AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 8GB listed by UK retailer

by Mark Tyson on 18 August 2017, 10:31

Tags: AMD (NYSE:AMD), Gigabyte (TPE:2376)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qadktt

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We've seen plenty of reference design AMD Radeon Vega RX 64 graphics cards listed, and noticed stock deplete rapidly. There are a couple brands of reference design still in stock and available here (MSI) and there (PowerColor) at the time of writing but at rather high prices. However, many will be more interested in the second tier Vega offering from AMD and its partners, the Radeon RX Vega 56.

$ilent @OCN dropped me a line yesterday evening to let me know that at least one major UK computer retailer has listed an AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 graphics card. CCL Online claims the Gigabyte Radeon RX Vega 56 8GB is "Coming Soon." It lists the 56 next gen compute unit packing GPU at £399.99 inc VAT with free delivery to UK residents.

It’s a reference model with the blower fan cooler you have seen in the extensive HEXUS review of the Radeon RX Vega 64 and Radeon RX Vega 56. Thus is has the reference GPU and memory clocks, and performance. In our review conclusion we thought that the RX Vega 56 was most promising, especially if priced around its intended £349.99 base line. However, at the time of writing it had yet to appear in retail listings.

Pricing of the RX Vega ranges, does seem to be an issue, at least in the UK. After some initial batches of Vega 64 cards sold at what seem to have been referred to as 'early sales prices', pricing now makes them much less competitive against the intended Nvidia GPU targets. For example the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 has been available recently around the £450 mark. Let's hope this initial price inflation is just some supply and demand wrinkle which will be sorted out soon, especially when third party RX Vega 64 and RX Vega 56 designs start to appear.



HEXUS Forums :: 9 Comments

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It's a shame how warped the pricing has become since release :(
I'd be seriously considering this at £350 but £400 isn't quite there for me. GTX 780 will have to chug along for some time more. I have a specific calculation when upgrading based on cost, length of service of previous and current card and how much performance increase I need to justify the cost over time. Unfortunately I screwed up on my current card (Ti came out just afterwards at a similar cost to what I paid plus the 780 then dropped in price significantly) and it has done 4 years and may well have to do another before upgrading at this rate.
Waiting on non-reference RX Vega 56 models to appear or my pre-ordered Sapphire RX 580 8GiB Pulse (pre-ordered at ~£222) to come in stock. Either way, £400 for a noisy, inefficient reference model without even a DVI port is just not going to happen.

I have a sneaking suspicion that prices will quickly rise to £450 for reference models, where AMD (specifically RTG) has actually misled everyone about the MSRP/RRP. Very much hoping that pricing will settle down, so that reference models will sink back to £350-375 and non-reference models can occupy the higher-end at £375-£450.

It honestly sounds irritate me how many people defend that awful reference cooler. It was bad when Nvidia stuck it on cards, it was bad on the Vega Frontier Edition and it's bad on the RX Vega series. Did AMD learn nothing from the RX 480 or the earlier R9 290X? Given the issues back in the day with the FX-5800 Ultra “dustbuster” cooler, I cannot believe these kind of coolers still exist.
anselhelm
It honestly sounds irritate me how many people defend that awful reference cooler.

Looking at the Hexus review, the cooler was fine on the Vega 56. The 64 on the other hand would have benefited from being water cooled only. But venting out of a case isn't that bad an idea…
This is a Gigabyte card and they tend to be more expensive due to the UK based RMA.