AMD to Produce Reference Design RX 6800 XT and RX 6800 Only Until "Early 2021"

[Jism]

Are reference cards actually a thing?

Nvidia, with their FE, insists they are and that various users (like those water cooling) absolutely need them. And their latest FE cards seem to be better than many (most?) custom designs.
AMD seems to treat reference designs as... reference designs.

Having never bought any such card, from either team, I'm genuinely curious.

An common argument about reference vs AIB's would be the cooling or exotic VRM setup; but reference cards are'nt bad anymore. These days the VRM's are overbuild and knowing how big that heatsink is with a vapor chamber and 3 fans; it's no longer a selling argument on why a AIB is better then reference. Solely depends on what you want todo with it.

When you buy a reference, you are guaranteed to find a suitable waterblock for it. When you buy a AIB, the PCB's layout could be different. Left or right the chips are guaranteed to function at the given clocks. If your looking for a LN2 model; your better off with a custom made one, one with pimped up VRM's and better capacitors. But any hardcore overclocker just solders on the caps themself (if they need it).

Appearantly AMD is using the line for proberly the MI100 cards.

 

[watzupken]

I am usually no fan of reference design graphic cards, but this time round, I feel AMD nailed the cooler. Not just is it a premium cooler using vapour chamber, it is also reasonable in size for a high end card. AIB's high end cooler design tends to be better because they are huge in terms of height, length and thickness.

In terms of reference board design, its usually better than similarly priced AIB cards. Only those premium models from AIB comes with better board design.

 

[olstyle]

Are reference cards actually a thing?

Nvidia, with their FE, insists they are and that various users (like those water cooling) absolutely need them

Nvidia even did two own designs for Ampere. There are the FE PCBs which is are bit special with the 12Pin connector, sharp angles etc. but there is also a normal reference PCB design with two 8-Pin connectors which can be and is used by the Boardpartners to base their simpler designs on. Zotac Trinity series for example uses Nvidias reference design.
For Watercooling, as mentioned before, reference designs are normally the first one you get coolers for and since the PCB itself often is quite good in the end such a combination can reach the same speeds as the high end, air cooled, custom variants at nearly the same price point.

So yes, here's hoping Boardpartners will pick up this PCB and also don't start cheaping out on the components the solder on it.

 

[basco]

amd´s reference design especially Vrm design was superior and not cheap (ok not msi´lightning ,asus rog++) since 3000 series i think.
don´t know if there where many 18\900 xt aib designs superior to ref.
always a good choice taking reference amd design and put some heavy coolers on it be it water or air or what ya like

 

[thesmokingman]

amd´s reference design especially Vrm design was superior and not cheap (ok not msi´lightning ,asus rog++) since 3000 series i think.
don´t know if there where many 18\900 xt aib designs superior to ref.
always a good choice taking reference amd design and put some heavy coolers on it be it water or air or what ya like

This. The ref design going way back was on red side was the baseline, as good as it gets. Most AIB designs were actually a downgrade, especially during the 7970 era. Sapphire and the other AIBs put crap neutered ref designs on after the other, there was so much bait and switch it was tiresome keeping up with the lame variations they came up with to cut costs from the reference pcb. It was only the high end designs like say the msi lightning that really pushed the enevlope but technically speaking it didn't actually improve overclocking on average. I've had 7970 ref cards that clocked higher than lightnings, and on 290x as well. And then you hade the numerous design flawed AIB cards like the Asus DCII or whatever it was called, lmao. Or even msi making a middle plate which only cooled half the memory chips.. so much stupid.

That said, the new line looks pretty darn good and continues that tradition with the best cooler design they've ever made.