AMD launches dual-GPU Radeon HD 6990 graphics card

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. :cool:

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.
 
Route44 said:
I agree but you know there will be those that do. :cool:

For the price of that card you could do a complete upgrade depending on the parts you purchase.

Yeah you kinda missed the rest of the sentence there :\
 
Princeton said:
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.

So I lack logic by saying that not everybody has crossfire or SLI motherboards. What so I guess President Bush was a good president?

Princeton, get off your high horse please.
 
So I lack logic by saying that not everybody has crossfire or SLI motherboards. What so I guess President Bush was a good president?
WTF?
Are you an F-18 too? You're starting to sound like Charlie Sheen's wingman.

The logic here is that:
Your argument is based on finding a use for this card by pairing it with a motherboard with one PCIe x16 slot...excuse me, but that is non-sensical.

Why would someone pop for the fastest card on the planet and pair it with a single slot board?
HTPC ? :blackeye: A card that exhausts the equivalent of one full enthusiast card into the chassis ? A card that is quite frankly a power hog in blu ray playback (and none too quiet I might add) ?

Gaming :blackeye: Know anyone offhand that's going to pop for a $700 card but be content to have it installed into a board that in all likelyhood wont overclock well (if at all) because of the bare-essential voltage regulation ? How many single PCIe slot motherboards do you see with 8 pin EPS12V connectors ? Bear in mind this card is out of PCI spec from the get-go, so anyone plugging this beast into their board is going to know that the 375 watt minimum is already drawing over specification through the PCIe x8 and PCI slot. Do you see anyone risking pushing extra voltage for CPU overclocking (lets face it, who is going to buy the card and have a stock CPU -probably of the 95-130w variety- bottlenecking the card) and in all proabability pulling more than the nominal 75w PCI slot draw....with a 4 pin auxillary connector.

If you could come up with a likely scenario I'm sure other people on the forum wouldn't stereotype you as some loony tunes refugee. We could even put it to the test -start a thread for mATX + 6990 ownership -we could extend it to m-ITX if you think someone would buy an integrated video mobo along with the 6990....Add in the ATX boards -from memory, the MSI P67A-C45 and ASRock P67 Pro both have 8pin EPS12V connection- albeit paired with a very basic feature set and less than ideal voltage regulation.
 
sarcasm said:
So I lack logic by saying that not everybody has crossfire or SLI motherboards. What so I guess President Bush was a good president?

Princeton, get off your high horse please.

lol just stop. The fact that you had to grasp at straws by implying that there is some sort of correlation between enthusiast-level PC hardware selection and a U.S. president's competence throws any validity you could have possibly added to your argument out the window.

dividebyzero said:
..........

I award this guy 9/10 trolls for getting dbz so riled up. Where can I vote for the hall of f(sh)ame section?
 
whats wrong with having this card with a mATx i have a matx with one pci slot and a hd 5970 black edition in it about 13 inch long.
If your case can handle one then it didnt matter that whether you have a mATX or ATX Motherboard
 
What a jip.699.00 that'os a hundred over the hd 5970 when it was released.The only reason it is this high, is the fact that there is no competitive card out there.An extra 2 gigs doesn't cost a hundred dollars.
 
whats wrong with having this card with a mATx i have a matx with one pci slot and a hd 5970 black edition in it about 13 inch long.
If your case can handle one then it didnt matter that whether you have a mATX or ATX Motherboard
Ooooh, Did you manage to grow that HD5970 BE. They only start out at 11.75".
I'm picking Sarcasm is posting under the Guest account.
Either way, post a pic - sounds awesome.
 
HD 6990 looks to be inline with what I imagined it to be but running a little cooler then I thought, now we'll have to wait and see what Nvidia brings to the table. Which from what I've seen so far will probably be the better performing of dual-GPU cards.


@DBZ 13" does seem to be a bit of hyperbole, but I was under the impression that Radeon HD 5970 was ~12.25" /shrug
 
@Relic
Five vendors listed with newegg -non in stock at the present time.
So you could infer that they are either selling like hot cakes, or supply constrained.
Not that they are the only source of graphics cards of course

The XFX HD 5970 seems to vary depending upon who is listing it. The 4Gb version (I'll assume our Guest has the uber version since they all have killer rigs) is listed here at 12"- so split the difference and call it a wash. Guest hasn't been back to argue the point, so maybe they took the card out to measure it and found out it was actually a couple of HD 5550's glued end to end.
 
:grinthumb
Unfortunately some here wont get the humour.
Sometimes just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should...or that it represents any meaningful demographic.

So where are all the HD 6990's ? Are Newegg waiting for the review samples to be repackaged?
My guess is that AMD's prevarications over what constitutes an RMA in the event of a card failure due to BIOS switch #1 (880 clock) usage has probably put vendors in a tail-spin. If the 880 clock is a factory setting, rather than an overlock setting then I think all the AIB's could end up with some sizeable payments going out. Some countries have consumer laws that basically make any item sold at manufacturers specification automatically guaranteed for refund/replacement including damage caused to the system. New Zealand does have these consumer laws. How it applies to the various states (or Federal law) in the U.S. and EU is probably going to a minefield.

It wouldn't surprise me if an RMA for the card involves providing proof of the PSU used in the system.
 
:grinthumb
Unfortunately some here wont get the humour.
Sometimes just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should...or that it represents any meaningful demographic.

So where are all the HD 6990's ? Are Newegg waiting for the review samples to be repackaged?
My guess is that AMD's prevarications over what constitutes an RMA in the event of a card failure due to BIOS switch #1 (880 clock) usage has probably put vendors in a tail-spin. If the 880 clock is a factory setting, rather than an overlock setting then I think all the AIB's could end up with some sizeable payments going out. Some countries have consumer laws that basically make any item sold at manufacturers specification automatically guaranteed for refund/replacement including damage caused to the system. New Zealand does have these consumer laws. How it applies to the various states (or Federal law) in the U.S. and EU is probably going to a minefield.

It wouldn't surprise me if an RMA for the card involves providing proof of the PSU used in the system.


ROFLMAO,
well there's five minutes I will never get back! I just PS'd that and didn't stop to think someone actually did it.
I agree with you on the warranty issue. The disclaimer (I'm thinking) is about the equivalent of a "not responsible for falling debris" on the back of a garbage truck.
I have read that the cards are out there...not sure why Newegg is not invited. I have three theories...
1) keep it 'boutique' Qty's
2) They are trying to get the RMA'ing of said part ironed out.
3)...there is actually only 20 of them in existence like I said

I have to hand it to them though. I didn't think they would get that close to CF'd 6970's...but then again, 450w and and an overclocked -overclock should get you close. Some of the numbers I have seen are very close to double that of a GTX 580. If I were to be purchasing one of these (and I would not) methinks I would damn sure get a MB with a PCIE molex 'surplus' connection.
 
I'm pretty sure that any possible RMA on the card might get more scutiny than is normal for a graphics card. Common sense would say that if you blow it up with overclocking then set the BIOS switch back to "2" and try to reboot the standard BIOS before sending it back. I can't believe AIB's haven't thought that this is obvious.
I have a customer interested in buying one* (god knows why!) to go with his 6970. Tried to talk him into just going with another 6970 or better still an unlocked 6950- but he seems determined. I checked the fine print at AMD and started going through their "approved" list of PSU's (i.e. big single-rail and serious OCP/OVP)...it's not a long list (and only includes three 750w units for single card operation) and multi-card options are at the moment down to Corsair's AX1200, Sparkle's 1000 and 1200, CM's Silent Pro Gold 1200 and the Enermax Rev+ 1020. Basically your looking at 80+ Gold certification on a 1kw+ unit to ensure you are covered by RMA.
Oddly enough XFX say their 750w is covered (at least by them I assume) but it isn't listed with AMD. Etail and retail outfits here have heard nothing from AIB's regional offices regarding what constitutes "fair use", liability or conditions for return- a first for both the distributors I deal with.
If I were to be purchasing one of these (and I would not) methinks I would damn sure get a MB with a PCIE molex 'surplus' connection.
I think I'd seriously look at a board with two EPS12V plugs...just to be on the safe side, especially if the EPS12V is on a shared rail.

*Yes they are available in New Zealand...just 20% more expensive than buying two HD6970's
 
Looks like the reason for no stock is precisely the scenario outlined earlier.
AMD seems to have shafted their AIB's - unless of course the AIB's want to take the warranty situation on themselves. I'd say that every XFX branded version, bearing in mind their double lifetime warranty, could end up costing then a considerable sum.
 
I think I actually prefer Tom Logan's review regime tbh. The video review link on the last page probably represents the "hands-on" type of approach that makes sense of the barrage of numbers and stats.



Oh I just saw that Leeky seems to like the 6990, thought two of them in CF might tickle his fancy. Personally, I would not buy one of these with your $$
 
Gives a good indication of scaling over four GPU's. ABT's review also gives a nice comparison with three GPU's (apropos to me at the moment with a customer looking at a 6990+6970)- It also shows what effect a bad (or non existant) multi-gpu gaming profile can have (Note the GTA IV result for both HD 6990 and HD 6970CF. ABT were the only site to benchmark the game I believe. Xbit also use the game, but did not receive a review card...how surprising...not)

The 6990 doesn't appeal to me either. Heat, noise and overclocking restraints allied with a vague warranty situation make it sound like a GeCube HD2900XT redux (remember GeCube?).

The OC3D link was just a general nod to Leeky -FPS and plot graphs have a tendency to obscure some of the salient facts concerning gaming cards. What I tend to take for granted through use and repetition is sometimes not readily apparent to users of mainstream cards. 150 fps may look awesome on a graph compared to say 95 fps- but really means less than nothing if the extra horsepower doesn't enable you to increase the game image quality a notch or two, so TTL's "real world" review (if you can call HD 6990 CFX real world) should put into perspective what a few charts may not.

BTW: Zardon's (Kitguru) "fan noise" video is a hoot. Run a video so the viewer can get an idea of the "actual" sound level. All a bit fail without a reference point (for sound) I would have thought.
 
Gives a good indication of scaling over four GPU's. ABT's review also gives a nice comparison with three GPU's (apropos to me at the moment with a customer looking at a 6990+6970).

Yikes. I had a guy last year that insisted on doing a 5970+5870...I'm tellin ya, you are more than likely asking for trouble with that. Two maybe three driver sets...then support mysteriously goes bye-bye. They are the same chip...but not the same chip.
(why am i telling you this?? ...anyway

I just watched /listened to the Kit video on the noise level and oddly enough it ran nice harmony with my machine!:D
I have my four 5850's cranked up to 5870 specs, or more accurately 5870 production. I don't have a meter , but I would bet they are around 50db when benching 3DMark11 and the like.
 
I just watched /listened to the Kit video on the noise level and oddly enough it ran nice harmony with my machine!:D
Why am I not surprised?
Here I was (not) thinking of the sound and vibration dampening efficiency of plexiglass :stickout::)
 
Why am I not surprised?
Here I was (not) thinking of the sound and vibration dampening efficiency of plexiglass :stickout::)

Oh it's worse than that. My 4 x 4850 is very quiet when pushed in the plexi tower. the quad 5850's are in an open 'honeycomb' version of the 932...at least that 250mm fan is pushing some of the sound back in :)
 
Aaah, so that's how it works. Long time since I since I did the classroom reflection / diffraction/refraction/interference physics thing.
So, -in theory- you could mod out your HAF and have a near silent chassis ! -maybe use LED fans ?!:cool::haha:
 
Aaah, so that's how it works. Long time since I since I did the classroom reflection / diffraction/refraction/interference physics thing.
So, -in theory- you could mod out your HAF and have a near silent chassis ! -maybe use LED fans ?!:cool::haha:



....finally! he gets it! :haha:
See if my calculations are correct, 2x 250mm fans moving 45C air @ 256 CFM will disperse 50db of sound at 300Hz wavelengths in the opposite direction, rendering the machine silent as long as you are sitting 38 degrees from perpendicular of the rear exhaust vent. Led fans are ok as long as they are on the blue /indigo end of the spectrum.
 
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