Review: ASUS Radeon ROG RX Vega 64 STRIX 8GB

Discussion in 'Frontpage news' started by Hilbert Hagedoorn, Sep 6, 2017.

  1. StuST220

    StuST220 Guest

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    I was really hoping the non-reference partner cards would have a little extra performance over the reference cards and be a little more efficient on power but it doesn't seem to be the case.

    I've been hanging on for quite a while now whilst deciding what to upgrade my MSI R9 290 to which is still great at 1080p which is pretty much what I game at, but now it seems nVidia is going to be the most sensible option for me out of the two.
     
  2. tunejunky

    tunejunky Ancient Guru

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    the laughs are true...for gamers. AMD has just scored a *home run* as far as stockholders are concerned. from a business perspective it matters not who buys the cards as long as they as sold. and they are sold out and back-ordered.
     
  3. schmidtbag

    schmidtbag Ancient Guru

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    Same here. I don't really understand how Asus managed to use 3 large fans and somehow not have any significant thermal, noise, or performance improvement over the reference card (except when idle - that's definitely better).

    I haven't paid close attention to whether Asus uses the same heatsink on other models (I think they do) in which case that may be the problem - perhaps it doesn't thoroughly cover the entire die. That heatsink likely wasn't designed to handle so much heat concentrated in one location, and was likely intended to cool "external" VRAM chips. You can see from the FLIR images that much of the heatsink is relatively cold. I'm sure the 3rd fan is mostly useless.
     
  4. Clouseau

    Clouseau Ancient Guru

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    ^ Same cooler is used on their 1080 and 1080Ti STRIX versions.
     

  5. Elder III

    Elder III Guest

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    I also expected a more significant difference in both temperature and noise levels going from the reference Vega 64 to the ASUS Strix version. That Strix cooler has done very well on other GPUs and I really thought it would make more of a difference with Vega 64.
     
  6. RzrTrek

    RzrTrek Guest

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    Another bad excuse for a graphics card raised to the sky by AMD and praised by fanboys.
     
  7. prometheus_

    prometheus_ Guest

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    Folks are thinking the review is suspect, considering how Hilbert had "left the thermal compound in there as I need to re-assemble the card fast for further testing.".

    Every other preview for this card has shown that it's cooler, and much quieter than the V64 ref while outperforming it with higher average clocks.

    Example One: Strix > V64 in every regard except power.
    http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/109078-asus-radeon-rx-vega-64-strix-gaming

    Example Two: Strix > V64 in every regard except power, and stock Strix matches V64+50%PL performance for less power.
    https://www.computerbase.de/2017-08/asus-radeon-rx-vega-64-vorserie-test/

    None of this lines up with Hilbert's review.
     
  8. Hilbert Hagedoorn

    Hilbert Hagedoorn Don Vito Corleone Staff Member

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    Whenever people see something they do not like it is always the media outlet that is suspect. BTW your IP traced back awfully close to the AMD Markham Canada HQ? Is that a well educated observation to make or an incredible coincidence?

    1) The disassembly photo-shoot of the card was done AFTER all performance tests had been done, ergo the card is tested in it's default state. The remark was made due to the fact i still needed to use the card for pending FCAT tests. I also make the photos like that so that people can see how TIM is applied. But I'll rewrite that a bit to make it more clear.

    2) We tested in a final configuration. All other previews you refer to are just that, based on preview / non-final early sample cards, some media had quick access to a card for merely an hour or so as ASUS dropped by to show them. No-body tested with long duration temps and DBa measurements with the card properly warmed up, we did. Other future media reviews will back the temps we are seeing, unless our sample had an isolated problem of course.

    3) The performance differential in-between reference and the ASUS card is 100% based on throttling, and VEGA64 sure is throttling up and down a lot causing small FPS differences.

    But you know what - I hope it is an isolated issue on our side, I honestly doubt it, but I do hope it. But be glad we do not cover up our findings and post results as they are measured here in the lab.
     
    Lucifer, Fender178, Solfaur and 3 others like this.
  9. prometheus_

    prometheus_ Guest

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    Thanks for clearing up that bit about the TIM. I know I'm not the only one who was reading into that a bit...

    At any rate, I'm only commenting on what I've read. I don't own the card, and my only source of information on it is what other outlets have shown us.
    It's expected that different outlets have different results, but the main thing that bothers me is the fps delta between the V64 and Strix card.

    So far, others show a pretty sizable gap between the two cards. There are a lot of factors that could cause that, sure, but (so far) it seems uncharacteristic.
    The Strix card seems to have framerates that perform at the level of the V64 card +50%PL, but well ahead of the bone stock one.

    So it's not that your Strix numbers are bad, but that the V64 numbers (by comparison) seem oddly high for an untouched card. But like I said, lots of potential factors.

    Anyways I think everyone is waiting for some concrete drivers more than they are unattainable MSRP cards, no matter what the make.

    As for my IP, I'm from the GTA. Would be amazed if someone else on this board DIDN'T route through the a nearby hub (aka close to AMD in Markham).
     
  10. ViRGE

    ViRGE Guest

    @Hilbert Hagedoorn, quick question plz!
    Asus as placed an 78c target temperature, so I have no problems with that, power consumption can not change that much using the same chip and delivering above reference performance so I have no problems with that also, BUT plz, can you go in death about the noise levels? its really on par with the reference blower cards? some folk say its using the GTX 1080 strix cooler (2 slots) and some say its using the GTX 1080ti cooler (2.5 slots), your sample use each one? thx for your amazing work and time!
     

  11. Hilbert Hagedoorn

    Hilbert Hagedoorn Don Vito Corleone Staff Member

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    Note to all:

    Yesterday Guru3D Published the Radeon RX 64 STRIX review from ASUS. As everybody had noticed card performs awfully similar towards the reference Radeon RX 64 card. This morning I received a phone call from ASUS, asking us if we’d be willing to take down the article for a few days as they have made a mistake. The sample we received did not get a final BIOS for its final clock frequencies and fan tweaking. Ergo, the sample we received carries a default reference BIOS.

    It’s a colossal mistake, but as such the end-results in the review are not representative enough for the final product. ASUS will get the finalized BIOS over once they have finished (likely a day or two) after which we will re-test the card with that final BIOS and thus republish the review. All this explains why the STRIX card was so incredibly close to Vega 64 performance.

    Apologies for the inconvenience, but this mistake was not one coming from us.
     
    dean469 and Silva like this.
  12. nicugoalkeper

    nicugoalkeper Master Guru

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    I didn't express myself right:
    For a card that comes out in 2017, at nearly 1 year after 1080, i must say is a weak card. Like i say'd nearaly the same perfromance as 1080 but at 70% more power consumtion (that is crazy) !!
    A new card need to be at least 20% better at performance and maybe at power consumtion.
    So i think this card is weak, not in gaming but all around, adding performace, power consumtion and price togheter. Yes is like 1080 but for the VEGA 64 to function for 1-2 year i will pay a lot more to the power bill, will need a bigger PSU and the price is still high.
    So if i need a powerful GPU for gaming why shall i buy AMD and not NVIDIA, keeping in mind the performance, power consumption and price. (no to mention the lack in stores) Or even better wait for the next Nvidia card.
    If with Ryzen AMD did a greate job, with Vega they just rush out a card for minig just to make some money, not to improve the performance of the GPU. The GPU division at AMD needs to pull it's self together and improve. Or maybe they will move to another direction (mining) and will let Nvidia to be the king at gaming. But in time i think that Nvidia will win the battle for mining card to. Nvidia is not Intel.

    I don't think that the new bios will ad more that 5% in terms of speed.
     
  13. OnnA

    OnnA Ancient Guru

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    That is EPIC :D
     
  14. Scoica

    Scoica Active Member

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  15. BReal85

    BReal85 Master Guru

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    So you are telling that AMD asked ASUS to get the review removed and make another BIOS or what?
     

  16. warlord

    warlord Guest

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    I hope final non reference Vega cards will outperform 1070/1080 gtx. If not AMD is just as good as closed because Volta is coming. NVidia plays without an opponent right now. "Green" cards are by far not only more performing per buck but also per watt.
     
  17. H1TMANza

    H1TMANza Member

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    Kindly include the stock bios results with the final bios, will be interesting to compare basically the stock reference with a better cooler design (stock bios) with the new bios they will give you. Plus, you already did the work .
     
    Silva and nicugoalkeper like this.
  18. nashathedog

    nashathedog Guest

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    Hello, When you do the new review can you please include the Vega Blower and Vega Air cooled models in the testing graphs and also include the Revision info this time,
    ie:
    Does the Asus Vega Strix use revision C0 or C1, Thankyou. :)
     
    Last edited: Sep 7, 2017
  19. Evildead666

    Evildead666 Guest

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    Seriously, keep your Fandom insights to yourself. Its not required, and is just inciting a Flame War.

    Buying a Vega with the watercooler already attached might not be great, due to the price, but putting your own watercooled setup on a standard Vega64 is very very pleasing, and powerful.
    I'm very happy with it, and will be even happier once I've flashed it to a Liquid vega Bios.
     
  20. Silva

    Silva Ancient Guru

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    I wanted to upgrade to a RX570. I couldn't get one and wanted to stay with AMD so I bought a shitty RX560.
    I didn't lose much money (sold my R9 270X for 64€ and got the RX560 for 130€) and this card uses 2.53 times less power. Now, if I was in the 500/600€ range, I'd go all in for a 1070. I love AMD, but as a consumer I have to make purchases that make sense. Vega 64 sucks, it sucks too much power and doesn't even get close to a 1080Ti.
    Me too.
     
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