PowerColor Radeon Vega 64 LC

July 2023. I was running a 5700 XT and knew exactly what I was about to do was stupid. The PowerColor Vega 64 LC showed up for $200 and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Not because it was faster — the 5700 XT beats it in basically every benchmark that matters. I pulled the trigger anyway, purely on aesthetics and the pull of HBM.

This is the LC variant — factory liquid cooled, a 120mm AIO attached directly to the GPU die from the factory. Silver shroud, pump head in the foam, braided tubing. It looks like nothing else from that era, and that’s why I bought it.

Then I actually used it. The Vega 64 LC is a space heater disguised as a graphics card — the AIO moves heat off the die faster, but the VRMs and HBM stacks still dump serious wattage into the room. Measurably warmer, constantly. Didn’t matter. The LC aesthetic, the HBM, the factory AIO — none of it shows up in a benchmark, but it showed up every time I looked at my desk.

PowerColor Vega 64 LC — HBM2, factory AIO, $200. Technically a downgrade. Still worth it.