Assimilator In other words, these cards will be what AMD should have launched with. Instead of embarrassing themselves every new GPU launch with terrible blowers, why doesn't AMD partner with an OEM to produce a decent reference design?

From what I see so far, I don't think so .. st least in the sense of what we typically think of as AIB.I have looked at a few of these announmcements and, unless I glossed over something, these are basically similar to EVGA SC or EVGA Black type cards. None of the announcements have referenced a custom PCB, beefier VRMs, faster memory or anything else that would suggest better performance. It would seem that the "custom" refers only to a better cooler. This should certainly take the edge off the +16C and double noise compared to AIB 2070s. I'm sure that they we will run cooler and quieter, perhaps even cutting those numbers in half.However, as the reference cards are not being thermally limited in any way, I don't see anything that's to be gained performance wise. Am I missing something ?Still if they can cut the sound and thermal differences at least in half, what we are basically seeing is a price cut AMD easting the extra cost associated with the AIB 5700XT's at $400 and the AIB 2070s at $430 - $450.Feel bad for the folks who just installed their $400 blower cards while folks who chose to wait and not jump on the bleeding edge will be getting a card of substantially more value.I was a bit confused about the XBox 3 month pass thing as a combo ($45 value ?) on a PC GFX card .... is an XBox pass of any value to a PC gamer ? What about the games ?AMD offers Devil May Cry 5 with a $40 *value* assigned to it .... and nVidia is offering an $89 combo of Control One and Wolfenstein Youngblood for a supposed $90 value. being unfamiliar with all. curious as to how folks see the relative value of these offerings.