AMD's AIB partners are free to create custom Radeon VII graphics cards

That combined with lack of non-reference designs reeks of very limited supply - AIB partners haven't seen it worth the R&D cost.
 
I think the reason AIBs aren't jumping at the opportunity is probably because this reference design would show up half the AIBs top end designs, to make a cooler than get push 300W out of such a small surface area is no easy feat, infact it's something no ones ever had to attempt before on this scale, while capable vapour chamber designs wouldn't need much alteration any heatpipe based design would likely need some careful reconfiguring to make sure things are optimal, and only the beefier AIB coolers would be relevant, which rules out a few companies.
 
They could take the brute force approach of 2.75 slot card and slightly larger fans, heat density is high but direct die cooling should make it feasible.
 
They could take the brute force approach of 2.75 slot card and slightly larger fans, heat density is high but direct die cooling should make it feasible.

But that would add additional cost to an already expensive (overpriced IMO) graphics card. Overclocks are so meagre that it might not be worth it. It would reduce noise levels which is a big deal, but the extra cost might not be worth it to many consumers. And it might not be worth for AIB partners with limited stock where they can't sell enough custom variants to make it profitable.
 
Probably will happen but I'd rather put a bracket and AIO on the R7.

Yup. TBH from what I have been reading this responds very well indeed to undervolting. People are getting better performance from it.

It was something I had to do with my 64. I've not quite mastered it yet, but with more time I can make it quieter.
 
It's unfortunate(For those of us who enjoy overclocking anyway, I guess not for performance as a whole) that within a few more years of progress with machine learning optimised feedback control loops & realtime application of the "Hovis method" pretty much all silicon will probably squeeze out more than any human could anyway. R7 seems to be teetering on the edge of that a little, though my understanding is that we're still waiting on drivers to activate Tjunction based control which will close the gap further.
I guess it means performance will become more closely linked to fan curves if you're thermally limited but at least it should make the benefits of higher end coolers more meaningful/accessible, there's no doubt modern Turbo mechanisms are a big part of why manufacturer models are now quite expensive and well engineered open multi-fan designs, it's become an easy way to find a reliable few extra percent performance(Besides modern cases obviously being much better at handling these high TDP designs too).
 
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