GPUs Graphics Reviews

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...

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, the interior with the actual cooler and the large mounting or Cooling frame free.

AMD is again relying on the Direct Heat Exhaust (DHE) principle for this card, which does not have to be a disadvantage. We see the radial fan in the suction chamber and the path of the air, longitudinally through the block of the chamber cooler up to the slot panel (right).

The backplate made of black anodized aluminium, which is fastened with six screws, has only an optical function, because it does not contribute to cooling. Attempts to dissipate additional heat using thermal lyre pads, except for slightly cooler doubler chips, yielded hardly measurable results, as with the Vega Frontier Edition.

On the top of the board sits the massive mounting or Cooling frame, which on the one hand holds the entire structure together and on the other hand also represents an important cooling element. The design has learned, because similar to Gigabyte (Aorus) on the GTX 1080 Ti Xtreme Edition, you also rely on relatively well thermally conductive coil housings, which are also cooled by thermal lyre pads, similar to the VRM of the voltage converters. even the appropriate recesses. We will see later that this works well.

The actual chamber heat sink as a thin aluminium fin sits on a large vapor chamber made of copper. One sees the soldered outlet of the one-piece hybrid vapor-chamber (One Piece), which one must not bend down. The moulded heat sink is adapted to the package in size

For the 7cm radial fan, AMD is relying for the first time on a single ball-bearing model from Delta and not one of the snarling and far too loud examples of the reference predecessor models. Compared to the previously up to 10,000 rpm, the extra-strong fan of the BVB1012 series only rotates up to a maximum of 5,000 rpm. AMD sets the fan target to approx. 40% to 41%, which is then equivalent to about 2,000 rpm. We'll see that the sound characteristics are now more like what Nvidia can offer on their Founders Edition.

The completely exposed board shows on the front as the dominant element the package with the large interposer, which we will talk about in a while. The exact board analysis can then be found in the next chapter

The package: GPU and memory on the interposer

Since the GPU (and in this case also the interposer with GPU and memory) cannot be soldered so easily onto the PCB, these components are first used by one of the specialized finishers (e.g. ASE) on a so-called package ("packaging process"), which can later be processed much more easily in the factories. To do this, it is important to know that these packages are fed by machine from a roll on a transfer tape in the SMT process and then positioned on the PCB

First, let's compare the package as it was initially used on AMD's internal slides and demonstrations (left image below). We can see that there are deeper gaps between the GPU and the two memory modules, as in Fiji, respectively. these components are relatively high. The interposer, on the other hand, is extremely thin and, above all, fragile. Hence the warning to the internal lyre to take care of the removal of old thermal paste during the development phase.

For a machine production, such a thing is of course quite risky, especially since one can also encounter so-called "underfill" problems, since in packaging also pressure-sensitive cavities can always form between the interposer and the intermediate board. However, if you look at the package currently used on the Vega FE (right picture below), you can clearly see that AMD relies on the so-called molding here. The area around GPU and memory has been poured over a large area with a suitable material, which significantly increases stability.

This should not be a carte blanche for eager cleaning devils and pushers, but the adrenaline level is likely to be significantly lower when changing the radiator.

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About the author

Igor Wallossek

Editor-in-chief and name-giver of igor'sLAB as the content successor of Tom's Hardware Germany, whose license was returned in June 2019 in order to better meet the qualitative demands of web content and challenges of new media such as YouTube with its own channel.

Computer nerd since 1983, audio freak since 1979 and pretty much open to anything with a plug or battery for over 50 years.

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