Monday, July 31st 2017
AMD Radeon Packs: Expensive Motherboards, Monitor only for Few
If you have not seen our RX Vega Preview yet, you should. It is the most information you can get before independent testing comes in. Adding to it is new information coming out of AMD regarding the Radeon Packs- a bundled set of discount vouchers and games offering more value for your money if purchased with an RX Vega GPU. There are still concerns about implementation given you have to purchase directly from participating retailers, and also purchase the monitor and/or Ryzen system then and there if needed but these new details add further to the complication.
According to AMD, the $200 off FreeSync monitor discount is only applicable in 5 countries- USA, Mexico, Canada, Australia, and Singapore. The rest of the world does not even get that option, which makes the whole deal a lot less appealing. All countries get the $100 off Ryzen 7 combo which includes an option of Ryzen 7 1700X, and Ryzen 7 1800X CPUs paired with an option of three X370 motherboards- the ASUS ROG Crosshair VI Extreme X370 Motherboard, the GIGABYTE GA-AX370-Gaming K7 Motherboard, and the MSI X370 XPOWER GAMING TITANIUM Motherboard. These are all very expensive motherboards, which have not justified their price point with Ryzen CPUs having a limited overclocking potential that can be reached on less expensive motherboards as well. Lastly, the two games available are Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and Prey for all countries aside from Germany, Austria and Switzerland where Wolfenstein is replaced by Sniper Elite 4. Between all this, and the Samsung CF791 not having the best FreeSync implementation - with users reporting display flickering in Ultimate Engine mode that increases the FreeSync range (48-100 Hz) - the Radeon Packs are not looking as lucrative anymore and hopefully will be revised, or have the price reduced accordingly for other regions.
According to AMD, the $200 off FreeSync monitor discount is only applicable in 5 countries- USA, Mexico, Canada, Australia, and Singapore. The rest of the world does not even get that option, which makes the whole deal a lot less appealing. All countries get the $100 off Ryzen 7 combo which includes an option of Ryzen 7 1700X, and Ryzen 7 1800X CPUs paired with an option of three X370 motherboards- the ASUS ROG Crosshair VI Extreme X370 Motherboard, the GIGABYTE GA-AX370-Gaming K7 Motherboard, and the MSI X370 XPOWER GAMING TITANIUM Motherboard. These are all very expensive motherboards, which have not justified their price point with Ryzen CPUs having a limited overclocking potential that can be reached on less expensive motherboards as well. Lastly, the two games available are Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and Prey for all countries aside from Germany, Austria and Switzerland where Wolfenstein is replaced by Sniper Elite 4. Between all this, and the Samsung CF791 not having the best FreeSync implementation - with users reporting display flickering in Ultimate Engine mode that increases the FreeSync range (48-100 Hz) - the Radeon Packs are not looking as lucrative anymore and hopefully will be revised, or have the price reduced accordingly for other regions.