# AMD Radeon HD 6790 1 GB



## W1zzard (Apr 4, 2011)

Today AMD is releasing their new Radeon HD 6790 which is targeted at the $150 segment that recently saw some love from NVIDIA in form of their GTX 550 Ti. AMD's new card uses the same GPU as the more powerful HD 6850 and HD 6870, so it will be interesting to see where it stands and whether it can defeat NVIDIA's latest offering.

*Show full review*


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## alexsubri (Apr 5, 2011)

*1**st* and good review as always! I was reading the leaked benchmarks of crysis and i guess they were right. Thumbs up to AMD for making this card at $150. Great value and sucker punches 550ti. We'll see how nVidia punches back with the new 460 SLi on a stick solution comes about.

edit: are you going to have a crossfire review up? i am really eager to see it


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## Over_Lord (Apr 5, 2011)

I'm impressed. The performance drop from HD6850 is not as huge as I was expecting. Well priced.

But I still think a 1GHz HD5770 renamed as HD6770 would have made more sense at around 130-140$


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## DarkOCean (Apr 5, 2011)

Only 16 rops and still ok performance now let's see gtx 560 non ti.


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## Maban (Apr 5, 2011)

First page says 16 rops, gpu-z says 24?

Edit: looked it up at amd.com and it says 16.


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## alexsubri (Apr 5, 2011)

thunderising said:


> I'm impressed. The performance drop from HD6850 is not as huge as I was expecting. Well priced.
> 
> But I still think a 1GHz HD5770 renamed as HD6770 would have made more sense at around 130-140$



the HD6700*m* series are used more for laptops. It will featured HD3D for laptops to be able to play in 3D. A much needed answered because nvidia is dominating the laptop gaming segment with their 3D Vision.

Learn more on HD6700mobile

Performance on 6900m is here (hint: it's a beast)

back on topic. .  .


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## Maban (Apr 5, 2011)

Why no overvoltage overclocking in this review?


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## Semi-Lobster (Apr 5, 2011)

Beating up on the GTX 550 Ti feels like picking on the kid who ate worms back in kindergarten.  I'm a little surprised it clocked so consistently below the 5830 though, I would have expected that they would have at least wanted to tie it.


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## alexsubri (Apr 5, 2011)

Semi-Lobster said:


> Beating up on the GTX 550 Ti feels like picking on the kid who ate worms back in kindergarten.  I'm a little surprised it clocked so consistently below the 5830 though, I would have expected that they would have at least wanted to tie it.



me too, i was thinking that the 550ti would've won and the 560ti isn't that far ahead of the 6790.


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## W1zzard (Apr 5, 2011)

Maban said:


> Why no overvoltage overclocking in this review?



no support for the voltage controller yet


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## Maban (Apr 5, 2011)

> Just like on HD 6850 and HD 6870, AMD is using a CHiL CHL8214 voltage regulator on this card. All major software utilities support this voltage controll for I2C software control and monitoring.



Oh?


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## Jiraiya (Apr 5, 2011)

same price GTX 460 768mb !

GTX 550 Ti + HD 6790 = fail


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## Over_Lord (Apr 5, 2011)

alexsubri said:


> the HD6700m series are used more for laptops. It will featured HD3D for laptops to be able to play in 3D. A much needed answered because nvidia is dominating the laptop gaming segment with their 3D Vision.



Umm how did the 'm' come into discussion?

I was saying since AMD have already rebranded HD5700 DESKTOP series into HD6770 and are selling only to OEMs, why not a HD6790 based off the Juniper core, which on OCing works pretty well. Plus, they could have put an even lower price tag since the core is smaller(and 128-bit memory)


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## alexsubri (Apr 5, 2011)

thunderising said:


> Umm how did the 'm' come into discussion?
> 
> I was saying since AMD have already rebranded HD5700 DESKTOP series into HD6770 and are selling only to OEMs, why not a HD6790 based off the Juniper core, which on OCing works pretty well. Plus, they could have put an even lower price tag since the core is smaller(and 128-bit memory)



the whole 6950, 6870, etc was to distance their new cards so that people wouldn't see it as the same card just newer. It all has to do with marketing , but yes i agree it is confusing


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## Tatsumaru (Apr 5, 2011)

so what is this card then.? a 4870 and 5770 or a  4890 - 5830 .?
well the way i see it i would call it 6830, it makes sense right.?


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## damric (Apr 5, 2011)

> AMD's Radeon HD *6970 *1 GB can be found online for around $150.


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## F2K (Apr 5, 2011)

So what is the final ROP count on this card?
I found another review that says 32 ROPs. Next thing you know this card could unlock to HD6870 

EDIT: Also a $125 MSRP is mentioned.


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## T3RM1N4L D0GM4 (Apr 5, 2011)

GTX460 seems to be a smarter choice... sorry AMD


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## Zubasa (Apr 5, 2011)

T3RM1N4L D0GM4 said:


> GTX460 seems to be a smarter choice... sorry AMD


Well if anyone wants to get a GTX 460 they better be quick.
For nVidia will make them sorry for not doing so.
EL Cheapo to make GTX 550 is taking over.


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## choppy (Apr 5, 2011)

so i take it the 6790 does not have unlockable shaders?


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## HossHuge (Apr 5, 2011)

Will it crossfire with a 6800 series card?


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## W1zzard (Apr 5, 2011)

choppy said:


> so i take it the 6790 does not have unlockable shaders?



can't unlock. i checked


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## Fourstaff (Apr 5, 2011)

I am not impressed with this card, the cheapest 5770 you can find right now is $100, making this card extremely overpriced seeing that its less than 20% faster. The cheapest 5850 out there is $170 and it comes with Shogun 2, which is easily worth $20. Perhaps the pricing will drop down to $135 in the near future, which will make it extremely competitive against the 5770.


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## choppy (Apr 5, 2011)

it will go down in price quickly - thats all I can see happening as atm its not viable to pay for such a card when hd6850 is near enough the same price


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## wolf (Apr 5, 2011)

great review as always! good to see the battle heating up at the sub $200 price point  can't wait for the GTX560 non Ti to join the race, and boy those 768mb 460's still look like a steal!


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## Jonap_1st (Apr 5, 2011)

good to see 6790 doesnt ended up like 5830. maybe little drop to around $130-140 would make it sweet choice..


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## n-ster (Apr 5, 2011)

If it's at 150$, this is disapointing really. 2x 6 pin, really? and it can't even beat a 5830? I thought it would be a great card that would easily beat the 5830, and perhaps even the gtx 460 and sit at almost = to GTX 460.

If this required 1x 6 pin, then it would be better already. Else I think this should be priced UNDER 130$


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## Delta6326 (Apr 5, 2011)

fan is way to loud for that temp! still the 460 looks like a good deal


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## F2K (Apr 5, 2011)

n-ster said:


> If it's at 150$, this is disapointing really. 2x 6 pin, really? and it can't even beat a 5830? I thought it would be a great card that would easily beat the 5830, and perhaps even the gtx 460 and sit at almost = to GTX 460.
> 
> If this required 1x 6 pin, then it would be better already. Else I think this should be priced UNDER 130$


Some AIBs already have a 1x 6pin version (PowerColor, VTX3D, Club3D)


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## N3M3515 (Apr 5, 2011)

No shader unlocking?
Seems this card doesn't overlock like i would've like
I'll pass this one


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## HalfAHertz (Apr 5, 2011)

WHY cut the ROPs again?? I understand that they don't want to cannibalize 6850 sales but I would have preferred to see 32 ROPs and maybe a tad higher core clocks...As a lot of others have mentioned already the 460 is still king of the mid range.


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## mdm-adph (Apr 5, 2011)

alexsubri said:


> *1**st* and good review as always! I was reading the leaked benchmarks of crysis and i guess they were right. Thumbs up to AMD for making this card at $150. Great value and sucker punches 550ti. We'll see how nVidia punches back with the new 460 SLi on a stick solution comes about.
> 
> edit: are you going to have a crossfire review up? i am really eager to see it



I think we should do like some other forums do and auto-ban if someone says "first."


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## Rowsol (Apr 5, 2011)

Jiraiya said:


> same price GTX 460 768mb !



Yea, not a fan of this.  The 6850 for $165 or the gtx 460 768mb @ $150 is a better option.


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## N3M3515 (Apr 5, 2011)

Quoted from anandtech forum:

"Recent video card innovations have been real unimpressive lately. It really does seem like we are not much further than 3 years ago in terms of visual video card performance. Are we hitting a massive roadblock here?"

"For the time being there’s not much going for the 6790 to recommend it. Throw some rebates on the Radeon HD 6790 to get it down to $130 and we can talk. Until then the GeForce GTX 460 768MB or the Radeon HD 6850 are both much better products."

Seems that my trusty 4870 and 4890 have no rivals as of 2 years old.
PD: Don't reply to me about how 4870 & 4890 being tier 1 cards because when i bought them 2 years ago they where at 135usd and 170usd respectively, i don't care if they launched at 99999usd, i bought at 135 and 175 TWO years ago. I don't care about dx11 either because this cards don't have the horsepower for it anyway.
Some years ago one could buy last years high end for 200 bucks for example:

5950 ultra vs 6600gt
6800 ultra vs 7600gt ===> 5950 vs 7600gt almost 4x perf in 2 years.
7800 gtx512 vs 8800gt

maybe it's because 40nm?


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## arnoo1 (Apr 5, 2011)

i don't understand 1 thing
how do you manage a 80c+ load temp when power consumption is around 140watts?
my gtx 275 does not get hotter than 65c with 63%fan speed ,and that's not noisy, and a power consumption of 225watts


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## Jeffredo (Apr 6, 2011)

MSI N460GTX Twin Frozr II SOC GeForce GTX 460 (Fer...

As a few others have said - why bother?  The HD 6790 or GTX 550 Ti shouldn't even be considered when you can get a great card like the GTX 460 Twin Frozr SOC for the same price _and _a MIR.


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## mastrdrver (Apr 6, 2011)

Wizzard are you using one of the 3 benchmarks for Civ 5 (If so which one)?

Great review as always.

Thanks


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## Semi-Lobster (Apr 6, 2011)

N3M3515 said:


> Quoted from anandtech forum:
> 
> "Recent video card innovations have been real unimpressive lately. It really does seem like we are not much further than 3 years ago in terms of visual video card performance. Are we hitting a massive roadblock here?"
> 
> ...



Really interesting perspective, Hardware Canucks gave a very different (and glowing) perspective on the 6790.


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## HalfAHertz (Apr 6, 2011)

N3M3515 said:


> Quoted from anandtech forum:
> 
> "Recent video card innovations have been real unimpressive lately. It really does seem like we are not much further than 3 years ago in terms of visual video card performance. Are we hitting a massive roadblock here?"
> 
> ...



That is so true! I was thinking something along those lines the other day too. The 4850 was selling for 109-129$ and the 4870s were around 129-149 just before they got EOLd. And they literally offer only a marginally worst performance. I agree that the 5770 and the 6790 can OC much further and increase the performance gap but dang even when you OC them to near 1GHz, you're looking at 40-50% more performance in the best case scenario and that's compared to a 2year old product...You may argue that the problem is the unoptimized games and not the cards or that you get a few extra features but dang I expected better...Why would I want Dx11 or 3 screen eyefinity when I'm having difficulty running just 1 screen at 19x12 for 150$ 
Give me MOAR Ati and Nvidia!


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## N3M3515 (Apr 6, 2011)

From The TechReport:
"The unfortunate truth is that, for $149, the 6790 is kind of a raw deal. A graphics card without a cause, really. Head to Newegg right now, and you can grab a Radeon HD 6850 for $164.99—that's before a $20 mail-in rebate that'll bring the card down to just $144.99, as long as you eventually get that check in the mail. The 6850 produces much higher frame rates across the board, draws about as much power, and may actually emit less noise.

No matter how hard I try, I just can't think of a situation where I'd recommend the 6790.

Perhaps if you have an irrational hatred for mail-in rebates and have a budget so tight that going over by $15 would force you to mortgage your house and take up residence under a bridge. If you're that strapped for cash, though, perhaps a $149 graphics card isn't a wise expense to begin with."


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## CDdude55 (Apr 6, 2011)

Looks like an awesome budget card!


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## Arska (Apr 6, 2011)

6790 is a hopeless card if you're looking to better your current card, 4870 or higher. I'm still rocking my 4870 512M from nearly three years ago. It really seems like performance/price ratio hasn't improved properly for a very long time, maybe we'll have to wait until 28nm for things to change.


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## Arska (Apr 6, 2011)

N3M3515 said:


> Perhaps if you have an irrational hatred for mail-in rebates



Or maybe you just don't want to burden yourself with all that rebate crap. Some people do, I don't, but then I don't live in USA, and rebatewise I'm quite happy with that.


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## sliderider (Apr 10, 2011)

I'm still not convinced of the value of this card. Doing a Google search shows the lowest priced HD6790 at $150 and the lowest priced HD6850 at $165. The HD6850 is faster and uses less power than the HD6790. The HD6850 has also been proven to be better overclocker than the HD6870 that the HD6790 is derived from. You'll easily save the $15 difference in price on your electricity bill in a short time and have more fun with your games with the HD6850 and the HD6850 has the advantage of being able to fit in a smaller case for those building a computer for HTPC or other applications where a small case is a necessity so why would you even consider the HD6790?


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## antuk15 (Apr 10, 2011)

This card is aimed to replace the 5770 in terms of cost and given time it will.

It's a new card so prices are a bit inflated as they always are when cards are fresh out the door.

Give it time, The time price the drop, The drivers will improve and the card will come into it's own and be *THE* budget card to have


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## sliderider (Apr 10, 2011)

antuk15 said:


> This card is aimed to replace the 5770 in terms of cost and given time it will.
> 
> It's a new card so prices are a bit inflated as they always are when cards are fresh out the door.
> 
> Give it time, The time price the drop, The drivers will improve and the card will come into it's own and be *THE* budget card to have



It won't replace the 5770, though. The 5770 will stay in the lineup and likely be renamed 6770. You can already get 5770 cards for $115-$120 and AMD is not going to abandon that price point because they don't have anything to fill that spot. It will be at least 12 to 18 months before HD6790 drops to that point.


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## antuk15 (Apr 11, 2011)

sliderider said:


> It won't replace the 5770, though. The 5770 will stay in the lineup and likely be renamed 6770. You can already get 5770 cards for $115-$120 and AMD is not going to abandon that price point because they don't have anything to fill that spot. It will be at least 12 to 18 months before HD6790 drops to that point.



They have already rebranded the 5770 to 6770 but it's an OEM only card.

Meaning there's no *TRUE* desktop replacement for it, Which is the why the 6790 will take over


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## sliderider (Apr 12, 2011)

antuk15 said:


> They have already rebranded the 5770 to 6770 but it's an OEM only card.
> 
> Meaning there's no *TRUE* desktop replacement for it, Which is the why the 6790 will take over



And what does AMD sell when nVidia releases a revised Fermi card below the GTX550? ANOTHER Barts variant with even fewer functional units? That would be too expensive for that market. 5770 has mature drivers and is cheap to manufacture so it isn't going anywhere for a while.


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## Jeffredo (Apr 12, 2011)

ASUS Direct CU GTX 460 768MB for $109.99 after $30 MIR.

ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU TOP/2DI/768MD5 GeForce GTX ...

Yet another example of the immediate redundancy of the HD 6790 @ $150.


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