HD 6990 Preview/Review

[MrToad]

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.

I just have the irrational feeling that there's going to be some showstopper with this card, because is something I want to buy

It's probably nothing... Other people much more knowledgeable than myself on this thread have noted that the TDP of this card is close to some limit of some description, is probably AMD worried that if they take the HS apart and in the process of putting it back together something goes wrong the card is going to overheat, throttle and perform poorly on benchmarks.

[Lanek]

Speaking about this, i ask me if EK have allready designed a waterblock for thoses monsters.. i will wait the 590, but as buying 2x 6970 or 580 is a bit of a cost for replace my 2x good old 5870. taking a dual gpu and watercool the card will be cheaper and cost/performance gain wise, a little bit more acceptable. if i don't decide to wait the next series from both Nvidia or AMD ( a shop here still get some MSI Hawk, so maybe just tri cfx will be the choice ).

[Pantsu]

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

Taking the cooler off would mean you'd have to replace the TIM since the phase change TIM won't work as well reattached. But this is a standard procedure anyways, benchmark first, then check the insides.

[MrToad]

Taking the cooler off would mean you'd have to replace the TIM since the phase change TIM won't work as well reattached. But this is a standard procedure anyways, benchmark first, then check the insides.

That sounds reasonable and plausible, that's why it wouldn't satisfy my mind. It has an uncanny ability to disregard what's simple and logical and come up with preposterous (yet very satisfying) omens of doom and damnation...

Seems to be wired to do an inverse Occam's razor in any given situation...

[Heinz68]

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

62c idling with 400mhz sounds kinda high

I don't think GPU 400MHz Memory 1125MHz are the HD 6990 Idle clocks.
For example the HD 5970 idle clocks are GPU 157 MHz Memory 300MHz.

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.

My 5970 is idling 46C with fan at 25%. Probably the CosmosS 200x230x30mm 900 rpm side panel intake fan makes the difference, I also have 3 more 120x120x25mm 1200 rpm intake fan instaled.

I don't think the HD 6990 even with improved reference cooler is going to run as cool.


EDIT
Anyway I probably will buy the HD 6990, just waiting for the reviews and price.

[Kristoferr]

You room must be freezing or mine is too warm then I think i have around 28C in my room. So too warm. But i like it.

[Manicdan]

I don't think GPU 400MHz Memory 1125MHz are the HD 6990 Idle clocks.
For example the HD 5970 idle clocks are GPU 157 MHz Memory 300MHz.

cpu load says 0%, thus idling, sure it might have bumped up the clocks due to multi monitor output, but i still think 62 is excessively warm. maybe they just finished a benchmark and it cooling down though.

[Tha Last Meal]

First review for HD 6990

http://www.inpai.com.cn/doc/hard/144777.htm

[Loque]

impressive performance.. beats 6970 crossfire in some tests even with lower memory clocks o_O

and lol @ the AUSUM switch

[InCredible]

definitely impressive like posted above..performance on par and sometimes beating 6970xfire ..very nice..

[cold2010]

impressive performance.. Beats 6970 crossfire in some tests even with lower memory clocks o_o

and lol @ the ausum switch :d

definitely impressive like posted above..performance on par and sometimes beating 6970xfire ..very nice..

Where is it?

[InCredible]

in the post above ours..with the link..that says first 6990 review

[cesariuth]

First review for HD 6990

http://www.inpai.com.cn/doc/hard/144777.htm

Test Platform with Cooler Master 600W???

[Tha Last Meal]

definitely impressive like posted above..performance on par and sometimes beating 6970xfire ..very nice..
impressive performance.. beats 6970 crossfire in some tests even with lower memory clocks o_O

Come on man !! HD 6990 (830MHz) Slower 7% than HD 6970 CF in 2560x1600 with 10 Game . Someone need glasses

[Lanek]

Why they are allways bench vantage with PhysX on lol ..( not as i care but... are they testing a cpu or a gpu vs cpu ? )

[InCredible]

Come on man !! HD 6990 (830MHz) Slower 7% than HD 6970 CF in 2560x1600 with 10 Game . Someone need glasses

well no sh it at 50mhz less..but the 6990 is 880 as well and its right on par with a 6970xfire using 880mhz.
for easy viewing.
also price is 5000 yuan which is ~$760 usd..probably list for $699 here i'd guess though?

[Manicdan]

did anyone translate it and see why their overclock was so low? they didnt even touch the ram

[Dimitriman]

Nice performance, about 8-10% slower on default clocks and virtually identical at same clocks to 6970 Crossfire, and best of all, cheaper!


Disappointing massive power draw but I think some people would agree that this doesn't matter for extreme gamers (at least that's what they constantly say about Nvidia's power draw)

[InCredible]

did anyone translate it and see why their overclock was so low? they didnt even touch the ram

they dont say on that page..they just show that they "easily" clocked it to 930mhz core.
actually looking at it again...they tested at 880/5000 and pulled 569watts on a 600watt psu..id assume that they didnt have enough psu to overclock this to the limits and is the reason they only clocked the core a little more.

[MrToad]

On paper doesn't look amazingly better than my current 5970 CF setup (I only play @1920x1080).

Am I missing something here?

Not flamebaiting or anything, just curious if I'm missing something glaringly obvious here...

[SkItZo]

Come on man !! HD 6990 (830MHz) Slower 7% than HD 6970 CF in 2560x1600 with 10 Game . Someone need glasses

Pretty sure its you because he said MEM clock

[InCredible]

On paper doesn't look amazingly better than my current 5970 CF setup (I only play @1920x1080).

Am I missing something here?

Not flamebaiting or anything, just curious if I'm missing something glaringly obvious here...

unless your chart reading isn't very good? cause it easily bests the 5970 up to 60% in some cases. pretty substantial

[MrToad]

unless your chart reading isn't very good? cause it easily bests the 5970 up to 60% in some cases. pretty substantial

5970 CF = 2 x 5970

If the 6990 is more or less equal than 2 x 6970s and a single 6970 is slower than a single 5970 then... ???

That's how I read the chart anyway... And that's why I asked, with no sarcasm or dig intended, if I was reading the chart wrong... or perhaps if the 5970 scales poorly on CF and you can't compare the results of 2 x 6970 with 2 x 5970.

EDIT: As I wrote on my original post I'm just focusing on the 1920x1080 resolution. Can't play at a higher resolution because that's as high as my 37" TV goes...

[InCredible]

5970 CF = 2 x 5970

If the 6990 is more or less equal than 2 x 6970s and a single 6970 is slower than a single 5970 then... ???

That's how I read the chart anyway... And that's why I asked, with no sarcasm or dig intended, if I was reading the chart wrong... or perhaps if the 5970 scales poorly on CF and you can't compare the results of 2 x 6970 with 2 x 5970.

EDIT: As I wrote on my original post I'm just focusing on the 1920x1080 resolution. Can't play at a higher resolution because that's as high as my 37" TV goes...

well obviously 2 5970s are still going to perform very well..they aren't that old.
you cant honestly think one 6990 is going to beat 2 5970s right? ..that is like 4 5870s vs 2 6970s....only in games where xfire doesnt scale will the latter be more powerful realistically.

[MrToad]

well obviously 2 5970s are still going to perform very well..they aren't that old.
you cant honestly think one 6990 is going to beat 2 5970s right? ..that is like 4 5870s vs 2 6970s....only in games where xfire doesnt scale will the latter be more powerful realistically.

I honestly did think that a single 6990 was going to beat 2 x 5970s. After all the 6990 is a dual-GPU card, and of a newer generation.

In fact I was already wondering if someone was going to make a waterblock for it and I had set money aside to buy both.

Which is why I'm so perplexed.