HD 6990 Preview/Review

[ripken204]

looks about the size of a 4870x2

[Zloyd]

Well all im saying is you put a switch that lets you OC the hell outta the card AND that voids your warranty. Im not sure how well these will oc without touching the switch i mean there are 2 6970's(but not enough power, i know binning and all but still).

Actually all that isnt the point at all, the point isnt at all about how this card in retail will oc etc etc its just that why put a switch on it that voids warranty. Why not just let pcb partners worry about that and they would have released versions with switches and lights. But a stock card with a button to kill warranty, if it ever coughs and this is a dual gpu card thats one expensive brick.

I want to see what asus do with this now im sure we are going to see some serious gpu :banana::banana::banana::banana: from them. For sure 3x 8 pin power.

[CedricFP]

Puts my 4870x2 to shame. Awesome card, but I can't believe they actually came out with it.

[STEvil]

Well all im saying is you put a switch that lets you OC the hell outta the card AND that voids your warranty. Im not sure how well these will oc without touching the switch i mean there are 2 6970's(but not enough power, i know binning and all but still).

Actually all that isnt the point at all, the point isnt at all about how this card in retail will oc etc etc its just that why put a switch on it that voids warranty. Why not just let pcb partners worry about that and they would have released versions with switches and lights. But a stock card with a button to kill warranty, if it ever coughs and this is a dual gpu card thats one expensive brick.

I want to see what asus do with this now im sure we are going to see some serious gpu :banana::banana::banana::banana: from them. For sure 3x 8 pin power.

You should probably read some reviews, all of what you mention in your posts has been covered already.

[Lu(ky]

I just got my new Sapphire 6990 today.. And I am not getting a very good OC score. First one is with 2600K @ 4.5Ghz memory 2133MHz 7-10-7-21 1T and 6990 stock 830/1250 scored a 34,381 then I ran it with same setting, but with new 6990 at 970/1300 only a 34,543
Could it be new drivers issue, or CPU bottle neck? Not a very big jump with a high OC compared to my 5970 card stock vs high OC.. Am I missing something here...

And for the record the card at 100% fan speed sounds like a freaking leaf blower on steroids.. But beside going def in my left ear, the card never really got hot on my benches 59C or lower..

STOCK CARD 830/1250


OC CARD 970/1300

[Lanek]

clean the driver, reinstall it .. you can have some " bad registry " files somewhere.

[CedricFP]

You overclocked it to 970MHz?

[RacingTurtle]

Any 3D results?

Havnt actually installed it yet - trying to hold out for a waterblock!

[STEvil]

I just got my new Sapphire 6990 today.. And I am not getting a very good OC score. First one is with 2600K @ 4.5Ghz memory 2133MHz 7-10-7-21 1T and 6990 stock 830/1250 scored a 34,381 then I ran it with same setting, but with new 6990 at 970/1300 only a 34,543
Could it be new drivers issue, or CPU bottle neck? Not a very big jump with a high OC compared to my 5970 card stock vs high OC.. Am I missing something here...

And for the record the card at 100% fan speed sounds like a freaking leaf blower on steroids.. But beside going def in my left ear, the card never really got hot on my benches 59C or lower..

-snip-

Did you change the switch?

[tnc99]

What about performance in crossfire and or eyefinity x8 vs x16??
All CF test so far is at x58

[Chickenfeed]

I just got my new Sapphire 6990 today.. And I am not getting a very good OC score. First one is with 2600K @ 4.5Ghz memory 2133MHz 7-10-7-21 1T and 6990 stock 830/1250 scored a 34,381 then I ran it with same setting, but with new 6990 at 970/1300 only a 34,543
Could it be new drivers issue, or CPU bottle neck? Not a very big jump with a high OC compared to my 5970 card stock vs high OC.. Am I missing something here...

Can you run Vantage on the extreme preset perhaps? If there is no noticeable gain from stock and that overclock on the extreme preset then my guess is a driver issue / system issue. It is possible the performance mode is bottlenecked as 1680x1050 is a joke for a dual gup card like that. I'd test heaven and 3Dmark11 as they both scale quite well ( much better than Vantage )

[sutyi]

Did you change the switch?

Yup the 375W PowerTune limit is there, so setting it to 970MHz with the base profile gives about a 850MHz GPU clock due to the powerlimit.

[Lu(ky]

Did you change the switch?

No I never did flip the switch I wanted to see if it would work through the ATI control center, but after reading I need to flip the switch, but by doing this voids the warranty and I wanted to see how great of a card it is compared to the 5970.

Can you run Vantage on the extreme preset perhaps? If there is no noticeable gain from stock and that overclock on the extreme preset then my guess is a driver issue / system issue. It is possible the performance mode is bottlenecked as 1680x1050 is a joke for a dual gup card like that. I'd test heaven and 3Dmark11 as they both scale quite well ( much better than Vantage )

I will flip switch the run some new benches by noon today... I agree I think the card really shines at higher resolutions like 1920x1200 or even 2560x1600..

[Heinz68]

I just got my new Sapphire 6990 today.. And I am not getting a very good OC score. First one is with 2600K @ 4.5Ghz memory 2133MHz 7-10-7-21 1T and 6990 stock 830/1250 scored a 34,381 then I ran it with same setting, but with new 6990 at 970/1300 only a 34,543
Could it be new drivers issue, or CPU bottle neck? Not a very big jump with a high OC compared to my 5970 card stock vs high OC.. Am I missing something here...

And for the record the card at 100% fan speed sounds like a freaking leaf blower on steroids.. But beside going def in my left ear, the card never really got hot on my benches 59C or lower..

No I never did flip the switch I wanted to see if it would work through the ATI control center, but after reading I need to flip the switch, but by doing this voids the warranty and I wanted to see how great of a card it is compared to the 5970.

Where did you read that using the BIOS switch voids the warranty? The BIOS switch sets the clock and voltage to HD 6970 level and the card is design for that. It does not make any sense to put the switch there if it voids the warranty.

Yes I believe some crazy OC which would need much higher voltages than the switch provides could void the warranty.

What voltage settings did you use for the 970/1300 OC? Why did you use 100% fan speed even for reference settings clocks.

Anyway my HD 6990 is in the mail so I should find out soon by myself.

EDIT
Just finished reading the HardwareCanuck review about the HD 6990 OC, you need to use the switch for higher OC also didn't know about the CCC Power setting slide which is new, probably for the HD 6990 only.

[Chickenfeed]

Where did you read that using the BIOS switch voids the warranty? The BIOS switch sets the clock and voltage to HD 6970 level and the card is design for that. It does not make any sense to put the switch there if it voids the warranty.

Yes I believe some crazy OC which would need much higher voltages than the switch provides could void the warranty.

EDIT
Just finished reading the HardwareCanuck review about the HD 6990 OC, you need to use the switch for higher OC also didn't know about the CCC Power setting slide which is new, probably for the HD 6990 only.

Powertune is also available on the 6950/70.

As far as the warranty issue : http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A...HD_6990/3.html

Now the question remains if all AMD board partners will treat HD6990 warranties this way or off there will be exceptions.

[InCredible]

I cant see all manufacturers doing this(warranty void). And if they don't Asus is in for a hurting on sales imo.

[Lanek]

AIB have allready confirm they will not, specially cause some of their card will allready be 880-900mhz out of the box without the switch " need " .

[Lanek]

Where did you read that using the BIOS switch voids the warranty? The BIOS switch sets the clock and voltage to HD 6970 level and the card is design for that. It does not make any sense to put the switch there if it voids the warranty.

Yes I believe some crazy OC which would need much higher voltages than the switch provides could void the warranty.

What voltage settings did you use for the 970/1300 OC? Why did you use 100% fan speed even for reference settings clocks.

Anyway my HD 6990 is in the mail so I should find out soon by myself.

EDIT
Just finished reading the HardwareCanuck review about the HD 6990 OC, you need to use the switch for higher OC also didn't know about the CCC Power setting slide which is new, probably for the HD 6990 only.

untill MSIA afterburner allow you to change voltage.. the problem is the stock voltage is only 1.12V, and in position 2 you get 1.175 if im right. im allready surprised Lucky have been able to push it to 970mhz like that cause canucks was stuck at 870mhz.

[Lu(ky]

Where did you read that using the BIOS switch voids the warranty? The BIOS switch sets the clock and voltage to HD 6970 level and the card is design for that. It does not make any sense to put the switch there if it voids the warranty.

Yes I believe some crazy OC which would need much higher voltages than the switch provides could void the warranty.

What voltage settings did you use for the 970/1300 OC? Why did you use 100% fan speed even for reference settings clocks.

Anyway my HD 6990 is in the mail so I should find out soon by myself.

EDIT
Just finished reading the HardwareCanuck review about the HD 6990 OC, you need to use the switch for higher OC also didn't know about the CCC Power setting slide which is new, probably for the HD 6990 only.

I am going by what the reviews saying about removing the yellow tape to turn the switch. I found nothing in my box that states this I am only going by what most of the reviewers are saying. And yes they contacted the manufacture of the card they are testing and that is what they told them. So that being said, it is easy just to peal back the yellow tape and move the switch which I have done and retested and I am getting the same results. I am not saying this is a bad card. I am coming away from a 5970 that basically scores almost the same when OCed in Vantage almost 34K. The only thing I have not done is remove the drivers a third time and use drivercleaner.. Which I will do and if my numbers do not improve the cards going back and I will wait for the GTX 595 card..

untill MSIA afterburner allow you to change voltage.. the problem is the stock voltage is only 1.12V, and in position 2 you get 1.175 if im right. im allready surprised Lucky have been able to push it to 970mhz like that cause canucks was stuck at 870mhz.

Update my max OC so far is 980 core 1500 memory. I have ran many Vantage, 11, and Heaven benches to make sure it is stable.. It looks like a I have a great OCing card compared to others but the higher OCing of the card is not showing in my scores why I am so frustrated..

[CedricFP]

Update my max OC so far is 980 core 1500 memory. I have ran many Vantage, 11, and Heaven benches to make sure it is stable.. It looks like a I have a great OCing card compared to others but the higher OCing of the card is not showing in my scores why I am so frustrated..

It's probably just throttling, no? Seems the most likely explanation.

[\/icious]

Have you tried game benchmarks

[Lu(ky]

Well I tried driver cleaner and seems to work had allot of " bad registry " files, but now after many reboots I can not re-install the 11.4 drivers. It keeps saying about half way in install this below..

[cold2010]

This happened to me with hd 6850

[Heinz68]

untill MSIA afterburner allow you to change voltage.. the problem is the stock voltage is only 1.12V, and in position 2 you get 1.175 if im right. im allready surprised Lucky have been able to push it to 970mhz like that cause canucks was stuck at 870mhz.

Guess you didn't finish reading the HardwareCanucks article I linked. Canucks was stuck at 870 without using the switch.

Default BIOS Overclocking (Position 2)
Max Stable Core Clock: 870Mhz
Max Stable Memory Clock: 5444Mhz

“Performance” Profile Overclocking (Position 1)
Max Stable Core Clock: 972Mhz
Max Stable Memory Clock: 5444Mhz

Maybe with the CCC PowerTune setting there is no need for MSI Afterburner.

I am going by what the reviews saying about removing the yellow tape to turn the switch. I found nothing in my box that states this I am only going by what most of the reviewers are saying. And yes they contacted the manufacture of the card they are testing and that is what they told them. So that being said, it is easy just to peal back the yellow tape and move the switch which I have done and retested and I am getting the same results. I am not saying this is a bad card. I am coming away from a 5970 that basically scores almost the same when OCed in Vantage almost 34K. The only thing I have not done is remove the drivers a third time and use drivercleaner.. Which I will do and if my numbers do not improve the cards going back and I will wait for the GTX 595 card..


Update my max OC so far is 980 core 1500 memory. I have ran many Vantage, 11, and Heaven benches to make sure it is stable.. It looks like a I have a great OCing card compared to others but the higher OCing of the card is not showing in my scores why I am so frustrated..

I don't think removing the tape and using the switch automatically voids the warranty. I believe it's just standard OC warning, read more here. Just make sure you have the right minimum requirements mainly the right PSU.

I checked few other reviews and they all show the OC works, maybe try some games and the 3DMark Vantage with the Extreme preset.

[Heinz68]

Well I tried driver cleaner and seems to work had allot of " bad registry " files, but now after many reboots I can not re-install the 11.4 drivers. It keeps saying about half way in install this below..

Not the best idea to use 3rd party uninstall software. Since it's done already here is what caveman-jim recommends when having install problems. Good luck!