AMD’s new $499 RX Vega 64 and $399 Vega 56 top-end graphics cards launch in August

It’s high time for launch details regarding new AMD RX Vega cards that were teased in May — high-end graphics cards designed to challenge Nvidia’s domination with the GTX 1080 and 1070.

Both cards are going on sale August 14, at $499 for the Radeon RX Vega 64 and $399 for the Radeon RX Vega 56.

For the specs intro, the RX Vega 64’s core specs include 64 compute units, a base clock of 1,247MHz and a boost clock of 1,547MHz, with 8GB of HBM2 memory — a new GPU memory technology that spots 484GB of bandwidth.

All this power means you could technically drive a 5K display via a single cable without breaking a sweat. Or, go mining for cryptocurrency.

AMD is betting on its improved ecosystem of FreeSync monitors and drivers to push their latest GPUs forward

Power requirements for the RX Vega 64 are high, with 295W needed for power — more than the GTX 1080’s TDP (thermal design point) of 180W. But AMD is banking on the growing ecosystem of FreeSync-equipped curved monitors and supported games to justify the higher power requirement, with the top-tier gaming performance to match.

Meanwhile, the Vega 56 is expected to perform like the GTX 1070, which is a step down in performance but also $100 less. It sports 8GB of memory like its more powerful sibling, but has fewer texture units and a slower boost clock speed of 1471MHz.

Between now and the holiday season, it shouldn’t take long for Nvidia to respond in turn with updated specs for a new top-end GPU of their own.