The wait has finally come to an end: AMD Radeon RX Vega64 in test

Already at the end of last year we were able to marvel at the Vega64 in its first form and since then the manufacturer (and thus also the readers, as well as the potential customers) has fed us again and again with small bits of information and announcements about the n... Also at the risk of us repeating ourselves, we want to go back to the most important innovations at Vega. With the Vega64, AMD is now offering a new generation of GPUs after the Vega Frontier Edition, in which more than 200 changes are... Disassembly and radiator details Removing the top hee cover is easy. With a small Phillips screwdriver (PH1), the six small swivels that hold this cover can be turned out. After that, there is only one... Board layout The Vega64 and Vega Frontier Edition have the same board, 100% identical components and differ only by the soldered package with the halved memory expansion, as well as a customized firmware. The la... Foreword to gaming benchmarks On the following pages, we let the bars and curves speak for themselves and do without filling text. In return, and at the request of many readers, we have not only the overall overviews of all maps. Benchmarks in WQHD (2560 x 1440 Pixels) Benchmarks in Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 pixels) Benchmarks in WQHD (2560 x 1440 Pixels) Benchmarks in Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 pixels) Benchmarks in WQHD (2560 x 1440 Pixels) Benchmarks in Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 pixels) Benchmarks in WQHD (2560 x 1440 Pixels) Benchmarks in Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 pixels) Benchmarks in WQHD (2560 x 1440 Pixels) Benchmarks in Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 pixels) Benchmarks in WQHD (2560 x 1440 Pixels) Benchmarks in Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 pixels) Introduction Actually, we wanted to remove this game from the benchmark suite for good this time, because the quality of the DirectX12 implementation is not something you really want for yourself and the players. Nevertheless, the results were, so noticeable... Benchmarks in WQHD (2560 x 1440 Pixels) Benchmarks in Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 pixels) Benchmarks in WQHD (2560 x 1440 Pixels) Benchmarks in Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 pixels) Good question, short answer: Jain. The latest version of Claymore's Dual Ethereum AMD/Nvidia GPU Miner (v9.8) includes support for Radeon RX Vega, so we used it for our mining benchmark. All AMD cards run in the so-called... Preliminary remark on the three power modes In the Wattman, in addition to the standard setting (ex works), which is called Balanced Mode, you will also find the possibility to save energy with the Power Save Mode or, conversely, to use the Turbo Mode to... Temperature curve and clock rate The fan control is quite conservative, so that the maximum temperature of 85°C is reached relatively quickly. But then the card already has approx. 6% of their performance lost from the cold state, which is almost out of the... Better late than never and yes, we are really glad that this chapter of endless salami-slice-hold tactics is finally over. But you could have saved the whole media circus in advance, because with a slightly more relaxed...

Better late than never and yes, we are really glad that this chapter of endless salami-slice-hold tactics is finally over. But you could have saved the whole media circus in advance, because with a slightly more relaxed attitude to your own product and the insight that you can't sit out certain things endlessly (no matter how they present themselves), you would certainly have the help of the media can expect a slightly different assessment.

But if you measure AMD by what PR would have us believe, the result – to put it mildly – is a certain disappointment. The hope that Vega64 will go down a little after the very successful Threadripper launch has not been fulfilled, at least among the media and customers, and the tension was simply far too high.

The fact that you probably won't be able to beat a GeForce GTX 1080 Ti in games would certainly not have been a negative sensation if you had conceded it to yourself only early enough. But that in the end it has become a card that, despite all sorts of technical innovations and finesse, including HBM2, can't even declassify a one-year-old GTX 1080 in the sum, which somehow depresses.

Sure, there are games where the Vega64 can sometimes get off to a good start and even more clearly from the GeForce GTX 1080 FE, but there are actually just as many counter-examples where this is not the case. In order to save the Honor of the Vega64, however, it must also be noted that the positive examples are rather the newer titles and engines. You can certainly look at the drivers, because in the short time available, the driver team will hardly be able to catch up on what the market produces in terms of titles. Then the old AMD story comes into play again with the matured wine and there will surely be something back.

No, the Radeon Vega64 as such is not really bad, just just too late, far too energy-hungry and therefore unfortunately much too hot and noisy. On average, around 100 watts more than a GeForce GTX 1080 FE with similar performance are neither up-to-date nor completely acceptable. Energy costs back and forth, the consequences such as more complex cooling and a louder operating noise are much more immediate.

The sweet spot of the card, and we will certainly write a follow-up, is well below what is released from the factory on the customer. All the energy-saving options via BIOS and Wattman are deceptively pleasing about the fact that, unfortunately, the performance drops significantly just then. To tease the follow-up article a bit: We measured that a water-cooled Vega64 for approx. 10% more performance in turbo mode compared to the Power Save Mode then already has to absorb more than 100 watts more power, which is an increase of approx. 49 percent!

If we remember the Vega FE we tested and what was really available at the final clock, then this pre-tested map of both was certainly the more reasonable variant. You can't judge anything with the crowbar anymore, that must be clear to anyone who is still looking for another significant overclocking margin. At least not under air. Surely there are areas of application where Vega makes a really good figure. But high-end gaming, it is clear after this test, is probably not part of it. Good, solid upper class is fine, we would sign that at any time. But nothing more.

Conclusion

It is not easy to put the Vega64 in a suitable drawer. It still seems to us to be the most likely like the R9 FuryX at the time, whose market was later only distributed in homeopathic doses. The Vega56, on the other hand, could become the new R9 Fury, i.e. the actual mass product, which then also appears much more balanced over the price point. She would certainly have what it takes to do that, but you would have to have done some tests for such a statement, at least before.

Is the Vega64 a flop now? No, it really isn't. But an irrepressible enthusiasm would then be a little exaggerated, also with regard to the price. It's a solid upper-class card that AMD also garnishes for launch with the Radeon Packs – on the one hand with the Games Bundle (Sniper Elite 4 + Prey) and on the other hand with a CPU + Motherboard Discount Bundle. In addition, the Radeon Vega64 Black will also be available as standalone – i.e. completely without a bundle. The euro price recommendations currently look like this:

Model	Bundle	EIA in Euro
Vega64 Black	Standalone	499 €
Vega64 Black & Silver	including Games or CPU + MB Bundle	€609
Vega64 Liquid	including Games or CPU + MB Bundle	€715

We would have much preferred to test the Vega56, which is cheaper and certainly hardly slower. Unfortunately, AMD decided not to sample any of these cards in Europe, even if they were frantically preferred to launch at the last minute. AmD's request doesn't help either, whether we could quickly prioritize the Vega56 on the last pusher over the Vega64 if the weekend isn't enough for both tests. The delivery was then: exactly nothing.

But you can only test what you physically hold in your hands. There is no point in sending cards to editors two days before the launch (or not), we certainly had none here in Germany. Moreover, such confusion before a launch is not really the best prerequisite for detailed and objective reviews. We do not want to insinuate an intention, but in the end it leaves us with a certain perplexity. That is why we can only apologise at this point, but it was not and is not within our power.

We will soon publish a follow-up article that will also treat the Vega64 water-cooled and overclocked. However, the current version of the Radeon software pretty much let us down when we overtook it, at least as far as the manual interventions were concerned. Thus, at the end of the day, the added value of what was currently possible at the time is no longer in proportion to the power consumption. The whole thing is also almost uncoolable for domestic use at the moment. We stick to it and report.

Pages: