Long story short, my last AMD(/ATI) card was a Radeon HD 4670 (remember AGP?). Since then I've had various Nvidia GPUs which have served me well on Windows...

Now that I'm using Linux on my main rig and doing almost all of my gaming on it, the lack of driver openness that has already made Nvidia infamous has got me looking for a replacement AMD card for my otherwise perfectly fine GTX 1080. The card is still good from my needs (1080p 60Hz gaming), but it's just under-performing a lot in Linux because devs of projects such as DXVK/VKD3D are having a hard time optimizing for Nvidia hardware in general, and aging hardware in particular, since everything is kept under wraps.

My question to you AMD owners is what board partners do you usually buy cards from? What are you experiences so far? Do you go with the reference cards from AMD?

To give you a little background, I'm looking for an ITX-compatible card (can fit one a bit longer, up to 25cm length, in my current small form factor case, just not yer' standard full length 3-fan one), which is why I doubt I'll be going for an AMD reference card.

I'm aiming for either a 6700(XT) maybe, we'll have to see next year, or a 5700XT, which would probably put me on par with my current 1080 in terms of raw GPU power, but in Linux gaming I'd be likely to get 30-40% more performance.

Oh, and no RGB would be a plus :) (call me old fashioned), but it's not a show stopper.

sapphire the best quiet fast and reliable

Thanks guys. I've heard good things about Sapphire too. Yeah, that's pretty much the plan, waiting to see how the 6700(XT) fares in terms of availability next year. If it's as bad as I think it will be, I might just go for a 5700XT in the end, but I'm not that much of in a rush, so I'll live and see. I'd certainly prefer RDNA2 if possible.

Well, my MB is ITX, but the case does allow for a bit longer GPUs, so it's not as bad as it sounds. I currently have a founder's edition GTX 1080 in there (blower fan), which fits with minimal tolerances and is not exactly a small card... but not a large card either, certainly not as large as the reference 6800.

What Phasmid said. With that length limitation, you have basically two options for the 5700XT. The Sapphire Pulse (254 mm) and PowerColor Red Dragon (240 mm), which are both very good cards. Check this list on techpowerup. MSI Evoke and MSI Mech are trash, I would avoid them. For short RDNA2 cards you'll have to wait.

Keep in mind that Radeon 5000 series and older generations are notorious for using more power, while idle, in multiple monitors setups, or even a single 144+ Hz monitor (at 120 Hz seems to be fine). Something like 30-36 W instead the typical 8-10 W. They run the memory at full speed in those scenarios. The Radeon 6000 series solved this issue. Also, try to go for a dual BIOS card. I guess it's better to wait for the 6700, or even 6600, atm.

Thanks :). I was actually looking at it the other day... my case specs say I can fit a 255 mm GPU tops, but it's more like 258 mm on measurement, so that part is fine. Width and height also check out, with just enough space to accommodate both. This size is definitely the largest my case can take. Yeah, true... I'm just dreading the fact I might have to wait until 2022 until anything is in stock, but we'll see.

... fast forward to a time when the 6700 XT was launched, and guess what: there's not a single partner board that will fit in my case! Thanks, AMD, thanks. An upper mid-tier card that can't be packed in under 260 mm...

Guess I'll have to go for a 3070 whenever that'll be an option... plenty of dual fan < 260 mm models there, just 0 availability. At least one of the VKD3D devs now has an Ampere card and is looking to optimize for it (and hopefully Nvidia in general), so there's that at least.

I have a feeling I'll be stuck with my old GTX 1080 for a while though...

They are also sold out and cost like RON 4,600 when they were for sale. An absolutely outrageous sum for a mid-range card.

Unless AMD can get much more manufacturing capacity from TSMC, it will take a long time before the prices, availability and specialised smaller cards will be where you want them.

I spotted some Radeon 6800's for just over a thousand €uro one day but they sold out in a couple of minutes. Much better 'bang for the buck'. (See it as explosions. I did until someone pointed out what it actually refers to.)

Prices are only for the rich now.

Best bang, bang, bang for the buck. Clean fun :P.

Most of the capacity- 80%, by most estimates- AMD has is going towards consoles, so the main factor production wise will be when demand for console chips drops and MSony have enough inventory. But, then the problem becomes that AMD can make 6 zen chiplets or one Navi21 chip from the same wafer space, either will sell guaranteed, and CPUs have far better returns. Far, far better returns if the chiplet goes towards an Epyc or Threadripper instead of consumer. GPUs will always be last in line.

MSRP setting is more or less pointless at the moment, they could set the 6700XT's price to the same as the 5700XT's, but that would be purely theoretical for most of the world. They'll sell for more than the MSRP either way.

Either a bitcoin crash or eth going non GPU mining would be the ultimate solution. 6000 series/ RDNA2 is a poor mining architecture, most of its inflation is from generalised low availability so even if AMD upped production by 100% prices will still be inflated while nVidia cards are being bought in bulk for mining.