The Card

At first glance, the card looks similar to Vega reference designs, which isn't surprising because AMD kept their "blocky" design language with clear edges and is using the exact same form factor: 27.0 x 11.0 cm. Instead of a smooth surface, the metal shroud has little horizontal ridges that significantly improve the look and give it a really nice feel when holding the card in your hands. A high-quality metal backplate is included with the card.


When taking a closer look, a bend in the cooler quickly draws attention. According to AMD, it was not only added for aesthetic reasons as it also improves performance of the blower cooler.


Installation requires two slots in your system.


Display connectivity options include three standard DisplayPort 1.4a and an HDMI 2.0b.

AMD took the opportunity to update the display controllers handling these outputs by leveraging DSC 1.2a (display stream compression), which unlocks very high resolution and refresh-rate combinations over a single cable. Among the single-cable display modes supported are 8K 60 Hz (which took two DP 1.3 cables until now), 4K 240 Hz, and 1080p as high as 360 Hz. On top of these, the outputs support HDR and 30 bpc color-depth for better color accuracy in creative applications.


The board uses an 8-pin and a 6-pin power connector. This input configuration is specified for up to 300 watts of power draw.


AMD's Navi generation of GPUs no longer supports CrossFire. DirectX 12 does include its own set of multi-GPU capabilities, but implementation requires game developers to put serious development time into a feature only a tiny fraction of their customers might ever use.

Disassembly

Disassembly is fairly straightforward. AMD does use two different kinds of screws on their cooler, look near the right middle area of the photo. I'm including this photo for reference, in case you disassemble your card and don't remember where the screws go.


Just like on Radeon VII, AMD has put a Hitachi TC-HM03 thermal pad over their GPU. It uses a mixture of graphite strands (pure carbon) and epoxy to create a thick, high conductivity thermal pad. Despite the manufacturer's claim of being "reusable", it's not. Just remove it, apply a thin layer of thermal paste and you're good to go.


The main cooler uses a metal backplate that is carefully crafted to ensure it can provide cooling for all components on the PCB: GPU, memory, voltage regulation circuitry—everything is cooled by just a single component, which is very impressive. Unlike the majority of coolers, the outer shroud is made out of metal, which gives the card a high-quality feel.


The backplate is made out of metal and protects the card against damage during installation and handling.

On the next page, we dive deep into the PCB layout and VRM configuration.