The Bottom Line
Nvidia's RTX 2080 and 2080 Ti titans may have just landed, but that means AMD's Vega GPUs are getting their moment in the sun again. With prices down to the point where they can compete with the Nvidia titans — even when they're not in stock — now might be the time to buy a Radeon Vega 64 card.
If you're not familiar with the RX Vega 64, it's AMD's top-of-the-line consumer graphics card that launched in June. It aims to challenge the GTX 1080 in gaming performance, but it still falls behind Nvidia's muscle car. It also consumes a lot of power and runs a bit warm.
This version of the card is offered in a few different flavors: the air-cooled reference model I'm reviewing here, a limited edition with a shiny blue brushed aluminum shroud that will be available only in the Black Pack, and a liquid-cooled variant that can be found in the Aqua Pack. The liquid-cooled version clocks the HBM2 memory at a higher base and boost speed but otherwise appears to be identical.
Each of the Black Pack options include two free games (that differ by region but are currently Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and Prey), a discount on the 34-inch Samsung CF791 curved ultra-wide FreeSync monitor, and a bundle discount on either a Ryzen CPU and motherboard or a Ryzen 7 and X370 motherboard. The free games, display, and processor/motherboard discounts will only be applied at checkout, though.