Official HD6990 Review Thread (*updated* with 21 reviews at this time)

[RavenSEAL]

Techpowerup exists, and they are liars, must be, I hate them.

Do you like their reviews? I gave my opinion about their methods of benching games and noise levels. This is a technical forum.

You're completely missing the point, honestly about to block you.

 

[Castiel]

I'm thinking about a pair but i'm also thinking about 3 reference 6950's instead.

 

[Grooveriding]

I'm thinking about a pair but i'm also thinking about 3 reference 6950's instead.

I was going to buy 2 as well, but after seeing some benchmarks, they're simply too powerful for my resolution.

If someone is gaming 5760x1920+ then the setup to have is two of these, otherwise they are just going to end up going to waste.

 

[Castiel]

I was going to buy 2 as well, but after seeing some benchmarks, they're simply too powerful for my resolution.

If someone is gaming 5760x1920+ then the setup to have is two of these, otherwise they are just going to end up going to waste.

I think waiting for the 590 benchmarks might be beneficial

 

[RavenSEAL]

I think waiting for the 590 benchmarks might be beneficial

Well, not really, apparently it's dual 580s clocked too high for $1100 dollars.

 

[Castiel]

Well, not really, apparently it's dual 580s clocked too high for $1100 dollars.

I haven't seen any prices leaked yet

 

[RavenSEAL]

I haven't seen any prices leaked yet

No, i'm just assuming, because the card exist, you know?:hmm:

 

[happy medium]

I'm thinking about a pair but i'm also thinking about 3 reference 6950's instead.

You can tri-fire a 6990 with a 6950. Thats might be a good setup?
Mabe unlock the 6950? I know you want something different. :thumbsup:

 

[Castiel]

You can tri-fire a 6990 with a 6950. Thats might be a good setup?
Mabe unlock the 6950? I know you want something different. :thumbsup:

Possible but it'll still be more costly.

Sapphire Reference 6950's - 276.99 X 3 = 828
Sapphire 6990 + Sapphire 6950 = 985
Pair of Sapphire 6990's = 1418

I'm not sure what i want to do.

 

[notty22]

More than a couple reviewers alluded that you would not want to run two of these right next to each other, with no slot in between. Like many boards are configured, the top card will just cook. The design of the shroud lets half the heat back in the case and the top card would have minimal access to 'unheated air'.

 

[RavenSEAL]

More than a couple reviewers alluded that you would not want to run two of these right next to each other, with no slot in between. Like many boards are configured, the top card will just cook. The design of the shroud lets half the heat back in the case and the top card would have minimal access to 'unheated air'.

Water cooling is gonna be the way to go either way, specially if you wanna Xfire it with another card.

Put 2 6990s with reference cooling back to back and you might as well sell your oven, microwave and stove all at once.

 

[happy medium]

More than a couple reviewers alluded that you would not want to run two of these right next to each other, with no slot in between. Like many boards are configured, the top card will just cook. The design of the shroud lets half the heat back in the case and the top card would have minimal access to 'unheated air'.

I don't understand why AMD didn't use the angled shroud cover like Nvidia used for thier gtx570/580. It lets in alot more air and does not cook the cards when they are right next to each other.

From the Anand review.....

Quote:
". For SLI users this also means that it’s using NVIDIA’s angled shroud that is supposed to allow for better cooling in tight spaces. As we’ve already seen on the GTX 580 this design can give the GTX 470 a run for its money, so it shouldn’t be a surprise when we say that the GTX 570 is similarly capable."

As you can see (barely) the fan shroud is angled like 1/2 an inch near the fan.
Keysplayer had a gtx570 and agreed with me that it would help in sli/crossfire situations.

I think a design like this could have helped the 6990 in x-fire at least a little. 3 or 4c mabe? Every little bit helps.

 

[Skurge]

Possible but it'll still be more costly.

Sapphire Reference 6950's - 276.99 X 3 = 828
Sapphire 6990 + Sapphire 6950 = 985
Pair of Sapphire 6990's = 1418

I'm not sure what i want to do.

Arent you worried about the 2x 8xPCIE slots you have there?

 

[Will Robinson]

This is the planet's fastest single video card, supplanting the Radeon HD 5970 that came before it. The 6990 is even faster than two GeForce GTX 570 cards in SLI, which cost about the same amount, and the 6990 draws less power under load, even in AUSUM uber mode. Add in the 6990's rich array of display outputs, and there's no question Nvidia is severely outclassed at this lofty $700 price point.

:thumbsup:
http://techreport.com/articles.x/20537/12

Originally Posted by OILFIELDTRASH
Not even the same thing. The 580 is a true single gpu. The 6990 is a microstuttering crossfire card.

Can't wait for the tests against the microstuttering GTX590.

 

[Castiel]

Arent you worried about the 2x 8xPCIE slots you have there?

If i ran 3 cards it would run at X8/X16/X16 thanks to the NF200

 

[Silverforce11]

Possible but it'll still be more costly.

Sapphire Reference 6950's - 276.99 X 3 = 828
Sapphire 6990 + Sapphire 6950 = 985
Pair of Sapphire 6990's = 1418

I'm not sure what i want to do.

If you aren't running a 3 monitor setup, it's kinda overkill for everything .. for a long time to come.

Just a single 6950 is more than enough for single monitors.

 

[Castiel]

If you aren't running a 3 monitor setup, it's kinda overkill for everything .. for a long time to come.

Just a single 6950 is more than enough for single monitors.

There is no such thing as "Overkill"

 

[RavenSEAL]

There is no such thing as "Overkill"

Future-proofing

 

[Castiel]

Future-proofing

Getting ready for BF3

 

[3DVagabond]

If I were interested in this card (or 2) and wasn't going to water cool it (them), I'd wait for the Asus Cu2 or, if Sapphire do it, the Toxic w/Accelero Xtreme, like they did with the 5970 Toxic (IMHO the best 5970 ever made.). For Crossfire, w/o water cooling, you're going to need 3 slots between your pci slots. All of this needs to be considered, cost wise, before upgrading.

I see this as a completely different direction for AMD. Might explain the turn over in upper management? I can't imagine Dirk going in this direction. I would rather have seen them spend the money engineering a single 1920 Cayman with a wider mem bus and compete for the single GPU crown at <300W, and then just let people buy 2, if that's what they need.

This card reminds me too much of the original Fermi, too hot and too loud (Except originally Fermi couldn't even yield fully functioning chips.). nVidia learned from that mistake and has gone to great lengths to correct it. We do need to consider though that Cayman was designed with a shrink in mind and AMD has to work with the cards they're dealt right now.

 

[Baasha]

I think waiting for the 590 benchmarks might be beneficial

^this

I was about to get 2 6990s as well but I will wait for the 590 to come out to see which one is "king".

 

[strikeblue]

Hey, is this beast gonna fit in an antec1200 v3 case with the p8p67 deluxe mobo? I was building around a HD5970 because it's good enough for me but the cheapest I could find it for is like $700 which is pretty much the same as 6990. Haven't actually bought anything yet so I'm still open to parts.

 

[Castiel]

Hey, is this beast gonna fit in an antec1200 v3 case with the p8p67 deluxe mobo? I was building around a HD5970 because it's good enough for me but the cheapest I could find it for is like $700 which is pretty much the same as 6990. Haven't actually bought anything yet so I'm still open to parts.

Don't waste your money on it. Order a pair of reference 6950's, unlock them and have the same performance for a hundred dollars less

 

[strikeblue]

I don't really mind, since it'll be using only 1 slot. I could crossfire it in the future if I need to.

 

[Castiel]

I don't really mind, since it'll be using only 1 slot. I could crossfire it in the future if I need to.

Its your money bro. Only reason i didn't order 2 today is because they're not worth it IMO. Get better performance and value from running 2 cards in Xfire