Waiting for AIB Vega cards (w/Custom Coolers)? Well...be prepared to keep on waiting.

[Elixer]

The writing was on the wall, yield issues with both Vega itself, and with HBM2, so, it is really hard and much more expensive to bin parts if most of them will only get you stock settings, and that is pretty much it.

MSI is just using the stock card, and calling it MSI RX Vega 64 Air Boost Edition.
ASUS card has another "bad" review, hitting 81C on a tri cooler setup, and AMD's stock is 85C.

Asus has set the ROG Strix RX Vega 64 OC Edition to operate on the Vega 10 graphics circuit with a 1298 MHz basic frequency and 1590 MHz Boost frequency. The Boost frequency is 44 MHz higher than the AMD

https://www.io-tech.fi/artikkelit/testissa-asus-rog-strix-rx-vega-64-oc-edition/

Tom's chimes in with...

Sources tell us that there is too much variance in the quality of the chips AMD is providing. AIB partners are unable to figure out a stable overclocked GPU frequency that works for all cards, and therefore cannot provide any sort of warranty on factory-tuned cards.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-vega-custom-graphics-cards-problems,35514.html

The only good news is, Vega 56 is popping in & out for the MSRP price at Amazon, and they sell out in minutes.

 

[tential]

I don't trust any of these people with their claims of these GPUs not OCing or holding frequencies until they explain their testing methodology. Even AMD themselves SUCK at this.

Either way, no one is buying these cards for a small out the box OC. It's the OC you do yourself that matters. On an AIB card you want the cooling solution they provide.
AMD Cards with AIB coolers need manual ocing anyway.
As for the wait... I think that's something you're used to at this point if you been purchasing AMD products as of late.

 

[geoxile]

Only a 4 celsius delta? Smells fishy. AMD's stick coolers are notoriously bad...

 

[Elixer]

We will have to wait and see what AMD's tier #1 partners (XFX & Sapphire) end up doing.
Since they don't have other products to "borrow" the cooler from, it should be a custom job.

 

[Qwertilot]

They also sort of need it to work - given market positioning and the time scales for custom Vega I'm almost slightly surprised that other companies are bothering at all. Certainly can't really expect them to put much R&D into coolers given the limited time scale they'll have to get their pay off over.

 

[fleshconsumed]

The market will sort it out. After having blower 290 there is no way I'm ever putting a blower card in my desktop again. I suppose custom watercooling is an option which I've done before, but that's a lot of hassle. If AIB partners don't or can't provide a quiet aftermarket card, then I guess I'll wait for Vega respin on a new node, or wait for Navi.

 

[nathanddrews]

The market will sort it out. After having blower 290 there is no way I'm ever putting a blower card in my desktop again. I suppose custom watercooling is an option which I've done before, but that's a lot of hassle. If AIB partners don't or can't provide a quiet aftermarket card, then I guess I'll wait for Vega respin on a new node, or wait for Navi.

This. My Windforce 290 was a godsend compared to my blower 290.

 

[Ancalagon44]

Guess I'll be waiting a while and I might even be waiting for Vega on 12nm LP.

 

[gradoman]

Only a 4 celsius delta? Smells fishy. AMD's stick coolers are notoriously bad...

At 39.5dB while overclocked and consuming 400W vs the stock RX64 at 42dB at 354W, so it's not great, but it is doing better than the AMD stuff. Surely one can knock the power limit down and undervolt for better performance and acoustics.

 

[crisium]

If they cannot find a stable OC frequency that works for all cards then my recommendation to the manufacturers is to find a stable underclock and undervolt and call it the Cool Quiet Card edition (CQC). Then people can marvel at how the efficiency is actually not to far off Pascal, and it will have huge OC headroom (at the penalty of efficiency).

But all that matters is being on top of that performance benchmark I guess.

 

[Rifter]

As for the wait... I think that's something you're used to at this point if you been purchasing AMD products as of late.

Quoted for truth.

 

[krumme]

Meh. You know how aib fiji is. Vega will end just there or plus 0.5db
The watt is not different.

I have an morpheus cooler with two 12 cm silent wings 3 on a rx64 and stock my guess is it will run aprox 900 to 1000 rpm in a well ventilated case. So barely noticiable.
300w is different from 250w and vega is a damn hard card to cool but from a energy and subjective noise perspective its zero difference.

 

[Face2Face]

The market will sort it out. After having blower 290 there is no way I'm ever putting a blower card in my desktop again. I suppose custom watercooling is an option which I've done before, but that's a lot of hassle. If AIB partners don't or can't provide a quiet aftermarket card, then I guess I'll wait for Vega respin on a new node, or wait for Navi.

There's always the NZXT G12 bracket and cheap 120mm AIO. I can't imagine going back to air now that my case is on my desk.

 

[Tup3x]

I don't trust any of these people with their claims of these GPUs not OCing or holding frequencies until they explain their testing methodology. Even AMD themselves SUCK at this.

Either way, no one is buying these cards for a small out the box OC. It's the OC you do yourself that matters. On an AIB card you want the cooling solution they provide.
AMD Cards with AIB coolers need manual ocing anyway.
As for the wait... I think that's something you're used to at this point if you been purchasing AMD products as of late.

In case of IO-Tech, Sampsa always tests cards inside closed case (i.e. real world situation) and not in open bench. Open bench tests are utterly useless. It doesn't surprise me at all that non-blower Vegas suck.

 

[krumme]

In case of IO-Tech, Sampsa always tests cards inside closed case (i.e. real world situation) and not in open bench. Open bench tests are utterly useless. It doesn't surprise me at all that non-blower Vegas suck.

Ok so 390x and fury x aib suck too? And oc 980ti and 1080ti too?
What is this unprecise nonsense. We know the powerusage. Its as simple as that.
Sure if you have a case with 2 120mm running at max 1600 rpm all the above cards sucks. But thats hardly real world situation for most buying those cards. If - and i just had such a situation - get a blower rx56 and eg undervolt (witch was not needed here) a bit or better get a 1080/1080ti blower if you run gsynch.
But presenting this as 250/300w vega is different from other 250/300w oc card is just overblown drama and clickbait.

An rx64 uses 292w while gaming and a r9 390 264w. Its the same and 390 cards could be darn silent.
Use powersave profile for rx64 and its 214w at a meager 3% perf loss.
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Radeon_RX_Vega_64/29.html

 

[Tup3x]

Ok so 390x and fury x aib suck too? And oc 980ti and 1080ti too?
What is this unprecise nonsense. We know the powerusage. Its as simple as that.
Sure if you have a case with 2 120mm running at max 1600 rpm all the above cards sucks. But thats hardly real world situation for most buying those cards. If - and i just had such a situation - get a blower rx56 and eg undervolt (witch was not needed here) a bit or better get a 1080/1080ti blower if you run gsynch.
But presenting this as 250/300w vega is different from other 250/300w oc card is just overblown drama and clickbait.

An rx64 uses 292w while gaming and a r9 390 264w. Its the same and 390 cards could be darn silent.
Use powersave profile for rx64 and its 214w at a meager 3% perf loss.
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Radeon_RX_Vega_64/29.html

In my opinion they kinda do. You really need to start thinking about airflow if you want to cool those cards efficiently. That custom Vega uses noticeably more power than GTX 1080 Ti (50W more than stock Vega) and there definitely is a limit how much heat you can push put. Some coolers yous mess the air flow really bad once the fans start to speed up too.

I've had R9 290 and GTX 780. Both of them used too much power for my taste. Asus GTX 780 was acceptable but Gigabyte GTX 780 GHz Edition wasn't (dunno of it was just bad sample but their cooler sucked regardless). MSI R9 290 just ran too hot because it sucked too much power). It made my whole room hot.

 

[railven]

I'd vote for the NZXT bracket. Custom/closed water cooler is the way to go with these cards if you want great temps and minimal noise.

My EVGA GTX 980 kit is still kicking and keeping my GTX 1080 Ti < 55c at full load. Best $60 I ever spent 2 years ago.

 

[krumme]

In my opinion they kinda do. You really need to start thinking about airflow if you want to cool those cards efficiently. That custom Vega uses noticeably more power than GTX 1080 Ti (50W more than stock Vega) and there definitely is a limit how much heat you can push put. Some coolers yous mess the air flow really bad once the fans start to speed up too.

I've had R9 290 and GTX 780. Both of them used too much power for my taste. Asus GTX 780 was acceptable but Gigabyte GTX 780 GHz Edition wasn't (dunno of it was just bad sample but their cooler sucked regardless). MSI R9 290 just ran too hot because it sucked too much power). It made my whole room hot.

Vega is not a card to get if you want to have low power usage. Simple as that.
Oc is hard and probably max out at aprox 1750 and just adds to much power.

But its not a problem to cool 300w that it runs max at stock. Cheap closed loop cooler will do the trick for most.

 

[Tup3x]

Vega is not a card to get if you want to have low power usage. Simple as that.
Oc is hard and probably max out at aprox 1750 and just adds to much power.

But its not a problem to cool 300w that it runs max at stock. Cheap closed loop cooler will do the trick for most.

That wouldn't be a problem with something like EVGA since you are free to change the cooler or replace the thermal paste. ASUS doesn't allow that though so anyone who buys that card likely wouldn't go that route. Also the problem with closed loop is that it is not as silent when idling (though for most that shouldn't be a problem - only if you absolutely require silent operation while idling/desktop use).

 

[fleshconsumed]

There's always the NZXT G12 bracket and cheap 120mm AIO. I can't imagine going back to air now that my case is on my desk.

Yeah, that's what I did on my 290 sans NZXT G12 (I just drilled appropriate mounting holes in included AMD AIO bracket). However, there are still advantages to a good air cooler. Doing AIO mod is still a pain and may void your warranty. The water pump is kind of noisy, and it gets noisier over time as pump wears out. A good air cooler will stop the fans in idle for completely silent operation, while the AIO pump will always be working and making noise. And so long as total card TDP is reasonable air cooler is going to be quieter than AIO anyway. My aircooled MSI RX480 is quieter both idle and under load than my AIO water cooled 290.

If one wants balls to the wall performance and doesn't care about TDP, AIO will always give the best results at reasonable amount of noise. However, a card with a reasonable TDP and top notch air cooler will generally be quieter. We'll have to see where aircooled Vega ends up. Asus seems to be failing, hopefully MSI or Sapphire will do a better job.

 

[Despoiler]

Only a 4 celsius delta? Smells fishy. AMD's stick coolers are notoriously bad...

Asus coolers are notoriously underwhelming on AMD cards because they are always coolers from their Nvidia cards. The Asus Vega cooler is exactly the same as the Asus cooler on their 1080Ti. Underwhelming happens when you don't create a unique design for a given product. Also, AMD's Vega blowers are a much better design than their previous attempts.

Still waiting for a Vega Tri-X to get released. Come on Sapphire!

 

[krumme]

That wouldn't be a problem with something like EVGA since you are free to change the cooler or replace the thermal paste. ASUS doesn't allow that though so anyone who buys that card likely wouldn't go that route. Also the problem with closed loop is that it is not as silent when idling (though for most that shouldn't be a problem - only if you absolutely require silent operation while idling/desktop use).

Fully agree here. I dont use water because of idle noise. I will expect the best 3 fan aib to get close to 390x if not excactly the same.
Still as a sidenote. Amd better get that tech to work in the cards because they are a long way back vs nv.
I dont really care as consumer because the added powerconsumption means zero for the few hrs each weak but vega is just bad business. It needs to be 15% faster and use 10% less power to be where it must be.

 

[Elixer]

When it rains, it pours?
Looks like there is some serious issues with Vega for the foreseeable future.

In what might be shocking news to AMD fans, GIGABYTE has stated that there are no current plans to make a custom Radeon RX Vega 64. This might change in the future. But for now, early Vega 64 adopters have no choice but to settle for the reference design or or custom design cards coming out from other vendors. There is still a light hope for the Vega 56 though, since GIGABYTE didn't discard the possibility of releasing a RX Vega 56 Gaming G1. However, the actual number of units is still unclear considering that GIGABYTE is unable to start production immediately due to various technical difficulties surrounding Vega.

Due to the inconsistency in quality of chips that AMD are providing, AIB partners are having a difficult time establishing a standard GPU frequency for their factory-overclocked cards. Furthermore, temperature reporting is broken. The actual GPU temperature is different from the temperature reported by the GPU which can become a big problem for stability in the long run. And to top it all off, there are three different Vega 10 GPU packages floating around. The molded package consists of the GPU and HBM dies sharing the same height, while there's a 40 μm height difference between them in the unmolded package. Although it seems insignificant, this small difference prevents manufacturers from standardizing a single heatsink design to accommodate all three GPU packages.

https://www.techpowerup.com/237379/gigabyte-has-no-plans-to-release-a-custom-radeon-rx-vega-64

 

[Ancalagon44]

Not entirely unexpected given the rumours we have heard. Maybe we will all just end up waiting for Vega on 12nm LP? I think by then they will have sorted out the issues that make cooling Vega and its HBM2 difficult.

 

[PeterScott]

Jaystwocents tests the Asus Custom board. Also with disappointing results:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyFTQFtju4Y&t=328s