# AMD launches Radeon HD 6990 powerhouse for $699, maintains 'world's fastest' title



## pauldmps (Mar 8, 2011)

Source: AMD launches Radeon HD 6990 powerhouse for $699, maintains 'world's fastest' title -- Engadget



> If you're scoring at home, NVIDIA currently holds the lead in single-GPU graphics cards with its GeForce GTX 580, but ATI's dual-chip Radeon HD 5970 has been holding down the absolute speed crown for a good long while. Now, bearing the name of AMD Radeon HD 6990, its successor sidles up to the throne and demands attention as the fastest single expansion board you can plug into your shiny new motherboard. The 6990 boasts a massive 4GB of GDDR5, 3,072 Stream Processors, 64 ROPs, and an 830MHz core clock speed. A dual-BIOS switch will let you crank that clock up to 880MHz with a corresponding increase in voltage, but don't expect to see much overclocking headroom above that.
> 
> *www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2011/03/11x0308b73radeonhd6990.jpg
> 
> Reviewers note, alongside their fawning assessment of the world's best performance, that the HD 6990 is a massively power-hungry card (375W TDP) and one that makes quite a bit of noise while going through its herculean tasks. That's in spite of a new vapor chamber cooling system that allegedly supports up to 450W of thermal output. If all this strikes you as a somewhat flawed execution, maybe you'll join us in hoping NVIDIA's imminently upcoming response, dubbed the GTX 590, will be able to offer a neater, more efficient assault on the extreme peaks of graphical performance.


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## Jaskanwar Singh (Mar 8, 2011)

*Re: AMD launches Radeon HD 6990 powerhouse for $699, maintains 'world's fastest' titl*

nice lauch. paul continue in an already made thread by vickybat here.


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## desiibond (Mar 8, 2011)

*Re: AMD launches Radeon HD 6990 powerhouse for $699, maintains 'world's fastest' titl*

this thing is insanely fast. GTX580 looks like a midrange card next to this monster. and the damn thing even beats 580 in SLI mode when anand played crysis at peak settings.


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## ico (Mar 8, 2011)

*Re: AMD launches Radeon HD 6990 powerhouse for $699, maintains 'world's fastest' titl*

well, two HD 6970s are better.


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## Dangerous Dave (Mar 8, 2011)

*Re: AMD launches Radeon HD 6990 powerhouse for $699, maintains 'world's fastest' titl*

looks awsome


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## vickybat (Mar 8, 2011)

*Re: AMD launches Radeon HD 6990 powerhouse for $699, maintains 'world's fastest' titl*



desiibond said:


> this thing is insanely fast. GTX580 looks like a midrange card next to this monster. and the damn thing even beats 580 in SLI mode when anand played crysis at peak settings.



I don't think it beats a gtx 580 sli buddy. Even 6970 cf beats it and consumes less power. I think gtx 590 will easily beat it.

*i54.tinypic.com/2i0l7t.png

*i56.tinypic.com/2u94k89.png
*
It doesn't beat a 580 sli or 6970cf at ultra high settings in crysis.*


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## Jaskanwar Singh (Mar 8, 2011)

*Re: AMD launches Radeon HD 6990 powerhouse for $699, maintains 'world's fastest' titl*

as if a lot of difference there batman. 5fps more only!

---------- Post added at 09:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:59 PM ----------

now compare cost - 
afaik a gtx580 is 500$. so 1000$ for 2 cards. but 6990 is 700$! so 300$ more for 5fps?


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## Cilus (Mar 8, 2011)

*Re: AMD launches Radeon HD 6990 powerhouse for $699, maintains 'world's fastest' titl*

Vicky, it is hard to say whether GTX 590 will beat it easily or not. When you put two GPUs under a single PCB, you need to normally lower the core clock and memory clock speed a little from their single GPU counter parts to make sure everything (power req, heat generation) under control. HD 6990 has lower memory speed compared to a HD 6970.
The same thing will hold true for the upcoming GTX 595 also.


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## rchi84 (Mar 8, 2011)

*Re: AMD launches Radeon HD 6990 powerhouse for $699, maintains 'world's fastest' titl*

I have my doubts if Nvidia can combine two 580s on a single die.. The power requirements would be way too much and so too would be the cooling. 

I maybe way off the target, but I think the 590 will lie somewhere between the 570 SLI and 580 SLI in performance.

Also, if a 580 sells at 500$ and SLI works to 1000$, I can't see Nvidia selling the 590 successfully if they price it more than 900$. Unless they drop the price on the 580 to around 400$..

In that sense though, the 6970 CF represents the best vfm in the ultra segment.. if such a thing exists at all lol.

---------- Post added at 10:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:43 PM ----------

and know what else is missing from those benchies? numbers for the 6870 and 6850 CF..


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## Jaskanwar Singh (Mar 9, 2011)

*Re: AMD launches Radeon HD 6990 powerhouse for $699, maintains 'world's fastest' titl*

and i read somewhere nvidia will be launching 590 after 6990 because it will decide its clocks after seeing 6990 performance.


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## mohiuddin (Mar 9, 2011)

*Re: AMD launches Radeon HD 6990 powerhouse for $699, maintains 'world's fastest' titl*



vickybat said:


> Even 6970 cf beats it and consumes less power.[/B]



what? Is that state true? Or u mistook it?!my friend.


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## ico (Mar 9, 2011)

*Re: AMD launches Radeon HD 6990 powerhouse for $699, maintains 'world's fastest' titl*



vickybat said:


> Even 6970 cf beats it and consumes less power.


Not actually. It is 80w less power-hungry at load than HD 6970 CF and consumes as much power as GTX 560 SLI. HD 6990 = 2 * HD 6950.

Similarly, GTX 590 is not going to be 2 * GTX 580. It will be 2 * GTX 570 to keep heat, noise and power under control. Even HD 5970 was 2 * HD 5850 for the same reason.


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## Jaskanwar Singh (Mar 9, 2011)

*Re: AMD launches Radeon HD 6990 powerhouse for $699, maintains 'world's fastest' titl*

ico actually 6990 is dual 6970 with low clocks. clocks are lowerd to 830 from 880. and memory clock is also lowered. all SPs of cayman are fully enabled. similarly 5970 was a dual 5870 with clocks down to 725mhz from 850mhz and memory clock lowerd too..

and so will be GTX590 i hope.


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## ico (Mar 9, 2011)

*Re: AMD launches Radeon HD 6990 powerhouse for $699, maintains 'world's fastest' titl*



Jaskanwar Singh said:


> ico actually 6990 is dual 6970 with low clocks. clocks are lowerd to 830 from 880. and memory clock is also lowered. all SPs of cayman are fully enabled. similarly 5970 was a dual 5870 with clocks down to 725mhz from 850mhz and memory clock lowerd too..


Your point is the same.

HD 6950 runs at 800mhz. More closer to HD 6990 than HD 6970. HD 5850 ran at 700mhz. More closer to HD 5850 again than HD 5870.

You can either wish to call it an under-clocked HD 6970 or an over-clocked HD 6950 with a couple of shader units enabled. Doesn't make any difference.


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## vickybat (Mar 9, 2011)

*Re: AMD launches Radeon HD 6990 powerhouse for $699, maintains 'world's fastest' titl*

^^ Nope shaders matter more and the 6990 does not sacrifice them. So it gets all the simd's from the 6970 and those clocks can be played around.




Jaskanwar Singh said:


> as if a lot of difference there batman. 5fps more only!
> 
> now compare cost -
> afaik a gtx580 is 500$. so 1000$ for 2 cards. but 6990 is 700$! so 300$ more for 5fps?



Yup i totally agree buddy. If i had that kind of money, i will select 6990 instead of gtx 580 sli. But i would wait for the 590 for sure before making a decision.
Forget 580 a 69502gb cfx makes even more sense and at a much much cheaper price.

My post actually was for desiibond as he claimed 6990 beat a gtx 580 sli.


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