Vega bundles

[GM Rod]

I’m moving to Canada in a week and I’ll be needing a new monitor. While at it I also want to upgrade my GTX 970. Good thing AMD came up with those bundles... I’ve been wanting to go ultra wide for a while now. Question is, are they available in physical stores in Toronto? I’ve only been able to see them on Newegg so far.

[DocSwag]

I assume you're looking at the vega bundles with the Samsung monitor. I suggest you not go that route, since the Samsung monitor isn't that great. I've heard of a lot of quality control issues with the monitor in question (dead pixels, backlight bleed, etc., just look at newegg reviews of the monitor) and iirc the freesync range is pretty narrow (when in 100 hz I think it's only 80-100 hz)

[GM Rod]

Hmmm they’re all sold out anyway...

but I see I could get a 1080 Ti for $700 which is currently what the Vega 64 is priced at, right?

the problem is the monitor, either an Asus or Acer are what, $1200?

[GM Rod]

Hmm I see the new Z35P is $1000. $200 cheaper. Worth it?

[GM Rod]

bump

[GM Rod]

21 hours ago, DocSwag said:

I assume you're looking at the vega bundles with the Samsung monitor. I suggest you not go that route, since the Samsung monitor isn't that great. I've heard of a lot of quality control issues with the monitor in question (dead pixels, backlight bleed, etc., just look at newegg reviews of the monitor) and iirc the freesync range is pretty narrow (when in 100 hz I think it's only 80-100 hz)

Newegg reviews say plenty good things about it...

[DocSwag]

43 minutes ago, GM Rod said:

Newegg reviews say plenty good things about it...

And plenty of bad things.

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While this is a beautiful monitor, I had to return it due to what at first I thought were a cluster of dead pixels towards the top of the screen. Upon closer examination it appears that it is actually damage to one of the layers underneath the protective exterior plastic.

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Cons: -AMD Ultimate Engine free sync seemed to always flicker
-Could not resolve issue where would constantly power on and off making it unusable.

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Ordered nearly a month ago, now on my third monitor. Every single one of them has had dead pixels. I feel bad for newegg at this point so I went to Samsung to try and get fixed up this time, so now it's off to their repair facility. At this rate I might have a monitor I feel comfortable keeping nearly two months after the initial purchase.

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Cons: - The first unit had 3 different clusters of dead pixels
- The second unit has 2 different clusters of dead pixels
- The monitor menu control system is not user friendly
- Freesync doesn't work like its supposed to terrible flicker

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Got a unit that is defective. Not dead pixels, but some sort of 8 pixel long 1-2 pixel wide black fiber behind the screen. It ends up looking like dead pixels, but if I move my head, the "dead pixels" seems to change location relative to what's displayed on the screen. Therefore I believe whatever it is is between the backlight and the screen. Ah.... i saw all the quality control problems and was thinking... only people with bad experience leave reviews. I guess I'm unlucky too. That of the QC issues a samsung are widespread.

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I'll probably get an exchange and if I get another bad one with dead pixels I'll just get a refund.

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Other Thoughts: The first monitor I received had an area where it looked like the substrate had been damaged (https://goo.gl/y2kC9f). Thankfully, NewEgg took it back and sent me another one without any hassle. The second monitor I received has been good so far. I got a third monitor for work, and it has developed a small 1mm circle gray blotch, which again appears to be a defect under the screen surface. The process to return/replace a work monitor is nearly impossible, so I'm pretty much stuck with it.

Given that 2 out of 3 monitors I received experienced defects, I would not recommend this monitor until Samsung works out production issues. I'd probably go for something else either (a) less expensive or (b) more expensive but with G-Sync (since I currently have an nVidia card).

That's a lot of issues considering there's only 24 reviews. Samsung really has some serious quality control issues with the monitor if they have tons of people complaining of dead pixels.

 

The freesync flickering thing was fixed with a recent driver and it only affected Polaris and older cards anyhow, so that's not a valid complaint anymore. But the dead pixels and whatnot sure is.

[GM Rod]

42 minutes ago, DocSwag said:

And plenty of bad things.

That's a lot of issues considering there's only 24 reviews. Samsung really has some serious quality control issues with the monitor if they have tons of people complaining of dead pixels.

 

The freesync flickering thing was fixed with a recent driver and it only affected Polaris and older cards anyhow, so that's not a valid complaint anymore. But the dead pixels and whatnot sure is.

Hmmm so right now I’m seeing if I can find that bundle in physical stores in Toronto, so I can try to avoid that by looking at the monitor in person, or at least have an easy time returning it. I’m just trying to avoid spending $1200 on just a monitor... when I can get a GPU and a monitor for $1400. 

 

Any other suggestions?

 

I mean I’m aiming for 1440p gaming so I can’t get a cheaper GPU... like if I go down to the 1070 tier, then apparently the Vega 56 is a better value. Right?

[DocSwag]

5 hours ago, GM Rod said:

Hmmm so right now I’m seeing if I can find that bundle in physical stores in Toronto, so I can try to avoid that by looking at the monitor in person, or at least have an easy time returning it. I’m just trying to avoid spending $1200 on just a monitor... when I can get a GPU and a monitor for $1400. 

 

Any other suggestions?

 

I mean I’m aiming for 1440p gaming so I can’t get a cheaper GPU... like if I go down to the 1070 tier, then apparently the Vega 56 is a better value. Right?

If you have a way to confirm the monitor you get is fine, then this might be an ok choice. 

 

Other suggestions... Maybe a 56+1440p 144 hz freesync monitor? Or 1070+1440p 144 hz g sync monitor? Both combos would be about $800 USD, not sure what that is in CAD.

[GM Rod]

Yeah this is why I’m trying to find a physical store in Toronto that has them. If the monitor has issues I can return it... hmmm