Is it time? GPU upgrade saga continues. Will he, won't he?

Yeh, I'm seeking input on this old chestnut again. I've got decades of experience buying 3D cards right back to the days when they were just 3D accelerator cards but the market has changed and I think relying solely on my own experience is silly.

So I'm NOT buying Nvidia. I'm not touching any of their old or new cards. I will not buy into a company with such business practices on the grounds that this is a long term investment which will require manufacturer support in that new features will need driver support, etc.

So this leaves AMD and I was going to go for a £400 Vega 56 which would be a nice simple drop in replacement with my existing PSU having the appropriate connectors. Hoooowever, there is a Vega 64 which is only 10% more expensive at £440. This has 2 x 8 pin connectors and, whilst I could just get the new cable from Coolermaster, I calculated it would result in a peak power draw of 613W, not counting for my USB hubs as they're externally powered and my PSU is rated at 620W peak load and is 9 years old. I have multiple fail safes in place but I really don't like the idea of a primary cap overheating, shorting and dumping all that load in - I just think it would be borderline as to whether the fuses would respond in time. Basically, I'm not taking the risk and I'll be replacing my PSU with it.

So, the question is what do people think of this course of action? These prices seem (relatively) very good and are probably either the result of a more mature process and higher GPU yields and / or selling at or close to a loss to get units moved before Nvidia put their new cards on sale proper along with reviews. Should I wait and see if AMD drops further? Take the plunge becuase they may release a silly referesh with a slight clock bump and increased price or just accept that the market has gone all wibbly wobbly and I need to stop whinging on here and buy?

What CPU do you have and what model PSU do you have??

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH

What CPU do you have and what model PSU do you have??

---

CPU = i5 4690K
GPU = GTX 780
PSU = Coolermaster modulary thing 620W. Mid-high end. 9 years old, so getting on in years. Has 1 x 6pin and 1 x 8 pin PCI-E connector. Can get an 8 pin cable to use on it but frankly I'm not willing to take the risk on something so old. It has been running at peak load at around 580W so it's not exactly had an easy life.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by philehidiot

CPU = i5 4690K
GPU = GTX 780
PSU = Coolermaster modulary thing 620W. Mid-high end. 9 years old, so getting on in years. Has 1 x 6pin and 1 x 8 pin PCI-E connector. Can get an 8 pin cable to use on it but frankly I'm not willing to take the risk on something so old. It has been running at peak load at around 580W so it's not exactly had an easy life.

---

Vega56 tends to somewhat more efficient than the Vega64 though,and some of the models were closer to an RX580 in power consumption IIRC.

Having said a new PSU might be prudent too??

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH

Vega56 tends to somewhat more efficient than the Vega64 though,and some of the models were closer to an RX580 in power consumption IIRC.

Having said a new PSU might be prudent too??

---

Yeh, I'm considering replacing that and if I do then it makes a lot more sense to go for the 64 as the extra expenditure is very small relatively speaking. My question is really on the timing and cost of AMD GPUs - are the dropping now to maximise movement before the 20XX and benches are available or will they plummet in a month making any purchase now seem silly?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by philehidiot

Yeh, I'm considering replacing that and if I do then it makes a lot more sense to go for the 64 as the extra expenditure is very small relatively speaking. My question is really on the timing and cost of AMD GPUs - are the dropping now to maximise movement before the 20XX and benches are available or will they plummet in a month making any purchase now seem silly?

---

They might drop further,but the issue is the RTX2070 looks to be over £500,so I suspect its GTX2060 which might be the card which potentially could trigger more price drops,unless we see the GTX1080TI drop in price.

You could always buy the Vega64 and underclock/undervolt it a bit.
Pretty sure the perf/watt sweet point of Vega and the process is way lower than what AMD pushed by default.

Looking back at TPU power consumption tests for the GTX780 and Vega56 are almost identical. The Vega64 is around is (max) 81W more:
GTX780: Peak gaming* 222W, Furmark 268W
Vega64: Peak gaming* 303W, Furmark 309W
Vega56: Peak gaming* 237W, Furmark 237W
*W1zzard changed the game used for power usage: for the GTX780 it was Crysis 2, now it's the Metro: Last Light

Both have good points. The 2060 might be a while coming and I'm already dropping resolution in newer games to keep a playable frame rate.

Might be worth considering the underclocking of the Vega 64 but to be honest if I'm opening it up, I might as well redo the power supply as well. If I buy the same brand then I could likely unplug the wires at the PSU end and pop them back in without redoing all my cabling and then just run a different cable to the GPU, making it a 20 minute job rather than a battle with the multi-headed hydra that competing with my "impressive" cable routing would otherwise be....

I just bought a Seasonic focus gold on the advice of CTF. Very nice power supply which was about £100 for 750w

My plans are similar to yours and Vega has been coming down recently. I'm watching it closely and I'm taking the chance that 56 will probably drop to around 370ish... Then I'll go for it.

I've taken the opportunity to jump on a Vega64 after seeing the laughable Geforce 20xx prices. Game requirements don't seem to be moving and haven't for years so it should last me ages. Scan have Red Devils on sale for £460 at the moment, cheaper than the vega56.

I'm twiddling my thumbs. Market has been disturbed by a new release, with an allegedly game changing tech, and certainly at new pricing concepts. I was looking to swap out at 2000 series, but if I do, I think it would be prudent to wait for things to settle.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dashers

I'm twiddling my thumbs. Market has been disturbed by a new release, with an allegedly game changing tech, and certainly at new pricing concepts. I was looking to swap out at 2000 series, but if I do, I think it would be prudent to wait for things to settle.

---

Sometimes better not to be an early adopter - as the old saying goes "fools rush in where angels fear to tread" :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dashers

I'm twiddling my thumbs. Market has been disturbed by a new release, with an allegedly game changing tech, and certainly at new pricing concepts. I was looking to swap out at 2000 series, but if I do, I think it would be prudent to wait for things to settle.

---

I'd at least wait until the 2000 series cards are reviewed before buying. Ray tracing is all very nice, but the cost of the new Nvidia cards is pretty horrific. My guess is that it'll be another couple of generations of cards before the hardware is really up to doing ray-tracing justice, and for the game developers to catch-up with the hardware. I imagine your 970s in SLI are still pretty good for current games though?

Well, in case anyone really cares, I did it. I bought a Vega 64 from Scan at what seems like very good value compared to the competition. I also got some headphones along with it and the Chinglish on the box is exceptional. Apparently there is "wheat" in them.

I also got an RM750X PSU to go with it.

Installation this weekend. Also found my GTX780 is worth a lot more than I thought.

Vega 56 for under 300 quid then i'd bite on the upgrade from this RX 480 but right now the prices are still silly (did think about the side grade to a RX 580 but i don't think its really worth it)

This market is stagnant :(

Well my dudes and dudettes. I have been drinking (similar to usual). So I thought I'd let you know what I went and did.

I got the Vega 64. I got the Red Devil one. There were a couple of reasons for this. Firstly the heat sink on this thing was mahoosive and so I expected it could deal with the heat (300W TDP card... or is it TBP now? GOK but it required a new PSU and two 8 pin connectors) better leading to longer service life. On top of this, it had a slightly better overclock than the similarly priced competitors and there were many many more Henrys in some important sounding components. The power delivery system is also better cooled and the overall board temp is less than the similarly priced equivilents. I also found it way cheaper on Scan with free shipping and some free headphones (which have the most hilarious Chinglish on the box. Apparently these headphones contain wheat for betterness).

Performance wise, the card allowed COD WW2 to be run at full prettiness at 1440P with a consistent frame rate. I had to knock back on the supersampling (16x apparently was too much, who knew?!) in Advanced Warfare. It's a potent card and the version I got is well priced against the Nvidia competitor.

The potentially huge downsides are the sheer size - I have one of those Carbide giant cases which you can fit an orphan in and it still has only a centimeter extra room in length. It's 1.5KG.... the case mounts the mobo side on so in order to install it put the case on its side so gravity wasn't torquing onto the PCI-E connector, installed it and screwed it in before putting the case upright again. I can imagine this board is heavy enough to damage a PCI-E slot if installed in a manner which puts the entire weight on that slot.

The other downside is noise. It runs quiet enough on tickover but when it gets stressed it makes a racket. I've had a GTX 780 which has the stock Nvidia cooler on before this. The fan sucks in air from the case and dumps it out of the back. The effect of this card with 3 fans that doesn't direct the air out of the case is to heat everything up. The mobo heat sensors kick the case fans up a notch (or ten), the CPU runs hotter and so the fans on the CPU rad kick up a notch or two as well. It's not just the GPU fan noise to consider. Even in a case as big and well ventilated as mine (5 giant fans!) it runs loudly and causes everything else to run hot and loud also. This doesn't bother me but I can imagine for some people it's an absolute no no. Myself I just turn the volume up and I normally have a fan in the room anyway which makes almost as much noise anyway... I have headphones for the times I can't crank the volume up.

Overall I'm happy with the decision, especially given how much Nvidia has annoyed me lately. I think anyone looking to buy one of these cards should consider the sheer noise level though as well as PSU requirements. I'm going to be doing some more testing on the card temperatures to ensure it's not a defective card. I've not noticed any evidence of thermal throttling but the fact I'm planning on that tells you just how loud this thing is.

That Vega64 model you got has a good cooler but is noisy:

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews...gb,5517-8.html

Yeh I read that before buying but frankly didn't expect it to be quite as noisy as this, hence the warning to others who might regard it as a poor purchase it if bugs them. I know some people are really bothered by noise from a PC whereas I normally just screen it out.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by philehidiot

Yeh I read that before buying but frankly didn't expect it to be quite as noisy as this, hence the warning to others who might regard it as a poor purchase it if bugs them. I know some people are really bothered by noise from a PC whereas I normally just screen it out.

---

It sounds like using the overclocking tool to turn the power down works well for a lot of people, where high power just makes the card throttle so doesn't actually go any faster? Not played with that yet though, my Asus Strix Vega 56 has been pretty good. When I first plugged it in I was in Linux and needed to get back to work so I tried just running Minecraft to make sure there weren't any problems. Not exactly taxing I know, but it ran it without turning the fans on even at maximum depth and effects :)

Indeed I've considered undervolting it and I may go down that route should I need to.

Maximum depth and effects on Minecraft? Get back to me with how many FPS you get in MineSWEEPER with all the prettiness turned up.

When you can get the animations in Hearts running at 60FPS at 4K, you know you've cracked it. Try running THAT full pelt with your ray tracing witchcraft enabled.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by philehidiot

Maximum depth and effects on Minecraft? Get back to me with how many FPS you get in MineSWEEPER with all the prettiness turned up.

---

lol, well I'm used to the fans not spinning when just at the desktop, but to be running even a simple game like that and the fans stayed off made me wonder if the fans didn't work!

Was tempted with the Vegas this Black Friday but I already splashed on a GSYNC monitor for work that was too good a deal. My poor 660ti 3gb is still holding onto deal life but is still good enough for work and all the great quality console ports we are getting recently.