Review

ASUS ROG STRIX RX Vega 64 OC Gaming Review

In August this year AMD Radeon officially released their new AMD Radeon Vega family of graphics card in India and AMD Radeon India, gave us the opportunity to have a hands on experience and tests the AMD Radeon Vega graphics card. Whole coverage of the event is here.

Since then we were waiting to get our hands on a custom RX Vega graphics card. And today thanks to ASUS India, we are reviewing our first custom AMD Vega 64 graphics card, the ASUS ROG STRIX RX Vega 64 8G OC Gaming card.

With Strix triple fan cooling solution and a custom PCB design from ASUS, let's see find out what more this card offers against the AMD Reference design.

AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 reference design.

Features

• 1590 MHz Boost Clock (OC Mode) featuring 8GB HBM2 memory with AMD’s Vega architecture
• ASUS Aura Sync RGB lighting provides a nearly endless spectrum of colors with the ability to synchronize effects across an ever-expanding ecosystem of ASUS Aura Sync enabled products
• MaxContact plus Auto-Extreme manufacturing technology delivers 2X more GPU to heatsink contact for increased cooling efficiency and premium quality aerospace-grade Super Alloy Power II components
• Patented wing-blade 0dB fans with FanConnect II maximizes cooling performance using three axial fans to deliver 105% more air pressure and dual 4-pin headers for referencing chassis fans to GPU temperatures
• GPU Tweak II makes monitoring performance and streaming easier than ever, featuring Game Booster and a free 1-year premium license of XSplit Gamecaster

40% More Heat Dissipation Area
Up to 30% Cooler and 3X Quieter Gaming Performance
New ROG Strix graphics are constructed with a 2.5-slot width, providing 40% more heat sink surface area for heat dissipation compared to previous 2-slot designs for dramatically cooler and quieter performance.

MaxContact Technology
2X More Contact with GPU for Improved Thermal Transfer
MaxContact is an industry-first GPU cooling technology, featuring an enhanced copper heat spreader that directly contacts the GPU. MaxContact utilizes precision machining to provide a surface that makes up to 2X more contact with the GPU than traditional heat spreaders, resulting in improved thermal transfer.

Patented Wing-Blade Design
Max Air Flow with 105% More Air Pressure
Patented wing-blade fans delivers maximum air flow and 105% greater static pressure over the heat sink, while operating at an up to 3X quieter volume than reference cards.

IP5X-Certified Dust Resistance
Longer Fan Lifespan
The fans in ROG Strix graphics cards are certified under the International Protection Marking (IP code) as IP5X dust resistant for improved reliability and a longer lifespan. This stringent certification process ensures ROG Strix graphics cards provide optimal fan performance, even under severe conditions.

ASUS FanConnect II
Optimal System Cooling
ASUS FanConnect II features two 4-pin, hybrid-controlled headers that can be connected to both PWM and DC system fans for optimal system cooling. The connected fans reference both the GPU and CPU, operating automatically based on the one with the higher temperature. A comprehensive set of tuning options allow you to tune fan speeds for efficient cooling.

ASUS Aura Sync
Outshine The Competition
Featuring Aura RGB Lighting on both the shroud and backplate, ROG Strix graphics cards are capable of displaying millions of colors and six different effects for a personalized gaming system. ROG Strix graphics cards also feature ASUS Aura Sync, RGB LED synchronization technology that enables complete gaming system personalization when the graphics card is paired with an Aura-enabled gaming motherboard.

VR-friendly HDMI Ports
Easily Enjoy Immersive Virtual Reality Experience
ROG Strix graphics cards have two HDMI ports for connecting a VR device and display at the same time, so you can enjoy immersive virtual reality experiences anytime without having to swap cables.

GPU Tweak II with XSplit Gamecaster
Intuitive Performance Tweaking
Redesigned with an intuitive, all-new UI, GPU Tweak II makes overclocking easier and more visual than ever, while still retaining advanced options for seasoned overclockers. With one click, the new Gaming Booster function maximizes system performance by removing redundant processes and allocating all available resources automatically.

Specifications

Package

The STRIX RX Vega 64 comes in a box securely packaged with actual product picture and STRIX graphics and features highlights on front and the back of the box.

Inside the box

Along with the GFX card box also includes Software installation CD, quick start guide one PCI-e power cable and two ROG Velcro cable tie straps.

Looks

Card is having great looks with complete black theme. In front we have a big triple fan cooling with patented wing-blade fans mounted on to the new maxcontact technology heatsink.

Back of the card have a thick back-plate with complete coverage of the PCB. Beside etched graphics backplate also have a large ‘Republic of Gamers' logo with RGB lighting which can be fully customized.

Due to the thick cooling solution card is a 2.5 slot design, but you will need 3 standard slots available to accommodate the card inside your PC.

This Strix card features 2 X 8-pin PCI-E power connectors, which along with the PCI-E lane's power provides this card with an over 395w of power.

At the rear of the card we have lot of connectivity options consisting of 2 X DisplayPort 1.4 connections, 2 X HDMI 2.0 ports and a DVI-D connector.

On the case inside end of the card we can see the new Asus Fanconnect II headers – a unique feature allowing you to connect two 4-pin CPU / GPU PWM-controlled fans instead of plugging them into your motherboard.

Inside

Removing the heatsink reveals all nickel plated cooling solution with six copper pipe fused onto a big copper base which is finely milled to give the GPU silicon perfect flat contact with the heatsink. Whole PCB is given rigidity with strong aluminum frame.

As you may notice this PCB don't look like a regular graphics card PCB, with a big GPU chip surrounded by lot of memory module chips. This is indeed a first glimpse of how our graphics cards will look in near future. AMD with its Vega GPU lineup has introduced a new way of reducing memory latency by installing two high speed HBM2 memory silicon alongside Vega 10 GPU core onto a single GPU package.

Below you can see two HBM2 memory silicon alongside Vega 10 GPU core. This is a retail card not a review sample, so you can clearly see that whole GPU package is having a uniform contact area with cooler. Whereas on some sites with review sample reported of the lower sitting HBM2 stacks than the main GPU core.

Rest of PCB looks empty, holding only power delivery and output circuitry. Main power section is having a 11 Phase designed power section using International Rectifier's IR 3555M a integrated PowIRstage® contains a synchronous buck gate driver IC which is co-packed with control and synchronous MOSFETs and a Schottky diode to further improve efficiency and each phase has output current capability of 60A. Power controller used in the custom design is an International Rectifier IR35217 chip.

Testing

Test system configuration -

Benchmarks

Temperatures

Room Temperature: 30C

In idle, the temperature is real good and at full load running 3D Mark Time Spy temperature was ok and fans were not loud at all.

Power Consumption

Wattage reading as per displayed by APC Pro 1000VA (Model no. BR1000G-IN) UPS.

Pros

• Nice 4K Performance
• Fan turns off on idle
• Factory overclocked
• Very quiet
• Attractive looks
• Excellent build quality
• Back plate
• RGB lighting
• Extra fan connectors

Cons

• Slight high power consumption side.

Conclusion

If you are looking for a great gaming experience than this card will never beat a 1080Ti. But if you are an AMD fan boy with a FreeSync monitor and want to get best gaming experience with AMD, than the ASUS ROG STRIX RX Vega 64 OC Gaming graphics card is one of the best custom RX Vega 64 graphics card out there.

The market pricing and availability of this card is little un-speculated likely due to extremely high demand due to mining, but if you can find one with right price than the ASUS ROG STRIX RX Vega 64 OC Gaming graphics card is our choice for the red team and worthy of our PC TeK Reviews CHOICE Award.

Manufacturers Info

Thanks.

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