AMD Radeon Packs: Expensive Motherboards, Monitor only for Few

[VSG]

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.



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[the54thvoid]

WTF RTG.

This is amusing. What? You cannot buy the liquid cooled card from anyone but AMD directly (cough Titan). And what the hoopla, nobody in Europe can buy the liquid cooled version? Sorry @RejZoR, AMD hates you.

None of this info can be true, surely. What I have stated above is ludicrous, so much so that I dont believe it at all, there must be a miscommunication or this is quite possibly the worst release of a gfx card ever.

I'm waiting for someone to tell me I'm being a tool (@Xzibit - you can do that if you want - you've got a free shot at me and I'll simply thank you!) and that's fine because I cannot be reading this right. FWIW, I'm not ranting or angry, I'm in disbelief... If I had waited for Vega I would be buying the watercooled version so I would be absolutely pissed off if that was the case and this is all true.

 

[ShurikN]

Another bad step from AMD to add to my Vega preview topic rant.

 

[RejZoR]

WTF RTG.

This is amusing. What? You cannot buy the liquid cooled card from anyone but AMD directly (cough Titan). And what the hoopla, nobody in Europe can buy the liquid cooled version? Sorry @RejZoR, AMD hates you.

None of this info can be true, surely. What I have stated above is ludicrous, so much so that I dont believe it at all, there must be a miscommunication or this is quite possibly the worst release of a gfx card ever.

I'm waiting for someone to tell me I'm being a tool (@Xzibit - you can do that if you want - you've got a free shot at me and I'll simply thank you!) and that's fine because I cannot be reading this right. FWIW, I'm not ranting or angry, I'm in disbelief... If I had waited for Vega I would be buying the watercooled version so I would be absolutely pissed off if that was the case and this is all true.

Yup, I kinda got screwed. Maybe we can hope for an AIB water cooled option. Unless AMD will order that's a NO NO like it was with Fury X which was only allowed to be a reference design and nothing else. That would suck. Especially because I don't have plans to replace my platform for several more years and quite frankly, I have no plans to get rid of my 1080p 144Hz monitor either...

 

[Dimi]

WTF RTG.

This is amusing. What? You cannot buy the liquid cooled card from anyone but AMD directly (cough Titan). And what the hoopla, nobody in Europe can buy the liquid cooled version? Sorry @RejZoR, AMD hates you.

None of this info can be true, surely. What I have stated above is ludicrous, so much so that I dont believe it at all, there must be a miscommunication or this is quite possibly the worst release of a gfx card ever.

I'm waiting for someone to tell me I'm being a tool (@Xzibit - you can do that if you want - you've got a free shot at me and I'll simply thank you!) and that's fine because I cannot be reading this right. FWIW, I'm not ranting or angry, I'm in disbelief... If I had waited for Vega I would be buying the watercooled version so I would be absolutely pissed off if that was the case and this is all true.

Its all right here: https://gaming.radeon.com/en-us/rxvega/

You can click on the 3 different "regions" to see their rewards.

I think you can still buy EVERY edition there is, only the Freesync monitor discount is available to the united states and others listed.

 

[VSG]

Yup, I kinda got screwed. Maybe we can hope for an AIB water cooled option. Unless AMD will order that's a NO NO like it was with Fury X which was only allowed to be a reference design and nothing else. That would suck. Especially because I don't have plans to replace my platform for several more years and quite frankly, I have no plans to get rid of my 1080p 144Hz monitor either...

There may be options yet, we saw some unconfirmed renders of a Gigabyte RX Vega 64 Liquid Cooled card by itself with retail packaging.

 

[the54thvoid]

I simply can't see RTG being so dumb as to allow the water cooled version to be so limited in region. That's what's so confusing. You log in to AMD, order a VEga, then you have to add the monitor on top? Can you buy the card (Vega liquid one) and not buy the monitor? It all seems so vague.

 

[Dimi]

I simply can't see RTG being so dumb as to allow the water cooled version to be so limited in region. That's what's so confusing. You log in to AMD, order a VEga, then you have to add the monitor on top? Can you buy the card (Vega liquid one) and not buy the monitor? It all seems so vague.

No i imagine its more like their previous deals where you buy the product you want, after you register your product, you will get the vouchers that are available for your region. Which means if you do NOT live in the following: UNITED STATES / MEXICO / CANADA / AUSTRALIA / SINGAPORE you will get ALL of the deals apart from the Monitor discount.

 

[Cybrnook2002]

I simply can't see RTG being so dumb as to allow the water cooled version to be so limited in region. That's what's so confusing. You log in to AMD, order a VEga, then you have to add the monitor on top? Can you buy the card (Vega liquid one) and not buy the monitor? It all seems so vague.

They say "If" you buy a monitor/motherboard.

I think it's more like a manf coupon. A way to increase the price, but maybe not always be taken up on it. So you end up buying the card for the additional $100 this surely adds, and basically get two free games. And some coupons for a MB and Monitor if your in the market.

Surely Asus/MSI/Samsung agreed to sell at a discount to increase potential sales for High End hardware. So there is some margin to be lost, obviously.... But I don't think you are Forced to buy anything other than the card.

 

[VSG]

What am I missing here? Why are people thinking Europeans can't buy the Liquid Cooled Edition no matter what? As far as we know, it is part of the Radeon Aqua Pack, which will be available everywhere. There may also be card-only versions from some AIBs, but we do not know yet. Either way, nothing that says it is regional.

 

[the54thvoid]

That monitor is £800 in the UK. Maybe why it's not included in the global offer areas?

It'll be good to see more clearly how the cards hit retail. I think we're not getting the whole picture though the slides do state if you don't want an offer you can buy the non-liquid cooled versions at retail. So there is an implication you can't buy the liquid version without buying a 'package'. Very confused still.

Only with a pack can you buy the water one.....

 

[Hood]

Here's an an novel idea - why don't they just sell the damn cards through normal retail channels, and skip all the drama and bullshit. This makes them look desperate, peddling high-priced junk bundles to cash in before everyone realizes they've been a victim of AMD's shady marketing, again. To be a vendor, you have to vend - not make up random ways to get rid of failed products that won't sell. This is not surprising, though, just another misstep in a long drunkard's walk of a marketing campaign.

 

[Cybrnook2002]

So there is an implication you can't buy the liquid version without buying a 'package'. Very confused still.

Only with a pack can you buy the water one.....

Yep, I think that will be it. If you want one of the limited edition, Metal shroud GPU's air or water, seems to only comes as part of the bundle.

 

[VSG]

Yep, I think that will be it. If you want one of the limited edition, Metal shroud GPU's air or water, seems to only comes as part of the bundle.

This seems to be the case from what we know for now, but what does that have to do with regions though? Or was that a misunderstanding?

 

[Countryside]

Only thing with this strategy is to avoid Miners because im quite sure if they just put them on the store shelf, next week well be like this Out of Stock.

 

[Cybrnook2002]

This seems to be the case from what we know for now, but what does that have to do with regions though? Or was that a misunderstanding?

Only thing I see about the Region from other sources is the changing of Wolfenstein to Sniper 4 for areas where Wolfenstein might not go over so well (Austria, Germany...), and the $200 monitor coupon. (Is the monitor coupon really that big of a deal?)

I haven't read that other regions can't buy the card. But then again, I haven't really looked TOO hard into it, as I am in U.S., and I would be more a NANO candidate.

 

[xkm1948]

AKA, Vega is so shitty they have to rely on good old forced bundle to see them.

 

[Supercrit]

Not as bad as Founder's Edition which is just empty extra 100 dollars.

 

[Blueberries]

Anybody want a GTX 1080 that uses 150-200W more power for the same performance? ...Anybody? What if we bundle it with a bunch of other shit you don't want?

 

[the54thvoid]

Not as bad as Founder's Edition which is just empty extra 100 dollars.

That was the case but they dropped the premium for the 1080ti. The FE was the cheaper option and not restricted to Nvidia retail shop.

 

[Thunderclap]

So you're telling me that you'd rather pay 50% more because every miner has bought like 50 of these, than pay 100$ more and get 150$ or more value out of it? (yes this is intended to prevent miners buying 'em)

And then you might as well start writing with shit on walls because you're bloody insane.

 

[the54thvoid]

So you're telling me that you'd rather pay 50% more because every miner has bought like 50 of these, than pay 100$ more and get 150$ or more value out of it? (yes this is intended to prevent miners buying 'em)

And then you might as well start writing with shit on walls because you're bloody insane.

You need to quote who you're referring to...

 

[Thunderclap]

You need to quote who you're referring to...

People whining about the fact that it comes with bundles and are writing it off as desperate attempt to sell it.

 

[the54thvoid]

People whining about the fact that it comes with bundles and are writing it off as desperate attempt to sell it.

I don't think that many folk are whining buddy. It's a legitimate issue for some who probably would have liked to purchase the water cooled version. Given the TDP the blower (on past experience with previous releases) might be a little loud. The air version will likely throttle. The water cooled version is the boss.

But if you can't buy it on it's own, it's most definitely a bit shit. But on my part I'm still questionning how on earth that works. I mean, can you buy the water version at $699 and NOT buy the monitor as well? If so, that's not so bad but it does make it a tad more expensive (moreso than the cooler alone dictates).

So, no whining, legititate questions and head scratchings. Also, at 345 watts, the miners may not like this card as it's power/perf isn't optimal for mining.

 

[Deleted member 67555]

I keep wondering if they got this idea from Microcenter....
You get $50 off a purchase of Motherboard and CPU and an additional $10 off if you purchase memory too...