PowerColor Factory Tour

[W1zzard]

We visit the brand-new factory of PowerColor in Taiwan. Here the latest and greatest AMD Radeon graphics cards are built, like the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and RX 7600. We'll take you through every production step and also show you how these cards are tested before they are shipped off.

Show full review

 

[GerKNG]

i saw the video from der8auer and i am very impressed of how open they are when it comes to filming.

but if every single GPU gets tested for an hour after many different QC steps... WHY on earth do they ship these cards with this insane coil whine?
i've seen two Red Devils and one Hellhound so far and they all have coilwhine loud enough to be audible through thick headsets.

 

[r3ptil3]

Great Article - thank you!!!

 

[ixi]

i saw the video from der8auer and i am very impressed of how open they are when it comes to filming.

but if every single GPU gets tested for an hour after many different QC steps... WHY on earth do they ship these cards with this insane coil whine?
i've 2 or Red devil and one Hellhound so far and they all have coilwhine loud enough to be audible through thick headsets.

About coil whine I do not understand too. Friend got 6600 xt from xfx and has coil whine too and it sounds terrible, but from the other point. It does not impact your gpu power. Friend just put on headset and rock on . Most likely as it doss not impact performance they do not care. If buyer is crying then they will swap.

 

[Ferrum Master]

Did you make fun poke about using your GPU-Z in the bench rigs?

 

[TheVargas91]

Sapphire seria a melhor marca para AMD ?

 

[Ferrum Master]

Sapphire seria a melhor marca para AMD ?

It is an English only forum dude.

 

[Dragokar]

Thanks for the insight and where they forget to put pads on the cards

Jokes aside it is always lovely to see such things, even if I had a visit to AMD in Dresden years ago where there was no GF.

 

[TheVargas91]

would the best brand for amd be Sapphire ?

 

[KrazyT]

but if every single GPU gets tested for an hour after many different QC steps... WHY on earth do they ship these cards with this insane coil whine?

Only a 10 % batch is tested

Great and interesting article !

 

[mechtech]

5-10 per box, so 150-300 cards per skid.

$1k/card, that can be an expensive skid!!!

would the best brand for amd be Sapphire ?

I had an HD6850 powercolor, it's still working today. Best brand.............well maybe more to personal preference. I typically look at warranty length first. Then reviews for VRM circuitry then cooler performance/temps/noise, and dual bios option.

 

[Timbaloo]

i saw the video from der8auer and i am very impressed of how open they are when it comes to filming.

I've seen this video yesterday aswell. I wonder if @W1zzard was there at the same time with der8auer?

Edit: Sorry, butchered quote...

 

[Dalbouh]

i saw the video from der8auer and i am very impressed of how open they are when it comes to filming.

but if every single GPU gets tested for an hour after many different QC steps... WHY on earth do they ship these cards with this insane coil whine?
i've 2 or Red devil and one Hellhound so far and they all have coilwhine loud enough to be audible through thick headsets.

i was using a random 750w power supply on my build and the coil wine was really bad and when i do heavy stuff its like jet engine even thou my Gpu was not cheap its ASUS Strix so i was upset so i started reding some articles on the internet and some YouTube videos so maybe i can find a fix and a lot of them suggested that the power supply can play a big part of the problem so i said ok and i started a small research on how pick a good power supply and i found this one

it was one of the best back the days so i ordered one after it came i tested it and Gess what it really worked the coil wine is gone and at heavy work you can barely hear it so i understanded something its not always the gpu problem as i was thinking, you don't need the best power supply available as i did i only bought it to test the theory.
i hope this was helpful cheers mate.

 

[W1zzard]

I've seen this video yesterday aswell. I wonder if @W1zzard was there at the same time with der8auer?

He went earlier this week, I went on Friday, because I had meetings all-week, all-day. Had a bunch more meetings on Fri afternoon, too. Very busy show, really had a great time, so nice to finally be back at Computex, Taipei, amazing people, amazing food, 4 guys here from TPU. Flying back tomorrow

 

[Timbaloo]

I should go there sometime aswell. But i guess as a non-business visitor it's not the cheapest trip to make

 

[Wirko]

He went earlier this week, I went on Friday, because I had meetings all-week, all-day. Had a bunch more meetings on Fri afternoon, too. Very busy show, really had a great time, so nice to finally be back at Computex, Taipei, amazing people, amazing food, 4 guys here from TPU. Flying back tomorrow

Hah, probably a very rare opportunity to meet such a large part of your team in person, maybe even hold a work meeting in vivo instead of the usual in vitro...

 

[Outback Bronze]

My first purchased dedicated Video Card was a PowerColor 9800 Pro 128MB. Oh, the memories!

 

[nikoya]

Thx for the insight W1zzard ! it's very interesting to see the machines and the scale of the production lines. It's pretty great to have the chance to see that.
Powercolor looks like a great brand to go thanks to this article.
have a safe trip back from TW.

 

[Scircura]

Cool to see what's changed and what looks about the same (to my untrained eye) since 2005 in GPU assembly.

Sucks to be reminded 2005 was 18 frigging years ago. Next time you do a factory tour in 2041 or whenever, please feel free to leave that arithmetic out of the article.

 

[Bet0n]

i saw the video from der8auer and i am very impressed of how open they are when it comes to filming.

but if every single GPU gets tested for an hour after many different QC steps... WHY on earth do they ship these cards with this insane coil whine?
i've seen two Red Devils and one Hellhound so far and they all have coilwhine loud enough to be audible through thick headsets.

My guess is
1. it doesn't impact the performance and/or the lifespan of the product
2. they can't hear it in that environment
Even if they could hear it it would be pretty circumstantial to change some coils because you can't put into those soldering machines the finished cards so they would need another machine just for that (or do the soldering with hand) and even then the problem doesn't necessarily goes away because the root of the problem is the coils. Basically every high powered GPU has coil whine at this point.

 

[mechtech]

I wonder if these were made 100% in europe or USA with 100% unionized labour, how much would they cost?

He went earlier this week, I went on Friday, because I had meetings all-week, all-day. Had a bunch more meetings on Fri afternoon, too. Very busy show, really had a great time, so nice to finally be back at Computex, Taipei, amazing people, amazing food, 4 guys here from TPU. Flying back tomorrow

So you finally updated your 2600 sandy bridge??

 

[V3ctor]

I bought an HD4870 from them eons ago... Lasted along time

 

[QuietBob]

Thanks for this great feature, very interesting and informative!

Makes one feel sorry for the cards that had to endure a 24h Furmark loop, though

 

[claylomax]

Sapphire seria a melhor marca para AMD ?

Yes.

 

[user556]

Good read.
Quick info for W1zzard - The solder paste applicators are a screen printing machine. They've replaced the ink with solder paste.