Custom Radeon Navi cards incoming, but reference RX 5700 boards aren't going anywhere

[onetheycallEric]

Bottom line: Despite rumors saying otherwise, AMD and Scott Herkelman have publicly put the matter to rest. AMD will transition to support custom Navi-based AIB graphics cards, but reference designs will still be offered through AMD.com and any partners that want to keep offering them.

Recent rumors inspired headlines and stories across the web insisting that AMD had killed off its reference design Radeon RX 5700-series GPUs. The rumors seem to stem from an unsubstantiated report by French website Cowcatland, where the publication claimed AMD was going end-of-life status with its RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT reference models.

However, AMD has confirmed they are not pulling its reference designs after only a month on the market. In statements to both Tom's Hardware and PCWorld, AMD clarified the matter.

“We expect there will continue to be strong supply of Radeon RX 5700 series graphics cards in the market, with multiple designs starting to arrive from our AIB partners. As is standard practice, once the inventory of the AMD reference cards has been sold, AMD will continue to support new partner designs with Radeon RX 5700 series reference design kit.”

So, while it is true that AMD is going to allow AIB partner cards to saturate the retail channels going forward -- which is normal --AMD's reference cards will still exist and remain available. That's also a point that AMD's Scott Herkelman reinforced on Twitter.

We will continue to offer the Radeon 5700 series reference design on https://t.co/5ixAVwSJf6 and select OEM, retail and etailers. However, we are fully transitioning our AIB partners over to their own custom designs.

— Scott Herkelman (@sherkelman) August 10, 2019

While many enthusiasts likely won't miss the reference cards with the blower style cooler, those cards are important to liquid cooling aficionados. Water blocks for GPUs are usually based on reference boards, such as the one from EKWB used in our Radeon RX 5700 XT overclocking testing.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/81390-custom-radeon-navi-cards-incoming-but-reference-rx.html

 

[Footlong]

Why would someone choose the reference design over AIB is beyond me?

 

[ZackL04]

Why would someone choose the reference design over AIB is beyond me?

A mild gamer looking for aesthetics first in their build

 

[Evernessince]

Why would someone choose the reference design over AIB is beyond me?

Aftermarket cooling. Reference is always targeedt by water block companies and then they move to AIB cards.

IMO it's a good idea to keep the reference design as it's cheap and it's easy to swap out a water block with.

 

[treetops]

From what I've seen they have a ton of custom cards, pretty amazing.

QUOTE="Footlong, post: 1765334, member: 317691"]Why would someone choose the reference design over AIB is beyond me?[/QUOTE]
Price, lack of patience and or if you plan to OC watercool it later. I like my blower fan so far, but I am going open loop eventually for the fun of it. I took the backplate off to see what it can do, it really throws out a ton of air if you want to crank it up. It also looks pretty damn cool. I grabbed 5700 for $330 off Newegg.

 

[R00sT3R]

Why would someone choose the reference design over AIB is beyond me?

Blower cards are the better option for small form factor builds as they throw all the heat out of the case, AIB fan coolers just spread it within the case.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Why would someone choose the reference design over AIB is beyond me?

If you are watercooling, why pay more for an AIB card if you are just going to rip the cooler off? More importantly., waterblocks are designed around the stock PCB. Some waterblocks are designed for AIB cards, but for the best compatibility and choices you stick to AIB.

Certain cases also benefit. Some Mini ITX cases let the blower suck in fresh cold air from outside the case, resulting in better performance then from within a case, where a open air cooler would just suck in its own fumes.

 

[SeventyTwo]

Why would someone choose the reference design over AIB is beyond me?

It says right there in the article, last paragraph.
Why do people comment on articles they don't bother reading?

 

[Footlong]

It says right there in the article, last paragraph.
Why do people comment on articles they don't bother reading?

I've read the article. My question is/was a way to sense how many enthusiasts really go for water cooling in their GPUs. I've been building PC's for 10 years now and even among enthusiast it is pretty rare to find consumers willing to go for a water-cooled GPU.

 

[DukeJukem]

Buying a radeon card that has one fan is just asking for heat issues. have fun cranking your spans to the heavens in order to avoid overheating.