Asus ROG Strix Radeon RX Vega 64 8GB OC Edition Review: High-End Graphics With Flair

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By Igor Wallossek
published

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Gaming Benchmarks

Results: 2560x1440 (WQHD)

With an up-to-date BIOS and newer drivers, the strangeness we saw in our Sapphire Radeon RX Vega 64 Nitro+ review disappears entirely, and we measure the performance we'd expect. If you read along and wonder why we didn't bother testing with an overclock in place, jump forward to our discussion of cooling, where it becomes apparent that there's nothing left to squeeze from this card in a closed case.

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Because we're guessing that most folks with a Radeon RX Vega 64 plan to game at 2560x1440, that's where we start our benchmarks.

Asus' ROG Strix Radeon RX Vega 64 8GB OC Edition has a slight clock rate advantage over AMD's reference Radeon RX Vega 64, yielding a slight, but essentially imperceptible performance lead in every benchmark.

Results: 3840x2160 (UHD)

The story doesn't change much at 4K. Asus' version of the Vega 64 is consistently a little faster than AMD's implementation, while the Radeon RX Vega 64 trades blows with Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1080 more generally. Neither model is really suitable for max-quality gaming at 3840x2160, though. As a result, we dial back the detail settings to maintain playable frame rates.

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The real advantages of Asus' card will have to be found elsewhere, hopefully in the cooling or noise sections. After all, those two aspects are where the reference board takes the most criticism.

Comparison Products
Asus GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB
Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB
Asus Radeon RX Vega 64 8GB

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Igor Wallossek
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16 Comments Comment from the forums
  • darkchazz
    "Missing a thermal pad between PCB and backplate"


    My Strix GTX 1080 I got in July 2016 also has missing several thermal pads on the GDDR5X modules. Many others reported this issue too and I suppose they still haven't fixed it at the production line.
    Reply
  • Kaziel
    I just bought one for USD599 on June 6th and waiting for all the parts to arrive. I really hope it'll be okay in an NZXT H500 with the 2x stock fans as exhaust and 2x Noctua NF-A14 as intake.

    Do you guys think that my EVGA SuperNova 650 P2 will be able to handle an overclocked R5 2600x and this Asus Strix Vega 64?
    Reply
  • milkod2001
    @KAZIEL
    That depends how many other components you also plan to connect: Sound Cards, HDDs, Blue Ray Players, etc, ect but i think it would be OK with 1 SSD and 1 HDD.
    Reply
  • Martell1977
    It would have been interesting for Tom's to make the modification of adding the thermal pads and show how much of a difference it would really make. I wonder if ASUS felt it was a acceptable trade off between looks and functionality.
    Reply
  • Kaziel
    21047426 said:
    @KAZIEL
    That depends how many other components you also plan to connect: Sound Cards, HDDs, Blue Ray Players, etc, ect but i think it would be OK with 1 SSD and 1 HDD.

    Still waiting on parts to arrive.

    CPU: R5 2600x
    Cooling: Noctua NH-U12S, 3x 120 Fans and 2x 140 Fans
    Motherboard: Asus Strix x470-F
    RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB 3466 C16 (2x 8gb)
    GPU: Asus Strix RX Vega 64
    Storage: Samsung Evo 860 (250gb) and Seagate 2TB Barracuda (7200 RPM 64MB Cache)

    Planning on just letting Ryzen Master auto overclock the 2600x. For the Vega 64 I plan to do the widely suggested undervolt, +50% power, and overclock HBM2. I have used the calculators and they basically say it's fine, but then again I left everything at stock. Not sure what the values are yet for going about overclocking the two parts so unsure what to put in the calculator.
    Reply
  • Wow it matches my FTW 1080 2 years later at 40% more cost. Quality Job AMD!
    Reply
  • tokeylokey66
    Kek
    Price had went down a little but still a complete joke of a price. More power and heat than 1080 , cost more, released later. Sry Amd you better figure out better marketing and sale strategies or do better in the tech side of things preferably both.
    Reply
  • alextheblue
    Wow there's commenters that still don't have a clue about the impact of mining, which lingers on Vega to this day.
    Reply
  • zodiacfml
    Where the undervolting benchmarks if it is mentioned that it is better for overclocking and the mentioned poor exhaust vents?

    I think the critique for most of the Vega 64s are the large PCBs. It deserves smaller PCBs such as found in the Vega 56s to improve cooling.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    21047101 said:
    ...
    Nice review, but some Far Cry 5 benchmark would've been nice.

    Newegg now has this card for $599, which I think is pretty close to MSRP.
    Reply