Quote Originally Posted by Levesque View Post
I know. I can't believe people will buy a 6990 or 590 and use the POS plastic air coolers on those cards.

But since reviewers REALLY insisted on the noise of th 6990, and since it's a non-issue since almost everyone will watercooled them, it looks suspicious to me...

It sounds like a marketing department hard at work.

Just like it looks suspicious that every conclusion about the 6990 are: ''the 700$ 6990 is 10% under the 1000$ 580 SLI, so 580 SLI is a better buy''...

Why not do 1000$ against 1000$? Since when are we not doing $ against equal $ comparisons? So now we do 300$ against 600$ cards and we are surprised that the 600$ beats the 300$ cards? Doh.

Where are the 1000$ 6990+6970 Tri-Fire against 1000$ 580 SLI comparisons? Why the ''1000$ is better then 700$'' we can read everywhere. 2 cards against 2 cards, 2 PCIe slots against 2 PCIe slots, 1000$ against 1000$.

There is a BIOS switch on the 6990 to exactly meet the 6970 speed in 2 seconds for a reason. It's to go Tri-Fire in 2 seconds with a 6970. AMD did it intentionnally, it's not a coincidence! This is a genious idea! So why not a single word about that in ALL the reviews about the 6990? 6990+ 6970 = 1000$, just like 580 SLI.

We all know the Tri-Fire set-up will beat 580 SLI, but not a single reviewer out there did it. Why? There is a switch on the 6990 EXACTLY for this, but not a single word about it?

Looks suspicious to me.
well believe it because I can assure you that 95% of people who buy the 6990 or GTX 590 will use the stock cooler.... I can also assure you that at least 70% (i would say closer to 90%) of the people who buy 6990 will not flip the bios switch or even think about OCing it.

however this is XS so most of those thing don't apply. it will all come down to OCed performance for any of us... and if any other Fermi chip has been a representation.... this card will OC like a total champ.... stock at 612mhz.... who cares.... OC to 850mhz (or more)... now we are talking...