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Not to buy, just to win: AMD shows off Starfield hardware with a proprietary design
The time has come in less than a month: Starfield, which many have been so eagerly waiting for, will be launched. Also from a technical point of view, I’m really excited to see how you can tune in next week on a podcast with Michael Graf and Soren Diedrich. But what is AMD doing now?
stumbling block: As you can see in the video above, AMD introduced a limited edition Starfield themed gaming hardware of 500 pieces. On the one hand in the form of a graphics card (Radeon RX 7900 XTX), on the other hand in the form of a CPU (Ryzen 7 7800X3D).
So far, so good. But I can only shake my head for a few reasons, also because AMD is still silent about a feature that many gamers want (see the third point in the next list).
1. Is it art or can it disappear?
You can argue about taste, but personally I find the graphics card’s looks (also) unspectacular. Of course, you only have limited options up front because of three large fans. However, in essence, as can be seen in the image above, I only see white with some red and blue spots on it.
At least the iconic Starfield logo can be seen on the back, but again, the limited edition’s overall design doesn’t excite me.
It gets completely ridiculous with the CPU. Unsurprisingly, the wizard itself remains the same. Only the packaging has a slightly modified look. Hence the name Starfield Limited Edition Box
. But in the end it’s just a small rectangular box.
In principle, I have nothing against the idea of limited editions and there is no need to reinvent the wheel. In this case, AMD makes things too easy for my taste.
2. Not to buy, only to win
If you like the design more than I do, there’s bad news: the devices are finally for marketing purposes only, and therefore can’t be bought, only earned.
Where exactly, it is not yet clear to me. As part of Quakecon 2023, where AMD is represented, there may be opportunities to do so, but only on site. Also, tech influencer RobeytechLive announceto withdraw devices. Other influencers are likely to follow.
I also think that this type of advertising is in the form of a good sweepstakes in general. But if you do, please make clear statements from the start about when and where there are opportunities to win the limited hardware.
The limited Starfield hardware is currently on display at QuakeCon 2023, which is where this image comes from.
3. What many gamers wish for falls by the wayside
It’s completely natural for AMD and Bethesda to promote each other as part of their collaboration, and that’s what this device is ultimately about.
Still, looking at it as a gamer, it’s not appropriate for AMD to proudly announce a limited edition Starfield hardware that few can match while still grappling with the controversial question. What about DLSS in Starfield?
Constantly silent.
You can learn more about the background discussion in the article Starfield and AMD PC partnership could block Nvidia’s premium features
.
Our queries on this subject have also remained unanswered so far. So it’s hard to assume Starfield won’t include the DLSS (and possibly Intel’s XeSS) that gamers want for release.
A partnership that only AMD and Bethesda can help
I don’t even think DLSS will play that big of a role in Starfield. Because I highly suspect the CPU plays an above-average role in performance – and if that is the case, the potential performance gains through technologies like DLSS and FSR are smaller.
It should also not be forgotten: while DLSS requires an RTX graphics card such as the Geforce RTX 4060, the AMD FSR included in the game can be used with graphics cards from all manufacturers.
But that doesn’t change the fact that from a gamer’s point of view, it’s always better to have all the technologies available to choose from (provided you have the right hardware). Especially since technically nothing speaks against implementing DLSS and XeSS in Starfield.
In the end, only AMD and Bethesda have something from their partnership, aside from graphics card and game bundles that are very attractive to some. My colleague Fritz also talks about this in detail in the following video:
Link to YouTube content
What do you think of AMD’s newly introduced limited edition Starfield? Do you like the look and want to call it your own? Or have you already seen more beautifully designed limited editions? Also, how do you feel about the partnership between AMD and Bethesda on the game? Is it positive, neutral, or somewhat negative? Ie why is this the case? Feel free to write them in the comments!
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