HD 6990 Preview/Review

[InCredible]

@ Hurrdurr...looking at Guru3d's review the card isn't THAT loud compared to others.. they take a closed case and a meter at 75cm for all there setups and the gtx480 is right on par as well as 6970 xfire..while 6950 xfire is 1db louder..not to mention like Wez said, you put two 6970 in xfire one right on top of another and the top card is going to get hot and the fan will have to rev up to keep it cooler, making the xfire a lot louder then a single card. I won't continue to argue against someone thats hard headed and doesn't see that this card has a perfect spot in the market, just like all the rest have..I'd prefer this card over 2 6970s. Less cabling, less clutter, same speed, noise being on par(and from what guru3d mentioned its not an annoying 46db..and i know exactly what he was referring to. Cause something can be lesser db on the meter but be way more annoying to a person)

either way if you dont like it, dont buy it. Plenty of "stupid" people will and they'll enjoy it cause it fits their needs. Not everyone has/wants/needs just like you thankfully

[Lanek]

I could only imagine the flaming around here if Nvidia released a $700 card that was this hot and power hungry.

Lol, if it was a single gpu card, a dual gpu card based on the high end cards is a bit different. keep in mind this card is still in 40nm, when initially all the 69xx parts was in 32nm .. But im right with you, now Nvidia will release a 750-800$ with equal Power consumption, so well finally it will be 1:1 on this.

About price, here a 580 cost barely 500-550.- ( 1 CHF = ~1.07 $ actually ), a 6970 379-399.- .. ( 580 price is starting to decrease it was more of 600 before )... The 6990 is not yet listed.. but i imagine it will be around 700 at start. ...

The only concern here is get 2x 6970 or 1x 6990... 580SLI vs 6970 ( outside ofc for Ln2 OC ), it's not even a fight, the difference is not enough for justify the difference.

Actually due to low Availability the 6990 is priced higher of the MSRP but it's specially cause it's the only card like this available, shop will try pull some money of it before the 590 is here and this one is rather high allready, so i believe they have just take some margin waiting the Nvidia 590 ones, and cut the price if needed. ( this will depend not on the performance, but specially on the price will push Nvidia on it )
AMD want make money that's for sure, and i think they have just calculate how much will cost the 590. and base themselve on it.

[\/icious]

Wasnt the 5970 700$ to start. I have little doubt this will settle down to around 600

[computerpro3]

The real interesting thing is that this will allow a trifire 6970 setup on mainstream boards that don't have NF200.

6990 in the 16xGPU slot
6970 in the 8x slot

Or even better, 6990 in the 16X slot and a 6950 flashed to 6970 for $230

So basically, $850-900 for a 3x 6970 setup. That's cheaper than GTX580 SLI!

[Zloyd]

6990+6950(70) Yea cheaper more power to run warmer noisier buggier.

But that aside this card is plain beastly too bad its 700$.

[InCredible]

@vicious, yes the 5970 was very expensive to start and never came down because it had no competitor. I think a lot of people here are not realizing that every dual gpu solution BEFORE now has NEVER reached fastest gpu in xfire/sli therefore always being cheaper..its cheaper because it was LESS performance. Now you have something that is the SAME performance as their fastest gpu in xfire. Now of course this is the starting spot, like others mentioned. The 6970 wasn't $349 at launch, it was $379 however prices have dropped due to having something that competes with it. The same will happen here. It's priced a little higher then what they are probably going to sell it for but after the 590 comes to market(depending on performance of course) they will drop the price here and there and either stay on par with 2x6970 price or dropping slightly below it since overall thats exactly what you are getting. If amd wanted to really hurt nvidia and get more sales out of this card then of course lowering the price down to something like $550 would make it sell ridiculously fast. They have to be saving money on less pcb,coolers etc somewhere to cut costs. I mean really overall they sell 6950's which are exactly like 6970 for under $275...so i'd assume its possible if they really wanted, on the other hand they may not want to produce a lot of these leaving it to be a higher cost/profit area.

[BababooeyHTJ]

Reason 1: 2 slots vs. 4. This matters to me. I have a sound card, NIC, and OCZ Revodrive X2 in my rig. I don't have a ton of extra room for random PCIe cards.

Reason 2: The cost comparison breaks down for users who will be water cooling the cards as full cover blocks for dual GPU cards are only marginally more expensive than full covers for single GPU cards, so this single card with a water block on it is now a cheaper solution that takes up less space

Reason 3: 5 display support, which is not present yet on any other single AMD card other than the Radeon 5870 2GB eyefinity edition.

Thank you, now that makes sense. I guess that is one good reason to buy one of these monsters over a pair of 6950s.

[RacingTurtle]

Mine was waiting for me when I got home - wow its big.

Comparison for you with a BB:

[MrToad]

Mine was waiting for me when I got home - wow its big.

How big? If it doesn't fit in my PC-B10 it's going to be a no-no...

[Kimofil]

How big? If it doesn't fit in my PC-B10 it's going to be a no-no...

As big as 5970

[RacingTurtle]

Here it is installed in a 700D with HD5870 on top:

[nijel]

nVidia like it too

[Lanek]

lol kitguru have some humor, im not sure the girls was even known what was this card lol .... but well the image is fun.

[Lanek]

Here it is installed in a 700D with HD5870 on top:

For peoples who want to compare, don't forget the 5870pcb is shorter of the cooler ..

Anway, it will fit without problem on my HAF-X, just need to move my second 360 rads in another place ( got 1 one top and 1 on between the HDD case and the 2x gpu's. ), or just remove the middle fans.

[Philip_J_Fry]

i wonder if Asus or MSI is going to make Twin Frozr or DrectCU version for this, and if they do, I'm guessing 2 x 8pin + 6pin PCI-E power for the DirectCU? wouldn't that be something? 3 power connectors.

this card will be a beast with decent watercooling loop (lol its already one at stock clock), oc it with like 1.15+v for 24/7

[hokiealumnus]

Another comparison for anyone interested. Matrix 5870 Platinum on top, reference HD 6970 in the middle and the beast on the bottom.



That doesn't really do it justice though. Here it is a bit closer with the 6970 vs the 6990. It truly is a massive card. It's the same length as the 5970 before it.

[Lanek]

Huum maybe more easy for compare lol .. If your case can eat a 5970, no problem with the 6990.

[MrToad]

Thanks for the info and the pics people

Same as the 5970s it'll fit... Just (they invade the 5.25" bays, but I have one empty and the Aquaero on the other one, so no big deal )

So with dimensional woes at bay, now is just a matter of numbers... Big numbers if I go ahead and buy an Areca RAID controller on top...

[safan80]

Wasnt the 5970 700$ to start. I have little doubt this will settle down to around 600

No it wasn't $700 at launch. I purchased two 5970s back then.

[\/icious]

No it wasn't $700 at launch. I purchased two 5970s back then.

Close enough and considering how much improved this dual card to its gen compared to the 5970 to its gen makes the 20$ difference negligible

[Dumo]

Probly between Fri - Mon @ Newegg

[Zloyd]

I like how AMD have put a switch on the card they wont cover, its like this card is going to die a lot I can imagine a lot of RMA's :P, AMD is gonna be like told ya so !!!

I think its just smarter to wait for nvidias card even if its as power hungry and only as fast it wont have a suicide switch on it. Trust AMD to release a 750$ enthusiast card that you cant overclock ..... freaking pathetic sad.

[InCredible]

^ what are you talking about???

[Lanek]

I like how AMD have put a switch on the card they wont cover, its like this card is going to die a lot I can imagine a lot of RMA's :P, AMD is gonna be like told ya so !!!

I think its just smarter to wait for nvidias card even if its as power hungry and only as fast it wont have a suicide switch on it. Trust AMD to release a 750$ enthusiast card that you cant overclock ..... freaking pathetic sad.

the card can keep easy 972mhz with default voltage on switch position 2.. no problem.. the card is designed for keep and draw 450W and it's not the average 350W (880mhz ) who will change this ..... If the card was badly designed and at the limit, i will say " maybe"; but in the case of the 6990 the card is "over designed "...

[Dumo]

Mine was waiting for me when I got home - wow its big.

Any 3D results?