Vega 56 - major differences between brand?

[ben127127]

Will there be any major difference in which Vega 56 I get? Currently I'm looking at this one: (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/bfdxFT/msi-radeon-rx-vega-56-8gb-air-boost-video-card-rx-vega-56-air-boost-8g-oc) because it's a little cheaper but I want to make sure I'm not loosing out on quality. This is my first build so I'm just looking for reassurance this is a good version of the Vega 56, don't wanna mess up. Thanks.

 

[Jurrunio]

some say it takes an R9 290X reference card to scare people off from blowers.

 

simply means blower coolers like that are no good for higher heat output cards like the Vega 56. only buy this if you're willing to mod the cooling.

[porina]

I have a reference Vega 56... blower style cooler. You can see nice boost clocks for a short time then it drops as temps go up. So, not hard thermal throttling but it isn't performing at its best because of thermals. Even if it costs a bit more, aim for a model with a decent cooler on it.

[LukeSavenije]

Asus, msi, sapphire, xfx and gigabyte (sorry if I missed one) have some great cards. Get something with at least a dual fan and something with a higher quality cooler than for example an msi aero. If the card is cooler it works for longer, or can even perform faster under some boost clocks

[Zando_]

Just now, LukeSavenije said:

Asus, msi, sapphire, xfx and gigabyte (sorry if I missed one) have some great cards. Get something with at least a dual fan and something with a higher quality cooler than for example an msi aero. If the card is cooler it works for longer, or can even perform faster under some boost clocks

From everything I've seen, Vega is really tied down to temps, the cooler it is the better it runs, thus why undervolting really helps it. Still trying to figure out how to get my Vega FE properly stable tho, it's my first run with Vega and it seems pickier than my RX480, so we'll see how it goes. But apparently even when they're properly cooled (jayztwocents had one at about 43C on water) they clocks still hop around a lot.

[LukeSavenije]

5 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

From everything I've seen, Vega is really tied down to temps, the cooler it is the better it runs, thus why undervolting really helps it. Still trying to figure out how to get my Vega FE properly stable tho, it's my first run with Vega and it seems pickier than my RX480, so we'll see how it goes. But apparently even when they're properly cooled (jayztwocents had one at about 43C on water) they clocks still hop around a lot.

Yeah, vega is kinda hot. But I generally recommend dual fan+ cooling even outside of vega. 

[LukeSavenije]

9 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

 

Going over PCPartpicker the two least expensive decent options are 

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/XRqhP6/gigabyte-radeon-rx-vega-56-8gb-video-card-gv-rxvega56gaming-oc-8gd

and the XFX one in my previous comment.  Not sure how good that cooler is on the Gigabyte one, but I know from experience XFX makes really good coolers.  The cards cheaper than these 2 are all blowers, nanos/minis, and other things you don't want from vega.

Agree. Only 3 fan cards like the strix will be better than that. But that's a different price...

[ben127127]

Thanks for all the responses, this is exactly what I needed. I think I'll be going with the Sapphire card or the Gigabyte, depending on what I can cut out of my budget. 

[GamerDude]

42 minutes ago, ben127127 said:

Thanks for all the responses, this is exactly what I needed. I think I'll be going with the Sapphire card or the Gigabyte, depending on what I can cut out of my budget. 

I have the Gigabyte reference card (no such thing as an 'FE' for AMD) as well as a PowerColor RX VEGA 64 in CF mode, the difference in temps between a reference model and a 3rd party cooled one is quite noticeable.  Below is a pic of my cards, note that the reference card has the benefit of three fans pushing cool exterior air onto it (the Red Devil is on top, with the reference card (with 'Radeon' on it) directly below it, there's about an inch of space between the two cards:

Yet, there's a noticeable difference in temps between them. Below is a screenshot of GPUZ after running a game for about 1/2 hour:

 

So, for VEGA, it's of great importance to get one with good third party cooler. But do note, with such coolers on the cards, warm air is vented within the card, so having good exhaust system really helps as well.

[ben127127]

1 hour ago, GamerDude said:

I have the Gigabyte reference card (no such thing as an 'FE' for AMD) as well as a PowerColor RX VEGA 64 in CF mode, the difference in temps between a reference model and a 3rd party cooled one is quite noticeable.  Below is a pic of my cards, note that the reference card has the benefit of three fans pushing cool exterior air onto it (the Red Devil is on top, with the reference card (with 'Radeon' on it) directly below it, there's about an inch of space between the two cards:

Yet, there's a noticeable difference in temps between them. Below is a screenshot of GPUZ after running a game for about 1/2 hour:

 

So, for VEGA, it's of great importance to get one with good third party cooler. But do note, with such coolers on the cards, warm air is vented within the card, so having good exhaust system really helps as well.

Got it - so it's important to get a card with strong cooling, such as the Sapphire. Not sure what you mean about the good exhaust system, though - sorry, I'm new to PCs and not everything is familiar to me yet.

[GamerDude]

18 minutes ago, ben127127 said:

Got it - so it's important to get a card with strong cooling, such as the Sapphire. Not sure what you mean about the good exhaust system, though - sorry, I'm new to PCs and not everything is familiar to me yet.

Oh, I meant that since these 3rd party cooled cards do NOT vent the heated air out (like the reference blower type, which due to its design by using the shroud, hot air is vented out thru the back), the warm air MUST be vented out via exhaust fans at the back of the case (that single fan you see at the back of my case) as well as on top (thru my CPU AIO which has two fans and the single exhaust fan on top (the lit up one). IF you don't channel this hot air out of the case, heat builds up inside the case and basically all your components get rather toasty, including the vid card.

[ben127127]

11 hours ago, GamerDude said:

Oh, I meant that since these 3rd party cooled cards do NOT vent the heated air out (like the reference blower type, which due to its design by using the shroud, hot air is vented out thru the back), the warm air MUST be vented out via exhaust fans at the back of the case (that single fan you see at the back of my case) as well as on top (thru my CPU AIO which has two fans and the single exhaust fan on top (the lit up one). IF you don't channel this hot air out of the case, heat builds up inside the case and basically all your components get rather toasty, including the vid card.

If I go with a non-blower card like the XFX or Sapphire will this still be something I should be concerned with?

[ben127127]

I think I'm starting to understand more actually - you're saying the cards with better coolers (LIKE the XFX and Sapphire) don't vent the air out, and so the coolers in my case need to be positioned properly? Does this case have the proper coolers? https://pcpartpicker.com/product/gJNv6h/nzxt-h500-blackblue-atx-mid-tower-case-ca-h500b-bl

[GamerDude]

1 hour ago, ben127127 said:

I think I'm starting to understand more actually - you're saying the cards with better coolers (LIKE the XFX and Sapphire) don't vent the air out, and so the coolers in my case need to be positioned properly? Does this case have the proper coolers? https://pcpartpicker.com/product/gJNv6h/nzxt-h500-blackblue-atx-mid-tower-case-ca-h500b-bl

Yes, something like that, the exhaust fans at the back and on top would vent heated air from the video card out of the case.....nice case btw.