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AMD Radeon Vega 8

AMD Radeon Vega 8: A Compact GPU for Budget Systems and Beyond

April 2025

Despite the active development of discrete graphics cards, integrated graphics are still in demand for office PCs, compact builds, and budget gaming systems. The AMD Radeon Vega 8, embedded in Ryzen G-series processors, continues to hold its ground in this segment thanks to a balance of price and performance. Let's explore what makes this graphics subsystem noteworthy in 2025.

1. Architecture and Key Features

Vega Architecture: Legacy and Optimization

Vega 8 is based on the Vega architecture (5th generation GCN), released in 2017. Despite its age, AMD continues to optimize it for modern tasks. The manufacturing process is 14 nm (in the original APU) or 7 nm (in updated models from 2023-2024), which reduces power consumption.

Key Features:

- Radeon FidelityFX: A set of technologies for enhancing graphics (contrast sharpening, upscaling). For example, FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution) 1.0 allows an increase in FPS in games by 20-30% with minimal quality loss.

- FreeSync: Support for adaptive synchronization with monitors.

- Rapid Packed Math: Acceleration of half-precision calculations (useful for machine learning).

Limitations:

- Lack of hardware support for ray tracing (NVIDIA RTX is not available).

- FSR 2.0/3.0 works, but is less efficient than on RDNA2/3 GPUs.

2. Memory: Type, Volume, and Impact on Performance

System Memory Instead of Dedicated

Vega 8 uses PC RAM (DDR4 or DDR5, depending on the processor). This imposes some limitations:

- Memory Type: DDR4-3200 (the most common option) or DDR5-4800 (in newer APUs).

- Volume: Dynamically allocated up to 2 GB, but can be increased via BIOS settings.

- Bandwidth: Depends on the configuration. For example, dual-channel DDR4-3200 provides up to 51.2 GB/s, which is critical for gaming.

Tip: For maximum performance, use dual-channel memory (2×8 GB DDR4-3200 or DDR5-4800).

3. Gaming Performance

Full HD and Below: Modest Ambitions

Vega 8 handles less demanding titles and older games at medium settings. Examples of FPS (1080p, medium settings):

- CS:GO — 60-90 FPS (with FSR 1.0 — up to 110).

- Fortnite — 40-50 FPS (on low settings + FSR).

- GTA V — 45-55 FPS.

- Cyberpunk 2077 — 20-25 FPS (only low settings + FSR).

1440p and 4K: Not recommended — frame rates drop below 30 FPS even in lighter games.

4. Professional Tasks

Not Just for Gaming

Vega 8 supports OpenCL and Vulkan, making it suitable for:

- Video Editing: Working in DaVinci Resolve or Premiere Pro (rendering simple projects).

- 3D Modeling: Blender (Cycles via OpenCL), but rendering complex scenes will take 2-3 times longer than on a discrete RTX 3050.

- Scientific Calculations: Suitable for basic tasks (e.g., data processing in MATLAB).

Tip: For professional tasks, it’s better to add a discrete graphics card.

5. Power Consumption and Heat Output

Energy Efficiency

- TDP of processors with Vega 8: 35-65 W (graphics use 15-25 W).

- Cooling: Standard coolers are sufficient (e.g., AMD Wraith Stealth).

- Case: Choose models with ventilation openings (e.g., Fractal Design Core 1100).

Important: Overclocking the GPU increases heat output - liquid cooling or a tower cooler may be required.

6. Comparison with Competitors

Budget Segment in 2025

- AMD Radeon 780M (RDNA3): 40-60% faster in games, but more expensive (processors with 780M start at $250).

- Intel Arc A350M: A discrete card at the level of GTX 1650, priced from $130.

- NVIDIA GeForce MX550: 15-20% more powerful than Vega 8, but requires separate cooling.

Conclusion: Vega 8 wins on price (APUs with it start at $120), but lags behind new solutions.

7. Practical Tips

Building a System Based on Vega 8

- Power Supply: 400 W (e.g., be quiet! System Power 10) — with a margin for future upgrades.

- Platform: Compatible with AM4 and AM5 (depending on the processor).

- Drivers: Regularly update the Adrenalin Edition — this enhances stability and FPS.

Hack: Enable Radeon Image Sharpening in driver settings for enhanced detail.

8. Pros and Cons

Strengths:

- Low price (processors from $120).

- Energy efficiency.

- Support for modern technologies (FSR, FreeSync).

Weaknesses:

- Limited gaming performance.

- Dependence on RAM speed.

- No hardware Ray Tracing.

9. Final Verdict: Who is Vega 8 Suitable For?

This GPU is suitable for those who:

- Are building an office PC or media center.

- Play less demanding games (indie titles, strategy games, online shooters from the 2010s).

- Are looking for a temporary solution before purchasing a discrete card.

Alternatives: If the budget allows $200–300, consider the Ryzen 5 8600G with Radeon 760M or Intel Arc A380.

Prices in 2025 (new devices):

- AMD Ryzen 5 5600G (Vega 7) — $130.

- AMD Ryzen 3 8300G (Vega 8, 7 nm) — $150.

Despite its modest capabilities, Vega 8 remains a "workhorse" for millions of users, proving that even integrated graphics can be practical.

Basic

Label Name

AMD

Platform

Integrated

Launch Date

January 2021

Model Name

Radeon Vega 8

Generation

Cezanne

Base Clock

300MHz

Boost Clock

2000MHz

Bus Interface

IGP

Transistors

9,800 million

Compute Units

TMUs

Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) serve as components of the GPU, which are capable of rotating, scaling, and distorting binary images, and then placing them as textures onto any plane of a given 3D model. This process is called texture mapping.

Foundry

TSMC

Process Size

7 nm

Architecture

GCN 5.1

Memory Specifications

Memory Size

System Shared

Memory Type

System Shared

Memory Bus

The memory bus width refers to the number of bits of data that the video memory can transfer within a single clock cycle. The larger the bus width, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted instantaneously, making it one of the crucial parameters of video memory. The memory bandwidth is calculated as: Memory Bandwidth = Memory Frequency x Memory Bus Width / 8. Therefore, when the memory frequencies are similar, the memory bus width will determine the size of the memory bandwidth.

System Shared

Memory Clock

SystemShared

Bandwidth

Memory bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate between the graphics chip and the video memory. It is measured in bytes per second, and the formula to calculate it is: memory bandwidth = working frequency × memory bus width / 8 bits.

System Dependent

Theoretical Performance

Pixel Rate

Pixel fill rate refers to the number of pixels a graphics processing unit (GPU) can render per second, measured in MPixels/s (million pixels per second) or GPixels/s (billion pixels per second). It is the most commonly used metric to evaluate the pixel processing performance of a graphics card.

16.00 GPixel/s

Texture Rate

Texture fill rate refers to the number of texture map elements (texels) that a GPU can map to pixels in a single second.

64.00 GTexel/s

FP16 (half)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy.

4.096 TFLOPS

FP64 (double)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy, while single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

128.0 GFLOPS

FP32 (float)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

2.089 TFLOPS

Miscellaneous

Shading Units

The most fundamental processing unit is the Streaming Processor (SP), where specific instructions and tasks are executed. GPUs perform parallel computing, which means multiple SPs work simultaneously to process tasks.

512

TDP

45W

Vulkan Version

Vulkan is a cross-platform graphics and compute API by Khronos Group, offering high performance and low CPU overhead. It lets developers control the GPU directly, reduces rendering overhead, and supports multi-threading and multi-core processors.

1.2

OpenCL Version

2.1

OpenGL

4.6

DirectX

12 (12_1)

Power Connectors

None

Shader Model

6.4

ROPs

The Raster Operations Pipeline (ROPs) is primarily responsible for handling lighting and reflection calculations in games, as well as managing effects like anti-aliasing (AA), high resolution, smoke, and fire. The more demanding the anti-aliasing and lighting effects in a game, the higher the performance requirements for the ROPs; otherwise, it may result in a sharp drop in frame rate.