AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 8GB Review
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Page 1:Introduction
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Page 2:Disassembly, Cooler & Interposer
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Page 3:Board Layout & Components
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Page 4:How We Tested AMD's Vega RX 56 8GB
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Page 5:Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation (DirectX 12)
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Page 6:Battlefield 1 (DirectX 12)
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Page 7:Doom (Vulkan)
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Page 8:Hitman (DirectX 12)
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Page 9:Metro: Last Light Redux (DirectX 11)
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Page 10:Rise of the Tomb Raider (DirectX 12)
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Page 11:Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands (DirectX 11)
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Page 12:Tom Clancy’s The Division (DirectX 12)
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Page 13:Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III (DirectX 11)
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Page 14:The Witcher 3 (DirectX 11)
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Page 15:VR: Arizona Sunshine (DirectX 11)
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Page 16:VR: Chronos (DirectX 11)
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Page 17:VR: DiRT Rally (DirectX 11)
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Page 18:VR: Robo Recall (DirectX 11)
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Page 19:VR: Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope (DirectX 11)
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Page 20:Ethereum Mining
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Page 21:Power Consumption: Testing Eight Different Settings
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Page 22:Overclocking, Underclocking, Efficiency & Temperature
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Page 23:Fan Speed & Noise
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Page 24:Conclusion
Power Consumption: Testing Eight Different Settings
Similar to AMD's Radeon RX Vega 64, the Vega 56 offers two BIOSes with corresponding power profiles that can be selected using a switch on the card. If you don't change the driver-based profiles, the primary BIOS imposes a 165W package limit, while the secondary BIOS drops that to 150W.
We ran our maximum gaming load benchmark, The Witcher 3 at 4K, for all six combinations. In addition, we switched the Radeon RX Vega 56 to AMD's secondary BIOS, underclocked it slightly, and lowered the power limit by 25%. Finally, we also overclocked the card using its primary BIOS and increased the power limit by 50%. In total, this gives us eight different configurations to compare.
Let's start with power consumption, then move on to efficiency, frequencies, temperature, and noise:
We used our highest overclock to established the maximum motherboard slot power consumption. The 1.7A we measured is just 27% of the PCI-SIG’s specified limit of 5.5A. AMD has come a long way from the days of its Radeon RX 480.
In the end, we could have saved ourselves the trouble of dealing with a second BIOS, which requires that you shut your system down and open its case every time you want to toggle one way or the other. Our measurements show the primary BIOS' Power Save mode is similar to the secondary BIOS' Balanced mode, after all. From there, lowering the power limit by ~10% using the primary BIOS would roughly equal Power Save mode using the secondary BIOS.
Ultimately, two more WattMan profiles could have replaced the BIOS switch entirely.
Primary BIOS Power Consumption Graphs
- 01 BIOS 1 - Wattage - Power Save
- 02 BIOS 1 - Wattage - Balanced
- 03 BIOS 1 - Wattage - Turbo
- 04 BIOS 1 - Wattage - PL Plus 50 Percent
For each BIOS, we provide comparison curves showing the voltage control at work and the loads on the individual power connectors over time.
Secondary BIOS Power Consumption Graphs
- 05 BIOS 2 - Wattage - PL Minus 25 Percent
- 06 BIOS 2 - Wattage - Power Save
- 07 BIOS 2 - Wattage - Balanced
- 08 BIOS 2 - Wattage - Turbo
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MORE: All Graphics Content
- Introduction
- Disassembly, Cooler & Interposer
- Board Layout & Components
- How We Tested AMD's Vega RX 56 8GB
- Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation (DirectX 12)
- Battlefield 1 (DirectX 12)
- Doom (Vulkan)
- Hitman (DirectX 12)
- Metro: Last Light Redux (DirectX 11)
- Rise of the Tomb Raider (DirectX 12)
- Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands (DirectX 11)
- Tom Clancy’s The Division (DirectX 12)
- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III (DirectX 11)
- The Witcher 3 (DirectX 11)
- VR: Arizona Sunshine (DirectX 11)
- VR: Chronos (DirectX 11)
- VR: DiRT Rally (DirectX 11)
- VR: Robo Recall (DirectX 11)
- VR: Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope (DirectX 11)
- Ethereum Mining
- Power Consumption: Testing Eight Different Settings
- Overclocking, Underclocking, Efficiency & Temperature
- Fan Speed & Noise
- Conclusion