# ASUS Radeon HD 6990 4 GB



## W1zzard (Mar 7, 2011)

Today AMD unleashed their new monster: Radeon HD 6990. This dual-GPU card, which is based on two HD 6970 GPUs took the gaming performance crown without beating a sweat. So, this card has tons of performance, but what about power consumption, heat and noise? And last but not least, is it worth the $699 price tag?

*Show full review*


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## zhadlp (Mar 8, 2011)

fast and loud


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## pantherx12 (Mar 8, 2011)

Very disappointing really.


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## Frizz (Mar 8, 2011)

That is damned impressive! Now lets see the GTX590  so we can see a lower price.


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## Jstn7477 (Mar 8, 2011)

Well, at least it seems to be a worthy replacement of the 5970, but it is not too shy with the power consumption it seems.


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## hanzi (Mar 8, 2011)

yeah especially the power output. If the power consumption is just the same or at least closer to the 5970's this will be greatest card to date.


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## Hayder_Master (Mar 8, 2011)

nice work w1zzard


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## Zubasa (Mar 8, 2011)

hanzi said:


> yeah especially the power output. If the power consumption is just the same or at least closer to the 5970's this will be greatest card to date.


338W in Maximum load is not bad really, it is only 18W more than a 580.


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## afw (Mar 8, 2011)

Not impressed a lot ... but a good card nevertheless ...  ...


EDIT: quick ques - These tests were done in stock settings (BIOS 1) or with the overclocked settings (BIOS 2) ... ???

EDIT 2: ppl complaining abt performance ... please check this (6990 vs. 580SLI) --> http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...iews/41404-amd-radeon-hd-6990-4gb-review.html


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## Tensa Zangetsu (Mar 8, 2011)

Meh, too expensive & noisy for the performance


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## W1zzard (Mar 8, 2011)

afw said:


> These tests were done in stock settings (BIOS 1) or with the overclocked settings (BIOS 2) ... ???



stock bios, i'll have data for the oc bios soon


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## v12dock (Mar 8, 2011)

I EXPECT performance gains with driver maturity.


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## Melvis (Mar 8, 2011)

YES!!! Finally a card that draws more power then the 4870X2 lol, i feel so good now

Edit: and nosier haha


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## mtosev (Mar 8, 2011)

The switch is covered by a scary big, yellow sticker which basically tells you that switching the *BIOS will void your warranty*.
During production AMD does a "bootup" test at the overclocked settings, but they do not guarantee stability of the card in this mode. The sticker itself did not pose a big problem, it can be removed, moved and put back easily.

LOL. So they added a second BIOS profile and if you use it it voids your warranty.  Overclock your GFX in Windows and keep you warranty.


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## W1zzard (Mar 8, 2011)

added the data for the oc mode to the graphs


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Mar 8, 2011)

PCB looks nice and tidy compared to nvidia's latest dual gpu board. Wonder if that's down to power draw, part quality, or both.


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## Swamp Monster (Mar 8, 2011)

This is a monster! (and costs like a monster too).


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## HellasVagabond (Mar 8, 2011)

A 30% performance increase compared to a stock GTX580 is simply disappointing and proves that the GTX590(595?) will be quite faster, if NVIDIA decides to release it (they also had a GTX490 ready which they never did release). That aside the noise levels are expected and bad, the power draw at Peak is too much and the price is more than two 6970's.
As for driver optimizations this is not possible since the card is based on the 6970/CF, however since AMD (ATI) did perform an IQ cut-down recently to improve performance they may do it again so i guess we never can be sure of anything.
Bottom line i had higher expectations. Perhaps ASUS and the others can further improve the card, that however will result in even higher price tags.


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## beautyless (Mar 8, 2011)

Great review as always!

The card looks awesome, especially considering by the label "The World Fastest Graphic Card".
I hope they're successed to create the comparable opponent to NVDIA GTX 595/590.
If not, the thing still looks real HIGH-END enough to satisfy AMD Lover.


I heard that the card should come with free "ACTIVE MiniDPP to SL-DVI converter" in every box, is it true?
It's add more value.


I waiting for 3 monitors resolution test result such as 5760x1080, becauses this kind of the tech is more commonly today.


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## Jamborhgini313 (Mar 8, 2011)

should be closer to $600


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## Cuzza (Mar 8, 2011)

All rather predictable really. Still... if I win the lottery... ... no actually if I win the lottery it will go on fast cars and fast women, not fast gfx cards.


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## mtosev (Mar 8, 2011)

http://geizhals.at/eu/?in=&fs=hd+6990


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## HalfAHertz (Mar 8, 2011)

Thanks for the review W1z.
Well the card is really impressive from an engineering pov but as a consumer i think that the only people that should be interested in this card is those upgrading from a 4870x2. (or 4870x2x2 lol)


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## Benetanegia (Mar 8, 2011)

Zubasa said:


> 338W in Maximum load is not bad really, it is only 18W more than a 580.



That's on Furmark which is irrelevant. It's artificial and they have measures to fake power consumption under stress tests like this. You have to look at how much it consumes under real games which are represented by the peak numbers on the charts. 

Compared to GTX580 which does not have the best consumption to begin with, peak power consumption is 75w higher, which is 33% higher. And if you compare it to the HD5970 you can start crying already.

I think that Nvidia can win this dual-GPU round easily on performance and performance per watt. Maybe even consume less than the HD6990. Same thing that happened with the GTX295:







The relevant thing about the chart above is comparing HD4870 vs GTX285/275 and then comparing HD4870 X2 vx GTX295. The same can happen now, because despite being underclocked, at 301w peak, the power consumption is horrible compared to HD6970 (+63% higher), let alone the 6950 (+135%).


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## H82LUZ73 (Mar 8, 2011)

afw said:


> Not impressed a lot ... but a good card nevertheless ...  ...
> 
> 
> EDIT: quick ques - These tests were done in stock settings (BIOS 1) or with the overclocked settings (BIOS 2) ... ???
> ...



I think most of them forget that the cards are at a lower stock clock then the 6970`s,That review how ever does go in depth with overclocks and puts the card ahead of a 580 sli setup in some games with beta drivers which is good.I can not wait for the green team`s gtx590 which will also be at lower then normal 580 clocks,and we will here why is it slower in benches.It seems the card industry is going going gone green on all of us with these monster dual cards.But they leave that ""USE AT YOUR OWN RISK""Option that voids the warranty (IE ASUS) So they can charge a higher price (IE $40 -$60) on there so called OC line which will only use there own smart doctor program.

Great review Wizz,I just wish you would have put a sli setup in the first review (ASUS one) And also are you going for the new Heaven benchmark in the future ?


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## HalfAHertz (Mar 8, 2011)

AT state that the card is incredibly loud and Guru3d say that the card is loud as in moving large amounts of air loud but not in an annoying kind of way. What do you think W1z? Would you use this as an everyday gaming card?


			
				Guru3d said:
			
		

> For the card in IDLE we measure 38 DBa which hardly can be heard really. And fully stressed... 46~47 DBA. Now that might sounds (and is) on the high side but I really do need to make a remark here. Explaining sounds pressure is a hard thing to do. Sometimes 44 DBa can be annoying and 46 pretty acceptable. That's the case with the R6990 as you are not hearing the fan whirring or anything, no it's pure airflow that you hear. So while the card obviously is noisy, it's not at a frustrating level.


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## Melvis (Mar 8, 2011)

HalfAHertz said:


> Thanks for the review W1z.
> Well the card is really impressive from an engineering pov but as a consumer i think that the only people that should be interested in this card is those upgrading from a 4870x2. (or 4870x2x2 lol)



Nope, im good


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## W1zzard (Mar 8, 2011)

HalfAHertz said:


> Would you use this as an everyday gaming card?



never, i switched to the asus gtx 580 direct cu ii recently and i'm very happy with it because it's quiet. i dont have much time for gaming anyway


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## HalfAHertz (Mar 8, 2011)

W1zzard said:


> never, i switched to the asus gtx 580 direct cu ii recently and i'm very happy with it because it's quiet. i dont have much time for gaming anyway



That says it all. Thanks. And hope you find more time for games soon.


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## Praetorian (Mar 8, 2011)

Hungry card is hungry and noisy! And long!


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## Fourstaff (Mar 8, 2011)

I think AMD has a winner here. Not in terms of price/perf, no of cards it can sell etc, but to create a beast of a card which is 30% faster than GTX580 (which itself is already a beast), I hope the halo effect will make more people sit up and take notice of AMD.


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## Animalpak (Mar 8, 2011)

A real monsta ! Now the 590 plz


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## Zubasa (Mar 8, 2011)

Benetanegia said:


> That's on Furmark which is irrelevant. It's artificial and they have measures to fake power consumption under stress tests like this. You have to look at how much it consumes under real games which are represented by the peak numbers on the charts.
> 
> Compared to GTX580 which does not have the best consumption to begin with, peak power consumption is 75w higher, which is 33% higher. And if you compare it to the HD5970 you can start crying already.
> 
> The same can happen now, because despite being underclocked, at 301w peak, the power consumption is horrible compared to HD6970 (+63% higher), let alone the 6950 (+135%).


It is funny that people are attacking a dual-GPU monster with power consumption figures.
It is not like the intended customers of these cards give a damn anyways.

The early Fermi (GTX480) looks like shit performance/watt compare to even the GTX 295, 
and yet if performance is what they are after they will buy such product.

FYI the 6990 is still slightly better performance/watt than the GTX580 at high resolutions.


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## Benetanegia (Mar 8, 2011)

Zubasa said:


> It is funny that people are attacking a dual-GPU monster with power consumption figures.
> It is not like the intended customers of these cards give a damn anyways.
> 
> The early Fermi (GTX480) looks like shit performance/watt compare to even the GTX 295,
> ...



That does not make it any good. The idea was Nvidia catching up with AMD on perf/watt, not AMD failing miserably compared to HD5000. And it's not the fact that it consumes a lot, that's not the problem I have. The problem for me is how badly it scales compared to the HD6950 and even HD6970 and the fact that it is by far the most power hungry card ever made.

Even then, that's not what kills it for me. It's the fact that AMD seems to not be able to keep their promises for more than 1 year if at all, which is comparable to what politicians do. They said they would never sell a card for more than $500 ever again. A few months later bam: HD5970 for $700++. They said they would never break the PCIe standard limit and bam a few months later we get this.


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## wahdangun (Mar 8, 2011)

Benetanegia said:


> That does not make it any good. The idea was Nvidia catching up with AMD on perf/watt, not AMD failing miserably compared to HD5000. And it's not the fact that it consumes a lot, that's not the problem I have. The problem for me is how badly it scales compared to the HD6950 and even HD6970 and the fact that it is by far the most power hungry card ever made.
> 
> Even then, that's not what kills it for me. It's the fact that AMD seems to not be able to keep their promises for more than 1 year if at all, which is comparable to what politicians do. They said they would never sell a card for more than $500 ever again. A few months later bam: HD5970 for $700++. They said they would never break the PCIe standard limit and bam a few months later we get this.



we don't know how GTX 590 efficient is, until nvdia release it its a moot point


$700 was e-tailer price gouging and because ther are no competition until GTX 580 was out so ? ???


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## TheMailMan78 (Mar 8, 2011)

Great review W1zz! As always thank you.


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## Benetanegia (Mar 8, 2011)

wahdangun said:


> we don't know how GTX 590 efficient is, until nvdia release it its a moot point



Ok that's true, we can't be sure of anyting. But based on previous dual cards we can guess and everything favors Nvidia on that front. Every previous dual card from AMD has consumed more or less 2 times the single card solution with the same clocks. HD6990 is much worse than that this time.

9800 GX2 and GTX295 on the other hand only consumed ~25% more than the flagship single GPU card and they still mantained the same performance lead over their competition that single GPU cards had. IMO it is safe to assume a similar behavior this time, although I conceed it's not something guaranteed, but you'll see how come the day of the release the GTX590 is obviously going to beat the HD6990 by a fair bit (it's safe to assume a 50% over the GTX580) and will not break the PCIe standard by a lot, putting it close if not below 6990's power consumption. But we'll find out soon.


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## cyriene (Mar 8, 2011)

Why are they no data from the other 69XX cards? Would have been nice to compare this new card with crossfire 6950s or 6970s just to see...
Not all games deal with single card dual gpus the same as two separate cards.


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## mdm-adph (Mar 8, 2011)

You know, I honestly expected the 6990 to use a lot _more_ power than that.  I'm honestly surprised.

I guess I'll take back what I said about AMD and Nvidia's power-throttling technology.


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## CDdude55 (Mar 8, 2011)

Awesome review W1z!

Looks like a nice card for those with fat wallets and have multiple monitors.


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## runnin17 (Mar 8, 2011)

It's a decent card, but IMO SLI'd 580's still win easily. Not suprising. The 590 will probably not be much faster than the 6990 since the clocks will be much slower than a stock 580. Overclocking headroom will always be much better with an SLI or crossfire setup. I'll stick with my two 580's and be happy for the next year or two.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Mar 8, 2011)

not very impressed really. with that i think the 590 is going to beat it.

Now if i had 3 24" monitors. id get this card!


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## HalfAHertz (Mar 8, 2011)

Benetanegia said:


> Ok that's true, we can't be sure of anyting. But based on previous dual cards we can guess and everything favors Nvidia on that front. Every previous dual card from AMD has consumed more or less 2 times the single card solution with the same clocks. HD6990 is much worse than that this time.
> 
> 9800 GX2 and GTX295 on the other hand only consumed ~25% more than the flagship single GPU card and they still mantained the same performance lead over their competition that single GPU cards had. IMO it is safe to assume a similar behavior this time, although I conceed it's not something guaranteed, but you'll see how come the day of the release the GTX590 is obviously going to beat the HD6990 by a fair bit (it's safe to assume a 50% over the GTX580) and will not break the PCIe standard by a lot, putting it close if not below 6990's power consumption. But we'll find out soon.



Can you please define :by a fair bit"? Because from what I see SLI 580 ain't all that much faster overall:





We're looking at 10-15% at most and that is for two full-blown 580s in SLI. And nothing short of a miracle or a die shrink will permit two fully enabled 580 dies running reference speeds on the same PCB. So I think it is safe to assume that the GTX590 will perform worse than a pair of 580s in SLI


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## MxPhenom 216 (Mar 8, 2011)

HalfAHertz said:


> Can you please define :by a fair bit"? Because from what I see SLI 580 ain't all that much faster overall:
> http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph4209/35796.png
> 
> And nothing short of a miracle or a die shrink will permit two fully enabled 580 dies running reference speeds on the same PCB. So I think it is safe to assume that the GTX590 will perform worse than a pair of 580s in SLI



jeez with that post id rather just get 2 HD6950 for the price


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## GSquadron (Mar 8, 2011)

700$?! Well, i am going to buy half of it


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## blibba (Mar 8, 2011)

Does anyone have power consumption fogures with the bios switch flicked?


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## hardcore_gamer (Mar 8, 2011)

Animalpak said:


> A real monsta ! Now the 590 plz



For what ? To play some dumbed down console ports ?


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## yogurt_21 (Mar 8, 2011)

Aleksander Dishnica said:


> 700$?! Well, i am going to buy half of it



yeah powerconsumption is good (people seem to forget this is dual card, the 590 will undoubtably consume more, likely 100w more based on the fact it uses dual 580 cores)

performance is good (people need to read w1zzard's conclusion to the crossfirex review, too little challange for high powered gpu's these days so scaling will change as the market puts out more intensive games)

price is bad. lower perfomance than dual 6970 at a higher cost? I see 2gb 6970's going for 340$ being that the 6990 has less performance than dual 6970's it should be prices at 650$ or less, really it should be 600$.


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## HalfAHertz (Mar 8, 2011)

yogurt_21 said:


> yeah powerconsumption is good (people seem to forget this is dual card, the 590 will undoubtably consume more, likely 100w more based on the fact it uses dual 580 cores)
> 
> performance is good (people need to read w1zzard's conclusion to the crossfirex review, too little challange for high powered gpu's these days so scaling will change as the market puts out more intensive games)
> 
> price is bad. lower perfomance than dual 6970 at a higher cost? I see 2gb 6970's going for 340$ being that the 6990 has less performance than dual 6970's it should be prices at 650$ or less, really it should be 600$.



Why are you so sure that it will use 580 cores? :} My guess is that it will use 560Ti cores and will get the same performance as CF6950 but at 300W TDP while at the same time providing 3D surround with excellent heat and noise characteristics. I bet Nvidia didn't expect Ati to go over the PCI-e standard and were much more conservative than them. Then they'll price it at 599$ and blow Ati out of the water at their own game - price/performance.


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## yogurt_21 (Mar 8, 2011)

HalfAHertz said:


> Why are you so sure that it will use 580 cores? :} My guess is that it will use 560Ti cores and will get the same performance as CF6950 but at 300W TDP while at the same time providing 3D surround with excellent heat and noise characteristics. I bet Nvidia didn't expect Ati to go over the PCI-e standard and were much more conservative than them. Then they'll price it at 599$ and blow Ati out of the water at their own game - price/performance.



why would they use 560 cores to compete in a dual card market? an overclocked 580 will suffice for that.













use the 5970 as a reference, 560 sli isn't even close and remember 2 cards in sli/crossfire are always faster than adual gpu card.


no all news we have point to dual 580 cores which by default leads to greater power consumption than the 6990. (580 consumes more power than the 6970 so dual 580 cores will consume more power than dual 6970 cores simple logic)


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## HellasVagabond (Mar 8, 2011)

Power consumption is not good but it could be the same or better than a dual GTX580 card, we have to Wait and see.
Personally speaking i am not into mGPU solutions since A) They don't offer twice the performance (or3/4 times with Tri/Quad SLI/CF) B) They are Noisy (The 6990 while playing BulletStorm or Metro2033 is terrible - thank god i have a Tannoy 5.1 speaker system) and C) They do use too much power.

In any case this is going to end up as another flame between AMD people who used to run crazy over the fact that the GTX4xx series used lots of power but now they use that to say "hey we are not worse" and NVIDIA fans who can rest assure that they have the best single core card and easily the best mGPU card if the green camp ever releases it.


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## Deleted member 67555 (Mar 8, 2011)

WOW......AMD..Seriously?  I think Nvidia is sitting back like F#ck Yeah!!...

This isn't that good and I think Nvidia will dor better by at least 10%


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## KainXS (Mar 8, 2011)

damn man I a dissapointed, if a GTX590 does come out this thing will almost definitely get smashed:shadedshu

definitely not buyin

but still why don't you use higher res wiz, it might do better there


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## W1zzard (Mar 8, 2011)

KainXS said:


> but still why don't you use higher res wiz, it might do better there



higher res than 2560x1600 ? 

eyefinity is such a tiny niche market that graphics cards vendors invented to justify higher powered cards in a market full of console ports. send me some 2560x1600 monitors and a bigger room


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## dalekdukesboy (Mar 8, 2011)

W1zzard said:


> higher res than 2560x1600 ?
> 
> eyefinity is such a tiny niche market that graphics cards vendors invented to justify higher powered cards in a market full of console ports. send me some 2560x1600 monitors and a bigger room



This.  I love that last line, talk about a perfect touche to a well made point, I mean you can't even run a current game like metro (albeit it's the toughest game out there) in eyefinity nevermind anything coming down the pike...maybe if you had 3 gtx 580's or 2 6990's maybe just maybe you could run metro with eyefinity with a whole 15 fps...


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## dalekdukesboy (Mar 8, 2011)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> PCB looks nice and tidy compared to nvidia's latest dual gpu board. Wonder if that's down to power draw, part quality, or both.



maybe...but the gtx 470 you sold me and it's sli'd counterpart I'm running can probably beat this thing...maybe even before the OC I have on them!


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## Benetanegia (Mar 8, 2011)

HalfAHertz said:


> Can you please define :by a fair bit"? Because from what I see SLI 580 ain't all that much faster overall:
> http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph4209/35796.png
> 
> We're looking at 10-15% at most and that is for two full-blown 580s in SLI. And nothing short of a miracle or a die shrink will permit two fully enabled 580 dies running reference speeds on the same PCB. So I think it is safe to assume that the GTX590 will perform worse than a pair of 580s in SLI



Why not this?







this






or this?






I see a much greater difference than the one you posted, and I'm looking at the same review! Without the sarcasm: I may choose to see a greater difference. 

And yes I'd define 15% as a fair bit. That's the performance difference we are getting between sub $200 cards and $300 cards, and between $300 and $400-500, so I'd call that "bit of a difference" a significant one, yes. So if it's only 10% faster and it would need to have a peak (W1zz's peak) power consumption of more than 330w, for my statement to be false. If it's 15% faster, 345w and so on. 

So who wants to bet the card will have a peak of 330-350w? I say it won't.


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## HalfAHertz (Mar 8, 2011)

I dunno I just chose the most heavy one from the list that is also a TWIMTBP title.But It's a given now that Nvidia will delay the 590 and OC it accordingly so that it is over the PCI-e limit and equal the playing field. At least that's what I'd do at this point.

You are right tho. The examples you gave have a peformance advantage of 25-30% which is definitely a fair bit. The question is are they the norm or are they the exception. And what will future games be like? Will they be like the current heavyweights like Metro and Crysis or will they be console ports that run at over 100fps.


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## Delta6326 (Mar 8, 2011)

so 6970 CF = win?


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## HalfAHertz (Mar 8, 2011)

Delta6326 said:


> so 6970 CF = win?



Obviously  
This has always been the case. Even if the dual GPU solution manages to be as efficient noise wise and heat wise as the CF solution, it will always be limited to half the PCI-e bandwidth, where as a CF solution can enjoy full glorious 16x PCI-e transmiting at 8GB/s.


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## vavyn (Mar 8, 2011)

If you can afford one of this monster, you certainly won't mind paying a few more bucks for your power bills. 

Great review, as always.!


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## Delta6326 (Mar 8, 2011)

whoops my bad shouldn't have put the"?" on it


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## blibba (Mar 8, 2011)

dalekdukesboy said:


> maybe...but the gtx 470 you sold me and it's sli'd counterpart I'm running can probably beat this thing...maybe even before the OC I have on them!



Seriously?

Look at the various charts in this thread comparing GTX560 SLI to the 6990. That's what you can hope for with GTX470 OC SLI vs the 6990.

A comparision that I would like to see, however, is 3 lower end cards. I'm thinking that three 6850s, which have a similar shader count to this monster, would be considerably quiter and cheaper. Similar argument to 6970CF>6990 and 570SLI>6990, but with three cards instead of two


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## Delta6326 (Mar 8, 2011)

blibba said:


> A comparision that I would like to see, however, is 3 lower end cards. I'm thinking that three 6850s, which have a similar shader count to this monster, would be considerably quiter and cheaper. Similar argument to 6970CF>6990 and 570SLI>6990, but with three cards instead of two



i think that would be interesting as well. only if it was easy to do all of these tests


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## Benetanegia (Mar 8, 2011)

HalfAHertz said:


> The question is are they the norm or are they the exception. And what will future games be like? Will they be like the current heavyweights like Metro and Crysis or will they be console ports that run at over 100fps.



That's why I always only use Wizz's average numbers when I'm talking about performance. Nowadays you can find games where one card is as much as 20% faster while on average is 20% slower. Wizz tests the most games, so I go with that.


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## johnnyfiive (Mar 8, 2011)

$729.99 ...... 

Two 570's obliterate one 6990. Anyone see the problem I'm getting at?

The 6990 should cost $499 to make it worth while.. very dumb price.


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## Fourstaff (Mar 8, 2011)

johnnyfiive said:


> $729.99 ......
> 
> Two 570's obliterate one 6990. Anyone see the problem I'm getting at?
> 
> The 6990 should cost $499 to make it worth while.. very dumb price.



On the other hand, AMD can claim that they have the fastest card yet again, and dumb AMDiots will buy them to run on their 1024x768 Alienware monitor. The card is not created for us to buy, but for us (as in general public) to admire AMD as a brand.


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## johnnyfiive (Mar 8, 2011)

I see the market they are going after, the crazy (_literally_ crazy) enthusiast who absolutely must have the "best" card available. But any educated buyer would know that two 580's, 570's or simply waiting for the 590 will result in a better performing choice. 

The 6990 is [insert expletive here] dumb IMO. It's loud, gets too hot, has a [insert other expletive here] cooler, looks boring, scales poorly, and is stupidly expensive for what you get. There isn't any _REAL_ incentive to get the 6990 over an alternative dual card solution.


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## swaaye (Mar 8, 2011)

I'd rather have a pair of crossfired or SLI'ed cards simply because of the reduced noise. That 6990 might just be Dustbuster's relative. But just think of how much more heat it is dissipating compared to that pathetic 5800 Ultra!

But I'm not sure why I'd need more than a single 6970 or 580 right now anyway. Hell I'm not sure why I need those either at the moment.


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## hv43082 (Mar 8, 2011)

This card is essentially 2 scaled down 6970's jammed into one board.  Of course, it's gonna be loud, power hungry, and slightly slower than 2x6970's.  What did people think it was gonna be like?  Remember the 5970 when it was first released?  Same thing.  NVIDIA has not released dual card since 295GTX so it will be interesting to see if they can really make significant changes.  My guess is not if they do decide to cramp 2 580's into one card.


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## erocker (Mar 8, 2011)

hv43082 said:


> This card is essentially 2 scaled down 6970's jammed into one board.  Of course, it's gonna be loud, power hungry, and slightly slower than 2x6970's.  What did people think it was gonna be like?  Remember the 5970 when it was first released?  Same thing.  NVIDIA has not released dual card since 295GTX so it will be interesting to see if they can really make significant changes.  My guess is not if they do decide to cramp 2 580's into one card.



If you go back to the 5970 review and the 4870x2 all the same rambling arguments are being made, over and over again. This is why I have nothing real to contribute to this thread other than I wouldn't mind one of these cards myself.


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## hv43082 (Mar 8, 2011)

erocker said:


> If you go back to the 5970 review and the 4870x2 all the same rambling arguments are being made, over and over again. This is why I have nothing real to contribute to this thread other than I wouldn't mind one of these cards myself.



I keep seeing people saying "OMG, it's so power hungry, so loud, not equal 2 6970's, disappointed, etc."  so I figure to chime in.  Nothing real insightful to contribute except that buyer should wait for NVIDIA 590 to come out later this month.

Just checked newegg and they have like 2 of each card, lol.  All sold out.


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## N3M3515 (Mar 8, 2011)

erocker said:


> If you go back to the 5970 review and the 4870x2 all the same rambling arguments are being made, over and over again. This is why I have nothing real to contribute to this thread other than I wouldn't mind one of these cards myself.



+1000
You're a mind reader man.
My exact thoughts.


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## dalekdukesboy (Mar 8, 2011)

blibba said:


> Seriously?
> 
> Look at the various charts in this thread comparing GTX560 SLI to the 6990. That's what you can hope for with GTX470 OC SLI vs the 6990.
> 
> A comparision that I would like to see, however, is 3 lower end cards. I'm thinking that three 6850s, which have a similar shader count to this monster, would be considerably quiter and cheaper. Similar argument to 6970CF>6990 and 570SLI>6990, but with three cards instead of two



     seriously, although I did put the laugh face at the end of my quote which indicated it was at least partially a joke...and I posted that BEFORE those charts even appeared so only in retrospect could I even see the charts...however in SERIOUSNESS totally thanks for bringing the charts to my attention and proving my point even though I was just half serious and trying to get a laugh from him...I just circled the charts granted only 3 games are used but this is what you referred to...

     and low and behold gtx 560 and 470 perform similarly at stock speeds in single card mode and in mass effect the 560 sli beats the 6990 albeit slightly but by a couple frames at stock, in battleforge the 6990 wins again by a few frames over the 560 sli, and due to bad scaling in civilization 5 a single 470/560 almost beats the 6990 and in sli the 560 kills it...now by my count the 560 sli won 2 of 3 by those aforementioned charts and my 470's are both overclocked by 200 mhz so they are significantly faster than a stock 470 with the fairly low clock of 605.

     So even at stock speed my setup would be real close to or beat the 6990 especially if the 470's scale better than a 560, and with overclocking as I mentioned to start with I definitely would beat the 6990...and instead of 700 bucks I spent 430 and got a couple extra fans to boot...so which would you pick


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## Ev1LrYu (Mar 8, 2011)

a bold step forward always garners awe and criticism... that's what AMD is doing right now.

Breaking conventions (both good and bad): check.


Like others have said though, this is more of a showpiece, a greater majority just won't be able to justify the purchase. I am happy with my recent upgrade from a GTX260 -> 5870, but sometimes I question that move since recently I have been playing more of DOTA (Warcraft III) than any of the newer (prettier) games -- maybe just goes to show that great gaming hardware needs great games to push them (looking forward to BF3 hellyeah)..


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## yogurt_21 (Mar 8, 2011)

hey remember to digg the review guys. it's as simple as abutton click. if you don't use digg, sign in with your facebook or twitter account. quick, simple and doesn't require a registration process.


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## krisna159 (Mar 8, 2011)

I think i'll keep my old setup for while And wait the price goes down.. May be i'll wait until crysis 2 benchmark comes out
(crysis2 its good game but need a lot resources) anyway thx for W1zz,nice job like always


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## nt300 (Mar 8, 2011)

First I like to start off with having "No support for CUDA/PhysX" is not a con. Anyway, great review Wizard. 

The only issue I have with the HD 6990 is it does not offer a significant performance improvement over the previous generation HD 5970. That is currently quite understandable due to simple possible reasons being 1) The drivers require maturity and 2) The HD 6990 is based on the same 40nm manufacturing process as the previous generation. 
This is all despite the massive modifications to the micro- architecture. It’s also not worth the price they are asking for which means this will attract a niche audience. At the same time I understand AMD’s need for such a monster of a card. They continue to remain KING of the Graphics Cards.


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## Steevo (Mar 8, 2011)

There is rape in the air, I don't care I love the smell of it.


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## ERazer (Mar 8, 2011)

great review w1z! ty


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## OneCool (Mar 8, 2011)

590 with dual 570's should beat it


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## Animalpak (Mar 8, 2011)

CDdude55 said:


> Awesome review W1z!
> 
> Looks like a nice card for those with fat wallets and have multiple monitors.



That's what im talking about, not so many people needs that amount of power. This graphics card suffers when used with a single screen of 24", at least 3 24inch screens to work as it was thought this monster.


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## xXxBREAKERxXx (Mar 8, 2011)

Realy dissapointed.... Price 600 euro ? And not even beat the 6970 in CF... I guess ill stick with gtx 580 dcii. Realy hope price to be 500-530 euro.


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## Bjorn_Of_Iceland (Mar 8, 2011)

hardcore_gamer said:


> For what ? To play some dumbed down console ports ?


To play some dumbed down console ports in 64x AA!


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## sttubs (Mar 8, 2011)

I'd like to have it but the 5970 is still breezing through everything. I wish I could afford a 2560x1600 monitor, or three


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## MxPhenom 216 (Mar 8, 2011)

KainXS said:


> damn man I a dissapointed, if a GTX590 does come out this thing will almost definitely get smashed:shadedshu
> 
> definitely not buyin
> 
> but still why don't you use higher res wiz, it might do better there



yeah seeing how the price is $710. If nvidia prices theres at like $600 then they will have a winning card on their hands for sure. Pricing at $600 will also give them some padding since AMD will have to take drastic measures to drop it down enough to be competitive.


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## TheMailMan78 (Mar 8, 2011)

nvidiaintelftw said:


> yeah seeing how the price is $710. If nvidia prices theres at like $600 then they will have a winning card on their hands for sure. Pricing at $600 will also give them some padding since AMD will have to take drastic measures to drop it down enough to be competitive.



Yeah 600? Keep dreaming. That would only be 100 bucks more then the 580. I'm thinking more like 800 or 900 bones for Nvidias top dog.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Mar 8, 2011)

TheMailMan78 said:


> Yeah 600? Keep dreaming. That would only be 100 bucks more then the 580. I'm thinking more like 800 or 900 bones for Nvidias top dog.



They will need some massive performance out of that card to make it worth 100 to 200 more then the 6990.


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## TheMailMan78 (Mar 8, 2011)

nvidiaintelftw said:


> They will need some massive performance out of that card to make it worth 100 to 200 more then the 6990.



No they wont. 10 or 20% and Nvidiots will be all over it for the E-peen alone. But honestly I think Nvidia has this one in the bag. I guess time will tell.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Mar 8, 2011)

TheMailMan78 said:


> No they wont. 10 or 20% and Nvidiots will be all over it for the E-peen alone. But honestly I think Nvidia has this one in the bag. I guess time will tell.



Nvidiots?? oh really??


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## TheMailMan78 (Mar 8, 2011)

nvidiaintelftw said:


> Nvidiots?? oh really??



Sure. All day. People will buy Nvidia just because its Nvidia. E-peen is a helluva drug.







Honestly this whole gen. from ATI and Nvidia sucks.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Mar 8, 2011)

TheMailMan78 said:


> Sure. All day. People will buy Nvidia just because its Nvidia. E-peen is a helluva drug.
> 
> http://streetknowledge.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/dave-chapelle-as-rick-james.jpg
> 
> Honestly this whole gen. from ATI and Nvidia sucks.



they have no reason to really try. all out games are just a bunch of ports.


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## TheMailMan78 (Mar 8, 2011)

nvidiaintelftw said:


> they have no reason to really try. all out games are just a bunch of ports.



Thats the spirit! Why even try!


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## CDdude55 (Mar 8, 2011)

TheMailMan78 said:


> No they wont. 10 or 20% and Nvidiots will be all over it for the E-peen alone.



A lot of people including both AMD and Nvidia fanboys will buy the best for the e-peen alone. It's about to happen with the 6990 and with the ''590'' or whatever it's going to be called.


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## OneCool (Mar 9, 2011)

PS3 ftw! 


Killzone 3 is sweeeeeeet


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## YiZuSc (Mar 9, 2011)

I thin this should be tested on the 11.4 preview drivers or at least 11.2, not ok with this


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## fullinfusion (Mar 9, 2011)

^ like he said 

I'm glad I picked up twin 6950's that unlock and run on par with this gpu.

Money in my pocket 

Plus, great review W1zzard 

Digged!


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## Over_Lord (Mar 9, 2011)

pantherx12 said:


> Very disappointing really.



agreed, price and power. was wishing for 2x HD6950 CFx like power


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## the54thvoid (Mar 9, 2011)

Was going to talk about the merits of brand loyalty but thought too many people would argue for the sake of it...

So instead.

*The Switch of Awesomeness*

It is inherently bad practice to ship a product with a built in manufacturers boost facility that voids the warranty when you try to use it.  Anandtech has checked out the AMD line, using it with the switch flicked will void your warranty :shadedshu



> Update: After publication of this article there's been some slight confusion on the matter of the AWSUM switch and the warranty. AMD's official guidance is that overclocking the card voids the warranty, which means that AWSUM/uber mode it warranty breaking. Technically speaking just flipping the switch doesn't break the warranty - it's operating the card that does - but retail cards will come with a sticker over the switch warning users of the potential danger of overclocking and that it violates the warranty. So breaking the sticker to flip the switch will for all practical purposes violate the warranty. Specific policies may differ by partner, however.



As for the 6990 itself, very fast but too loud.  As for the power requirements? Realistically for the performance it delivers, it's actually to be expected - you wanna go faster you're gonna use more gas.

It was always going to be the case that the two dual gfx cards were going to be stupidly powerful.  This isn't news at all.  As many folk have said, go 6970 crossfire instead.  Or go with two custom 6970's for better noise.


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## crazyeyesreaper (Mar 9, 2011)

how gives a damn about a fucking switch, herp derp CCC set clocks done durr. my god does the switch even matter?,  just overclock the dog snot out of it with regular tools and no one will know the difference problem freaking solved. but thats right this card is priced as the uber card most idiots will buy simple cause its teh bestorz. its a good card it does what its suppose to it gives great performance and does so with a single PCIe slot. overall dont care i got 2x 6970s and there faster in general altho dosent mean i wont consider getting a 6990 to crossfire with a 6970 for some trifire fun later on.


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## the54thvoid (Mar 9, 2011)

crazyeyesreaper said:


> how gives a damn about a fucking switch, herp derp CCC set clocks done durr. my god does the switch even matter?



AMD put it on, not me.  Also, the switch in default controls voltage according to Anand..



> Position 1 is a write-enabled BIOS that runs the 6990 at the same core speeds and voltages as the 6970: 880MHz core clock and 1.175v core voltage; meanwhile memory clocks remain unchanged at sub-6970 speeds of 5GHz. AMD calls it the AUSUM switch (Antilles Unlocking Switch for Uber Mode); ignore the name, *focus on the fact that the switch is what controls the core voltage on the 6990*.



No need to get tetchy at me, I'm pointing out the pointlessness of a switch that is manufacturer defined as being there for overclocking but if you do use it - your product is voided.


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## zithe (Mar 9, 2011)

I'd buy it. To convince myself to spend 700 dollars on a video card that doesn't scale very well, though... maybe a gtx 570.


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## crow1001 (Mar 9, 2011)

AMD use a special thermal change TIM on the cores which they say reduce temps by as much as 10c, Wiz removed the cooler and I assume used a different paste, this would result in higher temps and higher noise. I believe reviews that have removed the cooler and replaced the TIM with a different one are not giving accurate temps and noise levels.


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## TheMailMan78 (Mar 9, 2011)

W1zzard said:


> never, i switched to the asus gtx 580 direct cu ii recently and i'm very happy with it because it's quiet. i dont have much time for gaming anyway



Hey cool since your not using that 6990 I would be happy to take it off of your hands. 50 bucks sound fair?


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## ZeppMan217 (Mar 9, 2011)

crow1001 said:


> AMD use a special thermal change TIM on the cores which they say reduce temps by as much as 10c, Wiz removed the cooler and I assume used a different paste, this would result in higher temps and higher noise. I believe reviews that have removed the cooler and replaced the TIM with a different one are not giving accurate temps and noise levels.



Now that's a good point. I'm also starting to wonder if the card's cooling sys was modified as that would mean that the review is not quite...well, legitimate.


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## damric (Mar 9, 2011)

Awesome review, as usual. 1 typo:


> In comes the Radeon HD 6990, the very peak of AMD's *Northern* Islands family of GPUs.


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## stinger608 (Mar 10, 2011)

Great review W1zz!!!!!!

However, the Asus card you received has got to be one of the ugliest frigging video cards I have seen LOL

Of course others will follow with a much more appealing look to it LOL. Great performer, but for $700? I don't think so.


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## qubit (Mar 11, 2011)

*Killer feature voids warranty*

Would you buy this? Read the small print in the picture...









> If you flip the switch from position 2 where it ships to position 1 and reboot, your card is instantly overclocked. What was an 830MHz, 375W card running at 1.12v is now an 880MHz, 450W card running at 1.175v. Instant speed, just add BIOS and a few electrons. Isn’t that great?
> 
> Short story, no it isn’t, not at all. This is where 6990 goes from being the fastest, bestest, happiest-est card on earth to something you shouldn’t buy. No really, you should not buy one of these cards, go get two 6950s or 6970s instead, The 6990 has a fatal flaw, and it is simply due to an AMD decision, not hardware or software. If you flip that switch, you void your warranty. No really, you do. When I said that it wasn’t the case, I was flat out wrong.
> 
> ...



SA


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## fullinfusion (Mar 12, 2011)

qubit said:


> Would you buy this? Read the small print in the picture...
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/110311/AMD_warning173.png
> 
> ...



They can kiss my ass onr buying this gpu. I spent 500 for these two cards and run at par and at times even better then this heavy clunker... I'm glad I did an Erocker move this time around


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## W1zzard (Mar 12, 2011)

crow1001 said:


> AMD use a special thermal change TIM on the cores which they say reduce temps by as much as 10c, Wiz removed the cooler and I assume used a different paste, this would result in higher temps and higher noise. I believe reviews that have removed the cooler and replaced the TIM with a different one are not giving accurate temps and noise levels.



i tested all that before removing the cooler.

and after replacing the TIM i didn't see any significantly different temperatures


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## eidairaman1 (Mar 12, 2011)

Nice Review and its amazing that the card is that powerful but seriously i still complain about PCB sizes, they need to be shrunk to the size of the x1950 Pro. Dont Mind me, I probably wont enter the hardware game till the Bulldozer and the Radeon HD 7K series are out.


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## DriedFrogPills (Mar 16, 2011)

just checked the prices here in Aus.  $899 for the cheapest 6990 here in Australia on PCcase gear and the cheapest 6970 is $369,  so at least here it is dearer than two 6970's


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## wolf (Mar 16, 2011)

qubit said:


> Would you buy this? Read the small print in the picture...
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/110311/AMD_warning173.png
> 
> SA



so with say MSI Afterburner, would you be able to set the voltage and clocks as you desire, all whlist leaving the bios switch in the original position (with the sticker over it) and keep your warranty?


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## Fitseries3 (Mar 30, 2011)

w1zz... how long is the card in MM exactly? i need to know if its gonna fit in my case.


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## W1zzard (Mar 30, 2011)

Fitseries3 said:


> w1zz... how long is the card in MM exactly? i need to know if its gonna fit in my case.



hd 6990 is 31 cm long


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