XFX appears to be prepping a THICCer Navi GPUs - A Triple-Fan RX 5700 XT
- Thread starter WYP
- Start date
AngryGoldfish
Old N Gold
They really screwed up the THICC II, which on paper looked like a good card. PowerColor and MSI absolutely trounced it with their dual fan designs, and the PowerColor one is much thinner and cheaper. It feels like a THICC III is just a slap in the face. "We failed before but NOW we're gonna get it right."
looz
Active member
How so? What's wrong with improving their products?
AngryGoldfish
Old N Gold
It's not the same product. When I first heard about this, I genuinely thought it was a revision to their THICC II. I thought it would be awesome if XFX corrected their design errors. But then I twigged on that II meant dual fan while III would mean triple fan.
The THICC II is not a budget RX 5700 card, but it's a poorly performing one. So what XFX have done is, create a new product after the fact that is supposed to be superior in every way but looking the same. It's like when Nvidia released their 'Super' variants. It made you feel like the original was a stop-gap. It was a tease, a drip feed. "We failed you before, but that wasn't the real product, so it's OK. We were just testing the market with that. The THICC III is and always was our REAL performer". I know I'm extrapolating a lot here, but I hope the point I'm trying to make is still understandable.
I don't want a bigger, more expensive version of a product months after the smaller one failed miserably. If the THICC II was tiny and cheap, fine. But it's not. It had major design flaws. If you can't do that right, why would you expect consumers to pay more just for an extra fan? Every product should be the best it could be given its market. The THICC II didn't appear to be like that at all given the reviews and tear-downs I've seen. Also, PowerColor managed to get a more compact version right, as did other manufacturers.
Yeah I'd lean more on the fact they've learned form their failure, and are acting to resolve.
You'll also notice the THICC II has dropped in price to match reference cards. Is this to clear out stocks? Maybe. But it's also quite good value at the same price as reference.
I get you, but I disagree whit your point. The THICC II has dropped in price almost everywhere (at least here in the UK). I would read that as they're discontinuing the THICC II and replacing it with the THICC III. I hope it's this as it shows their listen to feedback.
Now I may be wrong, but even if I am, the THICC II being the cheap option (same price as reference design currently) and the THICC III being the premium option, is totally fine with me.
looz
Active member
Buying tech and expecting it to stay relevant is inane.
Do your research, buy what suits you best at your price range, and that's pretty much it. By doing that you'll also avoid buying poorly designed cards like THICC II so there's no reason to be upset about them improving it.
And Super release didn't give me any special feels whatsoever, my 2060 at launch price of 370€ was a good deal.
NeverBackDown
AMD Enthusiast
This is not an improvement though. This is an entirely new card. 2 fans vs 3 fans.
Improving it would have been to tweak the small mistakes they made and that GN went into and would have drastically been better. Then they would have called Thicc 2 version 2.
Extending the heatsink to accommodate another fan is not an improvement.
The 2 is a 2.5 slot card.
This 3 is a 2.7 slot card.
The 2 is 11.5 inches long. Which is long already, adding another fan onto that is going to push 12 maybe longer.
It's a different class of card. With NO PROMISE of fixing the same small mistakes they made on the 2.
I am with Goldfish on this one. That being said, I personally don't care what they do to improve it, I just think it's not right to say its essentially a revision.
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AngryGoldfish
Old N Gold
THICC being a budget option would be OK, but it's still very large and very poorly designed.
Right. And the original had the same design aesthetically, had the same name minus one 'I', the same clock speeds within reasonable margin (not that it matters), was overpriced, and was poorly designed. If the original THICC II was a compact, affordable option with none of the design flaws, I would be totally on board with this. It'd be a good cooler going on steroids. The issue goes back to the THICC II being awful, not the THICC III existing at all. It'd be like someone going on steroids who hasn't figured out how to bench press yet and never trains legs.
What about the people who unknowingly bought a rubbish card? Do they all get refunds? Yes, it's the responsibility of the consumer to do their research, but it's also the responsibility of the engineers to ensure basic necessities are met before they release a product. Personally I don't think the THICC III is in response to the THICC II being a failure. I think it was always going to happen. That's just my guess, but it's part of the reason why I find this situation uncool.
NeverBackDown
AMD Enthusiast
Sure does but doesn't mean it'll fit in the same cases the Thicc 2 did. As far as we can tell it's the same exact cooler. You have no idea if it's different internally. Externally they added another fan.
It's still a fail in my book. It's an awful card that only has looks. They need 3 fans to do the job other brands are doing with 2 fans. It's sad.
