[SOLVED] Vega 56 or 1070 in 2020?

[Toy Machine]

Hello Everybody 🙂

I hope we are all well, I would like to ask for some advice/user experience,

As the title states

Deciding between the two, since the 56 can outperform the 1070 buy a good margin, is it worth the delve into tuning the Vega 56 getting better performance/cooler temps?

I don't mind the power draw to be honest. I care more for cooling/noise levels and performance. Apparently the VRM's don't get cooled to well on a 56 though. I am looking at an Asus 56 or a Palit/EVGA 1070.

How have the driver updates been for the 56? I see in most benchmarks there is a higher time between frames on the 56 and people have spoken about stuttering etc, small nuances that affect the experience of a 56. Some say the newer drivers also have given good performance boosts and made the card more enjoyable.

Another Question is the stock performance of a Vega 56, has that increased with drivers and what are the stock noise levels like on them? I know the 1070 is a good out of the box performer and stays really cool.

Thank you in advance

 

[Barty1884]

Really depends on the model(s) in question for cooling, and can depend on the title(s) for frametimes.
Driver improvements for AMD over time, tend to improve/stabilize performance.

What cards are you considering, specifically? and at what prices?

While a Vega56 will (almost always) run hotter than a 1070.... that's basically by design. A Vega56 simply isn't designed to run as cool as a 1070, and that's perfectly ok.

Also, a 56 can (generally) be flashed to a 64 in most cases, boosting performance further.

 

[shiriken]

GTX 1070 TI IF you can get one

 

[Barty1884]

GTX 1070 TI IF you can get one

Little too simplistic there.
Looks like 56's and 1070's (on eBay at least) go for ~$200. If those are the prices the OP is considering, neither are particularly great value. A new 56 can be had for ~$260

A 1070TI is more like $250-$325, depending on the model.

By the time you're getting north of $250, I'd start considering a new 5600XT.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Depending on pricing I'd go for Vega 56. AMD seems to improve gpu drivers as their products mature.

That said, if your over 200 but want to stay under 250, look at the 1660 super. I'm running one of those and performance is comparable to a 1070, but cost 230 and was bought new.

 

[Toy Machine]

Palit/EVGA/Strix for 1070 and for the Vega 56 Strix basically, Unless I can get my hands on a Sapphire Nitro which seem to be scarce.

My budget is right on $200, so considering the 5600XT isn't really an option.

I currently have an EVGA 980ti and part of the reason I am upgrading is to have less noise around the sameish performance because of the old cards not having 0db and overall just run higher RPM in general.

The reason I am interested in Vega 56 is the OC'ing, it seems that with the undervolting/OC'ing (if you get lucky wit silicon lottery) it seems you can have a card that runs quieter and at lower temps whilst outperforming in FPS. I am also interested in HBM2(I want to try Samsung HBM2) The only real drawback for me is the power consumption, although I do not mind it, chowing through more electricity does hinder my decision.

For the 1070, I really enjoy the fact that they draw little power and perform well. The Palit design looks like it just soaks up heat and never gets anywhere near hot, even though the cooler design isn't that great looking, the card performs the best out of most of the coolers, matching the ROG.

So I want to have a good experience with a Vega 56 as they have stabilized it over time and I feel there will be more to come(also an opportunity to get a Strix cooler design. But the Cooling of the VRM's not being great also concerns me over time.

1070 just plug and play and runs well.

I am at 1080P.

I will go Vega if I can keep temps and noise levels below a 1070 whilst outperforming it, then I do not mind the power draw. Otherwise I feel like a Palit 1070 is just a better option with the beefy heatsink.

I mostly play Rainbow Six Siege and the Vega 56 supposedly has around a 20% FPS advantage over the 1070, but it does outpace the 1070 in most titles between 5-10 fps(which isn't relevant to me, only the Siege statistic is.

I want silence and performance, if the 56 cannot deliver that while being OC'd and remaining healthy over the long run, the 1070 is just the better option

 

[LordVile]

What you using it for? I had a 56 and it did fine for me at 1440p, had to swap it out when I changed case to ITX because it was a ROG Strix model. Would take it over a 1070.

 

[Toy Machine]

What you using it for? I had a 56 and it did fine for me at 1440p, had to swap it out when I changed case to ITX because it was a ROG Strix model. Would take it over a 1070.

What temps were you getting and what sort of fan RPM/Noise dB were you sitting around?

Mostly gaming, might use it for video editing and Graphics work. Otherwise coding programmes.

 

[LordVile]

What temps were you getting and what sort of fan RPM/Noise dB were you sitting around?

Mostly gaming, might use it for video editing and Graphics work. Otherwise coding programmes.

When it was in a bigger case it was around 70 and fairly quiet but I did undervolt and overclock it which I recommend doing (undervaluing that is OC as you wish). Got to around 80 in my current case but it only had like 5-10mm of breathing room.

If your program doesn't have CUDA acceleration I don't see a reason to get the 1070. Can't speak to coding, only just started learning myself and I'm on MacOS for that

 

[Toy Machine]

What case you running, I'm currently in an NZXT S340 Elite.
What do you mean by '(undervaluing that is OC as you wish) '

Also only beginning to learn so I cannot say how much it will need, but I doubt coding eats up many resources.

 

[Barty1884]

You're not really 'upgrading' from a 980TI to a 1070 though... Depending on the model, a 980TI should be within a few % of a stock 1070.
For "mostly" gaming, I'd just look to implement a custom fan profile to lower noise unless necessary on the 980TI and wait to upgrade.

 

[Toy Machine]

I know it isn't much of an upgrade, more the power draw and the newer tech. I have a decently aggressive curve on it because otherwise, the temps get quite rough. I have a fan curve to keep it topping out at 75 degrees Celcius .

Fan Curve:
0% until 30c -> 20%,
50c -> 60%
70c ->80%
85c -> 90%

Without it, it just gets too hot, if the % is lower then it just reaches the 70's quicker. So it is also quite loud when in-game at 80% fan speed. I replaced the TP (with Thermal Grizzly Hydro/Crynoaut[I think it's Cryonaut]) last year some time since it had hardened and cracked.

Also having idle temps around 45Celcius is too high for me xD

 

[Barty1884]

If I were you then, I'd aim to sell the 980TI ahead of time, and couple that with your ~$200 budget to pick up something new. Neither a 1070 nor Vega56 offers you substantial performance gains for the cost....

Looks like a 980TI still sells for ~$150 USD (or local equivalent), meaning you could have a budget of ~$350

PErhaps one of EVGA's "KO" 2060 (non-Super) variants are available to you? Or a 5700/5700XT if you want to exhaust your budget..... or a 5600XT for <$300?

 

[King_V]

When the Vega 56 is underclocked and set with a lower power limit, then it uses only a small bit more power than the 1070. That was based on the drivers that existed when the Vega 56 first came out.

From this page:

Using the secondary BIOS with a power limit reduced by 25% gets us 159.4W and 32.7 FPS. Compared to the stock settings, just 71.6% of the power consumption serves up 89% of the gaming performance.

Going back to a worst-case scenario, the overclocked card averages 39.6 FPS, but consumes 310.6W doing so. Trading 39.5% more power consumption for an 8%-higher frame rate isn’t acceptable. The efficiency curve drops off rapidly with increasing clock rates and the additional power those frequencies necessitate.

While I'd generally been fascinated by this, paying $200 for either of these cards used does not seem like a good choice. I would follow @Barty1884 's recommendation.

Am I correct in assuming that your monitor's refresh rate is above 60Hz?

 

[Toy Machine]

I have thought on it, just saving it for some time and then doing a bigger upgrade since I need a mobo/CPU upgrade too. I haven't seen any KO's in the country (South Africa). But without Tech prices, it doesn't get quite heavy on new hardware ending up with 5600XT's being $450-500+.

So the reason is more to have a less noisy system, the Vega interested me in being able to get more performance at the same price point, but then put off by the poor cooling design.

Indeed I am running higher, 144hz.

I missed a deal today on a local tech forum for a 1070ti at $200.

I'll give it some thought, I hear what you are saying Barty, it's sidegrade and not an upgrade. I am trying to find a reason to actually go for it since I want a quieter system. xD

 

[Barty1884]

Ok, regional pricing etc can play a huge factor. Positives and negatives though - while a new whatever GPU might be substantially higher, I'd hope the used market holds up pretty well too (to be able to sell your 980TI).

I'll give it some thought, I hear what you are saying Barty, it's sidegrade and not an upgrade. I am trying to find a reason to actually go for it since I want a quieter system. xD

Totally get it. I actually did the same sidegrade (980TI SC to 1070 Strix), but I only did it because I could break even on the deal. If you're spending any more than maybe $30ish (500-600 Rand?) to make the change, then it's not really "worth" it, but if it's something you want to do, then go for it.

 

[Toy Machine]

Yeah, unfortunately, electronics tax in ZA is massive and so our stores have to compensate for it somewhat. And with the volatility of the Rand it's a little more subjective on when you buy something.

At the top end, it will be around R500, I am looking to break even or spend around R300 on the sidegrade which I am comfortable with spending. The Vega option isn't a bad option either since the around $20 cheaper and with that, getting the extra performance for maybe 20-30w more power draw is something I am also comfortable with. I'm just not keen on a card drawing up to 400w of power and running into the 80d celcius constantly.

So right now it is Either Strix vega/1070 or a Palit 1070. Got offered a HOF 1070 yesterday but way to out of budget so couldn't capitalize on that.

 

[Flayed]

If you get a Strix Vega 56 you may have to replace the VRM thermal Pads with a thicker better one. I just had to do it on mine dropped the VRM temps by 30 odd degrees C