing I will do is my standard torture test of Prime95 and Heaven at the same time to see how much power I can draw out of the PSU and if the thing will shut down. I also ordered a red LED fan to replace the fan on it to match the rest of my build. Hopefully i don't have to take the whole thing apart to swap it.

 

[Sakkura]

for custom card that might be the case because board partner are charging extra price for things that did not come with reference design (better PCB, higher clock than reference out of the box, better cooling etc). but for reference design that using exact design from AMD or nvidia they still have to follow MSRP. just look at Fury X. some of AMD board partner did not like AMD decision to price the card at $650. if AMD have no control over the pricing Fury X launch price will be even higher than $650 (that still not counting the price increase from retailer due to demand).

But AMD clearly didn't price Vega this way. This pricing clearly clashes with the general pricing of the other cards.

i think the pack scheme got some retailer confused. for example Vega 64 that bundled with two "free" games was supposed to sell at $599. the stand alone version was supposed to be $499. but since the pack that bundled with "free" games must be price $100 higher than the stand alone version some retailer probably think the stand alone actual pricing is also $599. because the one that pack with extra games are "free" games. if anything i think it is AMD marketing that screwing things up. they should not called the bundled game as free when the version that bundled with games must be sold at much higher price.

All the packs and bundles are definitely a confusing mess, and AMD deserves all the "credit" for that.

 

[goldstone77]

Well my XFX Rx Vega 64 Liquid from Amazon has finally shipped, I think it was just dumb luck that I could put the order in as it has still never showed again as available on the site. I got it at $699 with the games. Should have it Saturday.

Don't forget to give us your subjective review and first impressions 😀

Cheers!

First thing I will do is my standard torture test of Prime95 and Heaven at the same time to see how much power I can draw out of the PSU and if the thing will shut down. I also ordered a red LED fan to replace the fan on it to match the rest of my build. Hopefully i don't have to take the whole thing apart to swap it.

I've never seen them available yet. Mind you I haven't been sitting there 24/7 watching, but I have been checking a couple times a day. I will definitely be interested to see what you think of having an all AMD system with Ryzen and Vega!

 

[goldstone77]

for custom card that might be the case because board partner are charging extra price for things that did not come with reference design (better PCB, higher clock than reference out of the box, better cooling etc). but for reference design that using exact design from AMD or nvidia they still have to follow MSRP. just look at Fury X. some of AMD board partner did not like AMD decision to price the card at $650. if AMD have no control over the pricing Fury X launch price will be even higher than $650 (that still not counting the price increase from retailer due to demand).

But AMD clearly didn't price Vega this way. This pricing clearly clashes with the general pricing of the other cards.

i think the pack scheme got some retailer confused. for example Vega 64 that bundled with two "free" games was supposed to sell at $599. the stand alone version was supposed to be $499. but since the pack that bundled with "free" games must be price $100 higher than the stand alone version some retailer probably think the stand alone actual pricing is also $599. because the one that pack with extra games are "free" games. if anything i think it is AMD marketing that screwing things up. they should not called the bundled game as free when the version that bundled with games must be sold at much higher price.

All the packs and bundles are definitely a confusing mess, and AMD deserves all the "credit" for that.

It's a cash grab, and a lot of the YouTubers have expressed their concerns over it. I would say I'm disappointed, but I'm not. I never thought the cards were going to be available for purchase, because of miners and gamers alike. Until this bubble bursts prices are going to be inflated, and it doesn't matter what marketing schemes they use. Rogue leader was lucky enough to actually get a card (with games) so that's better than no card! So, to an extent the marketing strategy did work for at least one person. When demand subsides so will price.

 

[Rogue Leader]

It's a cash grab, and a lot of the YouTubers have expressed their concerns over it. I would say I'm disappointed, but I'm not. I never thought the cards were going to be available for purchase, because of miners and gamers alike. Until this bubble bursts prices are going to be inflated, and it doesn't matter what marketing schemes they use. Rogue leader was lucky enough to actually get a card (with games) so that's better than no card! So, to an extent the marketing strategy did work for at least one person. When demand subsides so will price.

I got mine by shear dumb luck. The listing on Amazon said "Temporarily Unavailable" but it allowed me to put the purchase through. At no point has the product actually shown up for sale from what I can tell. Theres only 1 actual review of it on there too which tells me they sold very few if any at all.

I understand the Radeon packs, honestly they are losing money as they are discounting other companies products to move their product through 3rd party sellers, I worked previously for a consumer electronics company that did that. However these packs severely limited their market. I mean for me I already had a system built so I don't need a CPU/mobo/etc. And that monitor is great but my desk physically doesn't have the space for it so that doesn't work. So what am I supposed to do?

But in the end what are they supposed to do as well. Miners have no problem dropping $100 on the Tai Ding bot to grab every card at retail they can. They just used it again to snap up all the SNES classics, and now they are scalping them on eBay. They literally need to work with the retailers to make the products harder to buy. For example bots can't handle CAPTCHA, so require it upon checkout for in demand products.

As for pricing, I paid $699 which is now the same price I see everyone selling the "Black Edition" reference cooled cards, and mine is the nice aluminum cased liquid cooled one.

 

[Sakkura]

Not even just retailers, many times the miners snatch up the cards at the wholesaler level.

 

[Rogue Leader]

I need to correct an early statement I made above, about there being only 1 actual review. Its likely not that they didn't sell any, but miners with bots got whatever they had. Miners don't leave reviews of products.

 

[JamesSneed]

I know some people want Vega but to be honest I'm pretty happy AMD is selling Vega to the mining folks as they need the cash infusion and Vega wasn't going to be a huge seller to gamers outside of the 56. Hopefully the cash infusion helps them nail the dates for Zen2 and Navi on 7nm .

For me Vega has always looked like a stepping stone product to Navi since there is dedicated silicone for stuff that doesn't help performance like infinity fabric, HBM2 and I assume a few other things not publicized. All that will get used for Navi, well HBM2 technically is used but its bandwidth will get exploited in Navi.

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

VisionTek are an official AMD RX Vega North American launch partner...So AMD must also have a hand somewhere in this..

New on Tom's site confirms that VisionTek's RX Vega 64 stand alone is retail $699...So we have been taken for a ride by AMD..

While you could blame AMD for the 499 -> 599 jump, they have nothing to do with Visiontek going for 699.

No? AMD doesn't own Visiontek, they can't dictate pricing like that.

If VisionTek [or other] had more AMD GPUs to sell, they wouldn't be increasing the price so much. So yes, I will blame AMD.

 

[goldstone77]

[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfLuJajkwcY&ab_channel=HardwareUnboxed"][/video]
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 Liquid Cooled, Vega 64 & Vega 56, 32 Game Benchmark
Hardware Unboxed
Published on Aug 25, 2017

The Radeon RX Vega 64 Liquid, Vega 64 & Vega 56 Test: 32 Games Benchmarked
By Steven Walton on August 25, 2017

Follow the link for a more detailed review, and 1080p as well as 4k results!
https://www.techspot.com/review/1476-amd-radeon-vega-64/

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

Nice to read about. Except it's almost like it's not even out yet. :/

 

[goldstone77]

[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9ih5vmcDEk&ab_channel=GamersNexus"][/video]
Cost of HBM2 vs. GDDR5 & Why AMD Had to Use It
Published on Aug 25, 2017
Talking about how much HBM2 costs vs. GDDR5 and AMD's tricky market position, ultimately requiring HBM2 over GDDR5. Note: Bandwidth should read 409.6GB/s for V56, not 484 (V64).

 

[goldstone77]

Just a look at where ethereum is today compared to when they said it was dying off!