AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 Review | 118 Data compared

AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 Review Summary The Asus Radeon RX Vega 56 ROG Strix OC Gaming graphics card delivers impressive performance for 1440p gaming and acts as a competent entry-level 4K option. In real-world benchmarks, the card excels in titles like Hitman, Doom, and Wolfenstein II, pushing steady 60fps frame rates on high or ultra settings even at 4K resolutions. Its hardware features a robust premium build, sporting 8GB of stacked High Bandwidth Memory 2 (HBM2) for enhanced efficiency, three IP5X dust-protected cooling fans for longevity, and factory overclocked cores that boost speed up to 1573MHz. Additionally, it offers excellent connectivity with dual HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.4 outputs, plus Aura Sync RGB integration. However, the card struggles to maintain smooth playability on graphically demanding titles like Rise of the Tomb Raider, Total War: Warhammer II, and Assassin's Creed Origins, forcing users to compromise by turning settings down to medium or low to sustain playable frame rates at 4K. The most significant drawback is its inflated retail pricing driven by the graphics card mining crisis. Launching at an astronomical...

The AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 is a 14nm "Vega 10" architecture graphics card designed to compete directly with Nvidia’s GTX 1070 and GTX 1070 Ti, offering 56 compute units, 3,584 stream processors, and a boost clock speed up to 1,471 MHz. Equipped with 8GB of HBM2 high-bandwidth memory delivering 410 GB/s of bandwidth, it easily handles smooth virtual reality gameplay and stable 60 fps gaming at a 2560×1440 resolution. The dual-slot reference board measures 28cm in length and includes three DisplayPort 1.4 outputs alongside a single HDMI 2.0b port, enabling multi-monitor "Eyefinity" setups and the ability to drive three 4K monitors simultaneously at 60Hz. The primary pros of the RX Vega 56 include its exceptional value for money when found near its $399 RRP, as it frequently outpaces the GTX 1070 and offers roughly 90% of the performance of the pricier Vega 64. It also benefits from compatibility with more affordable FreeSync monitors and software tweakability, allowing users to "undervolt" the card to lower its power draw. However, major cons include high market price inflation and low availability due...

AMD RX Vega 64 & 56 Performance Review Summary The AMD RX Vega 64 and Vega 56 graphics cards launch represents a highly anticipated yet controversial entry aimed at competing with NVIDIA’s high-end graphics stack, arriving over a year after initial teases. The flagship Vega 64 offers competitive performance in a bubble, trading blows evenly with the NVIDIA GTX 1080 and achieving its best victories in DX12 and Vulkan applications at both 1440p and 4K resolutions. However, its major cons include a massive, voracious appetite for electricity (consuming 117W more than a GTX 1080), excessively loud fan speeds, and severe thermal output that exhausts blast-furnace-like heat into the room. The reviewer notes that the Vega 64 is pushed to the absolute ragged edges of air cooling, making it an unpleasant card to operate without high-quality noise-cancelling headphones and excellent room ventilation. In contrast, the cut-down Vega 56 emerges as the highlight of the launch, offering a much stronger value proposition at its $399 price point. As its main pros, it regularly outperforms its direct competitor, the NVIDIA GTX 1070, and...

The PCMag review positions the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 as a highly competitive, better-value alternative to the Vega 64, optimized for 1440p gaming and holding its own against the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070. It offers roughly 87% of the stream processors of the Vega 64 with significantly lower power consumption, making it a compelling option for high-refresh-rate 1080p experiences. However, the card faces drawbacks in high thermal design power (TDP) and efficiency, resulting in increased heat and fan noise compared to its competitors. While excellent at 1440p, it is not ideal for native 4K gaming and sometimes falls behind the GTX 1070 in older titles.

The AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 and Vega 56, released in August 2017, represent the high-end of AMD's Vega 10 architecture aimed at reclaiming competitiveness in the enthusiast graphics market. Based on a 14nm FinFET LPP process, these cards feature significant upgrades over the older Fury series, including 8GB of HBM2 memory and a nearly 50% increase in peak GPU clock speeds, which pushes the Vega 64 to a peak performance of 12,665 GFLOPS. While they do not challenge Nvidia's top-tier Titan Xp or GTX 1080 Ti, they are positioned as aggressive rivals to the GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 with starting MSRPs of $499 and $399, respectively. The primary pros of the Vega lineup include the doubling of the frame buffer compared to previous generations, a superior HBM2 memory architecture, and aggressive pricing that includes value-added "Radeon Packs" offering discounts on monitors and CPUs. However, the cons are notable: the cards have high power requirements—with the Vega 64 rated at a 295W TDP—and certain desirable models, like the Liquid Cooled or Limited Edition versions, are locked behind expensive bundles...

AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 Review Summary The AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 is the entry-level $400 graphics card in the Vega 10 lineup, utilizing a slightly cut-down core with 8 compute units disabled, a 1471 MHz boost clock, and HBM2 memory clocked at 400 MHz. In terms of raw performance, it is highly efficient compared to older architectures, trading blows with the premium RX Vega 64 by offering about 90% of its performance at a 20% lower price tag. Benchmarks show it comfortably outperforming the RX 580 by 15% to 18% at 1080p and up to 29% at 4K, while managing to run all tested games smoothly under the 33.3 ms barrier at 4K and 16.7 ms at 1080p. It also provides a massive generational leap over the R9 Fury X in virtual reality testing, delivering a superior SteamVR solution. Pros and Cons Cons: Minor performance compromises like a cut-down core and lower HBM2 memory clock speeds; 210 Watt rated power consumption under full load; a reference I/O layout lacking mini-DisplayPort connections, which requires users to rely on inconvenient...

AMD Radeon RX Vega Review Summary The AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 and Vega 56 mark AMD's return to the high-end gaming GPU market, targeting Nvidia's GTX 1080 and 1070 respectively. Built on a large 14nm architecture, these flagship cards introduce cutting-edge High Bandwidth Memory (HBM2) on a massive 2048-bit wide path to rival Nvidia's performance. While the Vega 64 struggles to consistently outpace the GTX 1080—leading in select tests like 3DMark but falling short in pure gaming performance—the Vega 56 emerges as a highly competitive alternative to the GTX 1070, trading blows evenly across various benchmark resolutions. Furthermore, AMD pairs these cards with consumer-friendly "Radeon Packs" that discount FreeSync monitors and Ryzen CPUs, offering an affordable overall ecosystem compared to Nvidia's pricier G-Sync setups. Pros and Cons Are you considering buying a legacy graphics card for a budget gaming build or a specific retro setup?

The TechSpot review of the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 presents it as a highly competitive $399, upper-midrange card that frequently edges out the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 by 2.5% overall. It excels at 1440p gaming and offers strong performance in modern titles using DX12 or Vulkan. Conversely, key drawbacks include high power consumption compared to Nvidia rivals and a loud, hot reference blower cooler. Additionally, the card exhibits inconsistent out-of-the-box driver optimization, resulting in performance drops behind the GTX 1070 in certain titles.

The TechPowerUp review identifies the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 as a compelling $399 high-end card that outperforms the GTX 1070 by 6% while offering better power efficiency and lower noise than the Vega 64. It features 8 GB of HBM2 memory, a premium backplate, and delivers excellent 1440p gaming performance, with added value from features like dual BIOS and the High Bandwidth Cache Controller.

The AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 is a highly competitive, high-end graphics card designed to challenge Nvidia's GTX 1070, offering a superb value proposition for 1440p and 4K gaming. Built on a large 486mm² silicon area with 12.5 billion transistors, it features a cut-down configuration of 56 compute units, 3,584 stream processors, and 8GB of cutting-edge HBM2 memory delivering 410GB/s of bandwidth. In performance testing, the card consistently outperforms the GTX 1070 by an overall margin of 10 to 12 per cent across most titles. It delivers exceptional framerates at 1440p and, when paired with an affordable FreeSync variable refresh rate display, provides a smooth and transformative 4K gaming experience if settings are tweaked properly. Furthermore, the all-metal reference card features excellent build quality and a premium vapour chamber heatsink reserved only for Nvidia's highest-tier products. However, the architecture suffers from significant power consumption inefficiencies. The Vega 56 draws roughly 25 per cent more power than the GTX 1070 under identical gaming workloads, requiring a beefy configuration of two eight-pin power inputs. While it supports manual overclocking of the HBM2...

The AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 is an upper mid-range graphics card designed to compete directly with Nvidia's GTX 1070, providing a value-focused alternative to the faster but more power-hungry Vega 64. Built with 3,584 GPU cores, a 1471MHz boost clock, and 8GB of HBM2 memory, it delivers excellent performance at 1080p and 1440p resolutions across demanding titles. The card notably shines in DirectX 12 games like Battlefield 1, where its architecture secures a substantial 17% lead over the GTX 1070 and an 8% lead over the GTX 1070 Ti at 1080p. It also holds up remarkably well in modern titles like Shadow of the Tomb Raider, consistently outperforming its direct Nvidia competition and even narrowly beating the GTX 1070 Ti across all resolutions. However, the card does come with noticeable drawbacks, particularly when stretching performance to 4K resolution, where it frequently drops to unplayable, console-quality frame rates unless paired with a FreeSync display to smooth out performance. In older DirectX 11 titles, high driver overhead hinders its ability to sustain ultra-high refresh rates, making competing Nvidia cards like the...

The AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 is an excellent $399 enthusiast-grade graphics card designed to deliver uncompromising performance for 1440p gaming or high-refresh-rate 1080p gaming. Powered by the "Vega 10" chip with 56 compute units and 8GB of high-bandwidth HBM2 memory, it stands as a highly competitive and lower-priced alternative to Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1070. In benchmark testing, the Vega 56 successfully traded blows with the GTX 1070, outperforming it in synthetic 3DMark tests, Bioshock Infinite, Far Cry Primal, and Tom Clancy's The Division. However, it fell short of being an ideal choice for 4K resolution unless in-game details are significantly lowered. The primary pros of the Vega 56 include its strong performance value, its ability to easily handle current virtual reality (VR) titles, and the optional $499 "Radeon Red Pack" bundle which can sweeten the deal with free games and hardware discounts. Conversely, its main cons center around poor power efficiency and high thermal output. It carries a high 210-watt board power rating and requires two eight-pin power connectors with a minimum 650-watt power supply, which is noticeably more...

The Gigabyte Radeon RX Vega 56 Gaming OC 8G delivers strong performance but suffers from high power draw and thermal limitations when pushed to its limits. On the positive side, the graphics card features an exceptionally well-implemented power balancing architecture that keeps the motherboard's PCIe slot safe from heavy electrical loads, drawing a maximum of only 2.1A during intense stress testing—well below the 5.5A PCI-SIG limit. Short-term power spikes up to 312W are brief enough to prevent system instability during standard gaming workloads. Additionally, forum discussions highlight that the custom board offers an effective, affordable cooling design compared to reference variants, allowing the underlying Vega architecture to remain highly competitive against rival cards like the GTX 1080. However, the card's massive power consumption stands out as a major drawback, consuming 264W during standard gaming loops using the "Balanced" profile, which is significantly higher than the 223W required by AMD’s reference design. Enabling the "Turbo" profile drives power consumption past 325W, a threshold that completely overwhelms the card's thermal cooling solution and severely restricts safe overclocking headroom. Furthermore, historical retail constraints—such...

The AMD Radeon Vega 56 delivers exceptional raw performance, capable of reaching Nvidia GTX 1080 levels, and features advanced, efficient HBM2 memory technology. However, intense demand from cryptocurrency miners, coupled with high manufacturing costs, led to severely inflated retail pricing well above the intended $500 CAD MSRP. Comics Gaming Magazine These market-driven factors force the card into an unfavorable price-to-performance position compared to competitors, making it difficult to recommend at the time of review. The review notes that while the architecture is powerful, the final cost compromises its value for gamers. Comics Gaming Magazine

The TechSpot review revisits the 2017 AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, utilizing a 32-game benchmark suite to evaluate its performance against modern alternatives like the Radeon RX 5600 XT. While the card's aging architecture remains competitive in specific titles owing to its HBM2 memory, it is heavily criticized for its poor power efficiency, consuming nearly 40% more system power than newer options while offering lower average frame rates. TechSpot Analysis shows that newer RDNA-based GPUs, specifically the 5600 XT, hold a performance advantage of roughly 8% at 1080p, with the Vega 56 exhibiting significant 1% low frame rate deficits in specific titles. Ultimately, the review concludes that the Vega 56 is only viable as a cheap, second-hand purchase, as its high power consumption makes it inefficient for modern gaming compared to current architecture. TechSpot

The Gigabyte RX Vega 56 8G (GVRXVEGA56-8GD-B) is a reference-design graphics card featuring AMD's Vega 10 architecture built on a 14nm FinFET process. It is equipped with 3,584 stream processors, a 2048-bit memory bus interface, and 8GB of second-generation High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM2). Built with a premium, fully enclosed aluminium housing shroud, the card includes distinct physical features like a dual BIOS switch, a customisable red or blue "GPU Tach" activity LED indicator, and three DisplayPorts alongside an HDMI port. In terms of performance, the reviewer notes that the card delivers reliable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p resolutions, showing strong compute capabilities and achieving exceptional, class-leading performance in select Vulkan API titles like Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. It also demonstrates a respectable 10% performance gain when overclocked using AMD's WattMan utility. Despite earning a "Recommended" award for its raw capabilities, the card suffers from notable drawbacks regarding efficiency and local market value. A major pro is its robust build quality, excellent compute performance, and better overclocking headroom relative to the higher-tier Vega 64. However, the cons heavily impact its...

This review evaluates the stock performance of the reference AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 against the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, both priced at a $399 MSRP, using a suite of 28 modern PC games and 4 synthetic benchmarks across multiple resolutions (1080p to 4K). Testing on an Intel Core i7-6700K system reveals that when the RX Vega 56 is configured to maximum power limits with elevated fan speeds to eliminate thermal throttling, it reaches an average stock boost clock of around 1646MHz. Ultimately, the review crowns the RX Vega 56 as the overall winner of the matchup, noting that it regularly outperforms the GTX 1070 FE, though it still falls well short of the higher-tier GTX 1080 FE performance. The major pro of the RX Vega 56 is its superior processing value at its target price point, positioning it as the standout option of AMD's Vega lineup compared to the underwhelming Vega 64 flagship. However, the graphics card suffers from several prominent cons: it was severely impacted by supply shortages due to high cryptocurrency mining demand, making it...

The AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 is a highly competitive, enthusiast-grade graphics card launched at a $399 MSRP to target Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1070 for 1440p gaming and high-refresh-rate 1080p experiences. Built on the "Vega 10" architecture with 56 compute units and 8GB of high-bandwidth HBM2 memory, it matches its pricier sibling, the Vega 64, in both physical card length (10.5 inches) and display configurations, offering three DisplayPorts and one HDMI port. In synthetic benchmarks like 3DMark Fire Strike and DirectX 12 tests like Time Spy, the Vega 56 consistently trades jabs with or slightly edges out the GTX 1070. Real-world gaming results vary by title; the card secures notable victories in Bioshock Infinite, Far Cry Primal, and Tom Clancy's The Division, though it falls slightly behind Nvidia in older games like Sleeping Dogs and Tomb Raider (2013). The card's primary advantages include its strong value proposition relative to the Vega 64, excellent DX12 performance capabilities, and the optional $499 "Radeon Red Pack" bundle, which sweetens the deal by offering two free games alongside steep hardware discounts on select FreeSync...