HD 6990 Preview/Review

[Mean Machine]

Our coil whine was related to the memory, so some part(s) in the memory VRM did it. Furmark? Not a whine. 3DMark Vantage? Clearly audible. 3DMark Vantage at 1500MHz SDR RAM? Unbearable. To me though, it's quite clear that coil whine is usually something that can bug any card, never seen coil whine across a whole series of graphics cards, but almost always there's a few percent that suffer from it.

But yes, it's a non-scientific test, and funnily enough, the card seemed so loud that the mic picked up a lot of distortion as well, so not the best sound ever, but still gives you a rough idea.

[SKYMTL]

Our coil whine was related to the memory, so some part(s) in the memory VRM did it. Furmark? Not a whine. 3DMark Vantage? Clearly audible.

Not sure if you could call it coil whine though since from my understanding the HD 6990 uses a completely digital PWM without the need for coil-cored chokes.

The sound we are all hearing seems to come from the two Volterra modules but then again, it could be resonating from other parts of the card as well.

[Loque]

had that same noise in one 6950.. hate it sooo much !

prefer a delta screamer noise to a coil whine

[[XC] hipno650]

had that same noise in one 6950.. hate it sooo much !

prefer a delta screamer noise to a coil whine

ya i noticed the same thing with the pair of 6950 (6970's) I had. I noticed it lots in games as well especially in loading screens. I have also noticed it on my 5870. I have never noticed it on my recent Nvidia Cards tho my 480's and 570's have never made a sound (it might be there and just to quiet tho considering my rig is not exactly quiet) I did notice it on my GTX 275 though. Seems to be pretty common on AMD's high end tho.... if you game with head phones though it's hardly a big deal

[Tha Last Meal]

2 HD 6950 CF (550$) Better than HD 6990 (700$)

[Lu(ky]

2 HD 6950 CF (550$) Better than HD 6990 (700$)

Agreed

Check out this decent OC from HARDWARE CANUCKS 6990 at 972/5444

[BHD]

Radeon HD 6990 THe NEw KING

Radeon > GeForce

Radeon HD 6990 > Nvidia GTX 590


YES RADeon New KING VGA

[Kensek]

Available at Newegg Now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...hd6990&x=0&y=0

[JohnZS]

I like Hardware Canuck's review. For the simple fact hey tested 8XFSAA (a setting one would expect people to use on these power house cards) as well as measurements of minimum and average FPS in a variety of games (Including Just Cause 2!).
Their temperatures are lower than other review sites, but I see this is because they did a real world test (i.e not the anomaly called Furmark which switches every transistor to on... an impossibility in the real world of gaming etc).

I may be accused of trolling or nVidia fanboyism, but there is no mistaking that the Radeon 6990 is the fastest graphics card in the world (for domestic use of course) full stop. However I am sat here, quite happily using my Single PCB GTX 295 and am wary to upgrade to the Radeon 6990 because of the noise. May sound odd, but my card is not that loud in gaming...

I await reviews of the GTX 590 before I will come to a decision.

If the GTX 590 is within 10% of the 6990, but a lot cooler and a lot quieter then I will elect to go the nVidia route.

To me the noise and heat are big negative factors which mar an otherwise fantastic and wonderful card. Perhaps Sapphire may release a Vapour-X edition?

John

[Manicdan]

Available at Newegg Now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...hd6990&x=0&y=0

wow for that price i had to buy 3

[SKYMTL]

Ah I predicted: MSRP indication from AMD is in no way being used by retailers. $770 is just plain nuts.

[Lu(ky]

Ah I predicted: MSRP indication from AMD is in no way being used by retailers. $770 is just plain nuts.

Hey SKYMTL what card was that you guys used in your review? Manufacture

[hokiealumnus]

Ah I predicted: MSRP indication from AMD is in no way being used by retailers. $770 is just plain nuts.

+1. Presumably they're trying to make some off the required bundled adapters but that's insane. $700 is close to justifiable (though $650 would be better), but there's no way it's worth $770.

[SKYMTL]

Hey SKYMTL what card was that you guys used in your review? Manufacture

AMD Reference Board.

[[XC] hipno650]

Ah I predicted: MSRP indication from AMD is in no way being used by retailers. $770 is just plain nuts.

I just ordered 2!!!!! NOT. For less then the price of 2 I could get 3 GTX 580's...

[Kallenator]

Don't get the negative statements here completely.

Cheapest prices found on Newegg.

Ranked by performance, 580 SLI being the fastest.
6950 2GB Xfire - 540USD
6970 2GB Xfire - 680USD
6990 4GB - 710USD
580 1.5GB Sli- 1000USD

On launch the 6950 was 300USD and the 6970 370USD. Perfectly in between, but both are cheaper now and offer more performance for the money. This is just because the 6990 is completely new. When the 6990 has been on the market for 3 months I am sure it's price will have come to a more sensible level.

But as far as performance goes, throwing my money at a couple of 6950's sounds rather tempting. Starting to near the time where my 4870x2 need's a replacement, it has served me well for 2.5 years. (This card also has the whine.)

[flippin_waffles]

Fastest card on the planet. Great card!

[DarthShader]

If the GTX 590 is within 10% of the 6990, but a lot cooler and a lot quieter then I will elect to go the nVidia route.

Out of those three, pick any two.

[wez]

Don't get the negative statements here completely.

Cheapest prices found on Newegg.

Ranked by performance, 580 SLI being the fastest.
6950 2GB Xfire - 540USD
6970 2GB Xfire - 680USD
6990 4GB - 710USD
580 1.5GB Sli- 1000USD

On launch the 6950 was 300USD and the 6970 370USD. Perfectly in between, but both are cheaper now and offer more performance for the money. This is just because the 6990 is completely new. When the 6990 has been on the market for 3 months I am sure it's price will have come to a more sensible level.

But as far as performance goes, throwing my money at a couple of 6950's sounds rather tempting. Starting to near the time where my 4870x2 need's a replacement, it has served me well for 2.5 years. (This card also has the whine.)

Over here the 6990 is cheaper than two 6970's, so depends where you are located I guess. So its a pretty good deal imo.
But, I would probably go for two 6970's as well if it was the cheaper option.

[JoeBar]

Unless you go for QuadCF i don't find a reason to get a 6990.

If you want a CF just do it properly and get two 6950/6970's...

[JohnZS]

Out of those three, pick any two.

Bah, I can only pic two?
I am greedy and want all three, goodness knows the card will be expensive enough

Unless you go for QuadCF i don't find a reason to get a 6990.

If you want a CF just do it properly and get two 6950/6970's...

Good point there Joe, just sadly Crossfire is not as widely adopted as SLi, so going for CrossfireX4 maybe a bit more miss than hit....but I can imagine in the games and applications which give plenty of love for 4 GPU's the performance of QuadFire?/CrossfireX4 would be nothing short of biblical.

Quad SLi suffers from the same symptoms, albeit SLi is more widely supported and has the backing of decent third party applications such as "nVidia Inspector" so more joy would be had by a Quad SLi user than say a CrossfireX4 or QuadFire user...

It is sad really, considering you are talking about the best part of £1200 on two graphics cards.

John

[RacingTurtle]

I've ordered mine from ebuyer. £539 for the Powercolor, its the reference board and in 2/3 weeks EK will have the block for it and it'll be silent!
I wonder AMD or Nvidia would ever release cards just for the watercooling guys; i.e. just a PCB and no useless, loud cooler that'll be ripped off as soon as it's out the box?

[Kallenator]

Bulk hardware is sadly a thing from the past, the closest we can come to this today are the water cooling ready graphic cards.
The market is too small for this I am afraid, but it's not really a problem imo, because when we sell our hardware the chances are that the buyer would want it air cooled.

[JohnZS]

I've ordered mine from ebuyer. £539 for the Powercolor, its the reference board and in 2/3 weeks EK will have the block for it and it'll be silent!
I wonder AMD or Nvidia would ever release cards just for the watercooling guys; i.e. just a PCB and no useless, loud cooler that'll be ripped off as soon as it's out the box?

Nice purchase, however not meaning to troll on you, but I would have waited a couple of weeks, nVidia's Dual GPU Flagship is due for release on the 22nd of March.

Even if you do not want to upgrade to an nVidia card, the chances are it will bring the 6990 price down to the £500 or just under mark.

Enjoy your new card

By the way eVGA still make water cooled cards, just a shame that someone doesn't do it for ATi

John

[tnc99]

"On launch the 6950 was 300USD and the 6970 370USD. Perfectly in between, but both are cheaper now and offer more performance for the money. This is just because the 6990 is completely new. When the 6990 has been on the market for 3 months I am sure it's price will have come to a more sensible level. "

This however, never happend with 5970