HD 6990 Preview/Review

[STEvil]

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

Yeah, thats why I was asking whether you guys that were getting the same scores at stock vs overclocked had changed the switch or not. Seems to me the switch to the second bios does a bit more than a voltage and clock bump, and the power use figures support this..

[Dumo]

I just got my new Sapphire 6990 today.. And I am not getting a very good OC score. CPU bottle neck?

OC CARD 970/1300

Seems like it. Comparo with my Vantage run with cpu much higher oc and GTX580...

[saaya]

soooo let me get this straight...
700$ for a card that is pretty much as fast as 6950 Xfire...
so why exactly would anybody buy this over 2 69502GB cards for 500$? which you can unlock to 6970s and then have MORE performance, LESS noise, LOWER temps and save 200$?

[RacingTurtle]

soooo let me get this straight...
700$ for a card that is pretty much as fast as 6950 Xfire...
so why exactly would anybody buy this over 2 69502GB cards for 500$? which you can unlock to 6970s and then have MORE performance, LESS noise, LOWER temps and save 200$?

All you're looking at is synthetic benchmarks - no one has put up any gaming results yet. Which is where this card should be making its presence count.

[InCredible]

soooo let me get this straight...
700$ for a card that is pretty much as fast as 6950 Xfire...
so why exactly would anybody buy this over 2 69502GB cards for 500$? which you can unlock to 6970s and then have MORE performance, LESS noise, LOWER temps and save 200$?

actually, according to guru3d. 2x6950 are louder then a single 6990. And the bottom card will be the only card running cooler, the top card will run noticeably warmer for obvious reasons. I do understand what you're saying and id go this route because its cheaper but some people have different things in mind. If i did have the money to blow I'd get a 6990 because imo it will look cleaner in my rig then two cards with 4 power cables(more sleeving ugh) however ill stick with one 6970

[Lu(ky]

All you're looking at is synthetic benchmarks - no one has put up any gaming results yet. Which is where this card should be making its presence count.

Well I took your advise and put on METRO 2033 on max setting res @ 2560x1600 ran it pretty dang good with no lag... With my 5970 OCed at 1000/1300 I could only run this game at 1920x1200 with little lag.
Like others have said, there must be throttling on the card on the benchmarks maybe in a couple of driver updates things will change. I also tried Stalker Clear Sky @ 2560x1600 smooth as butter game play.. This is the main reason of getting this card is to play at high resolutions 2560x1600 with 1 monitor showing all the eye candy etc.. I also notice there were allot of reviews of this card showing many benchmarks only at low resolutions 1920x1080 or lower, in my opinion this will not show the true power of this card a 1920x1200 or higher is a must.

[hurrdurr]

soooo let me get this straight...
700$ for a card that is pretty much as fast as 6950 Xfire...
so why exactly would anybody buy this over 2 69502GB cards for 500$? which you can unlock to 6970s and then have MORE performance, LESS noise, LOWER temps and save 200$?

Exactly what I have been saying all along... previous dual GPU cards were at a significant discount compared to their CF counterparts so you had some reason to get them (5870CF was $800, 5970 was $600) but with 6990 this is not the case...

[Johnny87au]

Anyone ran these in CF with 5760x1200 res with 16aa ??

[cold2010]

AMD HD6990 will not be warrantied in OC mode: confirmed

Yesterday KitGuru published several articles on the HD6990, one with an official card in single mode and later two HIS HD6990′s in a Dual CrossfireX configuration. Today we woke up with many emails from readers asking about the warranty situation.

We noticed that the press pack said ‘AMD product warranty does not cover damages caused by overclocking, even when overclocking is enabled via AMD software and/or the Dual-BIOS Function’.

This actually means in position 1 that if you run into any hardware problems AMD will not be supporting the warranty. We aren’t sure how this will affect support from AMD partners such as Sapphire, Powercolor, HIS or XFX – although from calls we made this morning it seems that many of them don’t actually know yet

AMD confirmed with us this morning that the warranty will be invalid if the user switches to the ‘OC mode’ - which translates of a core increase to 1.175 volts and a clock speed of 880mhz.

We would strongly advise that if you are buying a HD6990 to leave it in the default position. Our testing shows that the cooler is doing a reasonably good job, but we can’t comment on the long term reliability right now. It is an unusual decision to offer an optional bios setting ‘out of the box’ and not deliver warranty support, but we would assume AMD might also have concerns with partnered power supply failures.

KitGuru says: Updated information will be published on Kitguru as soon as we find out.

[El Mano]

AMD HD6990 will not be warrantied in OC mode: confirmed

LOL AMD kiss my ass, if they want to sell this product here they must abide to our laws, which by the way clearly state the duration and conditions of the warranties.
This product is advertised as having a dual BIOS and of being capable of hitting certain clocks, so if this product dies because a user simply used this advertised features they MUST accept an RMA on that card.
And that's ll about it.

I suspect that this whole issue about the 6990 warranty is necessary for AMD in order to have its card PCIe certified.

[MrToad]

soooo let me get this straight...
700$ for a card that is pretty much as fast as 6950 Xfire...
so why exactly would anybody buy this over 2 69502GB cards for 500$? which you can unlock to 6970s and then have MORE performance, LESS noise, LOWER temps and save 200$?

Well, is all "situational" really...

In my case I'm very limited (albeit by my own doing)

I have a micro-ATX board, and moving to ATX would involve changing case and modding/redoing the WC loop.

On the other hand the board's storage solutions are seriously crippled, the Marvell SATA III controller is less than stellar (even with "unofficially" update firmware and ROM) and the Intel RAID controller's ROM is grossly outdated and unusable with Sandforce drives, the manufacturer doesn't seem keen on releasing an updated BIOS (despite countless requests in the past three months) and it can't be "unofficially" updated because it doesn't support ROMs bigger than 64k.

So if I get one of these I can put an Areca controller on the other x16 slot, and chances are a single waterblock (however expensive it may be, as there won't be much demand and is going to be one either huge or complicated block due to the design of the board) is going to be cheaper than 2 x 6970 waterblocks.

For me on paper it looks an easier solution than changing computer case, board, board block(s) and modding/redoing the whole thing... And the money saved on those can be invested on the Areca controller, which will always perform better than the Intel RST and frees me from the tyranny of manufacturer's shoddy after-sales support...

So perhaps is a niche product, but not a purpose-less one...

[Gaul]

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...

here compare 560 ti SLI oc




and 570 sli def

[saaya]

All you're looking at is synthetic benchmarks - no one has put up any gaming results yet. Which is where this card should be making its presence count.

sorry, that doesnt make any sense... i guess im misunderstanding something?
it sounds like you have no idea what your talking about :P

your saying sli with two cards is faster than sli with one card in benchmarks, but in games sli with one card is faster than sli with two cards?
and why exactly would that be?
cause less bandwidth per gpu makes them... faster?

actually, according to guru3d. 2x6950 are louder then a single 6990.

which can be fixed easily

And the bottom card will be the only card running cooler, the top card will run noticeably warmer for obvious reasons.

which would be... bad case ventilation and using a board with poor pciE spacing?

If i did have the money to blow I'd get a 6990 because imo it will look cleaner in my rig then two cards with 4 power cables(more sleeving ugh)

again that can be fixed easily? youd rather spend money than properly route cables in your case and add some neat cables sleeves to them? :P

Exactly what I have been saying all along... previous dual GPU cards were at a significant discount compared to their CF counterparts so you had some reason to get them (5870CF was $800, 5970 was $600) but with 6990 this is not the case...

yeah, it should either be cheaper, or it should have an advantage over 6970s/6950s in xfire... it doesnt... at all... its a pure marketing/e-peen product... e-peen for people who wanna show off without actually knowing whats good and fast...

Well, is all "situational" really...

In my case I'm very limited (albeit by my own doing)

I have a micro-ATX board, and moving to ATX would involve changing case and modding/redoing the WC loop.

On the other hand the board's storage solutions are seriously crippled, the Marvell SATA III controller is less than stellar (even with "unofficially" update firmware and ROM) and the Intel RAID controller's ROM is grossly outdated and unusable with Sandforce drives, the manufacturer doesn't seem keen on releasing an updated BIOS (despite countless requests in the past three months) and it can't be "unofficially" updated because it doesn't support ROMs bigger than 64k.

So if I get one of these I can put an Areca controller on the other x16 slot, and chances are a single waterblock (however expensive it may be, as there won't be much demand and is going to be one either huge or complicated block due to the design of the board) is going to be cheaper than 2 x 6970 waterblocks.

For me on paper it looks an easier solution than changing computer case, board, board block(s) and modding/redoing the whole thing... And the money saved on those can be invested on the Areca controller, which will always perform better than the Intel RST and frees me from the tyranny of manufacturer's shoddy after-sales support...

So perhaps is a niche product, but not a purpose-less one...

why did you get an matx board if you demand top of the line quality and performance?

[RacingTurtle]

sorry, that doesnt make any sense... i guess im misunderstanding something?
it sounds like you have no idea what your talking about :P

Seems like you have no idea what this card is for
Who cares what scores it gets in OMGmark2001, that doesn't directly translate into better performance in games.
That's why i bought mine, so if you don't like it, DON'T buy one!
Not rocket science dude.

And just because you've got 30k posts doesnt give you the right to be rude.

[Lanek]

to lucky: try 3Dmark 11, i think vantage don't scale with the drivers correctly.
i got 39K + with 2x 5870 OC and a 2600K ... breaking 40K if push it.. ( GPU scores only ofc )

if you want to compare score, don't forget to kill AA and AF; mipmap etc.. not the first time i see someone compare their score with full graphics enabled with peoples who put the minimal quality possible.

[Postmodum]

At what resolution was that 3DMark 2010 run with the 6990 done?
With a single GTX580 @ 960Mhz i can get 30500Marks ... those 34k's seem way too low ... but, talking about gameplay experience... how's like? Smooth ? Or are Nvidia SLi solutions smoother?

[Lanek]

not the problem, i have see allready peoples breaking 40K gpu score withe 6990 ) look the result on Lab501 http://lab501.ro/placi-video/amd-rad...-6990-review/6

Vantage is higly cpu dependant ( and physX for the first test ofc if you enable it ).. i have gain +4000 pnts on gpu scores with a 2600K@5ghz vs a 950@4.3ghz..

[MrToad]

why did you get an matx board if you demand top of the line quality and performance?

Because I wanted to fit the gaming rig and a Mo-Ra 3 in the tiny space I've got left between the TV cabinet and the front right speaker, inside a case that doesn't actually stand out like a sore thumb in my living room?

Edit: Please read the reply "as is", is not meant to be inflammatory or sardonic, is just a simple reply to the question...

[[XC] Synthetickiller]

soooo let me get this straight...
700$ for a card that is pretty much as fast as 6950 Xfire...
so why exactly would anybody buy this over 2 69502GB cards for 500$? which you can unlock to 6970s and then have MORE performance, LESS noise, LOWER temps and save 200$?

It's the SSS.... no not what you're thinking. Single Slot Solution.

SSF can't do Crossfire/SLI, here's the answer. You pay for the ability to do this inside of small cases.

[SKYMTL]

AMD HD6990 will not be warrantied in OC mode: confirmed

Sorry but....no it's been confirmed. AMD said it in their presentation and most reviews stated exactly that.

[Heinz68]

here compare 560 ti SLI oc




and 570 sli def

You can't compare with PhysX on.

[InCredible]

which can be fixed easily

which would be... bad case ventilation and using a board with poor pciE spacing?

again that can be fixed easily? youd rather spend money than properly route cables in your case and add some neat cables sleeves to them? :P


yeah, it should either be cheaper, or it should have an advantage over 6970s/6950s in xfire... it doesnt... at all... its a pure marketing/e-peen product... e-peen for people who wanna show off without actually knowing whats good and fast...


why did you get an matx board if you demand top of the line quality and performance?

First, you shouldn't need to fix anything on a setup.
Second, why would I or anyone else change their mobo to get the best cooling from a card? or change their case for that matter. shouldn't be necessary..

as far as cabling. yes i route my stuff and sleeve it accordingly HOWEVER id rather route 2 8 pins then 2 8 pins + 2 6pins.

Lastly its faster then two stock 6950 xfire and just as fast as 2x6970..the price is on point with performance and will come down. Products usually start out launch day a little higher but then they come down to a more reasonable price especially with the 590 right around the corner..Now if 590 is slower(some are speculating so) then i can see price either A) staying where its at as it will be the fastest card on the market. or B ) coming down to make the 590 look worse and make a few more sales.

[Heinz68]

soooo let me get this straight...
700$ for a card that is pretty much as fast as 6950 Xfire...
so why exactly would anybody buy this over 2 69502GB cards for 500$? which you can unlock to 6970s and then have MORE performance, LESS noise, LOWER temps and save 200$?

Not every HD 6950 can be unlocked to HD 6970.

Anyway none of the Nvidia or AMD/ATI dual GPU card was ever made to compete with 2cards SLI or CF setup. The single most important reason for the dual GPU card is to compete as fastest graphic card on the market. I wonder why you still don't get it.

Also AMD strategy is to develop much smaller GPU chips and use the dual GPU as flagship card. IT looks like for the last 3 generation the strategy worked well for AMD, so what is there to argue about?

I prefer the dual GPU card because it is much more suitable for my setup.

[JohnZS]

You can't compare with PhysX on.

Why not?
It is a feature which is supported by many games Mafia 2, Metro 2033, UT3, Batman AA and Mirrors Edge.

Anyway not meaning to get involved in a mass debate or anything, but I also prefer dual GPU cards. The reasons I prefer them are:

1) You only need 1 PCI-E Slot

2) Less heat is dumped/trapped in your case

3) Usually less power consumption than 2 cards

4) You are not limited to choice of motherboard (SLi cannot officially be ran on boards where chipset vendor has not parted with money and put into nVidia's pockets).

5) You have the option to Quad at a later date.

Having sad that though, Saaya is right you do get more performance from 2 cards rather than 1 dual cards.

Take for example underclocking 2 GTX 275 graphics cards to the same clock speed as a GTX 295. the two 275 cards will always be a shade faster due to more available bandwidth per GPU.

YES our NF200 and your PLX chips are pretty magical in what they can achieve, but they cannot make up for the bandwidth loss.

Either way I respect everyone's choice, your money, your choice of card

At the end of the day those who have purchase a radeon 6990 have purchased an AWESOME graphics card which is EXTREMELY fast.

Enjoy your purchase(s)

John

[InCredible]

^ The only thing to note is that this is the first dual gpu card to actually run on par with the two of the highest cards the manufacturer makes. Every other dual gpu card was slower then 2 of whatever was fastest single gpu. This time the power envelope is a little higher allowing for this to happen and unleash a full 2x6970 on a single pcb..amazing to say the least..and 2x6970 wont be any faster then a 6990 if clocked the same..they will be within 2-3% of each other. The only time i think this will factor is for EXTREME overclocks where water or ln2 is needed but maybe not even then. Wait til the cards are out and benched before saying for sure. But as far as testing goes now the 6990 at 6970 clocks is equally as good as 6970 xfire..sometimes it wins sometimes 6990 wins.