AMD gave us a sneak peek at its new Vega graphics card structure approach again at CES 2017. What we didn’t know then, although, is that it wouldn’t find yourself within the palms of customers until August 2017.

Back when cryptocurrency was a factor individuals cared about, AMD Vega loved loads of success because the structure behind the best mining GPUs, however the mining craze is lengthy over. Fortunately, which means AMD Vega playing cards don’t value an arm and a leg anymore – though, we suspect many customers will go for the Radeon VII as an alternative,anyway. 

Not that we essentially want them, although. AMD’s latest Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition simply unlocked a ton of latest performance for present graphics playing cards, so the Vega playing cards we have already got are doing simply nice. 

Cut to the chase

• What is it? The follow-up to AMD’s Polaris GPU structure
• When’s it out? August 14, 2017
• What will it value? $499 or £549 (about AU$630)

AMD Radeon RX Vega launch date

AMD’s inexpensive, consumer-oriented Radeon RX Vega 64 launched again in August 2017, with three variations together with a normal version mannequin, an aluminum-clad restricted version model and a liquid-cooled design with larger clock speeds.

AMD’s lower-specced Radeon RX Vega 56, which is a direct competitor with the Nvidia GTX 1070, launched slightly bit later in August. 

AMD then teamed up with Intel, of all corporations, to create eighth Generation Kaby Lake-G processors with built-in AMD Vega graphics for laptops – on prime of packing among the finest laptops with highly effective GPUs, just like the spectacular Dell XPS 15 2-in-1.

Later, in February 2018, AMD launched the Ryzen 3 2200G and Ryzen 5 2400GAPUs with discrete-class Vega graphics that shall be a significant assist to anybody attempting to construct an ideal home-theater PC on a price range.

We wouldn’t see a brand new graphics card from AMD till it partnered up with PowerColor to introduce the Radeon RX Vega 56 Nano at Computex 2018. 

Then, at CES 2019, AMD introduced the Radeon VII, marking a return to high-end client graphics. This is predicated off a 7nm structure, and guarantees to compete with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 at an identical value level. You received’t have to attend lengthy to get your palms on it both – the Radeon VII hits the streets on February 7.

And, for those who can’t justify ponying up the money for a Vega card, AMD put out the Ryzen 3 2200G and the Ryzen 5 2400G APUs, with Vega graphics, on February 12, 2018.

AMD Radeon RX Vega value

Back in August 2017, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 launched as a standalone card for $499 or £549 (about AU$630).

That’s a giant step up from the Radeon RX 500 lineup, which begins at as little as $169 (about £136, AU$219), however that is meant to be AMD’s enthusiast-class grade graphics card. It’s been a long-awaited sequel to the corporate’s largely defunct Radeon R9 Fury X, which was nonetheless going for a cool $389 (about £315, AU$505) up till the very finish. 

What’s extra, at this value level it is aggressive in opposition to the $549 (£539, AU$1,299) Nvidia GTX 1080 Founders Edition.

After the launch of the Vega 64 within the US, AMD provided two different editions of the cardboard that might be purchased completely as a part of ‘Radeon Packs’, which bundled two free video games, and reductions on a Samsung CF791 curved ultra-wide FreeSync monitor and a pleasant $100 low cost on a Ryzen 7 processor and motherboard. The packs are sadly unavailable to buy at time of writing, nevertheless.

Unfortunately, these reductions solely kicked in if customers are shopping for the stated monitor and CPU/motherboard combo concurrently their Vega GPU. Of course, customers might select to not purchase the additional parts and peripherals whereas nonetheless getting the 2 free video games, confirmed – within the US at the least – to be Wolfenstein II and Prey.

The limited-edition AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 got here as a part of a Radeon Black Pack for $599 (£460, AU$750). Meanwhile, the liquid-cooled Vega 64 ran for $699 (£530, AU$875), and may solely be bought as a part of AMD’s Radeon Aqua Pack.

Lastly, you can buy the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 by itself for $400 (about £284, AU$500) MSRP.

At the tip of the day, Vega was – at the least at launch – as aggressive to Nvidia as Ryzen is to Intel. Thankfully, as a result of cryptocurrency market cooling down, AMD Vega playing cards have fallen to an inexpensive value. They’re not fairly all the way down to MSRP, however they’re fairly shut – you received’t have to fret about spending 2-3x MSRP worth to improve your GPU.

AMD Radeon RX Vega specs

Following its 2017 Capsaicin 2 livestream occasion, AMD revealed the precise specs for its two new Vega GPUs, in addition to its underlying Vega 10 structure.

From the chart above, it is clear essentially the most highly effective of the bunch would be the liquid-cooled model of the Radeon RX Vega 64. The dearer water-cooled model will function at larger base/increase clocks, regardless of sharing equivalent specs to its air-cooled twin.

The RX Vega 56, then again, is positioned in opposition to Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1070 at $400 (about £305, AU$505). However, have cited efficiency that vastly outweighed that of its closest competitors whereas operating triple-A video games at 2560 x 1440. 

Like the Polaris 10 structure that preceded it, AMD’s Polaris 10 structure is constructed on an 14nm FinFET course of that ought to finally make it extra power-efficient and sturdy in efficiency.

Vega 10 can be noticeably skewed in direction of delivering on extra compute energy than uncooked graphical power like Nvidia’s Pascal GPUs. This will probably imply Vega will be capable to higher deal with the advanced calculations of procedural surfaces, volumetric lighting and the general high quality of the in-game graphics.

This period of Vega GPUs additionally ditches GDDR5 reminiscence altogether for a brand new format referred to as HBM2, or high-bandwidth reminiscence. AMD believes its environment friendly reminiscence provides a 75% smaller footprint than GDDR5 whereas additionally being 3.5 occasions extra power-efficient.

AMD additionally claims that Vega’s high-bandwidth cache controller will enhance most body charges by 50% and minimal body charges by 100% over GDDR5 reminiscence. 

Interestingly, Vega 10 can be designed to assist as much as 16GB of HBM2 reminiscence  – which we have already seen from Radeon Vega Frontier Edition – so Nvidia’s Titan X might lastly get some competitors from AMD.

Stay tuned for extra particulars concerning every part AMD Vega, as we’ll be updating this web page with the most recent because it occurs. In the meantime, remember to replace to the most recent model of AMD Radeon Software Crimson ReLive for a of GPU management options.

Gabe Carey additionally contributed to this text