Radeon VII Mega Benchmark: 33 Games vs. RTX 2080, GTX 1080 Ti & Vega 64

[Squid Surprise]

Cherry picking two graphs when so many are available isn't a good way to argue a point. Picking just two graphs, I could argue that Radeon VII competes with the RTX 2080 Ti (see Steve's benchmark results for Dirt 4 and Battlefield V), which is clearly a ridiculous proposition to anyone who's read the reviews. Let's just look at the averages over a large number of games, shall we?

The 33 game average shows that the Radeon VII is 7% slower than the RTX 2080. On the other hand the RTX 2070 review's 20 game average shows that the RTX 2070 is 18% slower than the RTX 2080. While the data set is not the same, it's pretty safe to say that on average the Radeon VII slots pretty neatly between the RTX 2070 and RTX 2080, in which case it's not exactly true that the Radeon VII has trouble beating the RTX 2070. Sure, it's still poor value in comparison - assuming you aren't playing only Dirt 4 and BF5 - but if we're talking purely about performance, the Radeon VII is the faster GPU.

It has TROUBLE beating the 2070 still means that it DOES beat the 2070. Those 2 graphs, even cherry picked, simply illustrate the TROUBLE it has doing so. Costing $200 more than a card that you barely beat is bad news.

And costing the SAME as a card that beats you consistently is a disaster.

 

[Nightfire]

Speak power to the truth good man!

How old are you??

I wonder how the public would have viewed this product if it was called a Frontier Edition? With workstation capability and 1/4 FP64, it certainly has the right to be.

At $750 it would have been viewed as a bargain.

 

[harm9963]

Well Steve, since we all agree that you are the laziest benchmarker ever, I have done the work for 4k ultra results for those 33 games, which would have given every advantage to the Radeon 7.

Radeon 7: avg low - 50.5 fps ; avg.... avg? - 63.7 fps
RTX 2080: avg low - 56.0 fps ; avg avg - 67.2 fps
Advantage for the RTX: 10.9% on lows, 5.5% on averages.

Both cards had 30 fps as the lowest low.
*Radeon 7 had 7 games with lows in the 30s. The RTX 2080 had only 5.

*edit made

Mate you have to make these fanboys work for it, you can't just show your workings out. Since you've spoilt my fun here are the results.

RTX 2080 is 8% faster on average for the average frame rate and 8% faster for the 1% low, MIND BLOWN! Sorry for hiding these results so I could set the narrative, shame on me!

Did I say how much I love my 1080Ti today.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Well im happy with my vega 64 im getting plenty of frames to I run my gpu at 150 watts.
I loose maybe 10% performance but slash power in half.
AMD should of done that with this gpu but didnt.

*Quadruple facepalm*

 

[hahahanoobs]

There is no competition. AMD does just enough to make the other guys do better, while AMD stays in second place.

NVIDIA has it in the bag, and IF Intel were to drop their prices on a couple SKUs like NVIDIA did with the 8800GT and GTX 970, which they easily could financially, AMD would be in a heap of pain.

A lot of people forget that, which is why it's so frustrating seeing people defend them [AMD].

TL;DR AMD NEEDS A SMOKING GUN! PERIOD.

 

[grumblguts]

I wont be upgrading to this card I think a 30% performance boost at 700 pounds is taking the piss.
But having the ability to take advantage of the pro drivers is tempting to some.
a gaming card with the ability to use software that is usually only available on a 3500 pound graphics card.
These will sell but not to the casual gamer he will just purchase a 2080

 

[Potato Judge]

Not in this generation

I hope I'm still alive when they do, even if I can't play games anymore. lol.

 

[m3tavision]

I'm not disappointed in you, I came by looking for my daily dose of crazy and I bloody well got it, cheers mate.

BTW all the graphs feature 1% low performance, feel free to work out the average across the 33 games and get back to me

You can download all the graphs here mate: https://www.patreon.com/posts/amd-radeon-vii-24597821

I can tell you young man, that Your comments are sheepish.

Why not take my remarks and rebuttal them, instead of trying to attack me as a person? It is because my previous Post ring true to a good many Gamers, who don't give a damn who makes the video card.

My computer room looks similar to all those boxes and hardware you have in Your back drop. I am a prosumer Steve. People my age are the ones who know how to read into a review, or take knowledge away from something, because my generation built the internet. People my age had hands, before there where mouses... Steve.

I remember when Anand, Tom, Kyle all started their sites...
I speak for a good many People my age Steve, when I tell you to re-read my post and take them to heart.

It is OK to revaluate, or explain, but not to shamboozle me, when the facts are out there. I've read/watched nearly 30 reviews of the Radeon V2... & yours (Steve) is a disappointment because it is not complete & unnecessarily bias.


Myself?
I can recommend both: the RTX2080 (In which I own) and the Radeon 7 @ $699.

They both serve the end user & gamer. Each have their pros & cons, which are simply not covered here, because of Your static review of the same thing, times 33.


Lastly, I didn't attack you, I just said I was disappointed in you.

 

[Nightfire]

I can tell you young man, that Your comments are sheepish.

Why not take my remarks and rebuttal them, instead of trying to attack me as a person? It is because my previous Post ring true to a good many Gamers, who don't give a damn who makes the video card.

My computer room looks similar to all those boxes and hardware you have in Your back drop. I am a prosumer Steve. People my age are the ones who know how to read into a review, or take knowledge away from something, because my generation built the internet. People my age had hands, before there where mouses... Steve.

I remember when Anand, Tom, Kyle all started their sites...
I speak for a good many People my age Steve, when I tell you to re-read my post and take them to heart.

It is OK to revaluate, or explain, but not to shamboozle me, when the facts are out there. I've read/watched nearly 30 reviews of the Radeon V2... & yours (Steve) is a disappointment because it is not complete & unnecessarily bias.


Myself?
I can recommend both: the RTX2080 (In which I own) and the Radeon 7 @ $699.

They both serve the end user & gamer. Each have their pros & cons, which are simply not covered here, because of Your static review of the same thing, times 33.


Lastly, I didn't attack you, I just said I was disappointed in you.

Even though this rebuttle took a day to build up the courage, it just shows everyone you have very thin skin.

Only in your head did Steve attack you as a person. He was busting your balls, and that's what guys do.

I am not sure what you mean by static review times 33. Some of the other sites like Tom's do show frame times, but it is often unnecessary information overload as a tight 1% to avg frame rate will prove consistancy anyhow. Please tell us in which of these 33 games did Steve's beautiful blue graphs mis-represent your precious.

Finally, truly nobody hear cares about how long you have been visiting tech sites and how much hardware you have sitting around in your mom's basement.

 

[Squid Surprise]

I can tell you young man, that Your comments are sheepish.

Why not take my remarks and rebuttal them, instead of trying to attack me as a person? It is because my previous Post ring true to a good many Gamers, who don't give a damn who makes the video card.

My computer room looks similar to all those boxes and hardware you have in Your back drop. I am a prosumer Steve. People my age are the ones who know how to read into a review, or take knowledge away from something, because my generation built the internet. People my age had hands, before there where mouses... Steve.

I remember when Anand, Tom, Kyle all started their sites...
I speak for a good many People my age Steve, when I tell you to re-read my post and take them to heart.

It is OK to revaluate, or explain, but not to shamboozle me, when the facts are out there. I've read/watched nearly 30 reviews of the Radeon V2... & yours (Steve) is a disappointment because it is not complete & unnecessarily bias.


Myself?
I can recommend both: the RTX2080 (In which I own) and the Radeon 7 @ $699.

They both serve the end user & gamer. Each have their pros & cons, which are simply not covered here, because of Your static review of the same thing, times 33.


Lastly, I didn't attack you, I just said I was disappointed in you.

Steve didn’t attack you... everyone else on here did... the reason: you’re a blind AMD fanboy!

The review was quite thorough, as were the numerous other posts expanding on it.

There really isn’t anyone, other than crazy folk like you, that can recommend this card to GAMERS. Now do yourself a favor and go find an AMD reddit forum and leave us alone.

 

[Steve]

I can tell you young man, that Your comments are sheepish.

Why not take my remarks and rebuttal them, instead of trying to attack me as a person? It is because my previous Post ring true to a good many Gamers, who don't give a damn who makes the video card.

My computer room looks similar to all those boxes and hardware you have in Your back drop. I am a prosumer Steve. People my age are the ones who know how to read into a review, or take knowledge away from something, because my generation built the internet. People my age had hands, before there where mouses... Steve.

I remember when Anand, Tom, Kyle all started their sites...
I speak for a good many People my age Steve, when I tell you to re-read my post and take them to heart.

It is OK to revaluate, or explain, but not to shamboozle me, when the facts are out there. I've read/watched nearly 30 reviews of the Radeon V2... & yours (Steve) is a disappointment because it is not complete & unnecessarily bias.


Myself?
I can recommend both: the RTX2080 (In which I own) and the Radeon 7 @ $699.

They both serve the end user & gamer. Each have their pros & cons, which are simply not covered here, because of Your static review of the same thing, times 33.


Lastly, I didn't attack you, I just said I was disappointed in you.

Why the hell didn't you tell me your computer room looks similar to mine? Next time lead with that. I take it all back, accept my apology and yes my review was disappointing crap with only average frame rates. Right you are! Also please tell Anand, Tom and Kyle I said 'hi'.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Don't get too worked up Steve. Your reviews are all anyone needs to come to a sensible conclusion on their own. Next week someone will be asking you to review 133 games, with 20 generations of GPUs.

 

[Steve]

Don't get too worked up Steve. Your reviews are all anyone needs to come to a sensible conclusion on their own. Next week someone will be asking you to review 133 games, with 20 generations of GPUs.

Thanks mate much appreciated but don't worry, I'm not getting worked up at all, just poking a bit of fun. When someone starts by saying they are really disappointed in me and then proceed to explain that it's for reasons... that didn't happen, you can't take them seriously can you

 

[LNCPapa]

Hope you're working on that 133 game 20 GPU chart and not wasting time posting on the forums. I can't wait to see this graph.

 

[Angga B]

Everyone have high expectation, even the green team because inadvertently they are hoping for fiercer competition to drive consumer price down.

The way I look at it AMD had managed to close the gap. Back then when 1080 Ti was launched the gap was hopelessly humongous, now it has significantly reduced.

Remember, this product was only a cunning stopgap. I think they were just toying with the new 7nm while still using existing gcn design and would dare to see how much more juice they can squeeze. In this way, the result is spectacular.

 

[Tantor]

It seems that most here are even more short sighted than those that bought the GTX 680 over the HD 7970 all in the name of 5% more fps. Three years later, those GTX 680 owners had to pay full price for their GPU upgrade, while the HD 7970 owners all sold their cards for enough to cover half of their upgrade.

Actually, they sell for virtually the same amount on ebay nowadays... but what proof can you offer that will assure me that this card will be worth more than the 2080 in 3 years?

No one can predict the future - yes, the 7970 was a great card that aged quite well... but that was also a LONG time ago! After seeing what AMD has offered on the GPU front over the past few years, I'd be very hesitant to purchase one - especially one that is slower, noisier and more power-hungry than its Nvidia counterpart.

Very good article. The inescapable conclusion is that the VII fits in between the RX 2080 and 2070. But is that so bad? Does it justify granting the VII a 60% Rating?

Yes, it is! because I'm paying the same amount of money for an inferior card!

Here's my thinking. The REAL cost of the Radeon VII is $550, because the included game bundle is worth at least $150, maybe much more. That puts it between the RX 2070 and RX 2080 if you add in their respective game bundles. Radeon VII performance also fits between the 2070 and 2080. The VII obliterates the 2070 for only $75 more. The VII's power draw is a bit more than the RX 2080 for slightly less performance, but costs at least $100 less. Ergo, it's a decent value.

No, bundles do NOT make your card cheaper... the 2080 and 2070 come with their own bundles... but cost is cost! Both cards are $700 and one is slower than the other... WHY would you buy the slower one?!?!

My rating for the Radeon VII is 100%, (subject to future modification) hehehehehe.

Fortunately, you don't review video cards for a living, because you'd be fired within a day or 2!

Releasing an inferior product at the same price as it's competitor does not rate 100% in any sane person's judgement.

HA! You must be one of those folks who bought an RX 2070, and you're just upset because the RVII stomps all over it!

Actually, bundles DO make a card cheaper. The AMD bundle saves me $180, assuming the games cost $60 each. So the RVII cost approximately the same as a good RX 2070.

In the long run none of this makes any difference. Just enjoy whichever video card you chose to buy. The RVII suits me and my ornery, cantankerous nature. LOL

 

[cliffordcooley]

The AMD bundle saves me $180, assuming the games cost $60 each.

And assuming you wanted them to begin with. Very rarely do they bundle a game I want. And even then I wait till the price drops. So I can't say it saved me the whole $60. For me I'd have to put a $30 tag on the games included in the bundle. And that is only if I want the game.

 

[Tantor]

The real cost of the Radeon VII is $700. Bundling 3 games I don't want or already have doesn't change the cost. You can't even easily resell the games because AMD uses that silly hardware verification tool before they will give you the games meaning you can only "sell" the games to someone else who bought similar AMD hardware but didn't get the bundle? $700... no way to bend that to fit a smaller number.

Rooting for the underdog is all fine and dandy - as I mentioned I wish AMD was doing a better job competing. They've got some decent parts in the CPU market now after many years of not being a viable option but they still have some work to do in the GPU market when it comes to gaming. Good luck trying your hand at content creation for the first time and seeing a difference in performance between a Radeon VII and a 2080.

Somebody has to root for the underdog.

I remember years ago talking with an old Harley Davidson owner. He was complaining about all the mechanical problems, leaking oil, part costs. Innocently, I asked why he didn't just buy a Honda. You should have seen the resulting firestorm! Seriously, I have a lot of respect for people who have brand loyalty. Life would be far less interesting if everyone trashed their old stuff and bought new things based on a few performance numbers. We wouldn't have clubs for old Triumphs, Harleys, Mustangs, Austin Mini Coopers, or Corvettes.

You're correct, the net cost to put a Radeon VII on your desk is $700. But here's the rub. It's not possible to buy just a VII. AMD won't let you. You have to evaluate the entire package. Does that package have value? In my case, the final cost will be around $550, which makes it a very good value.

If the fan noise issue can be resolved by changing the fan curve and dropping the voltage - and it's a big if - then the RVII will provide gaming performance slightly below the 2080, three great games, good content creation and mining potential, good tinkerability, and an opportunity to support AMD.

How could anyone argue with that?

By the way, I think Techspot does excellent work.

 

[Robertrogue]

When I first started reading this I truly thought it was someone joking around... I was waiting for the punchline. These statements... it's hard for me to come up with the word to describe them. Is there anything anyone can put in front of you to show you how things currently are? I think everyone here is wishing for AMD to get back in the game and compete with nVidia - it's the only way pricing will ever become reasonable again but it's not happening with this type of release. If AMD is catering to the content creation market then fine - but I'm pretty sure they are selling this as a gaming card where it falls short for a new product at this price range.



This is a technology enthusiast forum. I don't think slow and steady is the mantra for any enthusiast forum except at Stabilitysp0t. Users want to know what they can get at several price points (mainly theirs), what the alternatives are, and how they compare. If this is too pricey for the desired performance level then you're either looking in the wrong pricepoint or the wrong performance level. A 2080 Ti would be great at the budget pricepoint but it's just not how things are.

Well, you are correct, it is a forum, not sure about the "enthusiast" part. I believe Techspot speaks into all tech, not just the top tiers. Anyway, price point is what sells anything. Just because it is better isn't end all to be all. There is a limit to everyone's budget, mine is capped at less than $300 for a GPU, I also wait for all my purchases, that is why I said "slow and steady". Hope you have a wonderful day.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Somebody has to root for the underdog.

No they don't.... but some fools always do... and the thing with underdogs is... they usually LOSE.

Backing a loser is fine if it's a sports team and all you "lose" is your pride (unless you're gambling, where at least there's an incentive to bet by getting good odds).

But backing a loser when it costs $700 (and NO, the bundle doesn't make it $550... it makes it $700!!!! Nvidia cards come with Battlefield V and Anthem - but they still cost the same amount!) is simply throwing good money away.

I'll root for the underdog when they actually show me they have a chance to win - AMD has done it before. Athlon was crap, and few were bought outside budget builds... but Ryzen came out and while it was clearly the underdog, it showed that it matched Intel in many areas - and even surpassed it in some! That's an underdog I'll support

But a stopgap $700 GPU that is inferior in just about every way to Nvidia's offering? No thanks!

 

[Jhjhh]

I did some testing with vega64 nitro+.

stock settings: https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/33557667 graphic score:23802
stock with +50% powerlimit: https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/33557930 graphic score:24666
stock with +50% powerlimit , but undervolted p7 1080mv, memory:1070mv , https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/33558360 graphic score:24579
Extreme overclock: https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/33490357 ; graphic score 27536

 

[LyntonB]

Hello, thanks for the bench. I've read on the web that OC is now enabled for this card, well over 2ghz on clock and 1200 on hbm2; would it be possible to request a new bench with these updated parameters?

 

[Markoni35]

Radeon VII is stronger than GTX 2080 strictly hardware speaking. So the only way Nvidia can be faster is because the games aren't using the Radeon hardware properly, or are deliberately optimized solely for the GeForce cards. In exchange for Nvidia financially supporting development of the game. Which is often the case. But is basically cheating.