'
The Bottom Line
After further testing the Radeon HD 6990 we are happy to see such a large difference in performance compared to the GeForce GTX 580. The reason being is due to price, a GeForce GTX 580 is still
$500 online. The Radeon HD 6990 is over $200 more, at
$709.99 currently. However, that $200 really is buying you a lot more performance. Sure, you can put in another GTX 580, but that combo is going to cost you $1000! So, for $700, you do get a very good deal on performance for the gaming enthusiast. There is also the power comparison, for 100 watts more, you really get a ton more performance.
The Radeon HD 6990 shines when it is overclocked. We are able to match and exceed Radeon HD 6970 CrossFireX performance simply by overclocking both GPUs. We didn't even need to raise the Voltage to match 6970 CrossFireX performance. It is kind of dissapointing to us, however, that for this higher price you do
have to overclock it on order to match the performance of dual-6970 CrossFireX video cards which are cheaper, but at least it can be done. The BIOS OC option doesn't buy you anything in-game if you just use it, you will need to overclock the memory frequency as well.
Overall, we have a better impression of the AMD Radeon HD 6990 now. If you are looking for an all-in-one dual-GPU package, this is it right now. It offers a power efficient design, and performance that is astonishing for this price.'
I wonder if he will change his tune with the 590 coming out now ? The 590 being more expensive and a little slower, but quieter than the 6990.