The AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 & RX Vega 56 Review: Vega Burning Bright
by Ryan Smith & Nate Oh on August 14, 2017 9:00 AM ESTPower, Temperature, & Noise
Moving on from performance metrics, we’ll touch upon power, temperature, and noise. This is also normally where we’d discuss voltages, but as Vega is a new chip on a new architecture, nothing seems to read Vega 64 and 56 correctly.
In terms of average game clockspeeds, neither card maintains its boost specification at 100% with prolonged usage. Vega 64 tends to stay closer to its boost clocks, which is in line with its additional power overhead and higher temperature target over Vega 56.
Radeon RX Vega Average Clockspeeds | ||
Radeon RX Vega 64 Air | Radeon RX Vega 56 | |
Boost Clocks |
1546MHz
|
1471MHz
|
Max Boost (DPM7) |
1630MHz
|
1590MHz
|
Battlefield 1 |
1512MHz
|
1337MHz
|
Ashes: Escalation |
1542MHz
|
1354MHz
|
DOOM |
1479MHz
|
1334MHz
|
Ghost Recon: Wildlands |
1547MHz
|
1388MHz
|
Dawn of War III |
1526MHz
|
1335MHz
|
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided |
1498MHz
|
1348MHz
|
GTA V |
1557MHz
|
1404MHz
|
F1 2016 |
1526MHz
|
1394MHz
|
FurMark |
1230MHz
HBM2: 868MHz |
1099MHz
HBM2: 773MHz |
With games, the HBM2 clocks ramp up and stay at their highest clock state. Expectedly, the strains of FurMark cause the cards to oscillate memory clocks: between 945MHz and 800MHZ for Vega 64, and between 800MHz and 700MHz for Vega 56. On that note, HBM2 comes with an idle power state (167MHz), an improvement on Fiji's HBM1 single power state. Unfortunately, the direct power savings are a little obscured since, as we will soon see, Vega 10 is a particularly power hungry chip.
As mentioned earlier, we used the default out-of-the-box configuration for power: Balanced, with the corresponding 220W GPU power limit. And under load, Vega needs power badly.
The performance of both Vega cards comes at a significant power cost. For the RX 500 series, we mused that load consumption is where AMD paid the piper. Here, the piper has taken AMD to the cleaners. In Battlefield 1, Vega 64 consumes 150W more system-wide power than the GTX 1080, its direct competitor. To be clear, additional power draw is expected, since Vega 64 is larger in both shader count (4096 vs. 2560) and die size (486mm2 vs. 314mm2) to the GTX 1080. But in that sense, when compared with the 1080 Ti, powered by the 471mm2 GP102, Vega 64 still consumes more power.
As for Vega 64's cut-down sibling, Vega 56's lower temperature target, lower clocks, and lower board power make its consumption look much more reasonable, although it is still well above the 1070.
In any case, the cooling solutions are able to do the job without severe effects on temperature and noise. As far as blowers go, RX Vega 64 and 56 are comparable to the 1080 Ti FE blower.
Not Graphed: Temperature of the actual Vega (Star): 9329C
Noise-testing equipment and methodology differ from past results, with a more sensitive noise meter and closer distance to the graphics card. Readings were also taken with an open case. As such, the noise levels may appear higher than expected.
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DanNeely - Tuesday, August 15, 2017 - link
I've been running BOINC on my GPUs since the GTX 260. With a half dozen cards totaling about 20-25 years of operation I've had 1 card fail at the 2 year mark (GT 560), and one fan fail after about a year (HD 5850). The others all lasted 3-4 years until newer gaming purchases pushed them out of my slowed box and into retirement.Otritus - Monday, August 14, 2017 - link
While they dont have the funds to truly compete with nvidia I do see what you mean because in the gpu sector it seems rtg is focused on adding features and not increasing performance while decreasing power consumption. Polaris had more perf/per watt than vega, and I hate that regression from amd.Aldaris - Monday, August 14, 2017 - link
Why would anyone choose to lag behind? It's obviously not a choice.milkod2001 - Monday, August 14, 2017 - link
Vega is indeed disappointment and now we know that officially. The worst part is that NV don't have to lower its current GPU prices nor rush next gen GPU's.When can we expect next gen GPU from both camps?
TheinsanegamerN - Monday, August 14, 2017 - link
Volta will come out with a 30-35% increase per category, and will sell for most of its reign unopposed. Navi will eventually come out, just before volta's replacement launches.AMD fell behind, and now must either rush a new generation or lag behind for half a year to get out of their current position.
Aldaris - Monday, August 14, 2017 - link
Well, we don't know that officially because that's an opinion. Looks to me like NV do have to lower prices.mapesdhs - Monday, August 14, 2017 - link
Based on what? In the UK, the 1080 is 100 UKP cheaper than the Vega64/Air, while the Vega64/Liquid costs more than a 1080 Ti. NV doesn't have to do anything, at least not re the 1080 anyway. As for the 1070, perhaps a different matter, we'll see what happens with final retail pricing.If you're in the US though and the 64 really is $500, well maybe it might be more attractive if you're not bothered by the power/noise issues. Alas, outside the US the real consumer pricing is more of a mess.
vladx - Monday, August 14, 2017 - link
AnandTech is turning into a joke with catchphrases like "Vega Burning Bright" or "The Vega Architecture: AMD’s Brightest Day". Quit trying to polish a turd and call Vega for what it really is, a crappy product that was released way too late, is slower than the competition on neutral games and extremely inefficient as well.I knew AT had a bias for AMD and Apple, but this is really getting ridiculous.
casperes1996 - Monday, August 14, 2017 - link
Last comment section I read repeatedly stated how anti-AMD AnandTech is... Go figure.nevcairiel - Monday, August 14, 2017 - link
Something that burns bright typically puts out a lot of excess energy (heat) and eventually burns out. :p