Good price on this for those looking between AMD Vega which should retail for about £500 without a water cooling block (extra 100 on average) and competes with the 1080. I haven't found a full waterblock for the 1080 below 70, even on ebay. That brings the price of this card to about 400 at retail, 430 if you factor in cheapest waterblock. Price to performance is good too. Edit also at overclockers: overclockers.co.uk/msi…tag
19 comments
robodan918
10 Aug 17#1
Good price on this for those looking between AMD Vega which should retail for about £500 without a water cooling block (extra 100 on average) and competes with the 1080. I haven't found a full waterblock for the 1080 below 70, even on ebay. That brings the price of this card to about 400 at retail, 430 if you factor in cheapest waterblock. Price to performance is good too. Edit also at overclockers: overclockers.co.uk/msi…tag
giorgiomrapetti
10 Aug 17#2
why such the fall? New architecture being released soon?
robodan918 to giorgiomrapetti
10 Aug 17#3
well the 1080TI was released mid-March 2017, so we're probably another 9 months+ away from NVidia Volta reaching store shelves
The price drop by 200 in March is explained by 1080TI release the price drop by about 100 is explained by Vega release coming on Aug 14th. Benchmarks show Vega neck and neck with GTX1080 (which is actually kind of disappointing).
Most GTX1080 cards go between 430-500 now, and this is watercooled with a quality block saving you that time/money. Hence, deal.
I'm headed to the channel islands in late August where they don't pay VAT, so I'll probably pick one up then (either Vega 64 or this card)
giorgiomrapetti to robodan918
10 Aug 17#4
Thanks for the heads up, I havn't been following releases on new architecture recently.
The_Hoff
10 Aug 17#5
Anybody invested in water should be ponying up for a Ti.
The Vega 56 apparently beats the 1070 by quite a margin and assuming they hit £370-400 I'd recommend that, unless a 1080Ti is in budget.
The 1070 is good for 1440p and the 1080 isn't strong enough for solid 4K.
robodan918 to The_Hoff
10 Aug 17#6
1080TI + waterblock would be about 800 min, more like 850 IMHO, 20% performance increase isn't worth a 300-350 quid bump
The_Hoff to robodan918
10 Aug 17#8
That's not what I was saying. My point was if you're invested in water (I.e you already have it) you should pick up a Ti. I paid £608 for mine, but they're regularly £650.
The GTX is about to be equaled and it's a bad time to buy, plus they don't run anywhere near as hot as a Ti so don't benefit from water in the same way.
The Ti is a good 25-35% faster, if VR is your thing it makes a big difference with super-sampling, see here:
For people that don't have water already buying a GTX at £500 plus the cost of the system you'd be better off not using a block and just choosing a Ti.
scottswaha
10 Aug 17#7
Hurrahha! As the OP commented, the inexorable advance of tech is pushing prices down against the mining induced increase!
Ev0lution
10 Aug 17#9
If you are intent on buying Vega Don't forget to factor in the money you will likely need on top for a 750w PSU if you don't already own one.
Its got a 300w TDP which is just ridiculous for something that's only just competing with an upper mid range card that was released over 12 months ago in this day and age.
Oh but wait until the new drivers are released. That should be written on AMD's tomb.
Vega TDP isn't as efficient no, but it under volts well seemingly. Plus I don't think you need a 750w by a long shot. A decent quality single railed 600w will be more than ample.
robodan918 to Ev0lution
10 Aug 17#12
Luckily, I picked up a seasonic x750 (80 plus gold, fully modular) for £80 last year on a hukd deal... But really, I can technically run two 300w tdp cards with the 65w i7-6700 I have, so it's slightly overkill/future proofing
You can get away with a decent 550w and vega
Also, I agree with your disappointment in vega, however I'll also probably pick up a vega nano if it can match the compactness and tdp of my r9 fury nano, while retaining vega64 performance. The r9 nano held the highest binned and most efficient gpus of its generation.
The_Hoff to robodan918
10 Aug 17#13
Won't happen. They already have the clocks for the Nano from benching, it's pretty significantly lower clock speed.
TBH at this point based on what we know the only one I'd buy is the Vega 56, assuming it's under £425 and is a solid 1440p card.
Not that I'm getting rid of my Ti for it though.
Nate1492 to robodan918
12 Aug 17#15
I'm sorry, but your power number estimates are really far off and dangerous suggestions.
I've stuck in the 'Vega Frontier Edition' into a very typical computer
7700k OC'd to 5 ghz, 10% OC on the vega card, 1 ssd, 1 hdd, 1 dvd, 1 sound card, 4 fans.
Recommended watts is 691 W.
For two Vega frontiers, 1053 W.
If you want to sit here and say to people that you can run a Vega card on a 550w system, you better be here for the tech support when it fails on the majority of 550w systems.
I think you are the only person who I have seen make this bold prediction, and I would say, it is a poor recommendation.
robodan918 to Nate1492
12 Aug 17#16
lock me up I'm dangerous
steggi
10 Aug 17#11
Got the ti version of this card. Absolutely awesome card.
Judging from above it seems Vega 64 will compete against 1080. Vega 56 vs 1070 or above.
Good luck buying the Vega 56 sub £500. The 64 is going to be priced circa £700 if you follow the Vega news trail.
Personally at these prices pointless to ditch a TI unless you can sell it for 600-700 quid. Which could be the cost of a budget pc. I did consider Vega for my new system but £500+ is too much.
As for price on this card. Market priced it as a low of £674 six months back. Other retailers are selling thsi circa £560-637 now. So £499 is a good price. Looks like many places have been out of stock for a while.
So does this one come with a stock cooler as well? Is the water block pre-installed? Heat!!
robodan918 to mreriksen
15 Aug 17#18
Basically, msi are using the ek as their "stock" cooler for this sku.
I don't mind as I don't have any desire to store extra metal in my flat. It does slightly reduce your resale market though. Good thing it's a well known block maker, from an aib with decent warranty - should make it easy to sell when you're ready to upgrade to Volta
mreriksen to robodan918
17 Aug 17#19
Cheers mate, got the card delivered yesterday. And you are correct, comes with a ek water block only; very good looking block I must say. It appears that the board is reference design which means that reference air cooler will fit on it.
![Fresh Breakfast Meat Box (Using code) @ Campbells Meat [Haggis / Lorne Sausage / Bacon / Black Pudding & More]](/images/topics/208684_1.jpg)
![[Xbox One] Q. u. b. e: Director's Cut on Deals with Gold](/images/topics/208716_1.jpg)
Opening post
Price to performance is good too.
Edit also at overclockers: overclockers.co.uk/msi…tag
19 comments
Price to performance is good too.
Edit also at overclockers: overclockers.co.uk/msi…tag
The price drop by 200 in March is explained by 1080TI release
the price drop by about 100 is explained by Vega release coming on Aug 14th. Benchmarks show Vega neck and neck with GTX1080 (which is actually kind of disappointing).
Most GTX1080 cards go between 430-500 now, and this is watercooled with a quality block saving you that time/money. Hence, deal.
I'm headed to the channel islands in late August where they don't pay VAT, so I'll probably pick one up then (either Vega 64 or this card)
The Vega 56 apparently beats the 1070 by quite a margin and assuming they hit £370-400 I'd recommend that, unless a 1080Ti is in budget.
The 1070 is good for 1440p and the 1080 isn't strong enough for solid 4K.
IMHO, 20% performance increase isn't worth a 300-350 quid bump
The GTX is about to be equaled and it's a bad time to buy, plus they don't run anywhere near as hot as a Ti so don't benefit from water in the same way.
The Ti is a good 25-35% faster, if VR is your thing it makes a big difference with super-sampling, see here:
roadtovr.com/nvi…ng/
For people that don't have water already buying a GTX at £500 plus the cost of the system you'd be better off not using a block and just choosing a Ti.
As the OP commented, the inexorable advance of tech is pushing prices down against the mining induced increase!
Its got a 300w TDP which is just ridiculous for something that's only just competing with an upper mid range card that was released over 12 months ago in this day and age.
Oh but wait until the new drivers are released. That should be written on AMD's tomb.
GTX's will get reduced further.
Vega TDP isn't as efficient no, but it under volts well seemingly. Plus I don't think you need a 750w by a long shot. A decent quality single railed 600w will be more than ample.
You can get away with a decent 550w and vega
Also, I agree with your disappointment in vega, however I'll also probably pick up a vega nano if it can match the compactness and tdp of my r9 fury nano, while retaining vega64 performance. The r9 nano held the highest binned and most efficient gpus of its generation.
TBH at this point based on what we know the only one I'd buy is the Vega 56, assuming it's under £425 and is a solid 1440p card.
Not that I'm getting rid of my Ti for it though.
I've stuck in the 'Vega Frontier Edition' into a very typical computer
outervision.com/pow…tor
7700k OC'd to 5 ghz, 10% OC on the vega card, 1 ssd, 1 hdd, 1 dvd, 1 sound card, 4 fans.
Recommended watts is 691 W.
For two Vega frontiers, 1053 W.
If you want to sit here and say to people that you can run a Vega card on a 550w system, you better be here for the tech support when it fails on the majority of 550w systems.
I think you are the only person who I have seen make this bold prediction, and I would say, it is a poor recommendation.
I'm dangerous
Judging from above it seems Vega 64 will compete against 1080.
Vega 56 vs 1070 or above.
Good luck buying the Vega 56 sub £500. The 64 is going to be priced circa £700 if you follow the Vega news trail.
Personally at these prices pointless to ditch a TI unless you can sell it for 600-700 quid. Which could be the cost of a budget pc. I did consider Vega for my new system but £500+ is too much.
As for price on this card. Market priced it as a low of £674 six months back. Other retailers are selling thsi circa £560-637 now. So £499 is a good price. Looks like many places have been out of stock for a while.
Note Overclockers have it at £499 too.
overclockers.co.uk/msi…BwE
Heat!!
I don't mind as I don't have any desire to store extra metal in my flat. It does slightly reduce your resale market though. Good thing it's a well known block maker, from an aib with decent warranty - should make it easy to sell when you're ready to upgrade to Volta