# Powercolor HD 7990 Devil 13 6 GB



## W1zzard (Aug 30, 2012)

PowerColor's HD 7990 Devil 13 is the first dual-GPU HD 7990 that reaches our labs. This huge triple slot, triple fan card comes with fully enabled Tahiti XT GPUs, running in an internal CrossFire configuration. As a result the Devil 13 is the fastest AMD-based graphics card we ever tested.

*Show full review*


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## Delta6326 (Aug 30, 2012)

Amazing review Keep up the great work W1zzard!
This sheds some light on who the best dual gpu is and its the...  690... For almost the same price the 690 gets you better cooling and performance and looks nicer.


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## overclocker! (Aug 31, 2012)

thank you for the review  W1zzard!
As for the card what a piss off crap!!! I waited so long for nothing . i should've buy the 690 long time a go.....


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Aug 31, 2012)

So less performance, more power consumption and noise vs the 690. Maybe it'll be $50 cheaper than a 690 but what nutcase is going to say $1050 is too much but $1000 isn't.


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## Durvelle27 (Aug 31, 2012)

just get 2x HD 7970 GHz editions and CFX would cost less and perform better

2x Stock HD 7970 vs GTX 690
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/588?vs=586


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## GSquadron (Aug 31, 2012)

I have an overheating problem with my gpu. 
Is there any chance that the washers will make the card overheat less?


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## AnnCore (Aug 31, 2012)

Why does it look like one of the 2 cores in a pic on page 4 fried?


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## W1zzard (Aug 31, 2012)

Aleksander Dishnica said:


> I have an overheating problem with my gpu.
> Is there any chance that the washers will make the card overheat less?



give it a try, you dont even have to remove the cooler, so no problem with warranty. if you use metal washers don't accidentally short something on the card



AnnCore said:


> Why does it look like one of the 2 cores in a pic on page 4 fried?









you mean that? just some dust/paste residue and reflection of the camera


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## Melvis (Aug 31, 2012)

Obviously needs better driver support that's a no brainer, in the games that do have good support it owns everything. 

Very powerful card shame for poor driver support as most of the games it seem,s to be only using 1 core.


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## INSTG8R (Aug 31, 2012)

AnnCore said:


> Why does it look like one of the 2 cores in a pic on page 4 fried?



I see what your seeing but it looks like a reflection to me.

Shame about the issues with the cooler. That could be a VERY expensive design flaw. So much "premium" went into this card to have something that minor yet SO important slip thru.

Well I give Powercolor credit for stepping up the plate and doing a dual 7970 shame for the most part comes up short against the 690.


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## W1zzard (Aug 31, 2012)

INSTG8R said:


> Shame about the issues with the cooler. That could be a VERY expensive design flaw.



Powercolor is aware of the problem and they will look into it.


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## Fluffmeister (Aug 31, 2012)

Hmm can't say I'm too impressed, especially for the money it costs.

The GTX 690 is clearly superior.


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## AnnCore (Aug 31, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> give it a try, you dont even have to remove the cooler, so no problem with warranty. if you use metal washers don't accidentally short something on the card
> 
> 
> 
> ...



My bad 

When I read it went nuclear (over 100°C) I only assumed the worst. Actually, kind of surprised it didn't catch fire. Guess you need it to quite a bit higher for  that...


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## INSTG8R (Aug 31, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> Powercolor is aware of the problem and they will look into it.



Good I would hope so. This is their "Premiere" card it needs to be "faultless" for the price.


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 31, 2012)

AnnCore said:


> My bad
> 
> When I read it went nuclear (over 100°C) I only assumed the worst. Actually, kind of surprised it didn't catch fire. Guess you need it to quite a bit higher for  that...



Tahiti should have a thermal sensor- throttle the chip...


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## W1zzard (Aug 31, 2012)

yes it will throttle the chip and when it still goes higher it will shut down the card


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## moonlord (Aug 31, 2012)

This Devil can not take over GTX690, where is the true 7990?


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## qubit (Aug 31, 2012)

So, the 690 is better. No surprise there. I'd really like to see a card on the AMD side _properly_ trounce its competition from nvidia. We'd get so much more for our money then.

I wouldn't hold the heatsink mounting problem against it though. I'll bet it's just some stupid manufacturing fault where they simply used the wrong screws by mistake.


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## m&m's (Aug 31, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> if you use metal washers don't accidentally short something on the card



What other kind of washers could be use?


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 31, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> yes it will throttle the chip and when it still goes higher it will shut down the card



Ya Reminds me of the AMD XP boards in the day



moonlord said:


> This Devil can not take over GTX690, where is the true 7990?



IIRC AMD stated they arent making a Reference 7990, allowing the others to make their own designs. earlier News from this year here



qubit said:


> So, the 690 is better. No surprise there. I'd really like to see a card on the AMD side _properly_ trounce its competition from nvidia. We'd get so much more for our money then.
> 
> I wouldn't hold the heatsink mounting problem against it though. I'll bet it's just some stupid manufacturing fault where they simply used the wrong screws by mistake.



Eh Its a QA issue, IIRC Card Heatsinks are still put on by hand, I could be wrong though...


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## Lionheart (Aug 31, 2012)

My AMD fanboyish side would like to favor the HD7990 but I would still go with the GTX 690


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## qubit (Aug 31, 2012)

eidairaman1 said:


> Eh Its a QA issue, IIRC Card Heatsinks are still put on by hand, I could be wrong though...



Yes, that's basically the point I'm making. There's no way they'd make a dumb mistake like that by design.


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## moonlord (Aug 31, 2012)

I'll never go for nvidia, i'm a real AMD fan, i want to see some competition.


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## damric (Aug 31, 2012)

How did Zero Core work or not work with this card?


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## EpicShweetness (Aug 31, 2012)

When it works it WORKS! However, I don't see it working very well. W.T.F I pay $1000 and get this . . . .

AMD doesn't make bad cards, arguably Nvidia brought the GK104 and GK107 (mobile chip) ,and doesn't have anything else. This is bold of Powercolor to bring the first duel 7xxx card to the table, but I'll leave it to AMD to do the engineering and see what they come up with.


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## ArchStupid (Aug 31, 2012)

Compared to the 690GTX it has:
- Higher temperature
- Noisier cooler
- About 10% lower performance
- Higher power consumption
- Triple slot cooler compared to dual slot
- Same price
- Serious problem with the cooler mounting system
- No advantages

I guess 8.5 means something different on TPU.


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## HumanSmoke (Aug 31, 2012)

qubit said:


> Yes, that's basically the point I'm making. There's no way they'd make a dumb mistake like that by design.


I'd be inclined to agree...except for the incident with the reference HD 6970 where the 8-pin PCIE plug was ghetto modded (manually shaved) to allow for fan clearance


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## qubit (Aug 31, 2012)

ArchStupid said:


> Compared to the 690GTX it has:
> - Higher temperature
> - Noisier cooler
> - About 10% lower performance
> ...



Good points and I did wonder about that score myself. What score would you give it, then?

As I said in an earlier post, I wouldn't hold that cooler issue against it though, as it would have been a one-off manufacturing fault from using the wrong screws.



HumanSmoke said:


> I'd be inclined to agree...except for the incident with the reference HD 6970 where the 8-pin PCIE plug was ghetto modded (manually shaved) to allow for fan clearance



Couldn't find it. Where was it in the review?


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## Nihilus (Aug 31, 2012)

Literally broke right out of the box.  When crossfire works it is near perfect, but there is just too many times when it doesn't  



qubit said:


> So, the 690 is better. No surprise there. I'd really like to see a card on the AMD side _properly_ trounce its competition from nvidia. We'd get so much more for our money then.


 
Hd 7870 vs ?   Hd 7850 vs ?  Those two win by default.  Hd 7750 >>>>>>>>> GT 640



Lionheart said:


> My AMD fanboyish side would like to favor the HD7990 but I would still go with the GTX 690



Dito.  Still a shame that asus didn't go through with the 7870x2.  PICARIN IS THE BETTER CHIP!
   Instead we get this triple slot, poor overclocking, high power drawing, broke piece of crap.


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## happita (Aug 31, 2012)

qubit said:


> Good points and I did wonder about that score myself. What score would you give it, then?
> 
> As I said in an earlier post, I wouldn't hold that cooler issue against it though, as it would have been a one-off manufacturing fault from using the wrong screws.



Poor QA on their part. They are supposed to "show off" their best, instead 1 slips through the cracks, and that being 1 of the review samples that is supposed to speak highly of their ridiculously expensive creation! Shame on Powercolor. I think the score should've been more like a 7.0, but that's just me, I'm like an asshole...I have an opinion  But I'm sure with some proper drivers, it's true colors will show, its just garbage right now.


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## qubit (Aug 31, 2012)

happita said:


> I'm like an asshole...I have an opinion



Yup, they messed up.

You cracked me up with that line, dude.


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## PopcornMachine (Aug 31, 2012)

> Pricing of the PowerColor Devil 13 is $999, with limited volume available.



I think you got that price upside down. Shouldn't it be $666.


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## HumanSmoke (Aug 31, 2012)

qubit said:


> Couldn't find it. Where was it in the review?


I just linked the TPU review cos I wanted the site to get an extra page hit or two.
...not really. The bottom left hand PCB pic was widely circulated when the design fault came to light. Some reviews mentioned the issue -but since I'm too lazy to sift through HD 6970 reviews, here's the XS thread.
Nice close up here.


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## Cool Mike (Aug 31, 2012)

I have been waiting to purchase the Devil 13. I believe they are in transit to retailers now. Newegg for sure. Having Doubts now! This is their premier card and they send a defective card to a well regarded reviewer? How was this card even properly tested at the factory?
I hope this is a one time occurance.


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## qubit (Aug 31, 2012)

Cool Mike said:


> I have been waiting to purchase the Devil 13. I believe they are in transit to retailers now. Newegg for sure. Having Doubts now! This is their premier card and they send a defective card to a well regarded reviewer? How was this card even properly tested at the factory?
> I hope this is a one time occurance.



You want to buy it?

Just look at what you lose out on:



ArchStupid said:


> Compared to the 690GTX it has:
> - Higher temperature
> - Noisier cooler
> - About 10% lower performance
> ...



Do you still want to buy it? No one else does and those reasons are why. I'd only forgive it for the dodgy cooler, as I'm sure it's a one-off as I've explained above, as embarrassing as this is.

Seriously, get a single GPU card or a GTX 690 if you've got that kind of money. Don't waste it on this.


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## Durvelle27 (Aug 31, 2012)

or wait till AMD officially releases the HD 7990


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## INSTG8R (Aug 31, 2012)

qubit said:


> Do you still want to buy it? No one else does and those reasons are why. I'd only forgive it for the dodgy cooler, as I'm sure it's a one-off as I've explained above, as embarrassing as this is.
> 
> Seriously, get a single GPU card or a GTX 690 if you've got that kind of money. Don't waste it on this.



Hey sometimes your just brand loyal. I mean it is pretty high quality part, they didn't skimp on the components anywhere(cooler SNAFU aside) It overclocks fairly well which does put it ahead again. If I was buying a Dual GPU card I would still go for this over a 690  

I forgot to ask. W1zzard did you happen to test the ASIC quality on the chips? I don't recall seeing it in the review(or I just missed it)


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## qubit (Aug 31, 2012)

INSTG8R said:


> Hey sometimes your just brand loyal. I mean it is pretty high quality part, they didn't skimp on the components anywhere(cooler SNAFU aside) It overclocks fairly well which does put it ahead again. If I was buying a Dual GPU card I would still go for this over a 690
> 
> I forgot to ask. W1zzard did you happen to test the ASIC quality on the chips? I don't recall seeing it in the review(or I just missed it)



Yes, it does overclock well, so it'll be good for hardcore overclockers. But for general use, the 690 looks better.

Yup, it does sound like brand loyalty, lol.


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## BigMack70 (Aug 31, 2012)

They needed this to be priced around the $800 mark to make a real impact... $1000 pricing is fail - why would you get this over a 690 or better yet 7970 crossfire (if going AMD)?

Also as a 7970 xfire user, I can definitely say that AMD needs to step up their multi-GPU driver support. Their single card support is near-flawless, but multi-GPU just isn't there. There's just too many situations where crossfire is broken or half-broken. Maybe the release of this card will help them fix that?


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## BigMack70 (Aug 31, 2012)

ArchStupid said:


> Compared to the 690GTX it has:
> - Higher temperature
> - Noisier cooler
> - About 10% lower performance
> ...



It's a good deal faster than the 690 when the drivers are working properly.


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 31, 2012)

BigMack70 said:


> They needed this to be priced around the $800 mark to make a real impact... $1000 pricing is fail - why would you get this over a 690 or better yet 7970 crossfire (if going AMD)?
> 
> Also as a 7970 xfire user, I can definitely say that AMD needs to step up their multi-GPU driver support. Their single card support is near-flawless, but multi-GPU just isn't there. There's just too many situations where crossfire is broken or half-broken. Maybe the release of this card will help them fix that?



Im sure since they are working on the single card configs and getting them that way, they will then work on multi card configs, but remember motherboard drivers come into play too


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## Cool Mike (Aug 31, 2012)

My preference is AMD. Long time customer. Hope to see another review or two soon. If they are like this review I will not purchase. I owned a Powercolor 6870X2 and worked flawlessly.


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 31, 2012)

Cool Mike said:


> My preference is AMD. Long time customer. Hope to see another review or two soon. If they are like this review I will not purchase. I owned a Powercolor 6870X2 and worked flawlessly.



just stick with what you got right now.


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## KainXS (Aug 31, 2012)

damn even im suprised by how bad it runs, 7970 CF smokes this.


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## SIGSEGV (Aug 31, 2012)

i wonder why this review wasn't using extensives antialiasing while benching it in most games. unfortunately this card performances is lower around 10% based on this reviews compared with competition. i hope amd will optimizing their driver especially on cf performances


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## Lionheart (Aug 31, 2012)

PopcornMachine said:


> I think you got that price upside down. Shouldn't it be $666.



Agreed Also that price goes well with the marketing name of the card


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## N3M3515 (Aug 31, 2012)

Drivers fail....
Why wasn't it tested with the turbo bios? is it already ?


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## kadeep (Aug 31, 2012)

hardwareheeven use 12.8 driver

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...d-7990-graphics-card-review-introduction.html

TPU with 12.7 beta driver that not support this card
they should retest it with proper driver 
not show junk like this


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## INSTG8R (Aug 31, 2012)

kadeep said:


> hardwareheeven use 12.8 driver
> 
> http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...d-7990-graphics-card-review-introduction.html
> 
> ...



While I agree the latest 12.8's should have been used. In all fairness this is a "one off" card. I would be surprised if there were actually any inf's for this specific card in the 12.8s anyway.


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## entropy13 (Aug 31, 2012)

kadeep said:


> hardwareheeven use 12.8 driver
> 
> http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...d-7990-graphics-card-review-introduction.html
> 
> ...



Hardware Heaven's CPU: i7 3960X
TPU's CPU: i7 3770K

BF3 in Hardware Heaven at 1920x1080 - avg. FPS of *114FPS*
BF3 in TPU at 1920x1200 (slightly larger resolution) - avg. FPS of *126FPS*



Difference in FPS in the multi-monitor resolution boils down on the CPUs used and not on the drivers. The other games are not used in the TPU review so I don't think there's a comparison to be made there. The Diablo 3 numbers are weird for the Hardware Heaven review since it's also maxed out in TPU yet the avg. FPS are much higher for the TPU review.


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## Nihilus (Aug 31, 2012)

BigMack70 said:


> It's a good deal faster than the 690 when the drivers are working properly.



Just read the hardware heaven review on this card.  It seems TPU games are just not that friendly to this card.  This card actually  stomped the 690 at that site with only slightlt more power consumption.  

    Even with that, I still think this card is irrelevant at this point.  I am also certain this monster card came from hell so let us not speak of it again.


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## entropy13 (Aug 31, 2012)

Nihilus said:


> Just read the hardware heaven review on this card.  It seems TPU games are just not that friendly to this card.  This card actually  stomped the 690 at that site with only slightlt more power consumption.
> 
> Even with that, I still think this card is irrelevant at this point.  I am also certain this monster card came from hell so let us not speak of it again.



There is a grand total of *seven* games in the Hardware Heaven review.

There is "only" *seventeen* games in the TechPowerUp! review.

Therefore it is much more likely that TPU selected games that aren't "AMD friendly", and it is therefore impossible that Hardware Heaven specifically chose some "AMD friendly" games, i.e. it is easier to choose MORE games to be a "certain kind" than it is to choose LESS games to be a "certain kind." 


And as I have said, their Diablo 3 numbers are quite weird to say the least, since TPU averages MUCH more FPS at 1920x1200 than it does for Hardware Heaven at 1920x1080.


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## H82LUZ73 (Aug 31, 2012)

The cars was unusable out of the box. 

Should this be 

The card was unusable out of the box. ???

Right under the pics for the washers and screws.Wizz.


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## pioneer (Aug 31, 2012)

Melvis said:


> Obviously needs better driver support that's a no brainer, in the games that do have good support it owns everything.
> 
> Very powerful card shame for poor driver support as most of the games it seem,s to be only using 1 core.





moonlord said:


> This Devil can not take over GTX690, where is the true 7990?





Lionheart said:


> My AMD fanboyish side would like to favor the HD7990 but I would still go with the GTX 690





moonlord said:


> I'll never go for nvidia, i'm a real AMD fan, i want to see some competition.





HumanSmoke said:


> I just linked the TPU review cos I wanted the site to get an extra page hit or two.
> ...not really. The bottom left hand PCB pic was widely circulated when the design fault came to light. Some reviews mentioned the issue -but since I'm too lazy to sift through HD 6970 reviews, here's the XS thread.
> Nice close up here.





Cool Mike said:


> I have been waiting to purchase the Devil 13. I believe they are in transit to retailers now. Newegg for sure. Having Doubts now! This is their premier card and they send a defective card to a well regarded reviewer? How was this card even properly tested at the factory?
> I hope this is a one time occurance.





Durvelle27 said:


> or wait till AMD officially releases the HD 7990





Cool Mike said:


> My preference is AMD. Long time customer. Hope to see another review or two soon. If they are like this review I will not purchase. I owned a Powercolor 6870X2 and worked flawlessly.





KainXS said:


> damn even im suprised by how bad it runs, 7970 CF smokes this.





kadeep said:


> hardwareheeven use 12.8 driver
> 
> http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...d-7990-graphics-card-review-introduction.html
> 
> ...



more and more ultra AMD fan boys in this forum- i  cant count them yet

i dont know how much AMD pay for them but amd choose ..........  .... one's


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## W1zzard (Aug 31, 2012)

kadeep said:


> hardwareheeven use 12.8 driver
> 
> http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...d-7990-graphics-card-review-introduction.html
> 
> ...



I used 12.8. Actually both are pretty much the same

There is no special driver support needed for this card. Any driver that supports HD 7970 CrossFire will work with this card, because that's that the driver thinks it is: a motherboard with a PCI-E Bridge and two HD 7970s behind it



instg8r said:


> i forgot to ask. W1zzard did you happen to test the asic quality on the chips? I don't recall seeing it in the review(or i just missed it)



60.7
63.4



H82LUZ73 said:


> The cars was unusable out of the box.
> 
> Should this be
> 
> ...



fixed



entropy13 said:


> There is a grand total of *seven* games in the Hardware Heaven review.
> 
> There is "only" *seventeen* games in the TechPowerUp! review.
> 
> ...



we use the same games all the time, so nobody can say we are cherry picking games. there are huge differences in diablo 3 fps depending on where you go for your testing. don't compare absolute results between reviewers


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## mtosev (Aug 31, 2012)

it's slower than the GTX 690.Looks like I was correct as I expected that it wouldn't be able to beat the GTX 690


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## the54thvoid (Aug 31, 2012)

pioneer said:


> more and more ultra AMD fan boys in this forum- i  cant count them yet
> 
> i dont know how much AMD pay for them but amd choose ..........  .... one's



Would you like to add a post of any substance on the card itself?  Or simply insult others? Your maturity is astounding.  Not.

As for the card.  Can't recall what tech show it was previewed in but even then it was a bit dubious (the sound was atrocious).

Have to say, despite it's raw power it's kinda pointless if it tanks in certain games because of driver support.  If drivers are allowed to work 100% the 7990 shows it's the top dog.  But the point is, the drivers don't work 100%.

You don't buy the most expensive cars in the world and expect them suffer random braking events every 5 miles. You shouldn't expect this from the worlds most expensive consumer gfx card either.

Without adequate drivers, imo this card sucks.


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## Coffebreak (Aug 31, 2012)

Melvis said:


> Obviously needs better driver support that's a no brainer, in the games that do have good support it owns everything.
> 
> Very powerful card shame for poor driver support as most of the games it seem,s to be only using 1 core.



Of course it doesn't have proper support if AMD itself hasn't really put any work into the 7990's yet. If AMD finally optimizes their drivers to this card, meh.

But seriously 551W is a bit too much and too bad about the noise issues  Guess I need to wait for someone else to come up with this series or wait for 8xxx series cards before upgrading.



> more and more ultra AMD fan boys in this forum- i cant count them yet
> 
> i dont know how much AMD pay for them but amd choose .......... .... one's



Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know that you, day after day, went to my work place, did my job and earn my paycheck to tell me what I should buy just because of benchmarks or which company I should support with my own money. This "fanboy" talk seriously needs to end.


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## Crap Daddy (Aug 31, 2012)

It is obvious now for everybody why AMD will never launch a 7990.


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## HumanSmoke (Aug 31, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> we use the same games all the time, so nobody can say we are cherry picking games.


A much better approach than the pseudo-advertising that HH tends to indulge in - add an AMD Gaming Evolved title with GCN super-friendly compute settings for AMD cards, 3D  benching for Nvidia cards for example, and Batman AC shown as a comparison even though the game i.q. levels aren't equal*, and their perceived value based on their pricing ( the Devil 13 rated 8/10 even though no price is listed) that seldom bears any relation to reality. 

10th May Nvidia card - Batman AC included
17th May AMD card- Batman AC not included
18th May Nvidia card - Batman AC included
22nd June AMD card- Batman AC not included


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## DrunkenMafia (Aug 31, 2012)

So that's why they include a screwdriver kit with the card.....     haahaa


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## cadaveca (Aug 31, 2012)

Crap Daddy said:


> It is obvious now for everybody why AMD will never launch a 7990.



To me, honestly, I don't think it makes much sense for them to do so, anyway. They deliver a single GPU that is enough for 99.9% of the users out there, for nearly every title.

Of course, you'd have to expect those users to never change any sort of in-game rendering options...

If you're part of that 0.1%, and you run Eyefinity, then you probably have two seperate cards anyway, simply because you're smart enough to know that cooling is much easier that way, and thereby noise, and end experience as well.

Personally, I think two chips on a stick is the stupidest thing ever. Seriously. Of all the things they could do...two GPUs? 3Dfx's failure wasn't enough? 

Multi-GPU in itself is stupid, and barely works. I've been running it since day one, and really, nothing has changed, and it's been many years.

If i want to play a racing game, I plug in three monitors, hook up the steering wheel and crap, and I enjoy Eyefinity. When I'm done, I hook back up the 30-inch, and any other game I play on that. Yes, it's that bad. And yes, I don't expect it to change. And I'm fine with that. these new Dell U2412M monitors I got only weigh like 5 lbs. 

I'd personally rather see AMD invest their time and money on bringing us a singluar better product, then many bad ones. Dealing with multiple chips on seperate silicon, while at the same time working on seperate chips in the same silicon, is just simply carrying around that old holey sweater simply because you're fond of it.

AMD has already let go...






Anyway, it seems two GPUs isn't quite enough for Eyefinity across the board anyway.


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## HumanSmoke (Aug 31, 2012)

cadaveca said:


> Multi-GPU in itself is stupid, and barely works. I've been running it since day one, and really, nothing has changed, and it's been many years.


Likewise (Voodoo 2 for 3dfx, 6800U for Nvidia, HD 3870 ATi), but at least with single GPU cards you have the option of dropping out a card (or cards) if the CFX/SLI profile is screwed and play the game on a single GPU

Duallies seem solely a dick waving exercise. Production is low ( factoring in development I doubt many turn a profit) and driver optimization/updating tends to fall off a cliff as soon as the card is eclipsed by the next best thing. I'm pretty certain that duallies exist for the sole purpose of providing the longest bar in benchmark bar graphs.


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## dj-electric (Aug 31, 2012)

To be perfactly honest, im quicked suprised of the results...
GG NVIDIA


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 31, 2012)

ya Multi GPU on single board configs there is too many variables to consider and cant always be prevented, i feel that onboard interconnect there isnt enough bandwidth or short latency/pipes available for that. I honestly feel that AMD had the right idea in mind on not releasing a reference 7990 this go around because the 7970/GHz, 7870 etc can handle todays games and tomorrows, singular or in Crossfire. Most markets look at the 7870 or lower boards. To me dual GPU boards are just too big and inefficient in general and it dont matter how you slice it whether NV or AMD.



cadaveca said:


> To me, honestly, I don't think it makes much sense for them to do so, anyway. They deliver a single GPU that is enough for 99.9% of the users out there, for nearly every title.
> 
> Of course, you'd have to expect those users to never change any sort of in-game rendering options...
> 
> ...


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## MyTechAddiction (Aug 31, 2012)

Now this is where you REALLY need that 1000 watts of power


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## blibba (Aug 31, 2012)

Wizz, you say that this is a record for Furmark power consumption, but didn't the Asus Mars II pull more?


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## W1zzard (Aug 31, 2012)

blibba said:


> Wizz, you say that this is a record for Furmark power consumption, but didn't the Asus Mars II pull more?



you are correct, i forgot about the mars ii


----------



## W1zzard (Aug 31, 2012)

added turbo mode results


----------



## INSTG8R (Aug 31, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> added turbo mode results



Definitely puts in a better light against the 690. I mean who's NOT gonna run it on the Turbo BIOS?


----------



## Fluffmeister (Aug 31, 2012)

How does the turbo BIOS effect the power consumption?


----------



## RefusedAMA (Aug 31, 2012)

Hey Wizzard, I got a question that I cant find anywhere so far.  You mentioned you can Crossfire this card with another Devil 13 for a quad setup.  Can you crossfire it with a HD 7970 for a tri fire setup?  Or is this card like a 690 and can only be paired with another dual card?


----------



## ArchStupid (Aug 31, 2012)

BigMack70 said:


> It's a good deal faster than the 690 when the drivers are working properly.



Wow, delusional fanboys.




pioneer said:


> more and more ultra AMD fan boys in this forum- i  cant count them yet
> 
> i dont know how much AMD pay for them but amd choose ..........  .... one's



Yep, pathetic.


----------



## W1zzard (Aug 31, 2012)

RefusedAMA said:


> Hey Wizzard, I got a question that I cant find anywhere so far.  You mentioned you can Crossfire this card with another Devil 13 for a quad setup.  Can you crossfire it with a HD 7970 for a tri fire setup?  Or is this card like a 690 and can only be paired with another dual card?



I can't test due to the slot layout on my motherboard, but I assume you should be able to do triple CF with HD 7970


----------



## RefusedAMA (Aug 31, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> I can't test due to the slot layout on my motherboard, but I assume you should be able to do triple CF with HD 7970



Thank you for your quick response, I would assume that if that was not the case, it would be noted in any documentation you may have received.

Thank you again.


P.S. I would assume so too, being that this has historically been the case with past AMD products.  But, being that there is no reference design and thus nothing on AMD's website to confirm this, it has me a bit weary.  For me, TriFire would be more advantageous then to 690's.


----------



## Crap Daddy (Aug 31, 2012)

cadaveca said:


> Personally, I think two chips on a stick is the stupidest thing ever. Seriously.



It is but it all has to do with one company or another having the fastest card, obviously for marketing and prestige reasons since I don't see many buying and NV or AMD making really money out of it. Except maybe this generation of dual GPU Kepler GK104 which is used also on Tesla K10 GPU computing accelerator.


----------



## General Lee (Aug 31, 2012)

It's just PR. These are limited run cards that are <1000 units. It's surprising though how shoddy the quality seems to be. I was surprised to hear that many of the previous Asus Mars II cards also had major quality issues. You would think they would hand test these things since there's so few of them and they're so expensive. I'd certainly be pissed if my 1k$ card was DOA because of shoddy cooler placement.

2x custom 7970 is a much better option for some great triple screen action.  Of course CF support is a mess most of the time, you're better off watercooling a single card and overclocking it to 1300 MHz. Haven't really tried SLI so can't comment on that side.


----------



## Ghost (Aug 31, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> added turbo mode results





Fluffmeister said:


> How does the turbo BIOS effect the power consumption?



^This. Also, what about the noise and temps with Turbo?


----------



## Veridian3 (Aug 31, 2012)

HumanSmoke said:


> A much better approach than the pseudo-advertising that HH tends to indulge in - add an AMD Gaming Evolved title with GCN super-friendly compute settings for AMD cards, 3D  benching for Nvidia cards for example, and Batman AC shown as a comparison even though the game i.q. levels aren't equal*, and their perceived value based on their pricing ( the Devil 13 rated 8/10 even though no price is listed) that seldom bears any relation to reality.
> 
> 10th May Nvidia card - Batman AC included
> 17th May AMD card- Batman AC not included
> ...



HI all, thought I would drop in and address a few comments from this thread to give a better understanding of our review (HH).

Regarding game choice, we always tend to go with a selection of the latest games where possible although another consideration is the genre/engine. For example I would always want to have a couple of FPS complimented by a racing, RTS, MMO etc rather than FPS after FPS.

Looking at Batman specifically (the original and the sequel), they were included in a batch of reviews when new but then at later dates moved to be PhysX only content which is why they were missing from some AMD reviews quoted above. Had a newer game happened to support PhysX it would have A) met our criteria for testing the latest games and B) been the PhysX test at the same time. We wouldnt normally do a NV review (or AMD) with a key feature test missing...reviews are about educating people new to the product as well as showing performance. (Borderlands 2 will be added next month, and will drop out other than some specific tests when something similar/newer comes along)

We also don't pick games to favour one manufacturer or the other. Dirt Showdown, as one example, happens to perform best on AMD but it is also the newest "big" racing title around and benefits from being DX11 etc which is also taken into consideration. F1 2012 will replace it, unless something better suited comes along in the racing genre. We used to use NFS but recent games havent had the best engine for real world benchmarking. 

That brings me on to the next point, the games themselves play a big part. This review was the first to use Sleeping Dogs. I also took a look at Dark Souls for possible inclusion but removed it due to it being a really dodgy console port (engine wise, the game is great on 360). Frame caps at 30fps being a big problem. Skyrim nearly made it in but for something going wrong with the game install.

It's probably also worth noting that I agree 100% with W1zzard on comparing reviews. It just isn't possible to do that. We for example retest every result in each review on the days running up to the review with the latest drivers, patches etc for all cards included. This review it was only 2 cards (excluding 3DMark) but it can be several. For this review we also OC'd our CPU, to 5GHz, only used the OC Devil BIOS, use a higher spec CPU, more memory, different chipset architecture, different game segments the list goes on when compared to W1zzards work.

There is no right or wrong some will prefer our way, some TPU's. I would say its best to read both (and more) then form a decision based on all of them combined. 

I hope that gives a better understanding about how we choose the games included, and the process as a whole. 

Finally, its worth noting that the card we received had no heatsink/thermal issues. It worked properly right out of the box.


----------



## Recus (Aug 31, 2012)

AMD is like Band-Aid. Just rip it off. Everyone will feel better.


----------



## TheDeeGee (Aug 31, 2012)

Durvelle27 said:


> or wait till AMD officially releases the HD 7990



Which is not going to happen. So happy waiting


----------



## 3870x2 (Aug 31, 2012)

ArchStupid said:


> Compared to the 690GTX it has:
> - Higher temperature
> - Noisier cooler
> - About 10% lower performance
> ...



8.5 is not a comparison score.

Looking at this card alone, it is a great product.  Not to mention with unlocked voltages, this will hit the spot for enthusiasts more IMO.


----------



## pantherx12 (Aug 31, 2012)

Nice review, performance is not quite what I was expecting.


By the by can people stop calling people fanboys?

People buy different products no need to get all vocal about it.


----------



## Sasqui (Aug 31, 2012)

I'm wondering how a 9% core overclock could yeild a 16.7% preformance increase!  I guess coupled with 27% memory clock increase, we're looking at a memory bottleneck?


----------



## MasterInvader (Aug 31, 2012)

This is another wast of money vs performance, same to all dual/gpu card´s.
And since this one have a triple slot it´s even worse, I never understand why people pay more for less.

Two 680 or 7970 will always be better than 690 or 7990 and since my first SLI setup I always go for the most performance for less money.

Example, a 3Way SLI GTX670 will cost about the same as a GTX690 and the performance will be ridiculous compare to the 690.


----------



## tacosRcool (Aug 31, 2012)

I remember another design fail that involved a screw, was it powercolor as well?


----------



## radrok (Aug 31, 2012)

tacosRcool said:


> I remember another design fail that involved a screw, was it powercolor as well?



It was Zotac AMP's cooler.



W1zzard may I ask you how much voltage is allowed to be cranked up over stock?

Something along 1.3v?


----------



## jihadjoe (Aug 31, 2012)

Powercolor 7990 Devil 13 W1zzard edition* 


*plastic washers and thermal compound included in package


----------



## ChristTheGreat (Aug 31, 2012)

MasterInvader said:


> This is another wast of money vs performance, same to all dual/gpu card´s.
> And since this one have a triple slot it´s even worse, I never understand why people pay more for less.
> 
> Two 680 or 7970 will always be better than 690 or 7990 and since my first SLI setup I always go for the most performance for less money.
> ...



But 3 gtx 670 will consume more power than the GTX 690 alone..

A pair of GTX 670 will consume at maximum 324w, while GTX 690 will do 334w. so add for maximum power 150w to the 3-way SLI.. and in average, the GTX 690 consume less in TPU review.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_670_SLI/23.html

Also, remember that it's not all people that has the place for a 3-way SLI.. And it will create more heat, need a better PSU...


----------



## BigMack70 (Aug 31, 2012)

ArchStupid said:


> Wow, delusional fanboys.



Huh? Maybe you need to read this review again, and take a look at individual game results rather than the summary at the end. When the drivers work, this is either on par or better than the 690. Problem is that AMD has crap multi-GPU support with their drivers.

When it works, 7970 overclocked crossfire (which is basically what this is with turbo) is significantly faster than a 690 or 680 (stock) SLI. However, it only works like 50-75% of the time.

There's nothing fanboyish about that statement. I wouldn't buy this card over a 690 unless it were $200 cheaper. Maybe you need to lay off the green koolaid?


----------



## MxPhenom 216 (Aug 31, 2012)

Great review as always. Like I predicted it would be. The GTX690 is still very much the better card.


----------



## OneCool (Aug 31, 2012)

Wow.Crossfire support for Skyrim most be TOTALLY broken.  pitiful! :shadedshu


----------



## INSTG8R (Aug 31, 2012)

OneCool said:


> Wow.Crossfire support for Skyrim most be TOTALLY broken.  pitiful! :shadedshu



Does it really need Crossfire? Ran great "maxed" on my previouse 5870(no HD pack) Runs just as great "maxed" on my 7970(With HD pack) It's not that demanding of an engine.


----------



## MxPhenom 216 (Aug 31, 2012)

INSTG8R said:


> Does it really need Crossfire? Ran great "maxed" on my previouse 5870(no HD pack) Runs just as great "maxed" on my 7970(With HD pack) It's not that demanding of an engine.



Its not, but once you load it up with 8GB of graphics mods and textures. Performance will begin to go through the floor.


----------



## INSTG8R (Aug 31, 2012)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> Its not, but once you load it up with 8GB of graphics mods and textures. Performance will begin to go through the floor.



Is Crossfire really gone help with a bunch of VRAM soaking mods tho?


----------



## MxPhenom 216 (Aug 31, 2012)

INSTG8R said:


> Is Crossfire really gone help with a bunch of VRAM soaking mods tho?



It'll help, but won't completely get rid of the vram consumption. Just adds another card for more horse power.


----------



## Casecutter (Aug 31, 2012)

As Crap Daddy, HumanSmoke, cadaveca... I'd coalesce.  As I've said months back AMD would be smart just to sit the whole dual chip card thing out, honestly I think the days of their usefulness have past, if there was ever a time such high-end offering made a bunch of sense.

As to this Devil... PowerColor tried, but but didn't get the horns and tail pointy enough, the devil is in the details.  While kudos for trying it's a daunting task for a single AIB to really be able to invest the resources for design, test, and tooling to deliver a competing product polished to the level the GTX690 offering.  Although I'd wager that once all the costs of bringing the GTX690 to market versus sales/profit there's not much meat on the bone for Nvidia.  But that was not what Nvidia fussed about, they were looking at a Halo product and platform that could emphasis on the merits of the GK104 small chip goodness. 

PowerColor took on an ambitious undertaking but I but I see it as a bomb.  The idea that the card had an issue which should absolutely never left the build is a colossal fiasco, and its’ reputation marred.  The real problem is in mind PowerColor went "stupid greedy" with that $1,000 price tag (even if it was as good or topped a GTX690) for them to consider sell a less refined, not cutting-edge 3 slot cooler card verses the GTX690 is  beyond reproach.  This would've succeed if they price it at $900, but at this point even a price reduction won’t reestablish the usefulness of the product.


----------



## cadaveca (Aug 31, 2012)

Don't get me wrong though...as an product to showcase engineering, Powercolor did a good job. It's unfortunate that the coolers need to be so big, that Crossfire has driver issues at times, and that W1zz had issues with the card...a card that comes with a screwdriver. A nice screwdriver, at that!


It's still a nice bit of PCB though. If I had the cash, I'd love to have one. The packaging is really nice and well done.

Crossfire sucks. That's not really Powercolor's fault. I doubt they could price it much lower. 2x 7970, plus $50 bridge chip, plus packaging and screwdriver...easy to understand the cost.


----------



## qubit (Aug 31, 2012)

cadaveca said:


> It's still a nice bit of PCB though. If I had the cash, I'd love to have one. The packaging is really nice and well done.



I can understand your collectors sentiment here. The card is very well engineered, regardless of a few shortcomings and looks great.

I bought a BFG 8800 Ultra brand new, boxed, off eBay for £100 about three years ago as I just love that cooler with the offset fan and the uber status of the card. 

I played around with it for a short while in my rig, then boxed it back up and put it on the shelf. I look at it once in a while, but don't dare use it in order to keep it pristine.


----------



## Ikaruga (Aug 31, 2012)

It's a nice card indeed, but if you are buying a computer part what's cost a kilo, you expect the very best. They did not deliver:/


----------



## D007 (Aug 31, 2012)

I find myself getting more and more pissed at nvidia.. Update the f'n 680 drivers or something. It just keeps falling farther and farther behind and the dam thing JUST came out... WTF?! Fail....


----------



## INSTG8R (Aug 31, 2012)

D007 said:


> I find myself getting more and more pissed at nvidia.. Update the f'n 680 drivers or something. It just keeps falling farther and farther behind and the dam thing JUST came out... WTF?! Fail....



Well they put it out with clocks that were "just enough" to best the 7970. The 7970 was put out with pretty conservative clocks(they had no competition at the time) AMD counter by letting them "stretch their legs" with the GHZ editions and the gap closes back up again.  The dance continues


----------



## Spaceman Spiff (Aug 31, 2012)

Too little to late for me. Went from a GeForce 6800go to an hd4890 to cfx 4890s to a single 6970 to cfx 6970s and finally picked up a 690 since it seemed no dual gpu was coming from the red team. Sold my old 775 rig and my 6970s to get funds for the flagship card. I used my igpu for a few weeks while I gathered the funds and ended up only paying 245 out of pocket to get the 690. For me the 690 is a better fit due to power consumption and only dual slot. It's a hell of a card. 

Between this card and the 690 it seems completely based on the games tested. I don't see a clear cut winner of performance. I do see the pros of the 690 compared to this 7990 as has already been listed. If you have the money get one or the other based on what games you play. My 2 cents.


----------



## Casecutter (Aug 31, 2012)

cadaveca said:


> Don't get me wrong though...as an product to showcase engineering, Powercolor did a good job.


You know I went and really looked at the details, and might say it not as bad as folk here see it.  Sure there are wins/loses in each camp, and honestly I thought when you really want to maintain decent Fps at 2560x or 5760x (the only two that matter) the 7990 has legs and true Hp that those dual GK104 don't always offer. Could be a alright option for someone who just like the appeal of Devil monster in there box for Eyefinity in a driving simulator (pitch/roll hydraulics) using 3 huge flat screens, while running Dirt Showdown.


----------



## PopcornMachine (Aug 31, 2012)

pantherx12 said:


> Nice review, performance is not quite what I was expecting.
> 
> 
> By the by can people stop calling people fanboys?
> ...



One of those words that people use in order to be annoyingly negative without having to actually come up with an intelligent argument.


----------



## fullinfusion (Sep 1, 2012)

Thanks for the review Wiz~ Grate job as always.

I thought it was funny you saying you liked the screw driver that came with the card.

Guess you can call it... We build---> you do the final assembly lulz


----------



## okidna (Sep 1, 2012)

D007 said:


> I find myself getting more and more pissed at nvidia.. Update the f'n 680 drivers or something. It just keeps falling farther and farther behind and the dam thing JUST came out... WTF?! Fail....



Just 4 days ago : http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/win8-win7-winvista-64bit-306.02-beta-driver-uk.html


----------



## Nihilus (Sep 1, 2012)

The triple slot cooler is what really kills this product the most.  Where does it make sense?  Even a uATX board has room for 2 HD 7970s.  As for an ITX board, most likely this card would not even fit.  The only thing I can think of is a uATX board for those that want room for a sound card.


----------



## Akrian (Sep 1, 2012)

My inner AMD fanboy screams "Noooooooooooo, how could it fail!!!!?"
Also why 5760x resolutions don't scale in Bf3  ? 0_o isnt it uses the basic crossfire drivers ? if so even my tri-fire works there ( or at least I THINK it does)

It's still nice to see that Powercolor released it. Crown for the faster GFX card of 7xxx and 6xx lines goes well to 690.  
Now where are those 780/790 and 8970/8990 cards 


P.S. Wiz, that's one great review. And whoa they messed up the mounting, considering that they send one to techp. for a review, I would've guessed that they've checked that the cards was a-ok.


----------



## Rei86 (Sep 2, 2012)

Very badass review.  Been waiting for this card to come out since its introduction.  Love the design of the whole thing overall however I hate how its a triple slot design.  

Going to stick to my 690.


----------



## M@U (Sep 2, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> Update: PowerColor just told us that they are working on the mounting issue and halted all shipments of production boards to investigate. No retail cards should be affected.



I think Powercolor has to work on other issues, too. It's very huge, noisy, slow and it needs so much power... :shadedshu

@W1zzard, can you test power consumption, noisy level and temperature of this card in power mode? I can see only performance tests.


----------



## W1zzard (Sep 2, 2012)

M@U said:


> @W1zzard, can you test power consumption, noisy level and temperature of this card in power mode? I can see only performance tests.



i haven't had time to test that and the card is already on its way to the next reviewer. I would guesstimate power goes up 10%, heat maybe 1-2°C, noise unchanged because 1-2°C don't change fan speed much


----------



## M@U (Sep 2, 2012)

Thank you.


----------



## Melvis (Sep 3, 2012)

pioneer said:


> more and more ultra AMD fan boys in this forum- i  cant count them yet
> 
> i dont know how much AMD pay for them but amd choose ..........  .... one's



Considering ive owned and used Nvidia a lot longer then ATi/AMD yea i can see how iam a fanboy :shadedshu

If you are over the age of 8 then you can clearly see that crossfire isnt working in half the games, so what i said was fact, if you cant see that you might need eyefinity 



Coffebreak said:


> Of course it doesn't have proper support if AMD itself hasn't really put any work into the 7990's yet. If AMD finally optimizes their drivers to this card, meh.
> 
> But seriously 551W is a bit too much and too bad about the noise issues  Guess I need to wait for someone else to come up with this series or wait for 8xxx series cards before upgrading.



Thats my point from the start, the drivers for this card plain and simply suck. Half the games it works the other half it doesn't, only time will fix this card.

Honestly who will give a flying monkeys ass if the card is using that much power and noise, a person who is going to buy this wont care about that, just if the FPS meter and score is to the max, that all that matters to a person buying this card.


----------



## Morgoth (Sep 3, 2012)

when do we get quad gpu cards?


----------



## Rei86 (Sep 3, 2012)

When you buy four 6XX or four 7XXX or two 690 or two of these 7990?


----------



## Morgoth (Sep 3, 2012)

4 gpu's on 1 card


----------



## Rei86 (Sep 3, 2012)

Oh....ewww.....


----------



## Morgoth (Sep 3, 2012)

i would pay for this


----------



## qubit (Sep 3, 2012)

Dammit, what I wanna know, is when are they gonna make dual GPU cards with two sli/crossfire connectors to allow a four monster/8 GPU setup?!


----------



## W1zzard (Sep 3, 2012)

qubit said:


> Dammit, what I wanna know, is when are they gonna make dual GPU cards with two sli/crossfire connectors to allow a four monster/8 GPU setup?!



not supported in the driver


----------



## qubit (Sep 3, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> not supported in the driver



Yeah I know. Just wishful thinking, lol. It would make some very interesting reviews though.


----------



## radrok (Sep 3, 2012)

qubit said:


> Yeah I know. Just wishful thinking, lol. It would make some very interesting reviews though.



All you would see is negative scaling, every time a game is out and there is no profile it's a nightmare, I get less FPS with 2+ GPUs than with 1.


----------



## Morgoth (Sep 3, 2012)

how abouth just a biger gpu die on the card? instead of 2 seperate?


----------



## radrok (Sep 3, 2012)

Morgoth said:


> how abouth just a biger gpu die on the card? instead of 2 seperate?



I think that would require an architecture change, making a dual GPU board is relatively easier.


----------



## WarEagleAU (Sep 6, 2012)

Actually I can say I am very impressed with this release from Powercolor, cooling mounting issues aside. It either competes very closely with the 690 or wins in most all benchmarks. Costs is still high and they should have worked on toning down power usage but hell who cares. This thing rocks. I didn't expect it to do so well. WtG. Not sure why most of you are calling it a loss or fail, I disagree respectfully with that. Major win.


----------



## HumanSmoke (Sep 13, 2012)

Hexus received two review samples...both suffered from the same lack of pressure contact for the cooling that W1zz's sample exhibited.

Bizarre. Two weeks after W1zz appraised PowerColor of the issue, and PC are still sending out faulty review samples


----------



## sammorris (Sep 22, 2012)

This isn't exactly an unknown.

I had the misfortune of testing two 4GB HD5970s from Sapphire when they were getting all the press attention. With the near-impossible task of getting hold of them you'd think that for such a small production run they'd take some care of their construction. Both the cards were DOA (and this was verified by CCL who provided a full refund), one seriously in that there was a strong burning smell as soon as the system was powered up.

I just can't get my head around why cards that are manufactured in such small quantities they are only really designed for the press and not the end-user aren't tested even briefly before they leave the factory, it's just bizarre. 
I'm also not sure why the card should fail to work in dual-GPU mode in so many games that support crossfire perfectly well. Seemingly there just hasn't been any software groundwork carried out here either. Presumably Powercolor just released the card anyway, even though they couldn't get it to work properly, in hardware or software!

In fairness, they are no more deserving of criticism than Asus for botching the release versions of the GTX590 either, but these stories highlight the fact that when testing cutting edge hardware like this, if it's a fault-free experience, you're one of the lucky ones.


----------



## mediasorcerer (Sep 23, 2012)

Well thankyou for the review, its quite the fascinating read, i dont see it as a fail, at least powercolor tried to bring to market something unusual and unique, if companies never innovated for fear of producing a lemon, where would we be for tech??

If it shows up in device manager as two gpu,s then surely you could disable one and run games that dont crossfire well in single gpu mode and still have plenty of performance yes?

Its a novelty card,  no 1 makes you buy it.

Would you rather it was never made?, then you would not have had the pleasure of reading~posting in this review would you lol!!

I love the looks of it, its radiates-how do you say-wicked hehehe!


----------



## sammorris (Sep 23, 2012)

Unfortunately that's not how dual-GPU cards work. There were workarounds you can use in catalyst control center to make the card behave as if the second GPU has been disabled, but after official support for this was removed, this is bordering on registry-hack territory. There is no 'enable/disable crossfire' as per two discrete cards.


----------



## mediasorcerer (Sep 23, 2012)

sammorris said:


> Unfortunately that's not how dual-GPU cards work. There were workarounds you can use in catalyst control center to make the card behave as if the second GPU has been disabled, but after official support for this was removed, this is bordering on registry-hack territory. There is no 'enable/disable crossfire' as per two discrete cards.




Ok i see, i wasnt exactly sure, just guessing .


----------



## sammorris (Sep 23, 2012)

Back in the days when I was using HD4870X2s you could disable Catalyst A.I. in the control center and that would as good as disable crossfire. Not quite the same and there were occasional times when that wouldn't suffice but in the majority of cases that would do the job. However, a couple of years back that feature was removed from the interface, and last I checked it hadn't been put back in, so you had to resort to modifying ini files / registry settings to achieve the same result. I don't think there was any technical reason for doing it, so it baffles me why the function was removed from the interface. Then again, I defy anyone to understand the reasonings of AMD's driver team.


----------



## mediasorcerer (Sep 24, 2012)

Yes, they should get on the ball a bit more when it comes to drivers, mind tho, they got the 7 series of cards out pretty quick, personally, ive only ever owned amd cards, and never had driver issues myself, but ive never ran cf either.

It should be an option in ccc shouldnt it?.Perhaps i will join the amd forum and ask them to implement it?


----------



## radrok (Sep 24, 2012)

If you want to get your second GPU disabled just go windowed full screen, that's how I do when scaling is negative


----------



## sammorris (Sep 24, 2012)

mediasorcerer said:


> Yes, they should get on the ball a bit more when it comes to drivers, mind tho, they got the 7 series of cards out pretty quick, personally, ive only ever owned amd cards, and never had driver issues myself, but ive never ran cf either.
> 
> It should be an option in ccc shouldnt it?.Perhaps i will join the amd forum and ask them to implement it?



Good luck with that 
The AMD board is not usually monitored by staff working for AMD, and it can be hard work getting something useful out of the community there sometimes!


----------



## zenlaserman (Sep 24, 2012)

I have a 4850X2 and the latest Catalyst that supports it (12.4).  I've had the "Disable Crossfire X" option in every Catalyst I've run since I've had this card.


----------



## sammorris (Sep 24, 2012)

The HD4850X2 is non standard and uses internal crossfire. Therefore you will have the option on it as crossfire was obviously not removed from catalyst. It is the catalyst AI setting as used by the 4870x2, 5970, 6990 and so on that was removed.


----------



## Ren_kun (Dec 24, 2012)

If you did want to quadfire 2 devils... what kind of motherboard would one use? With enough room for a sound card?


----------



## radrok (Dec 24, 2012)

Ren_kun said:


> If you did want to quadfire 2 devils... what kind of motherboard would one use? With enough room for a sound card?



I'd use a Rampage IV either extreme or formula, you'd be fine even with a Sabertooth X79.
You definitely want X79 chipset because I think 8x/8x won't cut it.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Dec 25, 2012)

radrok said:


> I'd use a Rampage IV either extreme or formula, you'd be fine even with a Sabertooth X79.
> You definitely want X79 chipset because I think 8x/8x won't cut it.



2 GPUs on the Same bus probably would strain at 8x/8x


----------



## radrok (Dec 25, 2012)

Yeah it'd be 4x/4x/4x/4x, pretty choked lanes you'd have there 

Z77 isn't good for 4 GPUs


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## Rei86 (Dec 25, 2012)

Doesn't this 7990 have its own built in PLX chip?

EDIT looked at the review and it indeed has its own PLX PCIe Bridge chip.  So wouldn't it internally run at its max x16 and send out information on 7990 x 8 7990 x 8 when installed?


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