RX Vega Bundle Discussion/Questions

[iamdarkbowser]

So, according to this article, if you bought the Radeon Aqua Pack and used the rather large discounts, you would be spending at least $1800 USD (bundle: $699, CPU: $300, Mobo: $50+, Monitor: $750). Even if I only bought the card and the motherboard, I would still be spending at least $1050.

 

First question: Why would AMD do something like this? I know, in @LinusTech's video he says that he thinks that they did that partially because of their stock being depleted by miners, and in the aforementioned article, they say that AMD wants the card to be bought with their processors to show off the potential performance, which makes sense, but something like $1800 dollars, it has to be more than that.

 

Second question: Is it expected or likely that AMD will eventually sell the liquid cooled Vega 64 card by itself at retail prices? I already have a very, very good BenQ monitor with better specs than the Samsung CF791 (excluding ultrawide/curved, I don't want to spend the money on an ultrawide) and I don't need the Ryzen processor. With how I use my computer, I don't need the power of the Ryzen 7 lineup, I could easily do with a Ryzen 5 or even a Ryzen 3. I'm sure thousands of other people are in the same boat as me and don't want to save up to at least $1800 to take full advantage of the bundles. 

 

Third question: Wouldn't a bundle of just the card and the discount on the cpu/mobo make more sense/cents? I would think that people would be much more happy with this than chipping in and buying a monitor for $750 that you may not even want. Perhaps you prefer a BenQ like me, or a freesync ROG product. Also, there is a lot of people (like me) that don't need such a powerful cpu and don't want to spend the money on it when they can save, perhaps even $100, on buying a cpu that matches their needs better. There also might be people that already have a motherboard with an AM4 socket and wants to take $100 off of just a processor. Or maybe it's just me...

 

Fourth question: With the air cooled bundles, if you bought either pack and the same cpu/mobo and ignored the monitor or bought it all without the pack (excluding monitor), the prices would be the same. So, with that in mind, where did that $200 discount come from outside of the packs? That makes me think that AMD is either losing a bunch of money with the packs or that the retail prices on the Vega 56/64 should actually be $100 less. But don't forget that the bundles come with the games, both of which are $60, so the air cooled cards should, if the bundle prices are anything to judge by, cost $180 and $280 respectively. 

 

Wow, how did I spend an hour and a half making this thread???

[Damascus]

The games don't actually cost amd 60 bucks, I doubt AMD spent more than like 2 bucks a copy.  Probably less IMHO.

 

Second, I'm relatively sure the monitor isn't a requirement for purchase, my understanding is you need to buy one of the combos.

[iamdarkbowser]

2 minutes ago, Damascus said:

The games don't actually cost amd 60 bucks, I doubt AMD spent more than like 2 bucks a copy.  Probably less IMHO.

 

Second, I'm relatively sure the monitor isn't a requirement for purchase, my understanding is you need to buy one of the combos.

I'm assuming that you want to take full advantage of the pack. And the discounts cannot be saved for later, it's a now or never type deal.

[ChackoM]

1. I feel like it's half of Linus' argument, where instead of cryptocurrency miners snatching all the available units, gamers would have some chance to get their Vega card within the bundle. However, these bundles are also a pure money marketing scheme. If you want the Limited Edition, you HAVE to buy it in the bundle. It was very confusing when they announced it, but in an essence, AMD is trying to make you buy that outrageously expensive monitor and that mobo combo. Two free games are nice though

 

2. Very unlikely. Very few units available, and they make more money by selling it in a bundle.

 

3. I agree with you on that, I wish all freesync monitors were available to some type of discount.

 

 

[Damascus]

Just now, iamdarkbowser said:

I'm assuming that you want to take full advantage of the pack.

...

Seems like you are complaining about how the combos are a bad option.  

 

Also,  wut! How can you use a VEGA card and not need more than r3?

[iamdarkbowser]

Just now, Damascus said:

...

Seems like you are complaining about how the combos are a bad option.  

 

Also,  wut! How can you use a VEGA card and not need more than r3?

Because my monitor is 1440p and 144hz.

[Damascus]

Just now, iamdarkbowser said:

Because my monitor is 1440p and 144hz.

So??? An r3 would hold back any gpu at that res, especially with higher cpu usage in newer games.

 

Unless OFC you only play csgo...

[Damascus]

Oh, finally - this bundle is just for the special limited edition shroud.  The standard card won't require this stuff.

[iamdarkbowser]

2 minutes ago, Damascus said:

So??? An r3 would hold back any gpu at that res, especially with higher cpu usage in newer games.

 

Unless OFC you only play csgo...

With the games I play, (including but not limited to CS:GO) I have not seen any performance decrease or increase with my latest processor upgrade (intel to intel). The first processor was about as powerful as the R3 and the card that I was (and still) using is an old beat up 290x.

[Damascus]

1 minute ago, iamdarkbowser said:

The first processor was about as powerful as the R3 and the card that I was (and still) using is an old beat up 290x.

Your upgrade was to a 3770s (I think) so if you started with a 2500k (r3 is roughly equivalent to a 2600/3770) you would have had a faster chip, moved to a slower chip and started using all the cores.  ie. the cores are probably helping.

 

 

 

Also the gpu is why you don't see a change, no way you can properly push the cpu to the max RN 

[iamdarkbowser]

1 minute ago, Damascus said:

Your upgrade was to a 3770s (I think) so if you started with a 2500k (r3 is roughly equivalent to a 2600/3770) you would have had a faster chip, moved to a slower chip and started using all the cores.  ie. the cores are probably helping.

 

 

 

Also the gpu is why you don't see a change, no way you can properly push the cpu to the max RN 

The old one was the non K version.

[Damascus]

Just now, iamdarkbowser said:

The old one was the non K version.

How much did you bump the clock speed?

[iamdarkbowser]

Just now, Damascus said:

How much did you bump the clock speed?

I can't remember the exact numbers but I do know that in passmark I never exceeded 8000, the R3 in passmark is 7030. The i5 2500 in passmark scores 6284 as of the moment.

[Damascus]

did you OC or not? Easy thing to check  and I really doubt you would see any improvement getting less cores as you are already used to haVing 4c/8t

[roylapoutre]

To reply to your first question, I'm pretty sure they did this because they wanted to add value to a Vega purchase. I mean, With the price bump due to limited supplies at launch, the probable 1080ish performance in most games and the overall lateness of the cards compared to the competition, a Vega card alone isn't the best option. It is there for people who build a PC from scratch with their discount, or for people who already have a Freesync monitor. 

[iamdarkbowser]

14 hours ago, Damascus said:

did you OC or not? Easy thing to check  and I really doubt you would see any improvement getting less cores as you are already used to haVing 4c/8t

The non "K" version of the processor cannot be overclocked (by default?), but my motherboard allowed me to raise the voltage, thus improving the performance a bit, watercooling also helped.

[Damascus]

48 minutes ago, iamdarkbowser said:

The non "K" version of the processor cannot be overclocked (by default?), but my motherboard allowed me to raise the voltage, thus improving the performance a bit, watercooling also helped.

I'm asking if you got a performance boost when swapping to a K sku and OCING. 

[iamdarkbowser]

Just now, Damascus said:

I'm asking if you got a performance boost when swapping to a K sku and OCING. 

I'm sure there was a performance boost, but I can't remember the benchmarking numbers. With how I use my computer, the only way I would notice a performance boost is through benchmarking, or while playing Minecraft (which is rather cpu heavy), but I don't really play that anymore. I've decided to go with a R5 1500X anyway.

[Damascus]

IMO a 1600 is a better option.

[iamdarkbowser]

2 minutes ago, Damascus said:

IMO a 1600 is a better option.

Is there any advantages that the 1600 has over the 1500X, excluding slightly better performance? 

[Damascus]

2 minutes ago, iamdarkbowser said:

Is there any advantages that the 1600 has over the 1500X, excluding slightly better performance? 

More cores mean more lifespan as fames use the extra core and it will run better by a rather significant margin.  A clean install of windows with no background stuff going on is way different from what you have going on while gaming.

 

Also, streaming and any kind of productivity stuff.

[iamdarkbowser]

2 minutes ago, Damascus said:

More cores mean more lifespan as fames use the extra core and it will run better by a rather significant margin.  A clean install of windows with no background stuff going on is way different from what you have going on while gaming.

 

Also, streaming and any kind of productivity stuff.

What does that mean in terms of real world performance? Less stuttering (unless the game is coded poorly)? Higher framerates with (namely Vega) GPUs? Is it worth the extra $30 if the most taxing thing I would reasonably be doing is playing Subnautica while I have roughly 40 chrome tabs open and a somewhat complex Sketchup sketch open?

[iamdarkbowser]

Just now, iamdarkbowser said:

What does that mean in terms of real world performance? Less stuttering (unless the game is coded poorly)? Higher framerates with (namely Vega) GPUs? Is it worth the extra $30 if the most taxing thing I would reasonably be doing is playing Subnautica while I have roughly 40 chrome tabs open and a somewhat complex Sketchup sketch open?

Also, I only use passmark as a reference, products that I consider buying I generally look at real world tests that someone (most likely Linus) else did. 

[Damascus]

1 minute ago, iamdarkbowser said:

I would reasonably be doing is playing Subnautica while I have roughly 40 chrome tabs open and a somewhat complex Sketchup sketch open?

HOLY $H!T YES.  Worth 30 bucks to get an extra year or two out of your system?  YES

[Damascus]

1 minute ago, iamdarkbowser said:

I only use passmark

Why? Passmark is unreliable AF, use cinibench and furmark