HD 6990 Preview/Review

[Heinz68]

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


John

It's proprietary software, I guess that's why it does not get approved in Futuremark Benchmarks.

Approval Condition(s)
Based on the original specification and design of the CPU tests, GPU acceleration of either of the CPU tests is not permitted. Any benchmark result produced using this driver version can be considered approved and accurate only when the GPU did not have an effect in the CPU test results. When using these drivers PhysX hardware acceleration must be manually disabled prior to running the benchmark.

I noticed Gaul test was run with PhysX on that's why such big CPU score 72 675 which also increases the overall score, probably even the GPU score.

[l0ud_sil3nc3]

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.

you do realize that this is Xtreme Systems?

[RacingTurtle]

you do realize that this is Xtreme Systems?

And? Your point?

[JohnZS]

And? Your point?

Are you enjoying you new graphics card RacingTurtle?
Or are you still waiting for an EK Block?

John

[RacingTurtle]

Are you enjoying you new graphics card RacingTurtle?
Or are you still waiting for an EK Block?

John

Nah waiting for a block. Don't want to tear the whole think apart to put the new card in then do it all over again once EK/Koolance bring out a block.
It's tough to hold out though!

[JohnZS]

How on earth can you resist the temptation, are you not just a little bit curious to see how it fairs up to your existing 5870?
Hopefully you do not have to wait too long, the only positive from waiting is that you will have new(er) drivers to play with
John

[Johnny87au]

Leave your case open and remove the Ovid pins when the block comes, easy dude.. I'd be gaming on that asap.. Screw
Waiting for a block hehe

[Neova]

Leave your case open and remove the Ovid pins when the block comes, easy dude.. I'd be gaming on that asap.. Screw
Waiting for a block hehe

Seriously! You have a 700 USD paperweight sitting there WAITING for parts to run it cooler?

Go play some games and tell everyone how smooth and fast it is!

[MaddMuppet]

Seriously! You have a 700 USD paperweight sitting there WAITING for parts to run it cooler?

Go play some games and tell everyone how smooth and fast it is!

Yeah show us the love

[RacingTurtle]

Ah the pressure! I might just do that now - Only gaming benchmarks I can offer tonight will be:

Dragon Age 2
L4D
L4D2
Crysis 2 Demo

I'll get some more in the next few days...

[wez]

Ah the pressure! I might just do that now - Only gaming benchmarks I can offer tonight will be:

Dragon Age 2
L4D
L4D2
Crysis 2 Demo

I'll get some more in the next few days...

You could also try some tri-fire with that 5870 of yours

I'm also impressed that you've managed to hold out this long without testing the card
Its a good idea to test the card before slapping a water block on it anyway, so it doesn't turn out to be DOA, after all the work of mounting block, bleeding etc.

Have fun

[Lanek]

You could also try some tri-fire with that 5870 of yours

I'm also impressed that you've managed to hold out this long without testing the card
Its a good idea to test the card before slapping a water block on it anyway, so it doesn't turn out to be DOA, after all the work of mounting block, bleeding etc.

Have fun

Huum is it really possible to cfx a 6970 based cards and a 5870? the architecture is quite different.

[Postmodum]

Anyone tested the 11.4 Catalysts? From what i read ... i think AMD did the first good drivers for the 69xx series ...
Would be nice to see how they improve 6990 performance...

[wez]

Huum is it really possible to cfx a 6970 based cards and a 5870? the architecture is quite different.

Doubt its officially supported, but seen weirder mixes of cards in crossfire before, so worth a shot imo if he is bored

[japamd]

Anyone tested the 11.4 Catalysts? From what i read ... i think AMD did the first good drivers for the 69xx series ...
Would be nice to see how they improve 6990 performance...

I did and 11.4 Mjölnir is very good on my CFX setup.

BTW, all HD 6990 reviews already used that driver. Mjölnir will have versions II and III to be released on upcoming months and they are promising improvements for entire HD 6000 series.

[Postmodum]

Nice! It would be good to see AMD with stable drivers ...

[tajoh111]

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.

I think what saaya and alot of reviewers are saying is that their is little benefit going with the 6990 compared to two card solution aside from the form factor and even the form factor benefit is none applicable because of the compromises of the card. It is unlike past dual GPU cards from AMD for several reasons. No cost savings(actually you pay a penalty), underspec'd compared to the single cards, possibly louder noise(depending on the review), lower overclock headroom and similar power consumption. Additionally quadfire is a terrible solution as shown by tech powerup. The extra card gets some of the worst bang for your buck ever. I think three cards would be better for scaling and significantly cheaper.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/P...ssFire/19.html

When AMD made this card, it was of course to be a halo project. But considering the unfair asking price compared to their single card solutions(and past dual cards) and the warranty limitations to unlock it true performance, its and impractial beast that has a smaller niche than ever before for a videocard(atleast a massed produced one).

This niche being people with only a single graphic card slot with a wider case but for some odd reason with alot of depth who want ultimate performance. They also need super good cooling in this cramped case since this card blows hot air back into the case.

This niche is even smaller because anyone for the most part considering this part should have a crazy beefy CPU, a big case and a MB to match with multiple PCIe slots. For some water coolers it is somewhat more practical but I would be scared to water cool such an expensive card and only to have something break because of improperly cooled VRM or something.

This card has so many compromises that it is impractical for even alot of power users. And especially for people on xtremesysystems, warranty should be available for the most part and having none when overclocking is a big issue on a card this expensive.

Also, why is the 6990 better for your setup? Your case is huge and your MB is spaced for 3 cards in CFx?

[MaddMuppet]

Also, why is the 6990 better for your setup? Your case is huge and your MB is spaced for 3 cards in CFx?

I'd say because like all of use (if we can afford it) is because we all want the latest and greatest.

[tajoh111]

I'd say because like all of use (if we can afford it) is because we all want the latest and greatest.

Greatest in what sense? Sure it might be the fastest single slot card, but at the same time, trifire to me if you have the right MB has made more sense than quadfire. The cost is better and the performance is the same. I am not going to open my case up and brag I have the single fastest slot card, there seems like there is so little practicality or advantage this time.

Cost more, performs a bit worse and if I want to OC with extra voltage, my warranty is gone. Not to mention lack of availability at the moment is jumping up prices. Latest and greatest is one thing, but some logic has to go into these purchases.

The serious lack of games taking advantage of the videocard power and the overall timing of this card does not make it a desirable purchase. This card consume up to 450 watts and sounds like a heating monster.

In someway, it reminds me like the original fermi because of the looming arrivals of faster cards or in this case 28nm cards. These cards will have the same power as the dual cards this generation while use alot less power. Usually this isn't a issue and people still buy, but when the cards are 700 dollars, the games aren't that good and the successor cards should be coming in 6-9 months. It seems like a larger waste of money than usual.

[MaddMuppet]

I just mean't single card. From what I have read Quad fire is a complete waste of time. Tri fire does well though and scales nicely with the 6970's.

I do agree about the gaming part as consoles are holding back PC gaming. For bench marking though these should do quite well.

[Levesque]

So if it's such a niche product, why are they selling them faster then they can make them?

Because people like the card, and are buying them the second they are in stock. So resellers are price gouging because the product is selling like hot-cakes. That's all.

Case closed. No matter what people think, AMD made their homeworks, and the product is selling. So they were right to do it. Since they are selling them faster that they can make them.

[saaya]

Well, I'm surprised how many people are interested in this card...
Sounds like to you guys it really makes sense... good for you

To me this is a dual 6950 with a dual 6970 pricetag, and if you want to make it a REAL dual 6970 you lose your warranty...

That doesn't make it a bad card though... just expensive...

[Postmodum]

Partners will warrant the OC specs ... at least, XFX will I don't believe others won't do the same ...

Source

[tajoh111]

So if it's such a niche product, why are they selling them faster then they can make them?

Because people like the card, and are buying them the second they are in stock. So resellers are price gouging because the product is selling like hot-cakes. That's all.

Case closed. No matter what people think, AMD made their homeworks, and the product is selling. So they were right to do it. Since they are selling them faster that they can make them.

As you can imagine, these were made in seriously low quantities, which i can imagine was part of the delay. What will determine if these cards are a real success is on how much marketshare they pick up over the long term in this segment vs their predecessor.

Also what will also make these cards a long term success is the effect on the end user as well. Not simply just a sale. E.g if people have negative experiences from these monster cards(both AMD and NV) from heat, noise, power or warranty issues, they may not buy from that GPU maker again.

Considering that some highend boutique brands are not offering dualCF 6990 like falconnw because of noise issues and are giving warning for noise for even the purchase of one card, these issues are very real. And although the initial batch of 6990 may sell out, user feedback may deter other users. Atleast for anandtech, the 6990 was the loudest setup by far and in OC mode(13 decibels louders than a gtx 480 which was supposedly a dustbuster). Considering that equates to something more than 13 times louder, that seems to make this card unusable for everyone but the water cooling crowd.

I thought my 4870x2 was loud, but this is 16 decibels louder according to anandtech in its (880mhz form) and even at 830mhz, it is 9 decibels louder than the 4870x2.

I worry for NV card as well considering it seems to use a 11" PCB, perhaps even more so.

I would rather wait for the next generation considering the caveats of this generation of ultra high ends.

As for warranty, I wouldn't trust xfx as their reputation has gone to mud.

http://www.overclock.net/ati/761201-...denial-82.html

Although the user had a good result in the end, he had to jump through many hoops and the warranty service at the end seemed more of a way to hush the user considering the size of the complaint forums at the end. None the less other users have had similar bad experiences.

[Levesque]

Do you have a 6990? I have one. And it's not noisier then my friend 580 SLi set-up. Guru3d already report lower noise then others. I don't know how the others made their measurement, but it was not right compared to guru3d, that even made a comment on others measurements. I know, I have one in the computer I'm typing on. You?

Myself, I'm waiting for a waterblock for my XFX 6990. So using the stock cooler for now.

It's not hoter or noisier then my 5970 at 1000/1200, and that card is going strong 24/7 since 1 year and 4 months. No negative experience on my part. Rock-solid, rock-stable in Tri-Fire with a 5870 since 16 months, OCed to 1000/1200 24/7!.

Also doing Tri-Fire 6990+6970 right now and it's rock-stable. The 6970 is watercooled, so I hear only the 6990. And noise level is ok. Heat level is ok in a well ventilated case (Mountain Mods Extended Ascension). I have heard 580 SLI and it's worst IMHO.

Like usual on the internet multi-verse, it's an overblowed ''problem'' that people are copy and pasting all over the net, without having tried or heard the card for real. The usual day. Copy and paste parrots.