Question WIll you miss MSI AMD cards?

[DAPUNISHER]

The last MSI AMD card I had was the RX 580 8GB. It was a solid performer back then. Seems like MSI AMD cards turned to garbage the last few gens from reading what others have said. I certainly won't miss them. Besides, as they exit the AMD GPU market Acer seems happy to take their seat at the table.

https://news.acer.com/acer-expands-...dator-bifrost-and-nitro-series-graphics-cards

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

At this point in history I find it's about the stability of the drivers.

 

[In2Photos]

I have 2 MSI cards, 1 is an RX6800XT. I bought the MSI because I felt like it looked the best. I wanted a white card but there are so few white AMD gpus. So I had to paint mine. It has performed flawlessly so no complaints here.

 

[Shmee]

The last MSI AMD card I had was the RX 580 8GB. It was a solid performer back then. Seems like MSI AMD cards turned to garbage the last few gens from reading what others have said. I certainly won't miss them. Besides, as they exit the AMD GPU market Acer seems happy to take their seat at the table.

https://news.acer.com/acer-expands-...dator-bifrost-and-nitro-series-graphics-cards

Hmm, kind of a pity if MSI is bowing out. Do we know why? Acer cards could be interesting, but why no 7900 cards listed?

 

[sandorski]

MSI is dead to me.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

First I'm reading of MSI leaving the AMD AIB list.

MSI RX 7000-series graphics cards mysteriously disappear — AMD commitment questioned as supply dissolves worldwide

Is MSI leaving the AMD GPU market?

www.tomshardware.com

For anyone that needs some context to OP's post.

MSI was a fine vendor, made some ok looking cards, but also not terribly surprising.

AMD's low market share, thirst for margins, and a brutal market for consumer GPUs/Gaming probably means MSI needs to tighten up.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

AMD actually does well in the retail market. Don't let Steam surveys and mobile, which is 80% of all PC sales, distort things. When polled, 1 in 3 DIYers are using an AMD GPU. Last Q AMD cited increased Radeon sales for helping prop up numbers. We are a very different market and that's the one MSI is leaving. AMD AIBs make better margins than with Nvidia from what I have read. See EVGA for reference.

My hypothesis is - MSI is bailing on AMD GPUs because they have such a small slice of the pie there. PowerColor, Sapphire, and XFX are the big 3. As I knew some would only buy EVGA for green, I know others that only buy Sapphire or PowerColor for red. XFX has really stepped it up though with RDNA 2&3. Both XFX and ASRock seem like they are gaining momentum. The Acer cards look well built, looking forward to seeing them in reviews. Meanwhile MSI RDNA 2 are the ugliest cards. And the younger crowd are obsessed with showcase PC builds, of late the fish tank designs. I rarely see them in the battlestation builds. I suspect most of their cards go in their own prebuilts.

This is all my speculation of course, so pinch of salt and all that.

 

[coercitiv]

My hypothesis is - MSI is bailing on AMD GPUs because they have such a small slice of the pie there. PowerColor, Sapphire, and XFX are the big 3. As I knew some would only buy EVGA for green, I know others that only buy Sapphire or PowerColor for red. XFX has really stepped it up though with RDNA 2&3.

Can confirm with anecdotal example, myself:

• I'm a consistent MSI customer when it comes to motherboards, I think all my desktops builds in the last decade were done with their boards
• When it comes to an AMD videocards, I would look first at Sapphire, then PowerColor/XFX depeding on models/reviews/offers, then the rest

My last purchase was Asus though, BF deal. After some failed experiments Asus seems to have stumbled on a good recipe with the TUF cards, though as always with them one still needs to check reviews and make sure they haven't messed up something recently. Meanwhile Sapphire is the only brand I'd be willing to buy without a review, their product split is simple and I like even their budget Pulse cards.

MSI did a very stupid thing a few years ago, they put plastic backplates on some videocards. It was a that moment in time my brain clicked and I never took them seriously since. I would only consider them on some killer deal... on Nvidia cards?!

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Thanks for the reminder about the plastic backplates. 👍 Cheaping out was a terrible decision. Whatever it saves them in BoM is ruined by no one wanting one. Their premium models never stand out on price, performance, or features so I think they are the last company I think about when card shopping. Hell, even Yeston carved out a niche with their anime and waifu designs. MSI is the yesterday's fish of GPUs IMO.

 

[blckgrffn]

My $.02 is that I liked MSI for their super simple warranty.

Do you have a receipt? Warranty starts when you bought it.

No receipt? Warranty starts when card was card was born.

Whoever holds the receipt and the card holds the warranty. Registration, transference, etc. all NBD, not required.

Never had to use it, but I liked that. My MSI 290X was a solid card and in the midst of covid I did a trade for an MSI 6700XT card knowing how simple the warranty was.

I would like others to provide similar straightforward warranty coverage.

As far as plastic backplates and stuff like that - I agree. MSI was not necessarily my goto - but I would never hesitate to buy one if it was the best deal either.

Didn't they recently mess up on their 4070S release or something and really taint the review pool?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I'll give you a hear hear for the warranty. Providing that peace of mind for us used parts traders is a nice perk.

EVGA left a big hole when they stopped making Nvidia cards. Perhaps they are trying to capture market share where there is some to be had? It is fairly evident to me that they were losing ground in the AMD space.

 

[Shmee]

I used to mostly buy XFX, at least around the time of 5870 and 6950. They had double lifetime warranty back then! Unfortunately no longer. Then when GCN was out, I moved over to Sapphire for the most part.

 

[DeathReborn]

I have a MSI RX 6800 but I don't think I would miss them. I tried to buy some Gigabyte 2x 8 pin models but the stock was gone so had the MSI Gaming Z's (3x 8 pin) delivered instead with a partial refund.

 

[iLLusiveMan]

Nope. Since RDNA1 they dropped the ball and all their GPUs were average at best with Nvidia coolers strapped on top.
Honestly my last MSI AMD GPU was a MSI Radeon 5770 Hawk... That was probably 10 years ago lol.

 

[Massive Coronary]

The last MSI card I had was an R290 gaming edition. It was the second MSI card I've owned. The other being the ugliest ATI 9800 pro I've ever seen. It was green with some weird chunk of metal for a heatsink. It did ID itself as a 9800xt with 128 MB of ram.

 

[mikeymikec]

The last MSI card I had was an R290 gaming edition. It was the second MSI card I've owned. The other being the ugliest ATI 9800 pro I've ever seen. It was green with some weird chunk of metal for a heatsink. It did ID itself as a 9800xt with 128 MB of ram.
View attachment 101149

I'm puzzled by the notion of graphics cards needing to look good, but these days they're all cuboid-shaped. I wonder if that has spurred the obsession with RGB in recent years.

I once owned this card which I've always considered to be 'the batmobile card':

I'm not sure if the HSF cover had any bearing on my purchase decision

 

[DAPUNISHER]

"Batman card" LMAO now I can't unsee it.

 

[sandorski]

I'm puzzled by the notion of graphics cards needing to look good, but these days they're all cuboid-shaped. I wonder if that has spurred the obsession with RGB in recent years.

I once owned this card which I've always considered to be 'the batmobile card':

I'm not sure if the HSF cover had any bearing on my purchase decision

I really like the RGB/bling stuff. An all white build in a Montech King 95 looks absolutely stunning. Some people do various Game/Story themes with displayed figurines/items. It's like having a piece of art on your desk. These days you can get some real nice non-blingy cases as well. As far as cases/customizations are concerned there has never been a better time to DIY.

 

[mikeymikec]

I really like the RGB/bling stuff. An all white build in a Montech King 95 looks absolutely stunning. Some people do various Game/Story themes with displayed figurines/items. It's like having a piece of art on your desk. These days you can get some real nice non-blingy cases as well. As far as cases/customizations are concerned there has never been a better time to DIY.

To each their own I think (the Montech King 95 included) that RGB setups look gaudy. I personally don't put much stock in how attractive the necessary cuboid needs to look, but I've seen the occasional setup where the maker has done a complete makeover of the outer chassis in a way that I thought looked quite interesting, for example:

 

[SamMaster]

Looks like MSI is skipping the 90x0 series. There are some speculation in the article that they might want to go all nVidia like EVGA was.

MSI skips RDNA 4 and will not manufacture AMD Radeon 9000-series GPUs

 

[sandorski]

No loss.

 

[blckgrffn]

I thought that already had done this about a year ago?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I thought that already had done this about a year ago?

MSI and AMD will not provide a definitive response, so the speculation continues.

MSI has released 2 versions of the Claw based on ARC, and both have flopped in sales. Perhaps the deal with Intel is what soured relations between AMD graphics and MSI? Whatever the case, they are obviously on the outs.

MSI better play it smart. AMD owns the lucrative retail board market now. It may not hurt to lose dGPU biz. It will most certainly hurt if they can't make AMD boards anymore.

 

[Shmee]

Keep in mind that MSI also makes Intel motherboards, as well as AMD motherboards and of course various graphics cards. I do think it would be better for them to make Radeon cards over ARC though, as I have a feeling the ARC GPUs are more limited volume for now. And considering there are way more RDNA4 cards than Blackwell, it would have been better for MSI to include them on launch. Personally I think they should try to be partner for AMD, Intel and Nvidia, no sense in dropping any one of them really.

 

[GaiaHunter]

My last MSI GPUs were the GeForce. 4200 ti and the GeForce 6800nu that became a 6800GT via warranty.

Good old days of red PCB.