AMD Says Partners Are "Free to Develop" Custom Radeon VII GPUs

AlphaAtlas

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We, and other media outlets, previously reported that there would be no custom Radeon VII cards at launch. Even with the review embargo lifted, every manufacturer's page I've seen only lists reference Radeon VIIs, and KitGuru claims that every manufacturer they've talked to says they're only making reference cards. But back in January, 5 different Powercolor Radeon VII SKUs were posted on the Eurasian Economic Commission's website, one of which matched Powercolor's sole Radeon VII listing before it went up, and it would seem strange if Powercolor offered 5 different Radeon VII bins while only using a reference design. Now, AMD tells KitGuru that "AIB partners are free to develop modified versions to meet customer needs."

Every AMD partner we have spoken to at this point has told us that they will not be releasing custom versions of the Radeon VII, with one partner even indicating that AMD have restricted the releases to strictly reference BBA cards. Some partners who I spoke with directly such as Gigabyte and Sapphire said that they are only releasing reference cards with no indication at this point that they have custom cards even planned. Obviously we felt it was important to approach AMD directly and I posed the question to AMD UK representative Joe Cowell who said he would get back to me later today. I just got an official response on behalf of AMD and they said 'Our AIB partners are free to develop modified versions to meet customer needs.'
 
So then we should see some custom cards coming soon from the likes of Gigabyte and Sapphire then?
 
|That tells me that the AIBs seem to think these things really arent going to sell so they wont bother with custom configs to differentiate themselves
 
So then we should see some custom cards coming soon from the likes of Gigabyte and Sapphire then?

Can't say at this point. If we hear anything more substantial from manufacturers or AMD, we'll let y'all know... In the meantime, I'm keeping an eye on manufacturer websites, but be sure to PM/ping us if anyone spots a custom SKU.
 
Expect some only if the manufacturers can get the chips and a lower price than could currently be expected, AND they're getting indications from AMD that Navi might slip further.

To be having some new SKU to offer is almost always better than not to.

The reference cooler seems to either be under-engineered or come with problematic default fan curves anyhow.
 
That's good news, here's hoping Sapphire does a Nitro version!
 
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Lot of reports and rumors that new AMD 7 or whatever it's called will see very limited production runs due to it's low performance and high cost. I just saw where one county is only getting 100 units.

at $850+ dollars with tax, shipping and expected markup for less than 2080 performance, that's a very very hard pill to swallow. And yes, the Radeon 7 only beat nVidia in one game out of 27. The benchmarks are out there.

So no, it's not surprising there will be no custom Radeon 7 cards.

Reference cards will suffice when considered all those facts.

Media outlets are also reporting that the RTX 2080 is actually cheaper now than the slower Radeon 7

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...TX 2080&cm_re=RTX_2080-_-14-137-375-_-Product

Just found that.
 
It seems that the default tri-fan cooler is much better than most "default" heatsinks (ie blower type) and is aesthetically pleasing to boot with the aluminum shroud that was similar to the higher-end RX Vega. Howeveer, I'm very curious to see what comes of custom boards from Sapphire, MSI, and Asus (especially Asus) since they have been a significant improvement in past cards/generations. I really hope that the Radeon VII turns out to be high performing, successful, and a good value as I very much want to support AMD for their more ethical business practices.
 
TBH why would they develop new boards? The only reason for that would be if they expect Navi to slip beyond June. 4 months is nothing when it comes to developing a custom product like this.

Judging by the state of the cards on release I think the Radeon VII was definitely an unexpected stopgap because Navi is slipping and they need something in the market.
 
It seems that the default tri-fan cooler is much better than most "default" heatsinks (ie blower type) and is aesthetically pleasing to boot with the aluminum shroud that was similar to the higher-end RX Vega. Howeveer, I'm very curious to see what comes of custom boards from Sapphire, MSI, and Asus (especially Asus) since they have been a significant improvement in past cards/generations. I really hope that the Radeon VII turns out to be high performing, successful, and a good value as I very much want to support AMD for their more ethical business practices.
There are reports today from several sites, Guru3d, Toms, etc, that the stock cooler on the Radeon VII is still louder than desirable. So aftermarket cooling options would be desirable, but I don't think there's much in the way of profit to motivate anyone. Early rumors were that there was no profit to be found on these cards at all with the current cost of 16GB of HBM VRAM alone coming in near $400.
 
There are reports that the stock cooler on the Radeon VII is louder than desirable. So aftermarket cooling options would be desirable, but I don't think there's much in the way of profit. Early rumors were that there was no profit to be found on these cards at all with the current cost of 16GB of HBM VRAM alone coming in near $400.

https://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/amd_radeon_vii_16_gb_review,9.html
index.png
 
That chart looks terrible, and AMD's rebuttal that it should be no louder than Vega 64 Air Cooled, and Guru3d's specimen might have a problem isn't acceptable, because that Vega64 card was too loud too - as evidenced by it being second place on that list.
 
I was surprised by those noise levels, thought for sure with the new triple fan, non-blower setup that'd be the one area where there would be a definite improvement.
 
That chart looks terrible, and AMD's rebuttal that it should be no louder than Vega 64 Air Cooled, and Guru3d's specimen might have a problem isn't acceptable, because that Vega64 card was too loud too - as evidenced by it being second place on that list.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-vii-vega-20-7nm,5977-6.html

Peak Noise Measurements (Gaming workload)

AMD Radeon VII
49.2 dB(A), Closed case

Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 FE 39.6 dB(A), Closed case


https://www.anandtech.com/show/13923/the-amd-radeon-vii-review/19
106272.png


https://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/126752-amd-radeon-vii/?page=14
3c3f8c90-cf3a-4fc3-ac16-62ea68a76b4c.png


Looks like the AMD cooler is consistently 10dB higher noise levels vs the 2080
 
The Radeon VII seems to be a factory overclocked card (they took their 7nm efficiency gains and plunged them into clocks I guess?) so assuming there isn't much overclocking headroom it makes me wonder what overclocked vega 64 numbers look like up against radeon VII. It would be hilarious if Vega64 overclocked numbers get close to Radeon VII.... it also wouldn't really surprise me.

I'm happy for any competition in the GPU space, but it's starting to look like the Radeon VII isn't really bringing that competition... it looks like you'd be better off getting a 2080 or even 1080Ti since they seem to be significantly cheaper at this point.... which is really disappointing since we're talking about a nearly 3 year old card being, for almost all intents and purposes, on-par with the latest 7nm card........

Am I the only one who is disappointed? Surely not.
 
I would say I was disappointed with the benchmarks but they are where they expected to be it falls just behind a 2080 or on par with a 1080TI at much higher noise levels. But what I am disappointed about is availability, this is basically a paper launch, I get that most Chinese assembly plants are closed for various holidays and what not and next month they will be open and churning out stuff again but they should have waited till March and launched then with some degree of a supply. I will be interested to see what 3’rd party coolers come as options, wondering if EKWB bothers with one, if they do then I’ll see.
 
Can't say at this point. If we hear anything more substantial from manufacturers or AMD, we'll let y'all know... In the meantime, I'm keeping an eye on manufacturer websites, but be sure to PM/ping us if anyone spots a custom SKU.
Well, maybe when the drivers are fixed. ;)
 
Only card i have been able to find on Danish stores today are Powercolor reference and MSI / ASUS / Sapphire ditto, all tagged with a 874 USD price,,,,,,,,, that im sorry to say that's a bit high in my book, and don't just reflect the high sales tax in Denmark.
699 i could do, but close to 899 :mad:

Estimated to be in store around the end of this month.
 
Only card i have been able to find on Danish stores today are Powercolor reference and MSI / ASUS / Sapphire ditto, all tagged with a 874 USD price,,,,,,,,, that im sorry to say that's a bit high in my book, and don't just reflect the high sales tax in Denmark.
699 i could do, but close to 899 :mad:

Estimated to be in store around the end of this month.


Jesus ..........
 
Jesus ..........

Cheapest RTX 2080 are 866 USD ( MSI Geforce RTX 2080 Ventus )
If you go by the top model of the other brand the cheapest one are the 1382 USD Palit 2080 ti dual if you want the most expensive 2080 ti you have to pay 1930 USD for the Zotac geforce RTX 2080 ti

The 2000 USD that's pretty much what i get a month in my early retirement ( pension ) its also around what you would get as a adult working a unskilled job.
 
What I'm taking from all the benchmarks is that the 1080ti really was an unholy beast for the time.

I felt bad spending a not-insignificant sum of greenies for it back then, but it's still really quite good for everything still. Only one card is an unqualified step up, and that costs just under the GDP of a few caribbean countries.
 
I used to ship PC Hardware from the US to Norway and a few other countries for friends because of the astronomical prices in those countries.

Here in the US, there are many many states where you can get a 1080 ti for $500 dollars which of course is right there in terms of 2080 ti performance.

RTX is not going to shine for a few more generations.
 
well a friend like that are nice indeed, but if customs get their hand on the parcel i as the receive would be in a world of financial pain.

First of all you would have to value the parcel + shipping below the 15 USD gift limit here, anything over that and you have to pay sales tax - import duties - and a handling fee that's more then the MAX gift price.
So yes you could sneak a parcel like that thru as customs here are generally pretty inept, i have even had large parcels from the US with a value of +400 USD clearly on the label sail strait thru customs, but i have also had 20 - 30 USD parcels with spare parts for a RC car get trapped in customs and so with handling fee alone almost double their total prize.
Norway are in a league of their own, they have like gazillions in oil money, and a slice of salami up there are 3 X of the price down here in Denmark, they also have the world #1 ranking for the largest public sector ( probably the hole all those oil money go into ) ahead of us Danes in #2 spot.
But we Danes don't have oil Gazillions only tax gazillions, which we manage just as bad as the Norwegians.

I am probably going to buy my new GFX in another EU country when the time come, that should do a little or at least i will be active in helping to run my country into the ground, which seem to be the national sport here just behind cheating on income or corporate taxes.

It is fishy if AMD have a MSRP of 699 and they can get away with selling that card at almost 899 here, with a MRSP of 699 the retailer here probably get them cheaper than that, so ????
IMO there are prize fixing going on here on a lot of things, at least a lot of things are highly suspect in my eyes.

BTW just took a look at my piggy bank, i have just about 4000 Dkkr ( 670 USD ) in there now, i also need to buy more RAM to the tune of 1300 DKkr for 16 Gb
 
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I was paid prior to shipping and I shipped everything as gifts. This was 10+ years ago. I think there might have been some other instructions given to me but I cannot remember the details.
 
Maybe Norway are not as cheap when it come to gifts, i mean come on, i wouldn't even spend as little as 15 dollars on a gift to my worst enemy.
inside the country you can give 30.000 DKKr cash ( 4500 USD ) annually to someone and no one getting slammed by the tax man, but it seem like no one outside of Denmark are supposed to gift anything to a Dane without "the man" getting his cut of the action too.


It could be fun if AMD launched with a driver they knew was mediocre, and then after a week release a much better driver giving 10 - 15 % more, that would be kinda fun, and totally change the ballgame i think.
Okay reviewers would probably be pissed having to do it all over again.
 
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