AMD Vega builders thread - rx 64 & rx 56

[meson2000]

Well I was ready to pull the trigger but then I noticed that newegg had a replacement only return policy on the frontier edition card. i would rather pay a restocking fee and have the ability to return it if I don't like the card. So I will hold off and wait a while longer to see if some of the other 3rd party cards ever get in stock... Doesn't seem like it will be anytime soon though...

 

[EXCellR8]

My contact at Best Buy who helped me nab the 64 a few months ago informed me that they don't even have an ETA as to when or where the AIB models will even show up in their stores. He also said that no more reference models are en route at all, besides the occasional restock or display model.

 

[meson2000]

Yeah. I read that AMD pulled the plug on reference models in order to focus fully on providing chips for the AIB models. There must be a significant lag because there is zero stock out there anywhere...

 

[estarkey7]

I had an alert setup at B&H Photo for ANY Vega card (Reference 56, 64 AIR and AIO, and Frontier Edition). This is the notice I got from them a few days ago:

Dear Customer
Thank you for your interest in the following item:

Sapphire Radeon RX Vega 56 8G Graphics Card
(B&H # SA212760020G)

You are receiving this message because you asked to be notified when this item becomes available. We regret to inform you that this item has unfortunately been discontinued. Please check back on our website for similar or possible replacement items.

We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.

 

[estarkey7]

Well I was ready to pull the trigger but then I noticed that newegg had a replacement only return policy on the frontier edition card. i would rather pay a restocking fee and have the ability to return it if I don't like the card. So I will hold off and wait a while longer to see if some of the other 3rd party cards ever get in stock... Doesn't seem like it will be anytime soon though...

I understand your refrain. I know it may seem possible that you would want to return something you didn't like. But hell, you can easily place the Vega FE on Ebay for $1100 after paying $750 and sell it the same day!

I am in absolute LOVE with my card.

In Premiere Pro, you have three states of video:

1. Red - Video has not rendered preview files at all, full quality playback probably won't be in real time.
2. Yellow - Video has not rendered preview files at all, full quality playback may be in real time.
3. Green - Video has pre-rendered preview files. It will playback full quality in real time.

Even with my timeline full of Red render bars, the 4K video previews in full quality in real time with no dropped frames!

 

[Headfoot]

Hmmm . I wonder why ?

games will usually cache data in advance as long as there is available memory

 

[EXCellR8]

I was, just today, able to get a lightly used Vega 64 Silver off of ebay for just over 700 bucks +SH. there were 3 available but not 5 minutes after I grabbed one the other two were claimed.

considering there are people bidding them up over 900 USD I feel like it was a reasonable buy. seller moved to G-Sync and let the cards go at a fair price.

 

[estarkey7]

I was, just today, able to get a lightly used Vega 64 Silver off of ebay for just over 700 bucks +SH. there were 3 available but not 5 minutes after I grabbed one the other two were claimed.

considering there are people bidding them up over 900 USD I feel like it was a reasonable buy. seller moved to G-Sync and let the cards go at a fair price.

I feel better about my brand new Vega Frontier Edition purchase at $750 every day !

 

[DrMrLordX]

At this point it almost makes more sense to wait until the 12nm Vega refresh, or maybe Navi. Kinda wish I had grabbed one of those $499 Vegas off NewEgg when they had them, but at the same time . . .

 

[estarkey7]

At this point it almost makes more sense to wait until the 12nm Vega refresh, or maybe Navi. Kinda wish I had grabbed one of those $499 Vegas off NewEgg when they had them, but at the same time . . .

Well, as you can see, I needed a new card BADLY!! I had a R9-580 for a while, and sold it in preparation a Vega 56 purchase, but I could never find one in stock no matter how hard I tried! So I'm glad I was able to grab the Vega FE at a reasonable price

 

[nOOky]

Wow. I'm sure glad I got a Vega 64 liquid for MSRP a few weeks back. My wife will be needing more GPU horsepower as we are going to buy her a 4K monitor, so possibly I'll be moving my card to her and I'll be looking for what the new cards bring next year.

 

[EXCellR8]

I feel better about my brand new Vega Frontier Edition purchase at $750 every day !

I considered the Frontier for a bit but I don't really like the color scheme nor being second in line for driver updates.

At this point it almost makes more sense to wait until the 12nm Vega refresh, or maybe Navi.

If the demand is still there by the time a Vega refresh rolls out you can forget about finding one. They will sell out as fast or faster... unless crypto totally crashes and AMD is magically able to manufacture them at unprecedented speed.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Well, as you can see, I needed a new card BADLY!! I had a R9-580 for a while, and sold it in preparation a Vega 56 purchase, but I could never find one in stock no matter how hard I tried! So I'm glad I was able to grab the Vega FE at a reasonable price

True dat. Can't run a system on hopes, dreams, and frugality.

If the demand is still there by the time a Vega refresh rolls out you can forget about finding one. They will sell out as fast or faster... unless crypto totally crashes and AMD is magically able to manufacture them at unprecedented speed.

That might be when Vegas start coming available on the secondhand market though. Maybe.

You can bet that AMD will take a cue from the DRAM manufacturers and keep supply relatively low in order to sell out at premium prices.

 

[OatisCampbell]

True dat. Can't run a system on hopes, dreams, and frugality.



That might be when Vegas start coming available on the secondhand market though. Maybe.

You can bet that AMD will take a cue from the DRAM manufacturers and keep supply relatively low in order to sell out at premium prices.

This doesn' make any sense, no offense intended.
AMD wants to build market share, not sell a few cards at a higher price.
For easy numbers: What is better? Selling eight $600 cards for $100 profit each, or selling two for $200 profit each?
The lack of Vegas in the market is pretty surprising, leads me to wonder if yields are low and we are waiting for a re-spin.

 

[zinfamous]

This doesn' make any sense, no offense intended.
AMD wants to build market share, not sell a few cards at a higher price.
For easy numbers: What is better? Selling eight $600 cards for $100 profit each, or selling two for $200 profit each?
The lack of Vegas in the market is pretty surprising, leads me to wonder if yields are low and we are waiting for a re-spin.

I think their resources were primarily devoted to Zen, so far less wafer allotment to devote to Vega. That, and most of what they did produce was gobbled up by Apple. I don't know if a re-spin is going to improve the situation, because Zen+ is supposed to be out late? Q1 2018, as well.

AMD just doesn't have the capital or resources to stamp piles and piles of silicon to match both Intel and nVidia within overlapping product cycles.

 

[DrMrLordX]

This doesn' make any sense, no offense intended.

To add to what zinfamous said, AMD has to be wary of the side-effects of selling scads of cards to a fickle audience like miners. We all know it's miners driving up demand along with prices. Eventually those miner cards will come back onto the market, usually in force, once something better comes along (or once the mining market dries up). That makes it harder to sell anything new, particularly in the low/mid price range.

Plus possible HBM2 shortages etc.

Yes AMD wants marketshare, but they also want profits to cover the massive development costs of continuing to make GPUs. It is easier to gouge and make huge profits per unit than it is to try and push more units in a PC market that is (overall) shrinking.

AMD's two future customers that they really want to cultivate are deep learning/AI firms and (maybe) miners - if mining holds up. Gamers are becoming an afterthought. Prices/availability of cards reflect that.

 

[jpiniero]

Yes AMD wants marketshare, but they also want profits to cover the massive development costs of continuing to make GPUs. It is easier to gouge and make huge profits per unit than it is to try and push more units in a PC market that is (overall) shrinking.

That's not it at all. Remember it takes 2-3 months for a chip to complete it's cycle; so it's not like they could put in an order with GloFo and quickly be able to meet demand. Plus there were those rumors that AMD was waffling with releasing Vega, probably because $399 is about as low as they could go. They don't want to get stuck in a situation where they would have a ton of inventory and have to sell it at a loss if miners lose interest.

 

[DrMrLordX]

That's not it at all. Remember it takes 2-3 months for a chip to complete it's cycle; so it's not like they could put in an order with GloFo and quickly be able to meet demand. Plus there were those rumors that AMD was waffling with releasing Vega, probably because $399 is about as low as they could go. They don't want to get stuck in a situation where they would have a ton of inventory and have to sell it at a loss if miners lose interest.

You realize that we are basically saying the same thing, no?

 

[EXCellR8]

Vega 64 silver arrived today... she's certainly a looker.

Completes this silver and brushed metal build perfectly, I think. Very impressed with the quality of the cooler.

Now, to throw the other one back in the X370 and troubleshoot the OS. Don't think I'll be buying any Vega AIB cards in the near future though...

 

[meson2000]

Nice. Newegg had an XFX air and liquid cooled Vega 64 in stock for about 20 minutes yesterday. Overpriced but less than eBay. I had it in my cart but didn't pull the trigger fast enough as I was doing a bit more research... It sold out before I could order. Oh well. Still thinking of pulling the trigger on the Frontier Edition. How are the drivers for gaming on FE? The newegg reviews make it seem like they lag behind the RX Vega drivers and are more buggy?

 

[EXCellR8]

Newegg reviews can be tricky... I think, for the most part, the gaming drivers on Frontier are fine but they are slower to roll out game-related fixes. Certainly not a deal-breaker, but the RX cards have better consumer level support. I was keeping an eye on a few cards and most got bid up way too high. I just happened to check what was on there one day and saw the one I ended up buying. There were 3 available I should have bought at least 2 in order to pass one on to a fellow forum goer.

I ended up selling my other RX 480 8GB within 30 minutes of throwing it up on ebay, which helped offset the Vega deal a bit more but I still need to ship it out. The card worked well but I wasn't real impressed with the build quality--efficiency certainly helped alleviate some of that though.

 

[estarkey7]

Nice. Newegg had an XFX air and liquid cooled Vega 64 in stock for about 20 minutes yesterday. Overpriced but less than eBay. I had it in my cart but didn't pull the trigger fast enough as I was doing a bit more research... It sold out before I could order. Oh well. Still thinking of pulling the trigger on the Frontier Edition. How are the drivers for gaming on FE? The newegg reviews make it seem like they lag behind the RX Vega drivers and are more buggy?

I have had great luck with the drivers thus far. I play TitanFall 2 at 1080p with everything maxed out and Vega doesn't break a sweat!

Switching between the pro drivers and gaming driver is a huge deal for me, and it works flawlessly! The Chill settings knock about 30-40 watts off my typical gaming power draw.

It also uses around 12 GB of VRAM when playing, so that extra memory is certainly adding to performance.

Get it, it's !

 

[EXCellR8]

XFX Vega 64 Reference Black

in stock at Newegg but the price ain't great.

 

[nOOky]

Jaysus lol that's crazy just buy a 1080Ti already

 

[meson2000]

XFX Vega 64 Reference Black

in stock at Newegg but the price ain't great.

Yeah i saw that. For that price i would rather just get the FE and get the extra 8gigs of vram. Still hoping to get 3rd party designed card like the Asus Strixx for the quieter cooling...