AMD RX Vega 56 Reference Tear-Down: Cooler, PCB, VRM

[@GamersNexus]

Hey all! We are LIVE STREAMING an OC + undervolting demonstration of Vega today. We think it'll start around or just before 4PM EST (8PM GMT).

[@proesterchen]

Cool, can't wait!

[@qlum]

So what time is it 4PM EST = 9PM GMT or did you mean 4PM EDT which is the current time in the us east coast and equals 8PM gmt / 9PM BST So basically in one hour or in 2 hours. from now

[@matthewfennell7886]

Wait, where? If on KZbin you can schedule it so it appears in my sub box saying when (in hours) and give notifications.

[@KtotheL]

wheres the link ?

[@matthewfennell7886]

Ivy Nat I did, I was following it as it was going along. It's not a rumour just a typical AMD launch. 🔥 We shall see.

[@hollowdragon755]

"Team Rocket fan" Cannot un-see it now.

[@cordellsteiner353]

It sounds like one, too.

[@skrauthauser]

I'm frankly amazed that you got this done inside of the day and a half that you had this card. Thanks for the awesome content, Steve!

[@nihadasadli2642]

Am i the only who thinks AMD's reference design cards look way cooler than Nvidia's?

[@jakesullivan3017]

Nihad Asadli yes you are

[@UnacceptableViews]

yep.. there's no comparison..

[@roikhanulyahamidan9978]

that is subjective, but im agree with you since i don't like transformers like design on Nvidia's FE cards, i like it more simple and elegant.

[@frankmoolah]

You're a minority

[@ekmekmckek4522]

I have to agree. AMDs reference cards look much better now than they did a few years back while nVidia made a big visual downgrade with their 10 series.

[@EpicListening7]

This guy works very hard despite being a shampoo advertiser. Here's a like! Seriously now... you deserve more subs! Keep it up:)

[@Averna222]

I'm a fan of the way these videos turn out when you record and edit these yourself. Pretty damn funny.

[@michelvanbriemen3459]

Why get a Vega 56 when you can get a Nintendo 64?

[@roikhanulyahamidan9978]

or athlon 64

[@bolinar6434]

Why not Commodore 128, games where then still games. And no stupid green vs. red stuff. They are just gpus not womans who youre trying to compete with :) Rest after this can be igored mostly :) And also i dont understand fanboy stuff anyway, its just waste of effort and time. Witch ever make better GPu bang for the buck is the winner any given time. sadly Nvidia is not best for bang for the buck in any given time currently way too overprised. Even they are good cards. Also its stupid to have 2 competing "tecnicues" like Gsync Freesync in general for whole market. And that can be thanked most parst on amd /nvidia the coin miners partly. And way overpised GPU prices in EU :9

[@roikhanulyahamidan9978]

Bolinar Freesync is opensource unlike Gysnc, Nvidia can make their cards supported it if they want.

[@bolinar6434]

Yeah i know that, but for now its just oveprised monitors if you wnat gsync :)

[@Jakster840]

OH MY GOD NINTENDO SIXTY FOAH!

[@natedunn51]

Gamers Nexus: nuu, I've never opened a gpu before in my life, I don't know what you're talking about.

[@HectorDomino.]

I am not AMD user, but still a Big Fat *Like* to this video for your wonderful job Steve. Keep up the Great Work, as you are the only one doing Tear-Down videos. Thank You. Cheers!

[@aomine6817]

'I don't know why there is screwdriver shaved hole on the sticker, it came that way' XD brilliant

[@NikolaPlivelic]

LMAO 10:10

[@cataria3903]

haha :D that was so funny.

[@Drevar93]

Would have been even funnier if he had flipped the marker and put a mark on the die anyway.

[@Bourinos02]

12 people got their jimmies rustled by this stunt :-)

[@Zarcondeegrissom]

and nine more went off like a frog in a sock over it, lol.

[@tanmayrastogi6021]

4:04 Linus is that you??

[@topinator3403]

Tanmay Rastogi The disease is spreading , no cure is found for the time being .

[@nihadasadli2642]

Oh... dead jokes... just the way i love.

[@qlum]

I guess we could call it error 404 Andrew not found.

[@HimTortons]

God damn, I clicked on the channel to see if theres something new and I see this (no notification or anything). Uploaded 12 seconds ago (fuck Im lucky)

[@GamersNexus]

Close one!

[@andreaslegomovies]

Man, the sharpie jokes - silly perhaps, but really funny :D

[@titan_fx]

"resist, resist!" lol make my day tho

[@hunn20004]

Still love how the Vega reference models looked like

[@bassbatterer]

Hey Steve, do you guys have any news about if AIB cards will have to have the bios lock? or is there a chance of bios flashing those cards?

[@GamersNexus]

We've been asking. Waiting to hear back.

[@ItsReaxxion]

i just died when he said "here is the Team Rocket Fan" at 11:13 xDDDDD

[@adrianx1297]

You can fire that guy . This went very well solo.

[@ingblackberi]

keep up the good work witch board analysis !!! mainly with buildzoid !!!!

[@CiTRU5]

Wearing a static bracelet but treating the card itself like shit. Genius

[@alexalcalaortiz368]

i have only seen warranty void stickers on nvidia cards my HD 7950 and RX 460 did not have any stickers

[@martigrey5872]

alex alcala ortiz my Nano hast one too. for AMD only reference cards have them. Never seen them on 6950/7870/7950/390x from sapphire but I believe my 6950 reference had one

[@alexalcalaortiz368]

well i will just keep buying sapphire then

[@hadi8561]

Did you ever try to do a bios hack on your RX 460? I'm mildly impressed with mine, the only game where I wish I could get more fps is Deus Ex Mankind Divided, otherwise after I hacked the bios and found the overclock sweet spot and scoring 6800 pts on firestrike, I'm glad I saved the money on a cheaper card so I can make a bigger upgrade later on.

[@alexalcalaortiz368]

i had it unlocked for a while but driver updates fucked me so right now im using the original one

[@nottheengineer4957]

alex alcala ortiz Warranty void stickers are illegal in most places anyways (US and EU for sure, idk about the rest of the world) and you will still get full warranty if it is broken.

[@Mattias8612]

Hi Steve, thank you for a very good and high quality video. Regarding the fan, do you know what kind of bearing it has inside? Rifle, Ball? Maybe not so important, but would be nice to know for us ITX guys : )

[@SnapshotTube2]

Timestamp- when the shroud is finally removed - 08:03

[@zontarr22-zon]

that pcb pointing with a magnetic head screw is the same feeling I have when I scratch by balls with a razor blade.

[@TianweiDavidLiu]

Lol that dry erase joke is still going

[@GothicTech]

Really nice cards, only if they were cheaper and drew less power.

[@EndIessIy]

Undervolt

[@C0manso]

Good man giving Andrew the weekend off

[@Bobalazs]

thanks for the review.

[@zemariosanches]

What thickness of thermal pad should I use for maintenance?

[@RiversDelay]

So, the same VRM of Vega FE and RX Vega 64, but can't be used at it's full potential, that's cool AMD.

[@Qyngali]

It's also more expensive to design a separate PCB for Vega 56 for the low run reference cards.

[@yulusleonard985]

Just watch Adored TV review. Its possible for AIB to release two difrent card. One is the low tdp version and the other one standard version. The lower TDP version will be using less VRM and mosfet with the downside of unable to be overcloced. It will be 6/8 pin card. It is probably the vega nano since sfx psu rarely have more than 8 pin pcie power cable.

[@trenchXspike]

i suspect the Vega Instinct and the various firepro workstation cards use the same or similar PCB too with exception to the one that has a built in SSD. I doubt they'd save enough money doing otherwise.

[@konic40]

DAMN, he managed to do a teardown too!

[@KtotheL]

thanks fer the video

[@AltarenGalil]

Such a nice and clean pcb

[@cataria3903]

it is to long though, i said it before and i say it again: they should have used a short pcb and put the fan extra not mounted on the pcb, this would also had other advantages like prettier shorter waterblocks and blower style fans that can suck air in from both sites of the card.

[@RipinHimself]

Must control urge to write on PC components with marker!

[@irishgiant5150]

How dare you disrespect dry erase manufacturers by getting their marker on your hand! They put their heart and soul into that!

[@kyleshelton936]

If you promise to keep making dry erase jokes I promise to keep watching lol.

[@benchosei9878]

What a nice boss!!! I wish mine was so kind.

[@danielperkins6462]

its pretty smart of amd to use the same components on as many of their gpu's as possible in order to bring down manufacturing costs

[@KahlDragonborn]

Hey Steve, How long have you been up man? You look like you have been going for atleast 24 hours straight!!

[@JIVRAJKARANDE]

@GamersNexus what are you thoughts on $400 and $500 price of the vega gpus being the introduction/early adopters price? The possibility that AMD might hike up the prices for vega 64 and 56,and how it might affect the sales of the gpu and positioning of the vega gpus?

[@pallerunqvist1]

If you have one extra card laying somewhere someday, can you test what happens if you remove fan screws and start gaming ;)

[@eugkra33]

10:10 these marker jokes never get old lol

[@3lectronic0]

This card could have been much smaller, with another cooler design. I hope they announce the specifications of Nano version very soon...

[@LordDeadSpider]

Just took apart my Vega 56 to reapply thermal paste and the thermal pads did not survive 😞 Not having any luck finding replacement thermal pads by google searching as I am a bit lost to begin with. Can anyone point me into the right direction?

[@chukku2175]

"If you are gonna watercool, there isn't really a reason to buy a custom card" Yes there is: 300W Hardlimit and really strict restrictions when it comes to BIOS Flashes. Let's hope, the Custom Cards will have better BIOSses

[@pickleadaykeepsthedoctoraway]

Don't get your hopes up. Steve is not wrong.

[@dazextralarge]

Someone give some cofee and ritaline to Steeve. He always sounds so sleepy and bored.

[@Heinrich4X]

Amazing! Please game reviews !!!!

[@cb89127]

steves version of what's inside

[@rwpla]

depressing watching these videos these days knowing the GC prices are ridiculous...

[@TheVartaz]

you know the gamers nexus logo looks exatly like the Sturmabteilung logo ? (the national socalist shock troops movement)

[@pandabuttonftw745]

card would be a lot nicer if it didn't have the pebbled effect on the shroud, smooth matte black would have been WAAAY better

[@MaxySnake]

Hello!!! Nice video. Repasting with a higher quality tim like MX4 2019, and undervolting, does it provide better thermals overall or it's the same?

[@Pheatrix]

To my knowldge these warranty void if removed stickers have no meaning in most countries. So basically they are only there to make the customer feel bad if they temper with the product

[@lif3tim3etc]

Respect! They didn't cut the bunnies! TX! :-)

[@nintendoeats]

Resistance is futile Steve. Everybody knows this. Drawing on chips is an inalienable right for all tech journalists and the siren's call it makes is beyond human capacity to ignore.

[@marijanovic191x7]

So they managed to flash a 56 into a 64 and a 64 into a Frontier?

[@popupuser]

An absolutely barbarous way of dismantling such a technique, obviously for fun

[@TBZulu]

Damn the resolution though. Ya killing my Mobile data.

[@enriqueemanuelsanchezustar5724]

Somebody know what size of thickness thermal pads use the Rx Vega 56 phantom gaming?

[@danield6182]

Good RX Vega56/64, i like it!

[@zombieplow]

Dumb question, is he the only one on KZbin that takes apart cards? xD

[@kainhall]

dude......the bios is locked.... because 56 = 64 = FE i bet you could flash whatever bios on whatever.... and it would work....if! they let you do that

[@Centbair]

"Team Rocket Fan" AMD is trying to tell us something. Also, hard to tell, but since the HBM is on the chip and the angle shows there is wasted space. Does that mean, might see smaller V56/V64 from board makers?

[@n.shiina8798]

naisu. that's quick

[@DeepRafterGaming]

So why are reffrence cards from both sides of the island allways blower style?

[@nukedathlonman]

Well, I'm no longer excited given the numerous new headlines today is that the announced pricing isn't MRSP - just an introduction price. So much for hoping AMD was going to be competitive all the way around. It's okay, I'm still happy for AMD with what they pulled off on on the CPU side. But given the pricing correction, the performance, & the power draw... I'll just hope for better when Volta and Navi face off...

[@Spar10x]

12:00 Illuminati Confirmed

[@generalgeldenhuys7175]

So, we got the stripped down version of Vega Frontier Edition with almost no changes, apart from the few disabled CU's which didn't made it through the process. Do you say this card is more value in terms of hardware quality and components. It will be able to keep longer without blowing up like the Nvidia cards do? I had 2, a GT640 and GTX750ti, both didn't keep up to 2 years before burning out with overclock. Have a GTX770 now and decided to not overclock it and it is now keeping longer than 3 years.

[@Bannockburn111]

You overclocked a GT640? Why? Seems like that would be about as sensible as putting a fourth wheel on a tricycle. As far as dumping all Nvidia cards into a "fail before AMD cards" kind of statement, well, I have a GTX 680 Classified, the version that you could overvolt as well as overclock right out of the box, and it is still alive, still performing like new. So maybe your "early failures" have more to do with 1)overclocking cards really not intended for that purpose and 2) more related to the brand than the manufacturer of the GPU itself. (And if your warranties were shorter than 2 years I'd suggest the brand was suspect, no decent manufacturer has a warranty less than 3 years.)

[@james2042]

So yea, that 30 watts of power draw is not only eating into that 300w cap, but also making the card look way more power innefficent than it actually is, as did the rx 480 at launch, were everyone thought it was a total power hog, but then the liquid cooling the reference card happened and power draw dropped by 30 watts, all due to the fan being removed. So these delta fans are insanely power hungry and once we see them disappear, power numbers will look better.

[@petrusion2827]

why would you want them to disappear? drawing more power = more powerful blowing (you know, the thing fans are MADE TO DO)

[@james2042]

Just Petrusion or a 90mm fan like on the nano (talking about the fiji version as the vega one is unconfirmed) which used about 10w at max load. If you're gonna put 30w worth of fan on the device, it better be a multi fan design that actually cools the card.

[@james2042]

Just Petrusion also most say with the vega 56 vs the 1070, the vega 56 consumes 65 watts more, when really it's about 40 more, due to the extreme fan.

[@albe23]

EK fluid system is looking great for this

[@darkogrgic2507]

Today on August 2022, hot day, I agree with You: Cooler is not so good.

[@bolinar6434]

Oh, snap hand was trying to be funny and you resisted the urge to mark it.. Noooh :9

[@ae86manny]

love the sharpie joke

[@ewitte12]

30 years of no ESD issues or using a writst strap ;) I've only killed with insufficient condensation protection and mining.

[@stinger15au]

Eric Witte guess you have been lucky then. Accidents happen and wearing a band takes zero effort. Literally zero reason not to wear one.

[@SakiSkai]

What if you remove the plastic shroud and add a high pressure fan on top of that heatsink?

[@spik330]

How dare you not draw on the dye. You must anger the fan boys.

[@James-wl4wi]

I think it's die

[@spik330]

don't go telling me to die, that's every rude.

[@threenic6645]

Very interested in a hybrid mod on vega when you have the time please please please... good luck GN thanks for the videos

[@redhaze8080]

Ya so should have drawn a smiley face on it.

[@bakadeshi_aunstudios]

Was the pcb board length mentioned in the video or did I miss it? I am planning to liquid cool it, but it's s smaller inwin 301 matx case with rad taking up some of the space up front. I barely fit the msi rx 470 board in there with about half inch space left. I was hoping they used smaller pcb like with fury considering it uses hbm.

[@TechDunk]

What are your thoughts? Will GDDR6 beat HBM2 if it comes out

[@mrmedium7984]

Yes, 5x already competes

[@sniperpronerfmods9811]

you do know that hbm is only used because it uses 50 watts of power instead of 80, what a dummy

[@Manhunternew]

source?

[@motoktips3024]

Dr. Dunk HB3 is supposed to come out "soon" and have even better performance and much lower power consumption.

[@bad001bd]

Unless GDDR6 is included in the die like HMB2, I would highly doubt that the industry will use it in the future.

[@Lolimaster]

Can you do undervolt tests and undervolt + 50-100Mhz less? How efficient you can make them with some extra tweak?

[@BlatentlyFakeName]

AMD do seem to use better quality components than Nvidia. Especially with things like VRMs and RAM.

[@kcvriess]

Is it possible to only remove the top of the shroud in order to easily clean out the fan and cooling fins with a can of compressed air. You you void your warranty that way?

[@palesmichael]

Helo there. Are all the reference cards (blower style, similar looking, black) the same PCB? Meaning the powercolor should be the same as this one?

[@Kytes93]

your intro freezes for a moment

[@mrcokez1]

i was rooting for amd ever since zen was first released i genuinely got excited but unfortunately vega really got me depressed for several weeks , and this is coming from a loyal nvidia/intel enthusiast. #supporttheunderdog

[@SumanjiTube]

Why is this card so much larger than the R9 Fury?

[@SYS3333]

"Resist resist" LOL

[@koldkustard]

been working on computers for years, never found the need for an anti static band on consumer items yet, never had anything fail on me from handling without one, so long as your not being stupid rubbing balloons on your head or wearing a onesie scuffing your feat everywhere then probably be fine, just touch any pc case that's plugged in to ground yourself first, or other metal electronics devices that should also be earthed.

[@stinger15au]

Kold Kustard yet accidents happen. Wearing the band takes no effort, if you have one there is literally zero reason not to wear it.

[@pickleadaykeepsthedoctoraway]

If you work in a humid area in a basement, static bracelets really won't do anything. There is just too much water in the air for you to cause a static shock. Though I mean if I was working with professional, high level expensive equipment I would wear a static band... But I've built over 100 PCs and never damaged anything (to my knowledge) with static electricity.

[@andyzhang2331]

whats that thing that hes wearing on his right wrist and how to use it ? i got one from the tool kit as well but i dont even know what it is

[@robinschepenburg8282]

Seriously, who cares if you wright on the chip or not, I say let your inner artist free Steven! XD

[@houseofgagaru]

What thermal pad thickness do you used?

[@CroAuslander]

@Gamers Nexus how did you manage to unpin the power plug for the fan? I'm having such trouble with it...

[@yosyp5905]

What's the difference between the RX and the FE Vegas? Beside the VRAM capacity, of course

[@martigrey5872]

This card consumes about 100w less (150 for some tests) so the cooler should be enough.

[@TheJhonnaruto]

minhas vegas 56 custom gigabyte oc nao passam de 44mhs nem a pau ja testei varios timings e over e nada... alguma dica? fora que elas consomem uns 50w a mais q as vega fan blower..

[@nightdx0]

It is the Team Rocket logo maybe they should sue AMD lol