[SOLVED] Downgrade AMD Vega 64 for 'better' 1080p 144hz Gaming?

[Danticipation]

First Post - hopefully I will cover everything required to receive some informed feedback.

I'm looking to replace my Vega 64 Sapphire 8GB with a Quieter, less power hungry more stable card, whilst preserving 1080p ultra settings at 144hz; I realise 'ultra' is relative, but lets say for arguments sake the likes of Raibow Six Seige and Battlefield V, PuBG, or anything more demanding.

I've had the Vega 64 since release and even with undervolting and and all other manner of trial and error drivers/wattman tweaks etc, it still runs loud and hot as seems to be the way with these cards. I could deal with that if it didn't produce an electrical buzzing when under any sort of load (it just intensifies with higher load).

My system:

AMD Ryzen 5 1600X
Corsair DDR4 Vengeance LPX Black, PC4-19200 (2400)
ROG STRIX B350-F GAMING (AM4)
Sapphire 8176MB ATI Radeon RX Vega 64
Samsung 512GB 970 PRO V-NAND M.2
Samsung 860 Pro 512GB SSD
850W Corsair CX850M, Hybrid Modular, 80PLUS Bronze

I have not seen any bottlenecking, and for the next few years I don't forsee having to make any major upgrades, i'm just genuinely not happy with the Vega and believe there may be a better solution for my gaming needs out there!

Any thoughts or input would be greatly appreciated, with the emphasis on the 1080p 144hz monitor and Ultra settings.

 

[Eximo]

Well, certainly anything like the RTX2070 and up will make a fine replacement. Not really much more to say than that.

You could also just spend some money on custom cooling for the Vega64. Go full coverage water block, pump/res, radiator. Simply clamping that full coverage block to it might dampen or eliminate the buzzing.

I suspect coil whine, and you might be able to solve that with a little silicone compound to better hold the coil packs in place.

 

[Danticipation]

Well, certainly anything like the RTX2070 and up will make a fine replacement. Not really much more to say than that.

You could also just spend some money on custom cooling for the Vega64. Go full coverage water block, pump/res, radiator. Simply clamping that full coverage block to it might dampen or eliminate the buzzing.

I suspect coil whine, and you might be able to solve that with a little silicone compound to better hold the coil packs in place.

Thanks Eximo,

Its internesting you should suggest the Waterblock; I have been looking at that as a possible solution, certainly for the heat and noise.

The possible coil whine is really odd, I never had the issue with my Corsair CM650, but upgraded to the 850 due to the Vega being power hungry. I might research it a little more before making any purchases.

I assume the RTX 2080 would be overkill, not running 4k? Honestly, with the cost of the after market cooler for the Vega (circa £250) I think I would go with the 2070 and pay the extra £200 for the newer architecture. Would the 1080Ti be an option, or would that be back tracking?

 

[Eximo]

Well, you want the GPU to last a while so going a little big doesn't hurt. Vega64 isn't exactly a lightweight, so getting an equivalent does take a bit. It was an alternative to the GTX1080 for those who wanted to use a high end FreeSync monitor (now irrelevant, since Nvidia finally caved on that one)

Basically: GTX1070 -> RTX2060/GTX1070Ti/Vega56 -> Vega64/GTX1080/RTX2070 ->GTX1080Ti/RadeonVII/RTX2080 -> RTX2080Ti

You could probably get away with the RTX2060 for many games, but last I looked at some benchmark tables at 1080p there were some later games that it couldn't do 144hz at. Why I started at the RTX2070, which is basically a GTX1080. This is more or less a non-upgrade aside from the lower power consumption.

GTX1080Ti is roughly an RTX2080, you should just get that instead. Unless you can think of any scenarios where you were using more than 8GB of VRAM. I wouldn't think so at 1080p.

My GTX1080 has some decent coil whine, sounds like a weird mix of high pitched and a low growl when it is pushing high frame rates. And I do have a water block on it, so no guarantee that will help. In certain games I set the frame limit to 100 FPS to reduce the noise. I don't really notice it is FPS titles though since there is more noise. But RPGs can make it pretty obvious when the frame rate jumps up.

Had you decided to sell it awhile ago I would say go for it, but I think you might be hard pressed to sell it with the Radeon VII on the market. Water cooling it will certainly help with the noise and reduce the core temperature. As I recall they don't overclock all that well (more gains from HBM speed then clock speed, and there wasn't much room there either), but that has been typical of AMD they are always pushing them to the limit since they have been behind.

I suppose it comes down to whether you want to try water cooling out.

 

[Danticipation]

Well, you want the GPU to last a while so going a little big doesn't hurt. Vega64 isn't exactly a lightweight, so getting an equivalent does take a bit. It was an alternative to the GTX1080 for those who wanted to use a high end FreeSync monitor (now irrelevant, since Nvidia finally caved on that one)

Basically: GTX1070 -> RTX2060/GTX1070Ti/Vega56 -> Vega64/GTX1080/RTX2070 ->GTX1080Ti/RadeonVII/RTX2080 -> RTX2080Ti

You could probably get away with the RTX2060 for many games, but last I looked at some benchmark tables at 1080p there were some later games that it couldn't do 144hz at. Why I started at the RTX2070, which is basically a GTX1080. This is more or less a non-upgrade aside from the lower power consumption.

GTX1080Ti is roughly an RTX2080, you should just get that instead. Unless you can think of any scenarios where you were using more than 8GB of VRAM. I wouldn't think so at 1080p.

My GTX1080 has some decent coil whine, sounds like a weird mix of high pitched and a low growl when it is pushing high frame rates. And I do have a water block on it, so no guarantee that will help. In certain games I set the frame limit to 100 FPS to reduce the noise. I don't really notice it is FPS titles though since there is more noise. But RPGs can make it pretty obvious when the frame rate jumps up.

Had you decided to sell it awhile ago I would say go for it, but I think you might be hard pressed to sell it with the Radeon VII on the market. Water cooling it will certainly help with the noise and reduce the core temperature. As I recall they don't overclock all that well (more gains from HBM speed then clock speed, and there wasn't much room there either), but that has been typical of AMD they are always pushing them to the limit since they have been behind.

I suppose it comes down to whether you want to try water cooling out.

Just a quick line to thank you for your input; I decided to take my first venture into water cooling with the EK 240r Fluid Gaming Kit.

Exceptional results in my opinion. I've gone from temps roughly around 80 degrees on the GPU to not being able to push past 41 and with the memory overclocked not going past 60 degrees and the hotspot keeping around 75 degrees.

My favourite part.... the lack of noise! the blower fan was obnoxious.