AMD Radeon HD 7990 Review: Dual GPU Comeback

[GhostRyder]

I love nvidia fan boys, always willing to put and cards down when they smoke their cards.

My original point was the HD 7990 has beaten in all but one test the gtx 690 on its beta drivers yet you guys are basing everything about this card on that one test which people would not notice. It has higher fps in almost every game tested except like 1 or two.

Y'all are pulling crap on a beta card and trying to shove it down as being a bad product yet when your own cards come out way overpriced with issues, you won't say one word. Yes they have one connector, but they are not driver locked and prove that companies are able to do it (though I swore I saw some quad configs of HD 6870s but they must have been 5 series). You guys come on amd card reviews to talk smack if the card does not win in 1 test and then declare nvidia is always the best when your paying a premium for nothing extra.

Ill defend a card when people make up facts like you do that this one test that just started being tested for within the last year or so making it sound like its the only test that matters because you now lose in almost all other tests.

Your also saying I'm basing my facts on the future? Ok your right, I am predicting they will make it better with time. However you trying to compare a card just released on beta drivers to a card that's been out for 6 months and even though its still beating it your acting like its still worse and isn't worth buying just like last round with the HD 6990 vs gtx 590 debate. Even though in the tests the 6990 had more fps on average in the benches, you guys still tried to make it.

Why not talk about how the 690 is unlocked yet getting stable overclocks is hard beyond a slight point and how much it heats up with overclocking and being pretty much required to overvolt it.

You won't because you can't stand your card getting beaten, get over it, stop acting all high and mighty. This card is a beast and will only get better with time, once it's out and people have it we can see how well it does, but as for now stop making that one test sound like a deal breaker.

And on the quadfire mistake, your correct I had not looked at those cards much this gen and assumed more than I did, that's my mistake. However, they are not driver locked like nvidia does so non-reference. Ones could be made like they did in the past. I do acknowledge this as a mistake on my part for not noticing the connector as I had been looking at a 7970 by xfx thing it was a 7870 because I was tired.

I still stand by stop judging this card to be a horrible card just because its beating your fan boy card.

 

[Guest]

Last thing I want to say about that, noone mentions that the GTX Titan (Which is a complete and utter rip off at a 1000$ price point)

Titan is overpriced for the performance increase compared to a 680 if you're a 1080p gamer, but try 7680x1600 for a while and suddenly Titan (or three) with the 6GB framebuffer is the only realistic option you have available.

has horrible support for games, frame latency based on the tests I H ave seen in just 2 card configs has had horrible latency and terrible scaling

Horrible support for games? What, compared to Crossfire, which still lacks profiles for loads of even mainstream games?

At this point, I came to the conclusion that you're either a troll or a 13 year old AMD fanboy writing out of his arse. Propably both.

 

[Waros]

Titan is the most horrible value of a card,at 1600p a/techpower up price/perf comparison,it sits right at the bottom of the chart...

Also,in the overclock-net price/perf comparison chart taking feedback from 300+ members where Titan sits right at the bottom,it's simply a horrible value...

GTX 690 vs. HD 7990

GTX 690 pros:
More mature drivers
Lower power consumption
Nvidia's suite of software (Physx, CUDA, 3D surround, etc.)

HD 7990 pros:
Got it's first driver 13.5B2 still the best performing,more driver optimisations are yet to come
Slightly faster than 690
More VRAM (better for multi-screen/higher res gaming)
Eye-infinity
Far Better for compute (OpenCL) and scientific apps
Massive games bundle worth 300$

 

[Waros]

Computerbase.de interviewed David Nalasco of AMD about the 7990 and microstutter, new drivers, etc... Not sure if he can be taken at face value or if it's just marketing speak. Could be the latter, but how he phrases his responses shows strong conviction in what he's saying.

computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2013/amd-im-interview-zur-radeon-hd-7990-und-zu-mikrorucklern/2/

 

[GhostRyder]

Last thing I want to say about that, noone mentions that the GTX Titan (Which is a complete and utter rip off at a 1000$ price point)

Titan is overpriced for the performance increase compared to a 680 if you're a 1080p gamer, but try 7680x1600 for a while and suddenly Titan (or three) with the 6GB framebuffer is the only realistic option you have available.

has horrible support for games, frame latency based on the tests I H ave seen in just 2 card configs has had horrible latency and terrible scaling

Horrible support for games? What, compared to Crossfire, which still lacks profiles for loads of even mainstream games?

At this point, I came to the conclusion that you're either a troll or a 13 year old AMD fanboy writing out of his arse. Propably both.

First off im older than you and I work for a data center who works with machines every day, I have some knowledge thank you very much. I also dont hide as a guest to post.

Second the GTX Titan should not be the main focus here, were talking about the 7990, I brought it up only because these fan boys posts on here saying Nvidia is the best of all. Its not, the titan was released and most reviewers have even said its a horrible price performance ration and its scaling is horrible.

As for the crossfire support in games, enlighten me to which your talking about, I play Far Cry 3, BF3, Bioshock Infinite, League, and lots of other games and I get easy 60 on ultra in a 3 monitor Eyefinity setup so I would love to know what "Mainstream Games" your speaking of.

And yes, the Titan seems to be nice for high resolutions and multi monitor setups because of the VRAM, but it still has trouble at the high resolutions and suffers more than the 690. I would rather get teh 690 at the price point. If the titan was like 700-800, it would be expensive, but at least a decent bang for buck and would be worthwhile, but the only reason to buy it is if you really want to spend 1000 for a single GPU. Thats really the only upside to it is the Single GPU, but like I said earlier ITS THE GK110 which is supposed to be the GTX 700 series, which means if im looking at it right, that card is the GTX 780 with a fancier name. Thats just ridiculous to think that we are getting to a point where a top of the line GPU costs more than a mid range complete gaming machine , the GTX 680 was around 600 I believe at launch along with the HD 7970?

Back to the 7990, I agree with the guy above, it has some work to be done, but its already proven in Beta to be beating the 690, so whats going to happen at full release?

 

[GhostRyder]

I remember trying to order a GTX 590 and paying 699 for it (It went out of stock and they messed my order up on newegg which is the main reason I have my HD 6990s which I love). So why are we now being forced to pay such premiums for single GPU cards that are out performed by Dual GPU cards at the same price point.

Buy what you want, its your choice, if you like nvidia better, thats fine. If you like AMD better, then get an AMD card. If you want a single GPU and want the most power from a single GPU and have 1000 bucks to blow, go for it. But if your smart, SLI a couple 680s, get a 690, or go the AMD route and get 2 HD 7970s or this HD 7990 which according to the charts, better than the 690 in almost all areas of PERFORMANCE.

 

[dividebyzero]

...and I work for a data center who works with machines every day, I have some knowledge thank you very much.

"Some" knowledge must be a relative term...

Apologies, but hard to quote...

Basic fails with HTML.
An inability to work out how to multi-quote.
Double posting....
And thats without taking into account an inability to read a graphics cards specification from a manufacturers site.

First off im older than you

And you know this how ? Are you blessed with the faculty of remote viewing as well as hyperbole ?

 

[Guest]

First off im older than you and I work for a data center who works with machines every day, I have some knowledge thank you very much. I also dont hide as a guest to post.

Wow, I would have expected better grammar from a 35+ year old. The things we see on the internet these days!

Second the GTX Titan should not be the main focus here, were talking about the 7990, I brought it up only because these fan boys posts on here saying Nvidia is the best of all. Its not, the titan was released and most reviewers have even said its a horrible price performance ration and its scaling is horrible.

Titan isn't the main focus, we're discussing it simply because you brought it up in a separate post by talking imaginary facts out of your arse.

As for the crossfire support in games, enlighten me to which your talking about, I play Far Cry 3, BF3, Bioshock Infinite, League, and lots of other games and I get easy 60 on ultra in a 3 monitor Eyefinity setup so I would love to know what "Mainstream Games" your speaking of.

Ah, a LoL player, so you are a 13 year old. Enjoying your Eyefinity/Crossfire setup much on mainstream games, such as Assassins Creed? http://I.imgur.com/EcD6yQy.jpg

And yes, the Titan seems to be nice for high resolutions and multi monitor setups because of the VRAM, but it still has trouble at the high resolutions and suffers more than the 690. I would rather get teh 690 at the price point.

You are aware, that a GTX 690 absolutely chokes at 7680 resolutions with the pathetic 2GB framebuffer and limited bus width?

If the titan was like 700-800, it would be expensive, but at least a decent bang for buck and would be worthwhile, but the only reason to buy it is if you really want to spend 1000 for a single GPU.

So you've realised that Titan isn't for you, congratulations! When you're going to spend over a grand on a graphics card, chances are you're not in the market for a bang-for-buck card. If you're a teenager living in your parents basement, then it's a different matter.

Back to the 7990, I agree with the guy above, it has some work to be done, but its already proven in Beta to be beating the 690, so whats going to happen at full release?

Define "full release". The card has been officially released, as is, in it's current form that the reviewers have. The one and only good thing that the 7990 has going for itself, is a quiet cooler (although it dumps nearly 400 watts of heat inside of your case) and less power usage compared to a 7970 CF setup, then again you get absolutely useless overclocking ability as a result of those improvements.

 

[GhostRyder]

dividebyzero
Get over yourself, your just sad that your card is not on par with AMD so your raging.

@guest
I brought up the Titan because dividebyzero and this other guy were off posting on this review saying that Nvidia is the best cards hands down. They arent, the titan is a prime example of a card released with poor support at a premium price trying to extort suckers for as much money as possible.

Yes I play LoL, sue me, Cool you found one game with an issue in Eyefinity crossfire, thats one. Now about those 1000's of other games played by millions of people all over the world...

7680 Resolutions....Who the in the world plays games at that resolution.

I was pointing out the fact that 1000 Bucks for a Single GPU card that cant outperform their previous generation Dual GPU card at the same price point is a complete ripoff. And sorry, unlike you im not a teenager in my basment wasting money on stupid things like that.

Ok, show me a link to buy the HD 7990, I would love to see it cause I was interested in buying one.

Its not out, its in pre-release for reviewers and testing. It will be full out next week sometime from what ive heard and when that happens, the drivers will be in full release then we will see about overclocking and how it performs. Theres a reason the driver is marked BETA, but then again I guess you cant read to well.

Yea turn this into a targeted hate fest, shows how mature you are, cant debate a card legitimately without resulting to insulting others when you realise the cards your worship are losing. And once again I own nividia cards and in fact my last 3 sets were nvidia and my laptop im evening typing on now has a 680m. Dont try and insinuate I dont know how each companies cards act or how well they perform, my last setup with dual PNY LC GTX 580s with a 460 physx which I was very happy with. I only went to dual GPU cards because it was more efficient in a liquid cooling setup and the 580s took up loads of room. I would probably have 2 590's right now had Newegg not messed up my order on the 590s.

Once again ill repeat myself, stop acting high and mighty, this acting like your cards are the gods of this world and Nvidia is the only company doing good video cards is pathetic and fanboyish, learn to debate in a mature fasion and try being kind to others in a debate instead of starting a flame war and insulting others because you realised that the cards you defend are actually losing the battle right now.

 

[dividebyzero]

because dividebyzero and this other guy were off posting on this review saying that Nvidia is the best cards hands down.

Garbage. Where in my posting have I said anything of a sort ?

As for "your card is not on par with AMD so your raging"
I think you'll find that I've spent most of my posting comparing the 7990 with other (superior) AMD products such as the non-ref 7990 and 7970GE CFX.

As for "my card" I've had more than my share of cards from both camps, as well as many others. Why not take a break from the baiting and read my articles https://www.techspot.com/article/650-history-of-the-gpu/

You really need give up on the straw man argument.

 

[GhostRyder]

You need to chill out, you started after I responded to amstek or whatever his name is by trying to label the frame stuttering and going on about AMD ignoring issues even though every update has actually put them ontop of the FPS charts when they started below Nvidia on this Gen. They have been working to make their cards better and people like you come on and try to find one negative then dig into it yet wont take a concession to the Nvidia cards when they have issues.

And your now talking about the 7990 vs non-ref 7990s... Comparing a refernce design to an aftermarket design is plain stupid. Theres no point because thats the point of non-ref designed cards is to have some xtra features or a different cooler installed. Thats a moot point in general to argue...

 

[Burty117]

You need to chill out, you started after I responded to amstek or whatever his name is by trying to label the frame stuttering and going on about AMD ignoring issues even though every update has actually put them ontop of the FPS charts when they started below Nvidia on this Gen. They have been working to make their cards better and people like you come on and try to find one negative then dig into it yet wont take a concession to the Nvidia cards when they have issues.

And your now talking about the 7990 vs non-ref 7990s... Comparing a refernce design to an aftermarket design is plain stupid. Theres no point because thats the point of non-ref designed cards is to have some xtra features or a different cooler installed. Thats a moot point in general to argue...

If anyone needs to chill out here its you, what your not seeing is that the 7990 in its current form is not as good as expected, simple as that, trying to prove otherwise is ludicrous.

Now you go buy your 7990 and be happy, but if your planning on playing assassins creed, you probably want to reconsider purchasing this particular $1000 graphics card...

I would also like to add one more point since you hate the Titan, well as it turns out I don't hate it, in fact, if I had $1000 to spend on a card I l would go for the Titan, why? Single card, no stupid profiles to deal with, when the latest games come out they will just work and pretty much every tech site will say the same thing, the simplicity of a single graphics card is bliss, not to mention the power savings...

 

[dividebyzero]

and people like you come on and try to find one negative then dig into it

Technically, I pointed out more than one negative:
1. Spotty Crossfire profile support
2. Two HD 7970 GE's are both cheaper and offer greater performance
3. The PowerColor, Club3D, and VTX3D (TUL designed) HD 7990 was both equal in price (or cheaper) and has more performance on tap
4. Coil whine on a significant percentage of review samples
5. Design hard limited at 375W board power- overclocking causes the GPU to reach the hard limit more often causing downclocking to 950MHz. No amount of software will alleviate this, only a hardware redesign to allow more input power.

These are the same conclusions also (unsurprisingly) reached by:
TechPowerUp
Bit-tech
SweClockers
Hexus
Anandtech
PC Perspective
ComputerBase
Hot Hardware
Hardware Canucks
HardOCP
and of course Techspot.
That seems like a fairly comprehensive consensus even if include sites that give A+ review ratings to basically every piece of kit that passes over the bench (Hardware Heaven, Guru of 3D, Tweaktown)

yet wont take a concession to the Nvidia cards when they have issues.

I think you'll find that I linked to the stutter issue that Kepler cards had in the first few months after their launch in post #59, as for my take on any particular card, I generally reserve that for the thread devoted to it ( for example the GTX 590 you keep mentioning )

And your now talking about the 7990 vs non-ref 7990s... Comparing a refernce design to an aftermarket design is plain stupid.Theres no point because thats the point of non-ref designed cards is to have some xtra features or a different cooler installed.

But of course you were quite happy to use an example of a non-reference HD 6870 X2 to bolster your claims that the 6870 was quad-Crossfire capable...while dismissing the TUL designed non-reference HD 7990 as valid

There have been HD 6870 X2 Cards and more below that support QuadFire so don't tell me I don't know what im talking about

Of course, the other side of that particular coin is that if the HD 6870 X2 demonstrates a quad-GPU facility for AMD's mainstream, then the GTX 560 Ti 2Win (and the GTX 460 2Win before it) invalidates your earlier hyperbolic argument
EDIT: Fail on my part with the 2Win cards. Didn't notice that EVGA had physically disabled inter-card SLI support.

As for the Crossfire Support, the other guy above said so can SLI. What I was saying with the cards from amd 850 series and above (Meaning like a 7850) can support 4 way Crossfire (note: of course it cannot, and nor can the 7870). With Nvidia, the 90 series support quad SLI, the 80 series supports 4 card SLI, the 70 supports 3 sli, and everything else that support SLI can only do 2 (note 2: except the GTX 660 Ti which supports tri-SLI).

For all your wailing about the unfairness of the posting of others, I'd also note that you haven't acknowledged one negative issue regarding the 7990 in eleven posts. Every issue in your eyes is ignored, insignificant, or the fault of Nvidia/game dev's.
Anyhow, thanks for the amusement. I'd always wondered what happens under a tinfoil hat.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Usually when you have 3 fans on a reference GPU, you know there is a problem lol. The coil whine is to be expecting IMO.

 

[amstech]

GhostRyder, you are a fool to challenge Graham. There isn't anything that you know that he doesn't. I would stop before you lose all credibility.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Zero always puts down the crazies lol.

 

[GhostRyder]

and people like you come on and try to find one negative then dig into it

Technically, I pointed out more than one negative:
1. Spotty Crossfire profile support
2. Two HD 7970 GE's are both cheaper and offer greater performance
3. The PowerColor, Club3D, and VTX3D (TUL designed) HD 7990 was both equal in price (or cheaper) and has more performance on tap
4. Coil whine on a significant percentage of review samples
5. Design hard limited at 375W board power- overclocking causes the GPU to reach the hard limit more often causing downclocking to 950MHz. No amount of software will alleviate this, only a hardware redesign to allow more input power.

These are the same conclusions also (unsurprisingly) reached by:
TechPowerUp
Bit-tech
SweClockers
Hexus
Anandtech
PC Perspective
ComputerBase
Hot Hardware
Hardware Canucks
HardOCP
and of course Techspot.
That seems like a fairly comprehensive consensus even if include sites that give A+ review ratings to basically every piece of kit that passes over the bench (Hardware Heaven, Guru of 3D, Tweaktown)

yet wont take a concession to the Nvidia cards when they have issues.

I think you'll find that I linked to the stutter issue that Kepler cards had in the first few months after their launch in post #59, as for my take on any particular card, I generally reserve that for the thread devoted to it ( for example the GTX 590 you keep mentioning )

And your now talking about the 7990 vs non-ref 7990s... Comparing a refernce design to an aftermarket design is plain stupid.Theres no point because thats the point of non-ref designed cards is to have some xtra features or a different cooler installed.

But of course you were quite happy to use an example of a non-reference HD 6870 X2 to bolster your claims that the 6870 was quad-Crossfire capable

There have been HD 6870 X2 Cards and more below that support QuadFire so don't tell me I don't know what im talking about

Of course, the other side of that particular coin is that if the HD 6870 X2 demonstrates a quad-GPU facility for AMD's mainstream, then the GTX 560 Ti 2Win (and the GTX 460 2Win before it) invalidates your earlier hyperbolic argument

As for the Crossfire Support, the other guy above said so can SLI. What I was saying with the cards from amd 850 series and above (Meaning like a 7850) can support 4 way Crossfire (note: of course it cannot, and nor can the 7870). With Nvidia, the 90 series support quad SLI, the 80 series supports 4 card SLI, the 70 supports 3 sli, and everything else that support SLI can only do 2 (note 2: except the GTX 660 Ti which supports tri-SLI).

For all your wailing about the unfairness of the posting of others, I'd also note that you haven't acknowledged one negative issue regarding the 7990 in eleven posts. Every issue in your eyes is ignored, insignificant, or the fault of Nvidia/game dev's.
Anyhow, thanks for the amusement. I'd always wondered what happens under a tinfoil hat.

Ah I see your still sticking to insulting because your arguments are invalid, how cute. But I think ill take the advice from techspot or someone like linustechtips over the Chef from new Zealand.

As for the 6870 X2, I was pointing out those would works in Quadfire where as you mention the 560 2win and the 460 2win which could not run in Quad-SLI even though it had the connector (And in case your going to try pointing facts, heres proof http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRXCh9onh6M So yea why don't you read up your facts before spouting things you don't know since you seem to act like a know it all). Anyway that was my bad not realizing they had changed from the 5 series I believe and that those cards didn't anymore because I really don't pay attention to anything below second tier single GPUS anymore.

I said the 7990 does have issues but once again I have also said ITS IN BETA driver support and its the pre-releases so your arguments of it being a poor performance card (Even though its at the top of the charts) is meaningless. Your making things to sound bad to make yourself seem smart and trying to defend yourself by comparing it to the TUL version of the card by saying its a much better card which it as well is an excellent card.

Your the type of person that tries to make himself sound smart by insulting others whose opinions differ from yours and then on top of it pointing out the few faults and making them sound like deal breakers. The GTX 690 is a great card it had its issues but like with time, those issues have mostly dried up. With the HD 7990 which is in beta, it has proven to be superior performance in almost every way except this new frame stutter test which will be resolved IN TIME. AMD was late on releasing this, but they still did and they are adding game bundles to it and they made sure to not release something that would not underperform (When it fact, its out performing the 2 7970GHZ editions in Crossfire if you include the lower power usage).

 

[GhostRyder]

And for the record since I know you will mention it, I was responding to the person whose opinion was different because he was posting on the review for the 7990 saying "Nvidia is the best experience". I was saying it was not and that each company brings something different to the table.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Why is this becoming a flame war between nVidia and AMD all of a sudden? Also Ghost, Zero is a graphics expert. Read all 4 of his history of modern graphics articles and then come back. He deserves more respect.

 

[amstech]

I was saying it was not and that each company brings something different to the table.

Nvidia does bring the best experience, with more features, smoother drivers and less problems.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWFkDrKvBRU&list=PLCEE758E40CF35E83&index=6&feature=plpp_video
Radeons bring less to the table and generally have more issues.
Both GPU's are priced accordingly.

 

[GhostRyder]

I didn't start it, the NVidia people did and zero started the insult war. I only returned fire when he started shooting off his mouth.

If hes someone to "Respect" for his knowledge, he should actually try saying things without directly insulting others.

 

[amstech]

I only returned fire when he started shooting off his mouth.

You need to learn to respect others opinions.
Graham countered everything you said accurately and diligently and all you did was reply with immature banter.

 

[Jad Chaar]

nVidia's drivers are just more matured than AMDs'. AMD hasnt even changed their install manager in years! It looks like it was compiled in 2005.

 

[GhostRyder]

Amstech, your one to talk since your the one who started this war. Posting your "Opinion" saying NVidia cards are just better than AMD's on the HD 7990 review was the most immature thing to do. Your just a mad fan boy who cant take it when a card is better than one of your precious NVidia cards.

yes JC, Nvidias are more mature for some things, however I don't think the look of it matters that much on the display. It does its job and that's all that matters. AMD's 7990 will only get better with time as the drivers get better.

I respect others opinions, not trolls like you amstech who come on the competitors card reviews spouting your non-sense acting like everything you say is proven fact.

 

[Jad Chaar]

I hated AMD drivers before 13.1 since that is when they released an uninstall tool that fixed all my issues. I dont mind AMD now, they just need to implement that tool into the installer like nVidia does.