Sapphire Radeon RX Vega 64 Nitro Custom Model Pictured, Tested

[Jhelms]

Totally dig it - stunning card. Sold the moment it hits shelves - crazy power requirement and all

 

[Supercrit]

Ridiculous how a 1x8pin card can beat this thing.

 

[Assimilator]

Expect these custom cards to be available about a week after NVIDIA releases their Volta/Ampere for consumers that renders Vega obsolete. And then AMD will again wonder why nobody wants to design custom cards for them.

 

[RejZoR]

Ridiculous how a 1x8pin card can beat this thing.

My GTX 1080Ti comes with 2x8pin. Must be a hot power hog, right?

 

[Supercrit]

My GTX 1080Ti comes with 2x8pin. Must be a hot power hog, right?

It still doesn't need 3 and beat the living crap out of that one. I like AMD like you do but the fact that vega sucks in every possible way (that matters) is the hard truth to swallow.

 

[Assimilator]

My GTX 1080Ti comes with 2x8pin. Must be a hot power hog, right?

Weak trolling, try again.

 

[RejZoR]

Weak trolling, try again.

It's not even trolling. Just because you stick bunch of connectors on it, that doesn't mean anything. What it does mean is that user is free to do whatever they want with them. Unlike for example GTX 1050Ti with no PCIe power that I had on a test ride where you were limited with PCIe slot power delivery. Also, stop using Turbo mode, it does nothing but ramp up power consumption like mad. Normal mode is perfectly fine and has only slightly higher power consumption than NVIDIA's equivalent.

 

[Imsochobo]

That shroud is straight outta' 2003.

I usually like Sapphire's designs, but this one? Nope. Not even a little. Molded acrylic with edge-lit design effects? No thank you.

I don't think you've seen 2003 cards then.......

 

[Valantar]

I don't think you've seen 2003 cards then.......

Not saying 2003 GPUs, just 2003 aesthetics in general. Blue LEDs and edge-lit acrylic was all the rage back then.

So, this might be more like 2005, but the principle is the same still. Would go fantastically with this GPU. (Yep, I had a predecessor to this case way back when, believe that was the Xaser III.)

 

[Ubersonic]

I don't get why so many people are so negative about Vega/AMD all the time, I mean I understand why the Nvidia fanboys always rag on Vega for using all the worlds electricity and melting the icecaps, and I can understand some AMD fanboys being upset that it wasn't the Volta slayer Raja built it up to be (lols) but seriously.

The reference V64 currently in my office rig is faster in the stuff I play than the GTX1080 in my second rig and uses the same power as the aftermarket 980ti in my main rig. It's hardly the destroyer of worlds some people make out and it's definitely a marked improvement on the supernova that was the Fury X.

Yeah some of the AIB V64 cards will probably use more power than reference putting their energy consumption on par or ahead of the AIB GTX1080ti's, but it's hardly the end of the world. Some people make it sound like its going to quadruple their electric bill or burn their house down when in reality the added power draw and heat aren't really noticeable over any other high end card of the past few years.

 

[Noyand]

I don't get why so many people are so negative about Vega/AMD all the time, I mean I understand why the Nvidia fanboys always rag on Vega for using all the worlds electricity and melting the icecaps, and I can understand some AMD fanboys being upset that it wasn't the Volta slayer Raja built it up to be (lols) but seriously.

The reference V64 currently in my office rig is faster in the stuff I play than the GTX1080 in my second rig and uses the same power as the aftermarket 980ti in my main rig. It's hardly the destroyer of worlds some people make out and it's definitely a marked improvement on the supernova that was the Fury X.

Yeah some of the AIB V64 cards will probably use more power than reference putting their energy consumption on par or ahead of the AIB GTX1080ti's, but it's hardly the end of the world. Some people make it sound like its going to quadruple their electric bill or burn their house down when in reality the added power draw and heat aren't really noticeable over any other high end card of the past few years.

It's a combination of several factors : vega came out late, was overpriced at launch, AIB design are still unavailable, and the combo speed/power isn't really impressive, while having a complicated design that make them harder to make.
Vega is actually just like the radeon 290/290x, but at least those were sold at a decent price, and had far less issues overall so people looked over their downsides more easily.

If Vega would have launched one year earlier, with a decent msrp, I bet that it would have been just fine.

 

[Frick]

It still doesn't need 3 and beat the living crap out of that one. I like AMD like you do but the fact that vega sucks in every possible way (that matters) is the hard truth to swallow.

The only way it truly sucks is in pricing, IMO. The 56 has gone down a bit lately tho, so there's still hope.

 

[nemesis.ie]

Last I check 1.25V given enough cooling does 1700+ core clock also the HBM loves cold. While burning over 500W of power.



I'm almost certainly get one of these to mess with.

It should be fun for sure. I also wonder if the 3 x 8 are really required as mentioned in the OP, I would think it would more likely be if you want to "push it harder" but it would run on the two.

Unless they are in some way feeding the core with two and the HBM with the third? Looking forward you you posting a video determining where the traces go etc.

 

[chief-gunney]

Last I check 1.25V given enough cooling does 1700+ core clock also the HBM loves cold. While burning over 500W of power.



I'm almost certainly get one of these to mess with.

No air-cooler can handle the heat of Vega when pushed to it's performance limits. It'll just throttle down.
You can get 1700+ clock speed but only stable with water cooling.
I'd steer clear of Vega air, unless you just want to run stock clocks with Freesync monitor. Even then there'll be a lot of heat going into your case.
The reference pcb is one of the best ever made and there's not much that can be improved on.
I have a Vega 56 with EK full cover block running the 64 bios overclocked. I like it and get GTX 1080+ performance.

 

[Sasqui]

@Sasqui ^^^^

I caught another article on that yesterday, but no release date and I'm really eying a v64 now. Been thinking of just grabbing a ref one on Newegg, a sapphire is hovering around $499 now.

Thx for the tag

 

[RejZoR]

It still doesn't need 3 and beat the living crap out of that one. I like AMD like you do but the fact that vega sucks in every possible way (that matters) is the hard truth to swallow.

Only thing it sucks at is the fact that everyone had expectations it would blow competition out of this world. Other than that, it's perfectly capable and decently priced. And the kind of people who buy 500+ € graphic cards usually don't have systems built on top of no name 400W PSU's. Which makes the whole bitching and whining over it's power consumption irrelevant. What is annoying and what yet again cost them a customer is the fact they still haven't released aftermarket versions. It's just taking WAY too long and anyone who had intention to buy Vega regardless has just given up by now and gone with GeForce. That is the reality however. They lost first batch of potential buyers when performance numbers came out and now they are losing the other half. And they are losing them by each passing day aftermarket cooled cards are not available to buy.

 

[nemesis.ie]

... or gone with liquid cooling their Vega.