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Gaming Benchmarks
Thus far, everything seems pretty similar to the Gigabyte Radeon RX Vega 56 we reviewed previously, right? We did, however, have to run our benchmarks twice, since the company recently adapted its BIOS to accommodate a modified power table from AMD that should improve support for third-party cards. It increases the average clock rate of Gigabyte's Radeon RX Vega 64 Gaming OC by about 50 MHz, and even reduces power consumption by a bit.
This means that previous benchmark issues discovered in our Sapphire Radeon RX Vega 64 Nitro+ review should soon be solved. Moving forward, we hope to see partner boards behave the way we were expecting from the get-go.
Unfortunately, for now, Gigabyte's new firmware is still in beta, meaning it isn't publicly available. As such, all of our benchmarks, from gaming performance to acoustics, power, and heat, are recorded as the Radeon RX Vega 64 Gaming OC landed on our doorstep: with its default BIOS.
Comparison Products
Results: 2560x1440 (WQHD)
First, we test at 2560x1440, where a card like this is most likely to excel.
Compared to AMD's reference design, third-party boards usually only achieve slightly higher clock rates, resulting in humble performance improvements. Nevertheless, the Radeon RX Vega 64 Gaming OC is still consistently faster (sometimes a bit more and sometimes a bit less).
Results: 3840x2160 (WQHD)
The overall picture doesn't change much at 3840x2160, though there isn't much difference between Gigabyte's card and AMD's reference design. Neither option is ideal for 4K gaming with maxed-out settings. Compromises must be made on the detail sliders to bring frame rates up enough for smooth performance.
Summary
We have to look elsewhere for the true advantages of Gigabyte's card. Although the Radeon RX Vega 64 Gaming OC 8G might not be much faster than what we've already seen, better power numbers or acoustics could still make it a winner.
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