08:01
Mr. Asim Rajput
AMD introduced its first Radeon HD 6000 graphics card last October, when they reviewed the mid-range Radeon HD 6870. Since then AMD opened up to show its GPU roadmap and the cards that soon thereafter were coming to market.
The high-end Radeon HD 6970 and HD 6950 also arrived late last year, while the dual-GPU version of AMD's last generation graphics series code-named Antilles was expected to arrive soon after. Coincidentally (or not) both AMD and Nvidia took a few months longer than expected to show its hardcore dual-GPU graphics cards, with the former making the first move to finally unveil the Radeon HD 6990.
They don't think AMD sells large volumes of these dual-GPU cards, in fact, earlier versions of their topmost offerings have been known to disappear from retail temporarily and then stock back up again. Having that said, the Radeon HD 6990 is an important product on AMD's line-up as it can do a lot for the series reputation, as the HD 5970 did before.
Having looked at most of the earlier generation Crossfire and SLI products, they were definitely looking forward to see what AMD had in store for us with this dual-GPU monster.
The high-end Radeon HD 6970 and HD 6950 also arrived late last year, while the dual-GPU version of AMD's last generation graphics series code-named Antilles was expected to arrive soon after. Coincidentally (or not) both AMD and Nvidia took a few months longer than expected to show its hardcore dual-GPU graphics cards, with the former making the first move to finally unveil the Radeon HD 6990.
They don't think AMD sells large volumes of these dual-GPU cards, in fact, earlier versions of their topmost offerings have been known to disappear from retail temporarily and then stock back up again. Having that said, the Radeon HD 6990 is an important product on AMD's line-up as it can do a lot for the series reputation, as the HD 5970 did before.
Having looked at most of the earlier generation Crossfire and SLI products, they were definitely looking forward to see what AMD had in store for us with this dual-GPU monster.
Holding the performance crown can be a massive deal, and AMD did so uncontested for some time with the Radeon HD 5970. As you may recall, the GeForce GTX 400 series was basically hot to stick a pair of GPUs on a single PCB and therefore Nvidia was never able to reply with a dual-GPU offering of their own. Nvidia has overcome all those issues now, having also released their latest generation architecture with multiple GeForce 500 series products on offer today.
With both AMD and Nvidia trying hard to push its graphics technologies beyond PC gambling, including the use of embedded graphics in motherboards and processors, that has also meant that the discrete GPU market on the low-end segment is shrinking and thus mid-range offerings are taking a brand spanking new level of priority.
The GeForce GTX 580 can match the dual-GPU Radeon HD 5970 and even beat it in a considerable number of areas. With the arrival of the Radeon HD 6990, AMD is hoping to take back the performance crown which they will likely hold until the GeForce GTX 590 arrives.
Under the hood, the Radeon HD 6990 is fundamentally a pair of underclocked Radeon HD 6970 GPUs on top of a massive PCB. This is the same of what they found with the Radeon HD 5970 which featured a pair of HD 5870 GPUs operating at slightly lower frequencies.
Perhaps for some that won't be the largest shocker. The new Radeon 6990 is set to sell for $699, which translates in a $100 premium versus the HD 5970's cost at launch. At this cost point game enthusiasts can alternatively purchase a pair of Radeon HD 6970 cards and still save a couple of dollars while scoring a small additional performance.
When designing the older Radeon HD 5970, AMD worked hard to keep within the PCI Express specification which calls for a maximum TDP of 300 watts. At 294 watts the HD 5970 scrapped in and was still the most power hungry graphics card of its time. However, the new Radeon HD 6990 is much closer in specification to the HD 6970 than the HD 5970 was to the HD 5870. As a result the card's TPD rating has increased to a staggering 375 watts.
With both AMD and Nvidia trying hard to push its graphics technologies beyond PC gambling, including the use of embedded graphics in motherboards and processors, that has also meant that the discrete GPU market on the low-end segment is shrinking and thus mid-range offerings are taking a brand spanking new level of priority.
The GeForce GTX 580 can match the dual-GPU Radeon HD 5970 and even beat it in a considerable number of areas. With the arrival of the Radeon HD 6990, AMD is hoping to take back the performance crown which they will likely hold until the GeForce GTX 590 arrives.
Under the hood, the Radeon HD 6990 is fundamentally a pair of underclocked Radeon HD 6970 GPUs on top of a massive PCB. This is the same of what they found with the Radeon HD 5970 which featured a pair of HD 5870 GPUs operating at slightly lower frequencies.
Perhaps for some that won't be the largest shocker. The new Radeon 6990 is set to sell for $699, which translates in a $100 premium versus the HD 5970's cost at launch. At this cost point game enthusiasts can alternatively purchase a pair of Radeon HD 6970 cards and still save a couple of dollars while scoring a small additional performance.
When designing the older Radeon HD 5970, AMD worked hard to keep within the PCI Express specification which calls for a maximum TDP of 300 watts. At 294 watts the HD 5970 scrapped in and was still the most power hungry graphics card of its time. However, the new Radeon HD 6990 is much closer in specification to the HD 6970 than the HD 5970 was to the HD 5870. As a result the card's TPD rating has increased to a staggering 375 watts.
Radeon HD 6990 In Detail
The Radeon HD 6990 is a sizable graphics card measuring in at 12 inches long (30cm) and weighing a small over 1kg. This puts it on par with the Radeon HD 5970, AMD's earlier flagship dual-GPU graphics card. Our review sample hung 6cm off the fringe of our Asus P6T Deluxe motherboard used for testing.
Cooling the Antilles GPUs is a pair of large aluminum heatsinks made up of 37 fins each. The heatsinks are separated by a blower fan which is positioned in-between them than at the finish of the card. This design is said to be more efficient as it will permit the fan to spin at a lower RPM yet provide the same amount of air across both heatsinks.
The Radeon HD 6990 is a sizable graphics card measuring in at 12 inches long (30cm) and weighing a small over 1kg. This puts it on par with the Radeon HD 5970, AMD's earlier flagship dual-GPU graphics card. Our review sample hung 6cm off the fringe of our Asus P6T Deluxe motherboard used for testing.
Cooling the Antilles GPUs is a pair of large aluminum heatsinks made up of 37 fins each. The heatsinks are separated by a blower fan which is positioned in-between them than at the finish of the card. This design is said to be more efficient as it will permit the fan to spin at a lower RPM yet provide the same amount of air across both heatsinks.
The actual key to this design is the use of vapor chambers and high endurance thermal compound. AMD has also provided adequate cooling for the card's GDDR5 memory chips and VRMs using aluminum heatsink plates which span the length of the card, back and front.
The vapor chamber design was first implemented in the Radeon HD 5970 and has already been used on other HD 6000 series graphics cards, however the HD 6990 features of them. They are going to must depend on pics from AMD to show you this. AMD claims the GPUs on the HD 6990 use a special kind of phase change thermal compound which improves thermal performance by 8% when compared to earlier cards. Removing the heatsinks would fundamentally bust this, or so they are told.
For the most part the card's fan operates quietly, helped by its impressively low 37-watt idle consumption. When gambling, the fan will inevitably spin up as the Radeon HD 6990 can consume a sweltering 375 watts under load, and then when pushed hard the card does start to sound like a leaf blower.
The vapor chamber design was first implemented in the Radeon HD 5970 and has already been used on other HD 6000 series graphics cards, however the HD 6990 features of them. They are going to must depend on pics from AMD to show you this. AMD claims the GPUs on the HD 6990 use a special kind of phase change thermal compound which improves thermal performance by 8% when compared to earlier cards. Removing the heatsinks would fundamentally bust this, or so they are told.
For the most part the card's fan operates quietly, helped by its impressively low 37-watt idle consumption. When gambling, the fan will inevitably spin up as the Radeon HD 6990 can consume a sweltering 375 watts under load, and then when pushed hard the card does start to sound like a leaf blower.
The heatsink & fan have been enclosed within a custom-built housing that conceals the whole graphics card, same as they saw on its predecessor. This setup helps protect the card well; Nvidia has been using similar enclosures for some time as well on sure products.
Removing the heatsink exposes the GPUs, GDDR5 memory chips, & a few other critical parts.
The GDDR5 memory works at 5000MHz (one.25GHz x two) on this particular model & features a 4GB capacity. This gives each GPU a theoretical memory bandwidth of 160GB/s thanks to the implementation of a 256-bit wide memory bus.
With the heatsink off the Radeon HD 6990 looks considerably different than the HD 5970. The largest alter is the position of the GPUs, whereas the Radeon HD 5970 had them next to each other, they are now at opposite ends of the 12 long graphics card.
Removing the heatsink exposes the GPUs, GDDR5 memory chips, & a few other critical parts.
The GDDR5 memory works at 5000MHz (one.25GHz x two) on this particular model & features a 4GB capacity. This gives each GPU a theoretical memory bandwidth of 160GB/s thanks to the implementation of a 256-bit wide memory bus.
With the heatsink off the Radeon HD 6990 looks considerably different than the HD 5970. The largest alter is the position of the GPUs, whereas the Radeon HD 5970 had them next to each other, they are now at opposite ends of the 12 long graphics card.
The core configuration of the Radeon HD 6990 calls for 1536 SPUs, 96 TAUs (Texture Address Units), & 32 ROPs (Rasterization Operator Units) per GPU giving a total of 3072 SPUs, 192 TAUs, & 64 ROPs.
Although the Radeon HD 6990 is not clocked as aggressively as the single-GPU HD 6970, with a core clock frequency of 830MHz it is still faster than the HD 6950. Simple math will tell you that because the Radeon HD 6990 is clocked roughly 6% lower than the HD 6970, it will be slightly slower than a pair of these graphics cards operating in Crossfire mode.
A pair of 8-pin PCI Express power connectors are used to feed the graphics card power. This is the first time we have come across a reference board that requires a pair of 8-pin connectors. That said, the Crossfire equivalent would not only need 8-pin power cables but as well as a pair of 6-pin connectors as well.
The Radeon HD 6990 naturally supports CrossfireX, & therefore in the standard position they discover a single connector for bridging cards together.
Although the Radeon HD 6990 is not clocked as aggressively as the single-GPU HD 6970, with a core clock frequency of 830MHz it is still faster than the HD 6950. Simple math will tell you that because the Radeon HD 6990 is clocked roughly 6% lower than the HD 6970, it will be slightly slower than a pair of these graphics cards operating in Crossfire mode.
A pair of 8-pin PCI Express power connectors are used to feed the graphics card power. This is the first time we have come across a reference board that requires a pair of 8-pin connectors. That said, the Crossfire equivalent would not only need 8-pin power cables but as well as a pair of 6-pin connectors as well.
The Radeon HD 6990 naturally supports CrossfireX, & therefore in the standard position they discover a single connector for bridging cards together.
The only other connectors can be found on the I/O panel. Our review board featured a single dual-DVI connector along with an array of Mini Display Port connections. With Eyefinity the HD 6990 can support a max resolution of 2560x1600 on five monitors, while standard cards can support up to.
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