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AMD launches dual-GPU Radeon HD 6990 graphics card
Not only does the HD 6990 breaks the 300W barrier dictated by the PCI-E power specification, a dual-BIOS switch on top of the card will let you crank the clock frequency up to 880MHz and maximum TDP to a whopping 450W. The typical average gaming draw is about 350 watts and 415 watts for each mode, according to AMD. In addition, the company also built a power-capping feature into the card known as PowerTune that allows the GPU to monitor its own power draw and ramp back clock speeds if needed to run within its TDP budget at the highest-possible clock speeds.
As far as cooling is concerned AMD is outfitting its latest flagship with an updated dual-slot solution featuring two vapor chambers and one center fan. The Radeon HD 6990 offers 20% more airflow and 8% better thermal performance in the same form factor as the HD 5970, despite the improved performance and increased power draw.
Of course, the main thing that anyone seriously considering buying a $700 card cares about is performance. And as it stands now the Radeon HD 6990 is certainly the fastest single-card, dual-GPU solution on the market -- at least until Nvidia fires back with the rumored GeForce GTX 590.
Unfortunately, AMD didn't get us a sample card in time for a review, but we'll have it ready in the coming days. In the meantime you can check out some performance numbers over at AnandTech, PC Perspective, and Tech Report.
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User Comments (57)
Post a comment|
grvalderrama
on March 8, 2011 3:28 AM |
Lord almighty! |
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BunchOfPixels
on March 8, 2011 3:52 AM |
What the helll.. why are my pants so wet all of a sudden. |
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dividebyzero
on March 8, 2011 4:40 AM |
Overpriced engineering marvel. $699 for slightly less performance than two 6970's at $640...of course you could spend an extra $50 and buy three 6950's, unlock them and put the issue beyond doubt. For a graphics card launch I would have expected more than zero listed at Newegg. Reviews also at: HT4U (use your preferred translator) Hardware.france (ditto) |
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Kibaruk
on March 8, 2011 4:42 AM |
(Face of oh like the little green aliens from Toy Story 1 when they see the crane) I think that sums it all up... |
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fpsgamerJR62
on March 8, 2011 5:32 AM |
Impressive hardware as it should be considering the considerable dent it is going to make on gamers' wallets. I still think AMD should have gone with a custom third-party cooler on a triple-slot design. For most gamers using a single or dual monitor setup, a pair of 6970s or even 6950s should provide more than enough horsepower to run current games at their highest settings and these cards would be easier to find at online retailers than their big brother, the HD 6990. |
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Sarcasm
on March 8, 2011 6:01 AM |
dividebyzero said: Overpriced engineering marvel. $699 for slightly less performance than two 6970's at $640...of course you could spend an extra $50 and buy three 6950's, unlock them and put the issue beyond doubt. For a graphics card launch I would have expected more than zero listed at Newegg.
You pay the extra $60 to have it in a single card setup and for people who only have one PCI slot, this is for them. You also factor in a GTX580 is $499, only $200 you get almost double the performance in some cases. Overpriced is not something I would call it. |
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princeton
on March 8, 2011 6:33 AM |
sarcasm said: dividebyzero said: Overpriced engineering marvel. $699 for slightly less performance than two 6970's at $640...of course you could spend an extra $50 and buy three 6950's, unlock them and put the issue beyond doubt. For a graphics card launch I would have expected more than zero listed at Newegg.
You pay the extra $60 to have it in a single card setup and for people who only have one PCI slot, this is for them. You also factor in a GTX580 is $499, only $200 you get almost double the performance in some cases. Overpriced is not something I would call it. Anyone who has a mobo with only 1 PCIE slot will probably have an older CPU that will bottleneck the 6990 in the first place. Almost all lga 1155 and 1366 boards have over 1 PCIE slot. |
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Guest
on March 8, 2011 6:51 AM |
its good for me since i have only one pci x16 slot but i think that for my 1920x1080 its totally a overkill since at this resolution my hd 5870 is able to run any game at their max settings and also this will cost me more than 850 dollars because for running this i will need to upgrde my 460 watt to a 700 plus power supply. I will wait for 28 nm hd 7000 series for a graphic card which will perform better for less power and temp and it will be out in about mid 2012 or before. |
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herpaderp
on March 8, 2011 9:05 AM |
sarcasm said: You pay the extra $60 to have it in a single card setup and for people who only have one PCI slot, this is for them. You also factor in a GTX580 is $499, only $200 you get almost double the performance in some cases. Overpriced is not something I would call it. It's hard to imagine someone able to spend $700 on a single graphics card can't afford a mobo with more than a single PCIE slot..... |
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madboyv1
on March 8, 2011 9:38 AM |
For all the one PCIe-x16 haters: mini-ITX boards. They have only ONE slot period, and as of late it's been a PCIe-x16 slot. Older or lower power boards are often electically only four lanes, but other boards are full laned slots. Paired with a Sandybridge or a newer AM3 board and a monster ITX case like the ones Lian Li have been making, you have one serious and compact gaming system. Incidentally, say you have two PCIe-x16 slots as many mATX motherboards do, but you have a PCIe card you need to use (sound, network, wireless, USB/SATA, RAID, what have you), and none of the smaller connectors (x4 or x1) are available/covered? Then you are limited to one video card. I won't argue that most people who would buy a 6990 or a GTX 590 are probably using ATX motherboards or larger, but the fact of the matter is there are other who are building in a smaller form factor or have other specific hardware needs in addition to a cutting edge video card. |
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yRaz
on March 8, 2011 10:01 AM |
If you look at reviews of any dual GPU card on newegg you will notice that most people buy 2 of them to run quadfire. They aren't for people who want crossfire but only have one slot, it's for people who want quadfire but only have 2. I also think that someone who can spend $700 on a videocard can afford a motherboard with 2 PCI-e slots.... @madboyv1 I don't think this card is meant for a small form factor. I couldn't fit that in my antec 900 none-the-less an mATX setup. |
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Kenrick
on March 8, 2011 10:06 AM |
they could have sent techspot a sample more earlier. Don't worry techspot, nvidia surely will have a sample for you. |
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Jurassic4096
on March 8, 2011 10:43 AM |
yea, putting a 12" card into a SFF/mATX setup is kinda stupid. no offense. |
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Jurassic4096
on March 8, 2011 10:44 AM |
...and hot one at that. |
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madboyv1
on March 8, 2011 10:51 AM |
@yRaz, my PC-Q08 with a little bit of fanagling can fit a 12" card, which that card seems to measure at. "Not meant for", you're probably right at least at the mini-itx form factor. But VERY possible nevertheless. It's a matter of making sure you get a case that'll accept one, or break out the dremel and MAKE IT FIT. =) As for the newegg remark, not everyone buys from newegg, nor do people leave reviews for every product they own. I personally know a half dozen people who have one 5970, two bought from newegg and left feedback, the others were other online or brick and mortar stores. I only know one person who has two, and he did get them at newegg. =o |
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yRaz
on March 8, 2011 11:01 AM |
madboyv1 said: @yRaz, my PC-Q08 with a little bit of fanagling can fit a 12" card, which that card seems to measure at. "Not meant for", you're probably right at least at the mini-itx form factor. But VERY possible nevertheless. It's a matter of making sure you get a case that'll accept one, or break out the dremel and MAKE IT FIT. =) As for the newegg remark, not everyone buys from newegg, nor do people leave reviews for every product they own. I personally know a half dozen people who have one 5970, two bought from newegg and left feedback, the others were other online or brick and mortar stores. I only know one person who has two, and he did get them at newegg. =o Once you know you newegg. Surely the newegg reviews have to be relative of some sample size. Although, it is the enthusiast website for computer parts...idk, you have a good point. I'm just looking at the information I'm presented with. |
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Cota
on March 8, 2011 11:34 AM |
4GB of GDDR5 running at 5000MHz Shouldn't we already say "4GB of GDDR5 running at 5GHz?, it sounds more sexy :P |
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madboyv1
on March 8, 2011 12:11 PM |
yRaz said: Once you know you newegg. +1. The ones I mentioned that didn't get newegg, paid more because of it (except one @ brick and mortar, he got a sizable discount because he knew someone who worked there). Cota said: 4GB of GDDR5 running at 5000MHz Shouldn't we already say "4GB of GDDR5 running at 5GHz?, it sounds more sexy :P No, because we all like bigger numbers. If we start using higher denominations it is because we're getting lazy/tired of saying/typing the other in conversation, not because it's "sexy." =p |
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Sarcasm
on March 8, 2011 1:04 PM |
madboyv1 said: For all the one PCIe-x16 haters: mini-ITX boards. They have only ONE slot period, and as of late it's been a PCIe-x16 slot. Older or lower power boards are often electically only four lanes, but other boards are full laned slots. Paired with a Sandybridge or a newer AM3 board and a monster ITX case like the ones Lian Li have been making, you have one serious and compact gaming system. Incidentally, say you have two PCIe-x16 slots as many mATX motherboards do, but you have a PCIe card you need to use (sound, network, wireless, USB/SATA, RAID, what have you), and none of the smaller connectors (x4 or x1) are available/covered? Then you are limited to one video card. I won't argue that most people who would buy a 6990 or a GTX 590 are probably using ATX motherboards or larger, but the fact of the matter is there are other who are building in a smaller form factor or have other specific hardware needs in addition to a cutting edge video card. For someone who's alias is madboy you make more sense than anybody else here. Don't bother trying to inject a "different perspective" to these folks who only see things through their own setups. If they have it set up THEIR way, that must mean EVERYBODY ELSE MUST HAVE THE SAME SETUP. And if a majority of people could just Xfire of SLI two cards, then why do these manufacturer's bother making Dual GPU cards??? There is no Logic to some of the way people think here I won't name any specifics. |
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herpaderp
on March 8, 2011 1:27 PM |
sarcasm said: And if a majority of people could just Xfire of SLI two cards, then why do these manufacturer's bother making Dual GPU cards??? There is no Logic to some of the way people think here I won't name any specifics. I seriously doubt AMD or nVidia make dual cards just cater to the minuscule amount of people who will buy them, let alone the even smaller amount of people who will stick these space heaters in a MICRO form factor case....These are showoff cards, nothing more than companies trying to 1up each other. If this wasn't the case, then why do these cards cost more than 2 of their parts, and why are so few made? |
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princeton
on March 8, 2011 2:18 PM |
herpaderp said: sarcasm said: And if a majority of people could just Xfire of SLI two cards, then why do these manufacturer's bother making Dual GPU cards??? There is no Logic to some of the way people think here I won't name any specifics. I seriously doubt AMD or nVidia make dual cards just cater to the minuscule amount of people who will buy them, let alone the even smaller amount of people who will stick these space heaters in a MICRO form factor case....These are showoff cards, nothing more than companies trying to 1up each other. If this wasn't the case, then why do these cards cost more than 2 of their parts, and why are so few made? Shh Sarcasm is in his own world without logic. Leave him there. |
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dividebyzero
on March 8, 2011 2:28 PM |
And if a majority of people could just Xfire of SLI two cards, then why do these manufacturer's bother making Dual GPU cards??? For PR purposes. For the right to say "We have the fastest card" Strangely enough I would have thought the answer was obvious. Ask anyone who owns an HD 5970 how they like running OpenCL apps using only one GPU (apparently still not fixed with the new drivers), and for that matter the sterling driver support that HD4870X2, HD4850X2, 9800GX2, GTX295 and HD 5970 card owners recieve....for the first few months after launch (yes, that's sarcasm) If this dual-GPU board is such a great idea why is the projected run less than a 1000 units worldwide?
There is no Logic to some of the way people think here I won't name any specifics. Agreed. |
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Rick
on March 8, 2011 2:56 PM |
madboyv1 said: Shouldn't we already say "4GB of GDDR5 running at 5GHz?, it sounds more sexy :P No, because we all like bigger numbers In that case, 4,000,000,000KB of GDDR5 running at 5,000,000,000Hz! Very sexy! |
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Route44
on March 8, 2011 3:07 PM |
It's hard to imagine someone able to spend $700 on a single graphics card... I agree but you know there will be those that do. For the price of that card you could do a complete upgrade depending on the parts you purchase. |
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princeton
on March 8, 2011 3:17 PM |
Route44 said:
It's hard to imagine someone able to spend $700 on a single graphics card... I agree but you know there will be those that do. For the price of that card you could do a complete upgrade depending on the parts you purchase. I think you took that out of context. He was saying that he couldn't imagine someone spending so much on the gpu would only have 1 pcie slot. |
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