Monday, July 31st 2017
AMD Radeon Packs: Expensive Motherboards, Monitor only for Few
If you have not seen our RX Vega Preview yet, you should. It is the most information you can get before independent testing comes in. Adding to it is new information coming out of AMD regarding the Radeon Packs- a bundled set of discount vouchers and games offering more value for your money if purchased with an RX Vega GPU. There are still concerns about implementation given you have to purchase directly from participating retailers, and also purchase the monitor and/or Ryzen system then and there if needed but these new details add further to the complication.
According to AMD, the $200 off FreeSync monitor discount is only applicable in 5 countries- USA, Mexico, Canada, Australia, and Singapore. The rest of the world does not even get that option, which makes the whole deal a lot less appealing. All countries get the $100 off Ryzen 7 combo which includes an option of Ryzen 7 1700X, and Ryzen 7 1800X CPUs paired with an option of three X370 motherboards- the ASUS ROG Crosshair VI Extreme X370 Motherboard, the GIGABYTE GA-AX370-Gaming K7 Motherboard, and the MSI X370 XPOWER GAMING TITANIUM Motherboard. These are all very expensive motherboards, which have not justified their price point with Ryzen CPUs having a limited overclocking potential that can be reached on less expensive motherboards as well. Lastly, the two games available are Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and Prey for all countries aside from Germany, Austria and Switzerland where Wolfenstein is replaced by Sniper Elite 4. Between all this, and the Samsung CF791 not having the best FreeSync implementation - with users reporting display flickering in Ultimate Engine mode that increases the FreeSync range (48-100 Hz) - the Radeon Packs are not looking as lucrative anymore and hopefully will be revised, or have the price reduced accordingly for other regions.
Source:
AMD Radeon
According to AMD, the $200 off FreeSync monitor discount is only applicable in 5 countries- USA, Mexico, Canada, Australia, and Singapore. The rest of the world does not even get that option, which makes the whole deal a lot less appealing. All countries get the $100 off Ryzen 7 combo which includes an option of Ryzen 7 1700X, and Ryzen 7 1800X CPUs paired with an option of three X370 motherboards- the ASUS ROG Crosshair VI Extreme X370 Motherboard, the GIGABYTE GA-AX370-Gaming K7 Motherboard, and the MSI X370 XPOWER GAMING TITANIUM Motherboard. These are all very expensive motherboards, which have not justified their price point with Ryzen CPUs having a limited overclocking potential that can be reached on less expensive motherboards as well. Lastly, the two games available are Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and Prey for all countries aside from Germany, Austria and Switzerland where Wolfenstein is replaced by Sniper Elite 4. Between all this, and the Samsung CF791 not having the best FreeSync implementation - with users reporting display flickering in Ultimate Engine mode that increases the FreeSync range (48-100 Hz) - the Radeon Packs are not looking as lucrative anymore and hopefully will be revised, or have the price reduced accordingly for other regions.
34 Comments on AMD Radeon Packs: Expensive Motherboards, Monitor only for Few
You will be able to buy it in EU as well, just like you were with the Fury X.
As for non reference models.. The 'custom' fairytale doesn't particularly apply with Ati/RTG, as they usually ship with better materials than those used by Gigabyte, Asus, etc. You're not missing anything.
Assuming it's OCing you care about (and assuming there's a point with this card), again; order a reference, cool it yourself, just like you would with any other model. I don't see the issue here.
The only downside is a clear lack of mass.. mass production, hence all this. But that amounts to a waiting time that will apply to all of us.
Excuse my little rant if this has already been addressed.
Anyways, all that being said, you know what people can EASILY do? Find someone who wants to buy something that comes in the bundle, and buy together and you get a game for free as well. It's literally a way to pay less, get more, and avoid having no GPUs in stock. Sure it's a roundabout way of doing it, but how else would you do it? Hook people up to a truth detector and freakkin' question them? This is literally as good as it gets. I can't think of another way to avoid miners, can you?