Is it recommended to buy AMD Big Navi cards or wait for the aftermarket editions?

[Niel_A]

Is it recommended to buy AMD Big Navi cards or wait for the aftermarket editions? 

 

I know this is hard to predict so we don't know any prices but if we look in the past we can probably make a good guesstimation. 

What do you think?

[The Flying Sloth]

WAIT FOR REVIEWS

[tishous]

Only time will tell. I think waiting is always a better option. Seeing the full range of cards available will give you a more informed decision and at the prices of these higher end cards, you really want to make the best choice you can. Judging from pictures of the "Big Navi" card, the cooler does look pretty beefy, but third party reviews will be something to pay attention to.

[Niel_A]

12 minutes ago, The Flying Sloth said:

WAIT FOR REVIEWS

Wait for reviews and then wait 3 months for it to be in stock? 

[TheDankKoosh]

As long as the fans aren't the same as the ones on the radeon VII then they should be very capable coolers. From what information I've compiled top end Navi 21 will be 280-300w TDP and will perform slightly better than the 3080 in traditional raster performance while having about 15-20% worse performance in ray tracing applications. Overall worth considering depending on launch price (I'm expecting $700 for 3080 competitor, possibly $650).

[Fasauceome]

5 minutes ago, Niel_A said:

Wait for reviews and then wait 3 months for it to be in stock? 

The reviews won't be out after the release, they'll be out before, just like how the 3070 review embargo released today for the founders edition, which will be available in 2 days.

[Jurrunio]

6 minutes ago, Niel_A said:

then wait 3 months for it to be in stock? 

going after the first batch doesnt mean you'll get one either, if anything your chances of getting one during that period is pretty slim. Needless to say, early adopters suffer through bugs and faults. Waiting, even if it's a long time, is always the sensible way.

 

[TheDankKoosh]

21 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

going after the first batch doesnt mean you'll get one either, if anything your chances of getting one during that period is pretty slim. Needless to say, early adopters suffer through bugs and faults. Waiting, even if it's a long time, is always the sensible way.

 

I'd wager that it isn't a terrible idea to preorder if you have enough information on the product before reviews come out, provided you're prepared to deal with a couple of early adopter issues, If I had the money right now, I wouldn't mind preordering a 6800XT since I already know what I'm getting.

[ewitte]

Don't know the specifics of the reference design I prefer quieter AIB any day.

[airborne spoon]

19 hours ago, The Flying Sloth said:

WAIT FOR REVIEWS

Seriously why do people ask questions about products that haven't been released yet? It was the same for Nvidia launch, people asking stupid questions like we know stuff. Wait for the damn product to be announced and reviewed then you'll be able to gather all the damn info.

[BTGbullseye]

19 hours ago, TheDankKoosh said:

From what information I've compiled top end Navi 21 will be 280-300w TDP and will perform slightly better than the 3080 in traditional raster performance while having about 15-20% worse performance in ray tracing applications. Overall worth considering depending on launch price (I'm expecting $700 for 3080 competitor, possibly $650).

Top-end competes with the 3090 at $1000 and 300w TBP. As for ray tracing performance, we'll have to wait and see.

 

$650 for the 3080 competitor.

[Dedayog]

18 hours ago, ewitte said:

Don't know the specifics of the reference design I prefer quieter AIB any day.

Exactly, so wait for the reference design spec to be reviewed.

 

No info it out yet publicly.

[Briggsy]

good things come to those that wait. Seriously though, don't FOMO yourself into a fit; people that buy in a state of euphoria are why scalpers exist. The only big advantage to reference cards is that they will actually be 2-slot, while most AIB cards might be closer to 3-slot. If you have your heart set on a 6900XT, well... good luck.

 

I would go a step further and say to not only wait for reviews, but wait a couple months after launch to be sure there are no hardware issues. Just recall the people who recently bought Ampere at launch and were met with flaky drivers and the capacitor issue. Fast forward to today and those things have been resolved.

 

As for something like Ray Tracing, I've used a 2080 for the past two years and even now it's still in the gimmick phase. I'd wait for Navi 3 or Hopper before making a GPU decision based on RT, and only if the industry has embraced path tracing. 

[TheDankKoosh]

On 10/28/2020 at 12:34 PM, BTGbullseye said:

Top-end competes with the 3090 at $1000 and 300w TBP. As for ray tracing performance, we'll have to wait and see.

 

$650 for the 3080 competitor.

Overall my info was pretty close, didn't know if AMD was gonna be going for a 3090 competitor at such a price point, still a bit of a halo product considering the small percentage increase over the 6800XT despite the $1000 price tag. 6800 is priced horribly tbh, should have been a straight $500.

[BTGbullseye]

1 hour ago, TheDankKoosh said:

6800 is priced horribly tbh, should have been a straight $500.

So you don't think an average of 10-15% higher performance than the 3070 is worth $80 extra?

[Helpful Tech Witch]

2 minutes ago, BTGbullseye said:

So you don't think an average of 10-15% higher performance than the 3070 is worth $80 extra?

The performance gains scale pretty much directly to the price, its not as bad as some people think.

[BTGbullseye]

1 minute ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

The performance gains scale pretty much directly to the price, its not as bad as some people think.

That is my point.

[TheDankKoosh]

It's not as much of a performance segment thing compared to the actual product stack that they've set up, the 6800XT is only $70 extra which seems pretty trivial, especially so in a $1500+ build. Might be a bit better around $529-$549, maybe it's just me though.

[eeeee1]

On 10/27/2020 at 3:06 PM, Niel_A said:

Wait for reviews and then wait 3 months for it to be in stock? 

better know you are getting a good bang for your buck then a sad piece of silicon that doesn't deliver