AMD Navi Product Reviews and Previews: (5500, 5600 XT, 5700, 5700 XT)

Honestly though, how likely it is that memory chip certified by manufacturer to run at 14 Gbps wouldn't do it when paired with Navi 10? (The chips themselves are 14 Gbps on every board)
 
No, because AMD has not actually changed the 5600 XT specs. There are boards being sold that only run at the reference specs.
I thought there were no reference 5600 XT cards?

If there are no reference cards, then card Y from manufacturer A has N clocks, and card YX from same manufacturer A has N+M clocks.


For me, the biggest problem with AMD shipping a different BIOS during review period is wasting the reviewers' time and forcing them to repeat a bunch of tests.
Large-ish clock variations within cards have existed for years, and as long as said clocks are correctly written in the box and marketing material then I don't really see a problem with it.

Didn't some Pascal cards start shipping with higher clocked memory at some point? Like the GTX 1060 with 9MT/s GDDR5 and GTX 1080 with 11MT/s GDDR5X?
How is this any different?
 
I thought there were no reference 5600 XT cards?

If there are no reference cards, then card Y from manufacturer A has N clocks, and card YX from same manufacturer A has N+M clocks.
There are no reference cards but there is reference spec (and we actually have at least one AIB model apparently running that spec, MSI Mech)
Didn't some Pascal cards start shipping with higher clocked memory at some point? Like the GTX 1060 with 9MT/s GDDR5 and GTX 1080 with 11MT/s GDDR5X?
Yes.
 
Gamers nexus did a video about it there are 2 memory suppliers for navi cards and the ones that are failing when clocked to 14gbps mostly from the same supplier (sorry forgot the name)

The chips themselves are 14 Gbps on every board
Are you refering to the chips on the 5600xt ? if so gamers nexus say they are not rated at 14gbps

ps: this is a really informative video
 
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Gamers nexus did a video about it there are 2 memory suppliers for navi cards and the ones that are failing when clocked to 14gbps mostly from the same supplier (sorry forgot the name)


Are you refering to the chips on the 5600xt ? if so gamers nexus say they are not rated at 14gbps

ps: this is a really informative video
Steve while often on point, is not on this one.
All the memory chips are 14 Gbps, they're validated to work at 14 Gbps by the memory manufacturer.
However, AMD sells the memory chips bundled with the GPU and hasn't specifically tested these to work at 14 Gbps even when the memory manufacturer has. This was reason enough for some manufacturers to keep it at 12 Gbps, which AMD has specifically validated for these bundles.
Here's MSI's guys talking about it (20:34 if it doesn't start at the right spot)
 
it says "Memory increase is NOT part of AMD's BIOS update since not all cards can do 14Gpbs"
So designed to do 14 but not tested to do it
 
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it says "Memory increase is NOT part of AMD's BIOS update since not all cards can do 14Gpbs"
So designed to do 14 but not tested to do it
I know what the slide says, the 14 Gbps memory speed is optional (of course it is, the spec didn't change at all, they just allowed higher overclocks including 14 Gbps memory if the AIB so chooses) and that wasn't my point at all.

Every single 5600 XT card out there has 14 Gbps memory, sold as 14 Gbps memory by the memory manufacturer.
When AMD ships their bundles however, they only promised 12 Gbps speed, which is why some manufacturers decided they're not testing their luck (even when the chips themselves are certified to run 14 Gbps by memory manufacturer)
 
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When AMD ships their bundles however, they only promised 12 Gbps speed, which is why some manufacturers decided they're not testing their luck (even when the chips themselves are certified to run 14 Gbps by memory manufacturer)
You can't really blame the AIB's. I assume AIB's have to cover warranty costs if issues appear at speeds not promised by AMD, or did AMD agree to cover any warranty costs associated with issues at 14 Gbps?
 
You can't really blame the AIB's. I assume AIB's have to cover warranty costs if issues appear at speeds not promised by AMD, or did AMD agree to cover any warranty costs associated with issues at 14 Gbps?
Totally, from that GN video you can see that MSI only test the boards at 12Gbps, and they DO have failures which have to be rectified/ reworked. So there will be boards out there that will fail at 14Gbps. That's a cost and logistical problem the AIB's could well do without.
 
Obviously I have no idea on the warranties, but considering these memory chips are the exact same chips as used in 5700-series, what are the chances they wouldn't work at the same 14 Gbps with little lower specced Navi 10 GPU?
 
Obviously I have no idea on the warranties, but considering these memory chips are the exact same chips as used in 5700-series, what are the chances they wouldn't work at the same 14 Gbps with little lower specced Navi 10 GPU?

If they don't re-use the 5700 boards entirely, the chances are higher than 0
 
AMD should then be extremely confident that there would be no warranty issues and would welcome the opportunity to cover AIB warranty problems associated with the "not promised speeds".
They still have only the promised memory speeds on their product page.
AMD never changed RX 5600 XT spec, they only allowed higher factory overclocks for both GPU & memory, so obviously the specs on the site are same as always.
 
Obviously I have no idea on the warranties, but considering these memory chips are the exact same chips as used in 5700-series, what are the chances they wouldn't work at the same 14 Gbps with little lower specced Navi 10 GPU?
Not saying that this is the case here, but it's not unheard of, that certain SKUs get lowered voltage for memories to limit their clock potential.
 
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Totally, from that GN video you can see that MSI only test the boards at 12Gbps, and they DO have failures which have to be rectified/ reworked. So there will be boards out there that will fail at 14Gbps. That's a cost and logistical problem the AIB's could well do without.
So if they are having failures at 12Gbps then they have failures no matter whether AMD qualifies the memory or not. That's a cost they are well aware of then as an AIB and is assuredly reflected in their discount.
 
So if they are having failures at 12Gbps then they have failures no matter whether AMD qualifies the memory or not. That's a cost they are well aware of then as an AIB and is assuredly reflected in their discount.
I'm talking about new VBIOSs not bumping memory clocks from 12Gbps to 14Gbps as initially thought despite the memory chips being capable (apparently). If you watch the GN video you will see that as with any production line things fail. As the initial wave of RX5600XTs were only qualified for 12Gbps memory, there will be cards out there that are fine at 12Gbps but not 14Gbps due to manufacturing tolerances, component quality, etc.. The failures at 12Gbps are identified and fixed before the products ship, as part of the testing.

It's perfectly understandable that OEM's don't want users taking products that they have confirmed work at the stated speeds and then run the components at speeds they have not tested just because AMD say it *should* be fine.
 
The mess around the 5600XT launch goes deeper and deeper still, previously PowerColor boasted about the ability of their cards to handle 14Gbps memory with the new BIOS, even to the point of attacking MSI's choice not to increase memory speed from 12Gbps to 14Gbps, but apparently PowerColor then forgot to properly design the new BIOS with proper fan curves and speeds, the end result is that the card temps reach 100c, constantly overheats and throttles, and the performance drops like a tank to unplayable levels. The card needed a new "new BIOS" to fix the fan issues.

 
The mess around the 5600XT launch goes deeper and deeper still, previously PowerColor boasted about the ability of their cards to handle 14Gbps memory with the new BIOS, even to the point of attacking MSI's choice not to increase memory speed from 12Gbps to 14Gbps, but apparently PowerColor then forgot to properly design the new BIOS with proper fan curves and speeds, the end result is that the card temps reach 100c, constantly overheats and throttles, and the performance drops like a tank to unplayable levels. The card needed a new "new BIOS" to fix the fan issues.
That has nothing to do with 5600XT and everything to do with PowerColor. Their 5600 XT Red Dragon uses exact same cooler (and PCB minus couple phases ripped out) as 5700 XT Red Dragon which has no similar issues.
 
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