Just to confirm, this only is happening on Navi cards correct? Can we confirm which models as well?
That's correct. Polaris isn't affected by these by all accounts that I've seen. The return volume is what concerns me, as anyone from the DFW area can go to Micro Center and see a cluster of returned/clearance used 5700 and 5700XT cards in the cage at the front of the components section. I always check it, last time was maybe end of January, and I saw :
1 2080ti for $1090 (bleh, nice AIB OC model, but bleh)
Bunch of poorly priced 2060/2070/2080 random cards, maybe a half dozen in total.
And then about 18-20 5700/5700XTs, and one lone Vega 64. The 5700s were mostly in the 290-320 range, which doesn't seem that hot. I love Micro Center, but their clearance/return price is usually not a fantastic bargain, though the occasional bargain sneaks by.
Anyway, I always grill the folks for sales info and product availability for major stuff, usually just CPUs and GPUs, but occasionally mobos or Ram/SSD when price crunches are happening (like now, SSDs and DDR4 have leapt up of late, and their selection was fairly spotty on Ram especially).
The manager, Cary I think his name is (amazing dude!) wasn't available but I talked to the MOD, and she said they've been selling LOTS of :
1650 Super
1660 Super
2060
2060S
2070S
2080ti
5700XT
And then getting a LOT of returns on the 5700/5700XT, like perhaps half of them, along with the usual 'test driver/second thoughts' returns. 5600XT was too new to be a factor when I was there. The sales associates have been cleaning up with the extended service and replacement plans, with some people bringing cards back because they were worried about random issues and didn't want to miss their original return window, only to find out you can indeed buy the replacement plan after you have already bought the item, up to 10 or 14 days IIRC.
Still, this is neither conclusive nor irrelevant. There is only one MC for the entire ~8.5M population greater DFW Metro sprawl, and now that Fry's is basically on a death march they're even stronger than before. For a store of this magnitude to have clearly high volume return numbers for a particular product is a worrying sign, as it turns out it mirrors what Hardware Unboxed have heard from their sources. And MC's return numbers wouldn't reflect 100% of any issues either, a definite number of people would go with RMA and MFG support and that wouldn't show up with the MC numbers.
Sucks, I was kind of hoping to mess with the 5700 to 5700XT flash+OC, as it seems like such a bargain. But I don't need to keep one for myself, and don't want to get stuck with a bogus card if my luck is poor. So, perhaps I'll save my $300 until AMD comes out with a refreshed driver pack with maybe a 'light' just the essentials fork with core functionality and less fluff.
The issue garnering this class of attention, from HUB of all places (a fair but definitely pro AMD group) means that it honestly can't be dismissed or brushed under any rugs, it's gotten too big for that. That may be good news though, bringing the pressure to a boiling point may net us some fixed drivers finally. And imagine if they can squeeze 5-15% more performance out of Navi! I'm not saying it will happen one way or the other, but if that were to happen man it would kick butt. As is, Navi seems to follow GCNs weird footsteps of being amazing at a few things, pretty good at most general stuff, but weirdly fall on its face in some pretty common games and scenarios for no understandable reason at all. I saw a comparison showing the 1650 non super beating the 570 8GB in current Fortnite and BFV. Why? That makes no sense. Most games the 570
annihilates the 1650.
I've been recommending 5700 over 5600XT and 2060, I might be putting that on hold to see what shakes out of this. Some of us can happily grind through any number of wonky issues no factor, but a budget rig build for a high schooler or grade schooler's first gaming PC, or a small business client, I can't risk my reputation recommending potentially troublesome products. I flat out refuse to sell anything with a 'brown box special' D grade PSU (think Deer or Bestec, *shudder*), so it follows that I should help people avoid Navi until it's gold. I bet HUB or Gamers Nexus will retest before we know it with a ground up fixed driver and it will kick ass.
Then this will just be the odd quandary of late 2019-early 2020.
wccftech.com
Facebook
Twitter