Below is a quote from Overclockers UK's Gibbo, who reported that AMD's £449.99 price tag for their RX Vega 64 was "launch only" pricing. This price only applied to the retailer's initial allotment of RX Vega 64 Black standalone GPUs, with AMD giving gamers a £100 discount as some form of an "early adopter" discount.
Quote:
Now the good and bad news, the good news is AMD are rebating early launch sales to allow us to hit £449.99 on the stand alone black card which has no games. This is a launch only price which AMD at present are saying will be withdrawn in the near future, when if it happens is unknown, but remember do not be shocked if the price jumps nearly £100 in a few days.
This time round there is no early adopter tax, quite the opposite on the stand alone black card, so do be quick.
We've also made some bundles as well, these bundles feature NO DISCOUNT, what you get is two AAA titles known as Prey and yet to be released Wolfenstein II PC games, worth a solid £50 between them. Well I lie, they include the Black Card which has £100 discount up front, so by buying the bundles you get the black card at the launch discounted price, but also score the two free games. This is also same case for the Samsung & VEGA monitor bundle, it includes the black pre-discounted card, but also scores you the two free games.
AMD's "discounted" RX Vega GPUs sold out within minutes, which means that AMD's RX Vega 64 now has an effective MSRP of £549.99, which is a price increase of over 20%. While gamers will now get copies of Wolfenstein II and Prey for free with their GPU, this by no means makes up for the GPU's £100 price increase.
What is more startling is that OC3D was never told that AMD's standalone RX Vega 64 Black (Reference) GPU would only be priced at £449.99 temporarily, a factor that would no doubt affect the conclusion of any RX Vega review. So far most reviews list AMD's RX Vega 64 as being priced at AMD's original MSRP of $499 and £449, which is no longer true.
We have contacted AMD to ask them whether or not their RX Vega 64 will be available in its "standalone" form in the future, but so far we have gotten no response. To say the least, this price increase will have a huge effect on Vega's perception, with this price increase within an hour of the GPUs launch making AMD's listed MSRP seem like a review manipulation tactic.