Nvidia reportedly no longer supplying VRAM to its GPU board partners in response to memory crunch
AMD clarifies that RDNA 1 and 2 will still get day zero game support and driver updates
AIB partners can't unlock additional voltage points to enable higher overclocking potential, and AIB partners can't add extra VRAM to make higher or lower capacity models, unless the GPU model in question officially supports it (such as the RX 9060 XT 8GB and RX 9060 XT 16GB, for example). Power limits can also be artificially restricted, preventing partners from going beyond a certain wattage envelope depending on the model. These limits are the main cause behind the performance linearity behind all modern GPUs, and how the cheapest RTX 5070, for instance, performs virtually the same as the most expensive version out of the box.
Furthermore, Crisler claimed that these limitations force customers to only look at the cooler designs from AIB partners and product support when buying a graphics card. Crisler also expounded on the highly requested Toxic series, noting that the limited headroom modern GPUs have today for overclocking prevents the company from creating new Toxic cards regularly with each new generation of AMD GPUs. Toxic represents Sapphire's flagship lineup, similar to Asus's ROG Astral graphics cards.
Edward Crisler talked about a variety of other details beyond just partner card design limitations. He revealed that the 12VHPWR connector inside the RX 9070 XT Nitro+ has been successful and only had issues in three cards he knows of. All three times, the fault was caused by a 16-pin adapter that was being used, and wasn't the fault of the power connector on the card or the power supply itself.
Crisler also revealed that the Steam Hardware Survey is not a perfect indicator for AMD market share. Crisler allegedly asked Valve how the survey was run, and Valve responded, claiming only a twelfth of the entire Steam userbase gets prompted to participate in the survey every month. Furthermore, Crisler believes that AMD's real gaming-only graphics card market share could potentially be up to 40%, not accounting for RTX 5090s.
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Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/sapphire-pr-manager-wishes-amd-and-nvidia-would-let-partners-run-wild-with-design-wants-freedom-to-bring-back-toxic-line-more-often#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
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