HD 6990 Preview/Review

[EagleRock]

This will be a noisy monster !!
They should try to build a better cooling for this cards, My 4870x2 sound like a helicopter, how the hell anyone can enjoy a game with this noise!!

[biohead]

This will be a noisy monster !!
They should try to build a better cooling for this cards, My 4870x2 sound like a helicopter, how the hell anyone can enjoy a game with this noise!!

headphones, alcohol.

[miptzi]

headphones, alcohol.

deafness.....

[Lanek]

This will be a noisy monster !!
They should try to build a better cooling for this cards, My 4870x2 sound like a helicopter, how the hell anyone can enjoy a game with this noise!!

I was ask me same, and after think a bit to it... 2 vapor chambers coolers completely separate and cooled with a middle fan, should be good... the cooler is rated for 450w.. the card is alot under that.. i think we are far of the 4870x2

The reason of get the 2 cores so far of each other, on opposite side of the pcb.

[Tha Last Meal]

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=29315

[Manicdan]

62c idling with 400mhz sounds kinda high

[kuroikenshi]

Thos sorta monster can only be tamed by an Arctic cooler, or waterblock...

[zerazax]

holy moly 1200Mhz would be a beast

these need to be put under water, stat!

[Chickenfeed]

62c idling with 400mhz sounds kinda high

The card must have been connected to more than 1 display or a 3d capable display, resulting in the higher idle powerstate. My 4870x2 would idle quite high when using 2 displays and even my 5870 would idle a good 10-15C higher. Based on my testing with different bios' the memory controller voltage and memory clock itself seem to impact idle power draw the most.

All that in mind, theres nothing wrong with a card running at 50+ at idle. People are just used to these ultra low powerstates resulting in very low idle temperatures of which aren't possible without resorting to a custom high fan speed ( which at idle I think would be stupid )

I fully expect the fan will have to work quite hard to manage sub 90C temps at load though. If it ends up making less noise than a 480 at stock, I'll be quite impressed. I have no shadow of a doubt that the thing will be an inferno once overclocked though.

[grasskicker509]

it does graphics, keeps you warm in winter and fries eggs!!!

[tajoh111]

Considering this card has a 450 watt cooling capacity and power tune limit of 450. I imagine this thing under furmark and powertune disabled could really die. Does altering power tunes setting void warranty?

I was also reading that any overclocking including software using catalyst voids warranty. This card is pretty scary since it tips on the scale of power limits. I think with this card, brand name will be more important than ever because if I am going to buy a 700 dollar graphics card, it better have a warranty if I overclock it.

[onethreehill]

AMD Radeon HD 6990 Dual-GPU Graphics Card Unboxing
http://techgage.com/news/amd_radeon_...card_unboxing/

[QuadDamage]

Two 6970`s, are gonna draw more power,cost more(probably) or the same and take up more space.So, what gives ?
Every dual gpu card follows the same path, so if this fails, every dual gpu card fails

See in fact i don't care about power consumption as long as it's a single card we're talking about. I could slap two MCW-60's on the 6970's and for this behemot i need a full cover wb.... I really hoped ATi would cancel this card and roll out an imroved single core refresh so i could grab two of them.

[HKPolice]

Wow you really have no idea how ASIC design works do you? If ATi made another refresh it would cost millions in R&D and tape out alone, why would they do that? 6970 just came out, why would ATi release another refresh so soon??

If you're not happy with ATi's product, then go buy the upcoming GTX590 and slap a waterblock onto that. OH WAIT nVidia is doing the same thing as ATi and putting 2 GPUs onto 1 PCB

See in fact i don't care about power consumption as long as it's a single card we're talking about. I could slap two MCW-60's on the 6970's and for this behemot i need a full cover wb.... I really hoped ATi would cancel this card and roll out an imroved single core refresh so i could grab two of them.

[Kristoferr]

62c idling with 400mhz sounds kinda high

Not at all. You also see the fan at 29%. Not bad.
My HD5970 with reference cooler is idle´ing 59C out of case - fan at 27%
and 63C inside case - fan at 29%. So its pretty much the same as HD 5970 @ idle.

[Macadamia]

Considering this card has a 450 watt cooling capacity and power tune limit of 450. I imagine this thing under furmark and powertune disabled could really die. Does altering power tunes setting void warranty?

I was also reading that any overclocking including software using catalyst voids warranty. This card is pretty scary since it tips on the scale of power limits. I think with this card, brand name will be more important than ever because if I am going to buy a 700 dollar graphics card, it better have a warranty if I overclock it.

PowerTune is always on, it's just a +-20% power control.

[STEvil]

need a full cover for any big single card these days, or use an air cooled heatsink for the VRM/MEM.

[RaZz!]

Considering this card has a 450 watt cooling capacity and power tune limit of 450. I imagine this thing under furmark and powertune disabled could really die. Does altering power tunes setting void warranty?

I was also reading that any overclocking including software using catalyst voids warranty. This card is pretty scary since it tips on the scale of power limits. I think with this card, brand name will be more important than ever because if I am going to buy a 700 dollar graphics card, it better have a warranty if I overclock it.

yes, adjusting power tune settings does void the warranty. however, aren't power tune settings enforced through the catalyst software? how do they know you changed them?

[kuroikenshi]

yes, adjusting power tune settings does void the warranty. however, aren't power tune settings enforced through the catalyst software? how do they know you changed them?

angry birds tell AMD

[QuadDamage]

Wow you really have no idea how ASIC design works do you? If ATi made another refresh it would cost millions in R&D and tape out alone, why would they do that? 6970 just came out, why would ATi release another refresh so soon??

If you're not happy with ATi's product, then go buy the upcoming GTX590 and slap a waterblock onto that. OH WAIT nVidia is doing the same thing as ATi and putting 2 GPUs onto 1 PCB

wow don't shoot me dude. Sorry for not paying enough respect to your beloved brand.
You really think the R&D costs of the 6990 are low and how many people will even consider buying this thing? $700 atleast for the noisy 450W scorcher that will always rely heavily on hotfix drivers. Dodgy/not working crossfire, anyone? Yeah that sounds like a must have for everyone.

[prznar1]

wow don't shoot me dude. Sorry for not paying enough respect to your beloved brand.
You really think the R&D costs of the 6990 are low and how many people will even consider buying this thing? $700 atleast for the noisy 450W scorcher that will always rely heavily on hotfix drivers. Dodgy/not working crossfire, anyone? Yeah that sounds like a must have for everyone.

and gtx 590 will be a cool and smooth running card with TDP below 200 watts

[MrToad]

AMD Radeon HD 6990 Dual-GPU Graphics Card Unboxing
http://techgage.com/news/amd_radeon_...card_unboxing/

From source:

[...]Due to reasons we'll tackle in our launch article, AMD urged us to not remove the card's cooler for the sake of taking photos[...]

Hope those "reasons" don't interfere with fitting a waterblock on this card... Excited as I am to get one of these to substitute my 2 x 5970s, if it can't go "under water" is not going in my rig

[Olivon]

From source:

[...]Due to reasons we'll tackle in our launch article, AMD urged us to not remove the card's cooler for the sake of taking photos[...]

Hope those "reasons" don't interfere with fitting a waterblock on this card... Excited as I am to get one of these to substitute my 2 x 5970s, if it can't go "under water" is not going in my rig

TIP, in the same thread.

[MrToad]

TIP, in the same thread.

Hmmm... yeah, AMD provided pics so they didn't have to remove the HS, but that doesn't explain why AMD urged them not to remove the HS...

Don't know if I'm making sense here, maybe I've misinterpreted the article, but it would seem to me that there's a different reason to "don't bother taking the HS off, here are the pics for you".

More like "don't remove the HS because we've used rubypads on the GPUs and if you try to take it out willy nilly you're going to rip them off the PCB" or something along those lines. Some mechanical or physical issue that makes the disassembly of the HS undesirable.

Or maybe is nothing that dramatic and is just that the dissasembly has to follow a specific procedure that might not be completely obvious. I remember a particular model of desktop we service where the guideline says that the HS should not be removed from the CPU for longer than 30 mins, as the TIM used degrades in contact with air. The obvious procedure for me would be remove TIM, reapply new TIM, yet the guideline is to reuse the same on OR replace the whole thermal assembly.

That's my interpretation of the text anyway, I could be wildly wrong.

[Lanek]

Well when you can be completely right, don't you think it's a little bit fast for ask this type of thing ? If something is wrong then, i think we will quickly know about it.