Theory on 290X coolers and OOS

[OatisCampbell]

Obviously AMD has a winner for performance, and price/performance. Pretty much no one disagrees about the 290s being a welcome addition to the high end.

I think the company had a stockpile of the controversial coolers, or a contract to buy X more units.

Rather than waste that money, they released that number of cards with those HSFs, and the reason they're OOS now is the companies have switched to building 90% better HSF variations and they're just selling through the last of the original.

Makes sense for a company trying to get back to profitable.

 

[RaulF]

I think the reason they are out of stock is that the aibs have taken all the chips available and are making their boards.

And yes i could see them maybe making a better cooler.

 

[thilanliyan]

They could also be out of stock because people snatched them up for coin mining.

 

[RaulF]

They could also be out of stock because people snatched them up for coin mining.

Well that is a fact .

I guess OP meant why supply has dried out and not restock.

 

[thilanliyan]

Well that is a fact .

I guess OP meant why supply has dried out and not restock.

True...I didn't read properly!

 

[ocre]

Not sure about the op.
You would think they could just dump those coolers off on the 280(x)'s.

I think that it was pushed out in a rush and dont mean this in a bad way. Its just aib havent had the time they needed. Also the gpu and driver is very fine tuned to the stock cooler. Perhaps they need time and further testing for different configs. There are thngs like warrenty and returns to figure up. Risk assessments, etc.
I juat think it is totally new and amd made some major changes. AIBs needed time to work with the chip. No conspiracy needed

 

[3DVagabond]

We're all just theorizing here, but I think they didn't have enough chips to do more than reference cards at first.

 

[RaulF]

Not sure about the op.
You would think they could just dump those coolers off on the 280(x)'s.

I think that it was pushed out in a rush and dont mean this in a bad way. Its just aib havent had the time they needed. Also the gpu and driver is very fine tuned to the stock cooler. Perhaps they need time and further testing for different configs. There are thngs like warrenty and returns to figure up. Risk assessments, etc.
I juat think it is totally new and amd made some major changes. AIBs needed time to work with the chip. No conspiracy needed

You aint kidding, i dont even thing a ref 280 came out, most of them were aib cards. Someone correct me if i am wrong.

We're all just theorizing here, but I think they didn't have enough chips to do more than reference cards at first.

That could be the other issue. I mean they do have quite a few gpus being cranked out of tsmc (xbone/ps4).

 

[3DVagabond]

That could be the other issue. I mean they do have quite a few gpus being cranked out of tsmc (xbone/ps4).

AMD has a lot going on now. They had to get, God knows how many console APU's fab'd. They just might not have allocated for enough considering they couldn't really predict the virtual currency demand. They are out of Tahiti chips, as well. Those are the oldest 28nm GPU in production. You'd think they'd be able to make them easy as popcorn.

I wouldn't be surprised though if there's Hawaii production that's allocated to the AIB's for their own designs. We're seeing photos of Asus and MSI cooled cards. The current market though has me concerned with what the prices are going to be. It doesn't look like they are going to be good value for gaming like we had assumed. Custom 290 (nonX) I would think need to stay below the price of 780's. Will the loss of market share make nVidia lower their pricing to try and capture more of the gaming market? Seems like that would be a good move on their part, seeing as how right now AMD has no control over the pricing of their cards. 280's are appreciably more expensive than 770's right now. At least the 2gig 770's, which are what most people buy.

 

[OatisCampbell]

Errr....so much going on they didn't remember that with the HSF they used 5 months ago (on the 7990) they would have had a home run?

Sorry- best engineers in the world know first impressions are important and had a better reason than "we're pretty busy now" for releasing a card they knew the press would crucify for noise.

 

[Skurge]

Errr....so much going on they didn't remember that with the HSF they used 5 months ago (on the 7990) they would have had a home run?

Sorry- best engineers in the world know first impressions are important and had a better reason than "we're pretty busy now" for releasing a card they knew the press would crucify for noise.

I don't think that choice was made by the engineers, probably the bean counters.

 

[3DVagabond]

Errr....so much going on they didn't remember that with the HSF they used 5 months ago (on the 7990) they would have had a home run?

Sorry- best engineers in the world know first impressions are important and had a better reason than "we're pretty busy now" for releasing a card they knew the press would crucify for noise.

What does that have to do with OoS?

 

[OCGuy]

Is this for real?

 

[OatisCampbell]

Is this for real?

Yes. I think reference 290/290Xs will become harder and harder to get will OEMs divert the available GPUs to production of aftermarket parts.

And I think this was all done as a cost cutting move by AMD to liquidate a supply of fans on hand, or honor a contract to buy some.

AMD wouldn't be inept enough to release these cards with this HSF without an overriding financial reason to do so. They obviously knew what the reaction would be.

I guarantee at the design meeting they weren't saying "Remember how the press crucified the noise of the GTX480? Let's try and replicate that.".

Who knows? Maybe they got a discount on them when they thought the 290 would be a 20nm part?

 

[OatisCampbell]

What does that have to do with OoS?

Like I said, now that AMD has sold them the reference design chips and honored their contract or liquidated their stock of them, they've told OEMs they can do as they please.

And OEMs are ceasing production of the hairdryers and building new models, leaving short supply for holiday shoppers.

 

[3DVagabond]

Like I said, now that AMD has sold them the reference design chips and honored their contract or liquidated their stock of them, they've told OEMs they can do as they please.

And OEMs are ceasing production of the hairdryers and building new models, leaving short supply for holiday shoppers.

The heat sink has nothing to do with the OoS. The 7990 cooler wouldn't have made any difference in that. The aftermarket 280X's are OoS as well.

 

[Z15CAM]

So it looks like the end of the AMD R9 Reference Cards and its now up to the AIB Partners to come through - Too Bad - I was kinda looking forward to buying another Reference R9 290X for CF under water.

I see the odd Reference R9 290/X on eBay going for ridiculous prices. Do they know something we don't?

AMD may have made a killing in a short time but not good for Xmas Shoppers unless AMD releases more R9 Reference Cards or the AIB Partners get their act together before Santa makes his rounds.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Does anyone else think that AMD didn't expect the 290s/Xs to sell out anywhere near this fast?

Factors:

- 290 proving excellent VFM.
- 290s being unlock-able to 290X spec.
- Bitcoin mining mania..
- Noisy stock cooler not putting off people with the skills to fit aftermarket air/water coolers.

 

[JDG1980]

And OEMs are ceasing production of the hairdryers and building new models, leaving short supply for holiday shoppers.

All of the current reference 290 and 290X cards are manufactured by AMD (or whatever board vendor they outsource production to). The only thing the AIBs are currently doing is slapping stickers on the cooler.

 

[Will Robinson]

Does anyone else think that AMD didn't expect the 290s/Xs to sell out anywhere near this fast?

Factors:

- 290 proving excellent VFM.
- 290s being unlock-able to 290X spec.
- Bitcoin mining mania..
- Noisy stock cooler not putting off people with the skills to fit aftermarket air/water coolers.

Well said new guy.:thumbsup:
Welcome to AT VC&G

 

[moonbogg]

They could also be out of stock because people snatched them up for coin mining.

That ship sailed a long time ago. Early miners won big. Getting into it now is useless.

 

[OatisCampbell]

Does anyone else think that AMD didn't expect the 290s/Xs to sell out anywhere near this fast?

Factors:

- 290 proving excellent VFM.
- 290s being unlock-able to 290X spec.
- Bitcoin mining mania..
- Noisy stock cooler not putting off people with the skills to fit aftermarket air/water coolers.

On the first item I bolded, do you think they didn't?! Companies don't launch parts on the assumption they won't sell well is my guess.

On the last, these people are a small amount (tiny) of the market from what I can tell. Look at how many cards with water blocks are out there compared to air, and do a sample of any card for sale on Ebay. The ones with aftermarket cooling are a small minority.

 

[OatisCampbell]

All of the current reference 290 and 290X cards are manufactured by AMD (or whatever board vendor they outsource production to). The only thing the AIBs are currently doing is slapping stickers on the cooler.

Thank you- this makes my theory even more likely in my opinion.

AMD has probably shifted from selling full cards to selling GPUs only, or boards w/o HSFs now.

My guess is reference design 290s get very rare very soon, which will pretty much prove my guess.

 

[3DVagabond]

That ship sailed a long time ago. Early miners won big. Getting into it now is useless.

Well, apparently all these people snatching up these cards don't agree. There are more than Bitcoins, you know.

 

[rtsurfer]

Once this litecoin craze stops in 4~6 months.

There are gonna be hell of used AMD cards for sale on ebay.

This gonna be fun.