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AMD Radeon RX Vega Shortages will last until October
It's been a hit and miss with the AMD Radeon RX Vega announcements followed by it's launch two weeks ago. Pretty much on launch day the prices went up, and stock did dry out fast as there likely wasn't a lot of GPUs available.
In a report on Digitimes they now claim that the shortages will last at least until October, the reason behind this would be the low-yields of the GPU packaging. Likely (and I can merely speculate this), the culprit would be HBM2 assembly onto the die (as the memory sits on the chip and not the PCB).
Next to that, Vega10 is a fairly sizable chip to fab, and that often shows in wafer yields as well. AMD on their end mentions that the demand is bigger than expected and that they will be working with partners closely to get demand and supply under control.
Digitimes - Some sources pointed out that Vega's design of integrating high bandwidth memory (HBM) into the GPU has significantly raised the difficulty of the related packaging process and hence resulted in low yield rates. However, some other sources claimed that the issue may be down to problems with Advanced Semiconductor Engineering's (ASE) packaging technology. Commenting on the reported shortages, AMD said that Radeon RX Vega64 demand continues to exceed expectations and the company is working closely with its partners to address this demand. AMD is also working with its partners to restock all SKUs of Radeon RX Vega64 including the standalone cards and Gamer Packs over the next few weeks, and consumers should expect quantities of Vega to start arriving in the coming days.
AMD's Radeon RX Vega GPUs are currently manufactured via GlobalFoundries' 14nm FinFET manufacturing process and are integrated with HBM2 memory from SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics. The packaging is handled by ASE using the SiP technology. Because of the shortages, most graphics card vendors are only able to receive limited supply of the Vega GPUs and the shortages could last until October.
With the challenge from the Vega GPUs not as big as expected, Nvidia is also not in a rush to begin mass shipments for its Volta-based GPUs at the end of 2017 and has rescheduled them for the first quarter of 2018 based on Vega's status, according to industry sources.
As you can see, Digitimes also mentions that Nvidia Volta chips might have been delayed from late 2017 towards Q1 2018. here again I can only speculate that in that case the reason would be the lack of competition. You can read our reviews on Vega here (Radeon RX Vega 56 / Radeon RX Vega 64).
Download: AMD Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition 17.8.2 Drivers - 08/25/2017 08:50 AM
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We review that Radeon RX Vega 56 with 8GB graphics memory. At 399 bucks this is the what could be affordable AMD graphics card in that new Vega range. It quite honestly might actually be the better pr...
Silva
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#5466494 Posted on: 08/25/2017 07:29 PM
Then that would limit everyone to dinky cards like the 1060 and RX580..
No thank you.
You're right, I was a bit extreme.
But I did mention an exception: looking at your GPU, a 1080Ti, it has a 471mm2 die size and a TDP of 250W. I think it fits the exceptions by the performance it outputs. Although expensive, I can't deny it's a solid performer.
Looking at Fiji we're talking about a 596mm2 die...Vega is 484mm2 and compared to a 1080 (TDP180W) that is only 314mm2, can you see my point? If Nvidia focused on making a new GPU the same size as the 1080 we could keep power and costs down. But it's easier to scale the tech and make a monolith GPU that costs your kidneys.
Then that would limit everyone to dinky cards like the 1060 and RX580..
No thank you.
You're right, I was a bit extreme.
But I did mention an exception: looking at your GPU, a 1080Ti, it has a 471mm2 die size and a TDP of 250W. I think it fits the exceptions by the performance it outputs. Although expensive, I can't deny it's a solid performer.
Looking at Fiji we're talking about a 596mm2 die...Vega is 484mm2 and compared to a 1080 (TDP180W) that is only 314mm2, can you see my point? If Nvidia focused on making a new GPU the same size as the 1080 we could keep power and costs down. But it's easier to scale the tech and make a monolith GPU that costs your kidneys.
Srsbsns
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Posts: 187
Joined: 2015-01-28
#5466510 Posted on: 08/25/2017 08:06 PM
Picked up a Sapphire RX Vega 64 Liquid cooled. I got really lucky. Mine OC's to about 1850Mhz on the stock voltage. Have not had time to play with it much. I hear undervolting is the new overclocking though.
Picked up a Sapphire RX Vega 64 Liquid cooled. I got really lucky. Mine OC's to about 1850Mhz on the stock voltage. Have not had time to play with it much. I hear undervolting is the new overclocking though.
Embra
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Senior Member
Posts: 1268
Joined: 2014-11-19
#5466520 Posted on: 08/25/2017 08:31 PM
Let us know in the AMD gpu section what you think. I am curious.
Picked up a Sapphire RX Vega 64 Liquid cooled. I got really lucky. Mine OC's to about 1850Mhz on the stock voltage. Have not had time to play with it much. I hear undervolting is the new overclocking though.
Let us know in the AMD gpu section what you think. I am curious.
schmidtbag
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#5466525 Posted on: 08/25/2017 08:53 PM
Bitcoin wasn't as efficient with GPU mining as Ethereum. Once the USB ASICs came out (which seemed to happen relatively early), miners stopped getting GPUs. Also when Bitcoin first came out and was easy to mine, nobody cared about it. By the time it became valuable, ASICs were abundant. Some older GCN 1.0 hardware was bought for mining purposes since it was cheap, but that was pretty much all that was sold. Ethereum, however, was designed with GPU mining in mind, and AMD's stock has been completely depleted as a result. Most companies do not rely on selling 100% of their inventory. Not only is AMD selling faster than they can create, but they can increase the price beyond MSRP which in turn gives them even more profit than they expected. So, I would say they've seen a substantial revenue increase as a result of this. Remember, if it weren't for miners, Vega would probably have sold worse than AMD was hoping.
For gamers, you're absolutely right. For everyone else, you're very wrong. Vega is fantastic in compute performance-per-dollar, and its wattage suddenly doesn't look so bad anymore. If I were interested in building a server revolved around OpenCL tasks I would absolutely get Vega.
AMD did not actually make much (if any) money from the Bitcoin boom (whatever they made was most likely wiped out by the massive write-down that they had to take on unsold 290 inventory), and I doubt the current boom will lead to big profits for AMD either. It's certainly not a reliable source of income and as the saying goes, once bitten, twice shy.
Bitcoin wasn't as efficient with GPU mining as Ethereum. Once the USB ASICs came out (which seemed to happen relatively early), miners stopped getting GPUs. Also when Bitcoin first came out and was easy to mine, nobody cared about it. By the time it became valuable, ASICs were abundant. Some older GCN 1.0 hardware was bought for mining purposes since it was cheap, but that was pretty much all that was sold. Ethereum, however, was designed with GPU mining in mind, and AMD's stock has been completely depleted as a result. Most companies do not rely on selling 100% of their inventory. Not only is AMD selling faster than they can create, but they can increase the price beyond MSRP which in turn gives them even more profit than they expected. So, I would say they've seen a substantial revenue increase as a result of this. Remember, if it weren't for miners, Vega would probably have sold worse than AMD was hoping.
Although I like AMD products and am an active customer (I have a Ryzen 7 and Ryzen Threadripper, as well as 2 RX 580s) I think they really need to get their Radeon Technologies Group in order, as they keep repeating the same mistakes, with Vega being the latest example.
For gamers, you're absolutely right. For everyone else, you're very wrong. Vega is fantastic in compute performance-per-dollar, and its wattage suddenly doesn't look so bad anymore. If I were interested in building a server revolved around OpenCL tasks I would absolutely get Vega.
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Not too surprising, checking a few digital stores here shows arrival estimated for early October, pricing is coming down a bit though but 1000$ is still the tag for a few GPU's but it's coming down a bit to around 700$ or so although there's still no stock available.