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

[happy medium]

I understand you are rabid AMD fan mate, however try to keep a clear head. The 590 does exist, its just not released yet, 2nd, happy is trying to deduce what speeds a 580 dual core would have to be to match the 6990 as its a given it wont be full speed...This is not a thread hijack ok?

Actually I changed it to 2 gtx580's in sli, just for that reason.:thumbsup:
Thanks:thumbsup:

 

[RavenSEAL]

I understand you are rabid AMD fan mate, however try to keep a clear head. The 590 does exist, its just not released yet, 2nd, happy is trying to deduce what speeds a 580 dual core would have to be to match the 6990 as its a given it wont be full speed...This is not a thread hijack ok?

Which is my point, there is NOTHING to base a comparison on. Dual 580s are irrelevant, a dual GPU doesn't work like SLi or Xfire.

p.s. <----not a fanboy of any manufacturer.

I have 3 other machines running nVidia GPUs

 

[happy medium]

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/AMD_Radeon_6990_Featured_Review

Another Eyefinity review.

Posted and thanks Skurge.:thumbsup:

 

[Skurge]

I understand you are rabid AMD fan mate, however try to keep a clear head. The 590 does exist, its just not released yet, 2nd, happy is trying to deduce what speeds a 580 dual core would have to be to match the 6990 as its a given it wont be full speed...This is not a thread hijack ok?

I find it odd that he would then subtly accuse Grooveriding of derailing when he brought up the 590 topic.

There are other threads (2 or 3 that discus the possibility of a 590) this is a 6990 thread. You can compare it to nvidia cards. not speculate about future nvidia cards. So it is a thread hijack.

 

[RavenSEAL]

I find it odd that he would then subtly accuse Grooveriding of derailing when he brought up the 590 topic.

There are other threads (2 or 3 that discus the possibility of a 590) this is a 6990 thread. You can compare it to nvidia cards. not speculate about future nvidia cards. So it is a thread hijack.

Make that 5.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2138910&highlight=gtx590
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2148341&highlight=gtx+590
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2147358&highlight=gtx+590
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2147325&highlight=gtx+590
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2133836&highlight=gtx+590

Now, please, continue HD6990 discussion, if you wanna talk 590...pick one.

 

[happy medium]

You can compare it to nvidia cards. not speculate about future nvidia cards.

I did 2 gtx580's (it was edited long ago), and for the third time!, can we get back on topic now and mabe help me answer my question.
Thanks

 

[SolMiester]

I find it odd that he would then subtly accuse Grooveriding of derailing when he brought up the 590 topic.

There are other threads (2 or 3 that discus the possibility of a 590) this is a 6990 thread. You can compare it to nvidia cards. not speculate about future nvidia cards. So it is a thread hijack.

Not a thread hijack, you dont make the rules of comparison! This is about multi GPU's, of which the 590 is included and about to be released, and also referenced in the post by happy!

 

[Skurge]

After some careful reading I can see the 6990 has some low temps compared to other cards. As illustrated by some of the nice overclocks a lot of sites are getting. Almost all of them are over 955mhz. Im sure turning the fan down a bit will still keep the card cool and tame the noise too.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Not a thread hijack, you dont make the rules of comparison! This is about multi GPU's, of which the 590 is included and about to be released, and also referenced in the post by happy!

Got info? Because right now, you're furthering the thread hijacking. This is strictly a 6990 thread. If you wanna compare it to the 590 or 580, then make a separate thread.

 

[Skurge]

Not a thread hijack, you dont make the rules of comparison! This is about multi GPU's, of which the 590 is included and about to be released, and also referenced in the post by happy!

Speculating about a card no one has seen is not a comparison. So what I think it should be compared to is irrelevant.

There are 5 other threads to talk about what clocks the 590 might have.

 

[Firestorm007]

I understand you are rabid AMD fan mate, however try to keep a clear head. The 590 does exist, its just not released yet, 2nd, happy is trying to deduce what speeds a 580 dual core would have to be to match the 6990 as its a given it wont be full speed...This is not a thread hijack ok?

If Raven is a Rabid AMD fanboy. What does that make you Sol? Let's go with a Rabid Nvidia fanboy, shall we? Since that's all I ever see you post. Raven is a well balanced member here and he contributes to the community as whole. Why don't you lay off the personal insults for once and discuss the topic at hand.

 

[Skurge]

I did 2 gtx580's (it was edited long ago), and for the third time!, can we get back on topic now and mabe help me answer my question.
Thanks

That changes things. I don't know. 15%?

 

[happy medium]

That changes things. I don't know. 15%?

Thanks finally.

My point was 15%, yes I see that but, like I said my math is not the best.
If the gtx580 is at 773 core, 15% lower, would that be 663 core?:hmm:

 

[Skurge]

Thanks finally.

My point was 15&#37;, yes I see that but, like I said my math is not the best.
If the gtx580 is at 773 core, 15% lower, would that be 663 core?:hmm:

657mhz rounded off, I don't know about memory clocks though. The 6990 does show bottlenecks with bandwidth sometimes.

 

[happy medium]

OK, how much will the gtx580 in sli have to be downclocked from 773 core to match this 6990 card?
110 core? to 663? My math is not the greatest.

Going by this chart on Hardware Canucks...
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...s/41404-amd-radeon-hd-6990-4gb-review-23.html

Just in case someone missed it. :thumbsup:

Edit:657? thats Skurge, really.

 

[toyota]

After some careful reading I can see the 6990 has some low temps compared to other cards. As illustrated by some of the nice overclocks a lot of sites are getting. Almost all of them are over 955mhz. Im sure turning the fan down a bit will still keep the card cool and tame the noise too.

that's not really what I gathered if you want to keep temps below 90.


Within a minute or so in a 3D application, the warmest GPU heats up to somewhere between 88 and 89 degrees, and the fan cranks up to 2880 RPM. That&#8217;s &#8220;who played a trick on me and swapped my graphics card out for a GeForce GTX 480?&#8221; territory. Both the AMD and Nvidia cards crank out about 51 dB. In order to keep the card at 90 degrees or less, the fan then speeds up to 3600 RPM, or what I call Charlie Sheen F-18 mode.

There&#8217;s no excuse for a graphics card to be this loud and, if spinning its cooling fan up to 3600 RPM is the only way to keep the Radeon HD 6990 from overheating, then this product simply isn&#8217;t ready for consumption. Because the problem is related to fan speed, there&#8217;s a chance an updated firmware could smooth out the way AMD handles heat. Right now, though, there&#8217;s no way I&#8217;d install one of these things in a gaming machine.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6990-antilles-crossfire,2878-15.html

 

[RavenSEAL]

that's not really what I gathered if you want to keep temps below 90.


Within a minute or so in a 3D application, the warmest GPU heats up to somewhere between 88 and 89 degrees, and the fan cranks up to 2880 RPM. That&#8217;s &#8220;who played a trick on me and swapped my graphics card out for a GeForce GTX 480?&#8221; territory. Both the AMD and Nvidia cards crank out about 51 dB. In order to keep the card at 90 degrees or less, the fan then speeds up to 3600 RPM, or what I call Charlie Sheen F-18 mode.

There&#8217;s no excuse for a graphics card to be this loud and, if spinning its cooling fan up to 3600 RPM is the only way to keep the Radeon HD 6990 from overheating, then this product simply isn&#8217;t ready for consumption. Because the problem is related to fan speed, there&#8217;s a chance an updated firmware could smooth out the way AMD handles heat. Right now, though, there&#8217;s no way I&#8217;d install one of these things in a gaming machine.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6990-antilles-crossfire,2878-15.html

Gotta for wait for those non-reference coolers

ASUS and MSi seem processing. Can't say anything about any other manufacturers. Sapphire maybe with "vapor". Who knows.

 

[Skurge]

that's not really what I gathered if you want to keep temps below 90.


Within a minute or so in a 3D application, the warmest GPU heats up to somewhere between 88 and 89 degrees, and the fan cranks up to 2880 RPM. That’s “who played a trick on me and swapped my graphics card out for a GeForce GTX 480?” territory. Both the AMD and Nvidia cards crank out about 51 dB. In order to keep the card at 90 degrees or less, the fan then speeds up to 3600 RPM, or what I call Charlie Sheen F-18 mode.

There’s no excuse for a graphics card to be this loud and, if spinning its cooling fan up to 3600 RPM is the only way to keep the Radeon HD 6990 from overheating, then this product simply isn’t ready for consumption. Because the problem is related to fan speed, there’s a chance an updated firmware could smooth out the way AMD handles heat. Right now, though, there’s no way I’d install one of these things in a gaming machine.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6990-antilles-crossfire,2878-15.html

Well, I guess maybe its cause some reviews use an open bench, other use a case, other are closer to the card, others are further away. Its odd that the differences between reviews would be so large though.

 

[Skurge]

Gotta for wait for those non-reference coolers

ASUS and MSi seem processing. Can't say anything about any other manufacturers. Sapphire maybe with "vapor". Who knows.

They should just yank the shroud off and put some 92mm fans over both heatsinks.

 

[Skurge]

657? thats Skurge, really.

Thats what got. 85/100 X 773

 

[happy medium]

Well, I guess maybe its cause some reviews use an open bench, other use a case, other are closer to the card, others are further away. Its odd that the differences between reviews would be so large though.

I love the way techpowerup does there noise levels.
Skurge/Toyota, I think you will too.

Quote:
"In idle, AMD's Radeon HD 6990 emits reasonable noise levels considering all the performance you have available at the click of a button. With 34 dbA the card is noisy though, when compared to other cards on the market.

Under load all the power the card consumes is turned into heat which means the fan has to work extra hard to get rid of the heat to keep the GPUs cool. As a result the card is really, really noisy. Think of a table fan that keeps you cool in the summer, that should give you a rough idea of the noise levels to expect."


http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/Radeon_HD_6990/21.html

 

[apoppin]

Well, I guess maybe its cause some reviews use an open bench, other use a case, other are closer to the card, others are further away. Its odd that the differences between reviews would be so large though.

It's loud. If you use the performance switch and +20 on Power Tune and leave the fan on AUTO, there is no way around it. i leave my case closed even though it is a PitA to change out HW ... and when it spins up it commands your attention.
--Just like a GTX 480 reference version on Charlie Sheen' drug of choice.



i don't think AMD paid much attention to putting these cards together in CrossFire-X - either Tri- or Quad-fire .. you will cook the top card in an X58 MB where there is not much space between the cards. Then it becomes unfriendly-loud and hot.
:'(

 

[happy medium]

The odd thing about techpowerup is they test these high end cards at 1024x768 and 1280x1024 and end the review like this................

quote:
"Pricewise there are no big surprises, coming in at $699, the Radeon HD 6990 is expensive, but highest-end cards always came with a price premium. Unless you are gaming on a 30" or Eyefinity setups, the card seems a little bit overkill, especially when many new titles are console ports that use only DirectX 9. On the other hand, if you can afford the price tag and have the monitor estate, the HD 6990 seems to be a good alternative to a multi-GPU setup. NVIDIA will be releasing their own dual-GPU card later this month, so it might be wise to hold off with a purchase until all options are on the table."

Why waste you time testing the lower resolutions and adding them to the overall score? That does not make sense and could mess up some of the more meaningfull overall results.

hmmmm How do they know Nvidia's going to release a dual gpu card that does not exist? Liars!

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/Radeon_HD_6990/26.html

 

[RavenSEAL]

The odd thing about techpowerup is they test these high end cards at 1024x768 and 1280x1024 and end the review like this................

quote:
"Pricewise there are no big surprises, coming in at $699, the Radeon HD 6990 is expensive, but highest-end cards always came with a price premium. Unless you are gaming on a 30" or Eyefinity setups, the card seems a little bit overkill, especially when many new titles are console ports that use only DirectX 9. On the other hand, if you can afford the price tag and have the monitor estate, the HD 6990 seems to be a good alternative to a multi-GPU setup. NVIDIA will be releasing their own dual-GPU card later this month, so it might be wise to hold off with a purchase until all options are on the table."

Why waste you time testing the lower resolutions and adding them to the overall score? That does not make sense and could mess up some of the more meaningfull overall results.

hmmmm How do they know Nvidia's going to release a dual gpu card that does not exist? Liars!

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/Radeon_HD_6990/26.html

To the public, the card technically doesn't exist. We know absolutely NOTHING certain about it.

 

[happy medium]

To the public, the card technically doesn't exist. We know absolutely NOTHING certain about it.

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.