AMD's RX Vega Low Key Budapest Event: Vega Pitted Against GTX 1080

[Raevenlord]

On the first stop in AMD's two-continent spanning RX Vega tour (which really only counts with three locations), the company pitted their upcoming RX Vega graphics card (we expect this to be their flagship offering) against NVIDIA's GTX 1080 graphics card. The event itself was pretty subdued, and there was not much to see when it comes to the RX Vega graphics card - literally. Both it and the GTX 1080 were enclosed inside PC towers, with the event-goers not being allowed to even catch a glimpse of the piece of AMD hardware that has most approximated a unicorn in recent times.

The Vega-powered system also made use of a Ryzen 7 processor, and the cards were running Battlefield 1 (or Sniper Elite 4; there's lots of discussion going on about that, but the first image below does show a first-person view) with non-descript monitors, one supporting FreeSync, the other G-Sync. The monitor's models were covered by cloth so that users weren't able to tell which system was running which graphics card, though due to ASUS' partnership in the event, both were (probably) of ASUS make. The resolution used was 3440 x 1440, which should mean over 60 FPS on the GTX 1080 on Ultra. It has been reported by users that attended the event that one of the systems lagged slightly in one portion of the demo, though we can't confirm which one (and I'd say that was AMD's intention.)





All in all, I have to say, this tour doesn't inspire me confidence. This isn't the kind of "in your face" comparison we're used to seeing from companies who know they have a winning product; should the comparison be largely in favor of AMD, I posit the company would be taking every advantage of that by showcasing their performance leadership. There did seem to be an inordinate amount of smoke and mirrors here, though, with AMD going out of its way to prevent attendees from being able to discern between their and their competitors' offering.



AMD reportedly told attendees that the AMD and NVIDIA systems had a $300 difference in AMD's favor. All other hardware being equal, and accounting for AMD's stance that a FreeSync monitor tends to cost around $200 less than a comparable NVIDIA G-Sync enabled one, that leaves around $100 savings solely towards the RX Vega part of the equation. This means the RX Vega could sell around the $459-$500 bracket, if current pricing of the GTX 1080 is what AMD considered.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Chaitanya]

Interesting.

 

[The Quim Reaper]

If Vega costs more than $399, they may as well not bother.

Performance isn't what will sell the card, price is.

Offering similar levels of performance for Nvidia levels of money will accomplish nothing and will only sell to the AMD die-hards, which is a tiny percentage of the GPU market.

Price is the only trick card they can play, being so late to market, and if they don't play it, well....go home AMD, you're done.

 

[csatahajos]

Well according to friends going there the best thing were the two hostess ladies, so little was shown of the STUFF. As the articla states this was mostly a fake event, by the secrecy there it could have been RX 580 inside the AMD machine, nobody could tell as most games run were easy on the graphics card I was told.

A major dissapointment, also why wait with the release so much if this card is really only 1080 material only for 100 USD less. It is nice but not the kind of game changer like Ryzen or TR. I'm really hoping this was the XT version only and the XTX with better drivers will be 1080Ti level still for a 600 USD pricetag.

AFAIK the HBM2 is fairly expensive, like 150USD-ish so if the MSRP is really 450 on the high end card AMD won't make any money on these....

 

[the54thvoid]

BOM and R&D costs would be interesting to see. If it has to price compete with a year old card, no longer Nvidia's best, AMD might be selling at very low, investor depressing margins.

Still, announcement end of July, reviews after that?

 

[kunyicajsz]

I was there for about an hour and closely checked both rig. BF1 was running and I considered both config running the game really smooth. The speaker guy told me which one is Vega (rig on the left) and I had to watch for like a minute to see any difference (which we all know that can be easily the trick of my mind).
I did win an asus rx 570 though

 

[bistrocrat]

it is just sad... sad that we must wait for 1.5 years (since gtx 10XX) to get this -100$(maybe) cheaper product from competitor, so nvidia will level down those -99$ for their 1.5 year old GPU's and wont haste to release next gen - because there is nothing in market that challanges nvidias market share. and the fact that these 2 year cycles with baerly no price cuts in betwean is in time frame when 4K or 120fps+ gaming monitor prices are really low and affordable is really sad

 

[Prima.Vera]

Naturally this has to be cheaper and perform slightly better than the GTX 1080 to be even considered by buyers...

 

[okidna]

I was there for about an hour and closely checked both rig. BF1 was running and I considered both config running the game really smooth. The speaker guy told me which one is Vega (rig on the left) and I had to watch for like a minute to see any difference (which we all know that can be easily the trick of my mind).
I did win an asus rx 570 though

Congrats!!

 

[buggalugs]

This is the new normal It seems most companies are releasing products ahead of reviews these days, and they're trying hard to control the message. Not just AMD but Intel is doing it too and Nvidia did it.

The old days of companies giving review sites products to review before launch is over.

Its going to be hard for AMD and Vega, Im sure Nvidia is sitting on new cards, ready for an answer to vega launch. I hope AMD planned ahead.

 

[Deleted member 172152]

Suppose AMD doesn't want the actual performance to leak. Guess I'm going back into hibernation.

 

[csatahajos]

Suppose AMD doesn't want the actual performance to leak. Guess I'm going back into hibernation.

It would be fine but why do a demo like this then, which has no meaningful value (well other than a chance to win some hardware )

 

[dicktracy]

Picture looks like a pornography set

 

[bug]

it is just sad... sad that we must wait for 1.5 years (since gtx 10XX) to get this -100$(maybe) cheaper product from competitor, so nvidia will level down those -99$ for their 1.5 year old GPU's and wont haste to release next gen - because there is nothing in market that challanges nvidias market share. and the fact that these 2 year cycles with baerly no price cuts in betwean is in time frame when 4K or 120fps+ gaming monitor prices are really low and affordable is really sad

Harsh words.
Remember, AMD doesn't have infinite resource (neither does anyone else) and they covered a lot of ground with their CPUs in the past year. GPU division not keeping up isn't totally unexpected.

 

[chaosmassive]

AMD shouldn't never use HBM on their Vega (or consumer) card, they dont learn from Fury X
be it HBM or GDDR5(X) as long as GPU fed with sufficient bandwidth, graphic card performance ceiling always on GPU core capability
with GDDR5X's bandwidth rivaling or even exceeding HBM2, its not wise option to put HBM on consumer card at all
furthermore HBM2 is recently developed (with questionable yield) and costly to make

now, if only AMD use GDDR5 (GDDR5X at least) AMD might be able to save its BOM which translate to lower cost per card
AMD trying to force them self into luxury space, note that even Nvidia dont release HBM-based graphic card at all.

card equiped with HBM2 memory and still on par with GTX 1080 its not funny at all

 

[Vayra86]

My god these AMD events always look like some weird scene out of a cyberpunk B-movie or Total Recall or something.

 

[Crap Daddy]

To showcase a high-end product which took years into making and tons of hype in such a low-key event with only one Vega machine running one game with the emphasis on Freesync and cheaper alternative to technology which is available since more than a year is depressing. RTG and AMD are in deep ****.

 

[chaosmassive]

To showcase a high-end product which took years into making and tons of hype in such a low-key event with only one Vega machine running one game with the emphasis on Freesync and cheaper alternative to technology which is available since more than a year is depressing. RTG and AMD are in deep ****.

their CPU department start clawing back its market pie
its GPU part is very concerning,,,,

 

[Deleted member 172152]

their CPU department start clawing back its market pie
its GPU part is very concerning,,,,

RTG is doing okay, not great. Just about competing is still more than most expected, so that's something. With AMD's cpu money RTG can hopefully increase its R&D budget and if rx vega is about as good as a 1080 now, it should at least outperform it in the long run when more optimized games are released and it gets better drivers, which still would make it a good long-term option. Maybe I'll get vega 2.0 at a later date, but I only play at most with high settings anyway (except in small and/or old games of course), so the framerate should be fine no matter what for the next few years. If rx vega doesn't dissapoint, I'm buying it. If it's complete rubbish, I'm not. Simple. Buying in september, so that leaves some time for driver optimizations that will give a more complete picture, so I can at least make an informed decision without rushing to conclusions (like nvidia fanboys ). That also means prices will have come down a bit from launch, especially since vega is supposed to be a rubbish mining gpu.

 

[londiste]

system price difference $300 less for amd one?
the monitors are apparently mx34vq (msrp $799) and pc348q (msrp $1299).
wait...

 

[Dimi]

200$ difference between G-sync & Freesync? Yeah if you buy shitty monitors from Asus & Benq maybe.

 

[Deleted member 172152]

200$ difference between G-sync & Freesync? Yeah if you buy shitty monitors from Asus & Benq maybe.

Depends where you live mostly. In the Netherlands 200 euros difference is fairly common and it can go up wayyy more with only a few cheap g-sync monitors around. Only advantage of g-sync is that if you pay even more you can get higher refresh rates, but anything above 100hz on a UWQHD panel is a bit pointless, so you would be better off with a 2560x1080 monitor anyway and then you probably wouldn't use any sync to get the best response times possible, making a cheaper freesync monitor a better option.

 

[Tomgang]

If rx vega is only gtx 1080 compitable with, im glad i dit not wait for vega and got my self a gtx 1080 ti for some future 4k fun.

Any news about what tdp rx vega comes with?

I mean if tdp is like the fe vega or water cooled version with tdp of 300 and 375 watts and still only has performence levels of gtx 1080 i am not impressed at all. Gtx 1080 tdp is 180 watt for the reference card by the way.

 

[Bytales]

Well according to friends going there the best thing were the two hostess ladies, so little was shown of the STUFF. As the articla states this was mostly a fake event, by the secrecy there it could have been RX 580 inside the AMD machine, nobody could tell as most games run were easy on the graphics card I was told.

A major dissapointment, also why wait with the release so much if this card is really only 1080 material only for 100 USD less. It is nice but not the kind of game changer like Ryzen or TR. I'm really hoping this was the XT version only and the XTX with better drivers will be 1080Ti level still for a 600 USD pricetag.

AFAIK the HBM2 is fairly expensive, like 150USD-ish so if the MSRP is really 450 on the high end card AMD won't make any money on these....

Yah, like they had to bring some b.es, otherwise it would have been for nothing.

 

[JB_Gamer]

If Vega costs more than $399, they may as well not bother. Performance isn't what will sell the card, price is. Offering similar levels of performance for Nvidia levels of money will accomplish nothing and will only sell to the AMD die-hards, which is a tiny percentage of the GPU market. Price is the only trick card they can play, being so late to market, and if they don't play it, well....go home AMD, you're done.

Well I truly believe that no-one wants that scenario - "go home AMD, you're done", not even the most green-faced Nvidia fanboys/die-hards, what then, leaving Nvidia without competition?!