Hardware AMD Radeon HD 6990 4GB Review

I had a quick thought about Nvidia's offering due to be announced and wondered if anyone agree's ... if Nvidia's new card was able to compete with ATi's 6990 then Nvidia would have 'leaked' info by now wouldn't they? They would have tried to put people off investing in the 6990?

 

Well EVGA have a working model of their 460 2win so I presume it wouldn't be too hard to do something similar with the 560, now that AMD have gone over the ATX voltage 'limitation', Nvidia might decide they could do the same.

 

I always think it's odd that CPC tell us dual card is useless and doesn't add much performance. However, when a dual card comes out they comment on how fast it is, yet they are usually a little slower than the SLI equivalent.

Also strange is, in the conclusion they acknowledge that its meant for Eyefinity setups but don't think to test it, for its obvious purpose. They are kind enough to tell us what COD is like at 1,680 x 1,050 0x AA 16xAF just in case you fancied a £550 card to play it at that res? Lastly Quad Crossfire? Isn't the magazine supposed to be for enthusiasts, who regardless of if they can afford it, if it's financially sound, would be interested in the sickest rig possible?

 

Indeed, fair points here...
That's why i've kind of become used to mostly disregarding BT-s GFX reviews as too superficial. You get much more useful information from other sites, like [H].

I just wish that BT would up their game - it is my fav tech site, but seems the gaming part is the one that is best covered (yes, I'm looking at you Joe - you're the best games editor i've read so far ).

 

Well the covers are slipping off the 590. A site published pics yesterday and details of the internals. Either BT are writing it up now or I guess they might be prevented mentioning it in a NDA of sorts?

 

Really look forward to the 590 benches, release still rumoured for the 24th??

 

Hi,
I was wondering if some one can help me to successively chose a TOP gaming PC, because I can't get no one with enough experience to help me.
I already think in ask for help to AMD/ATI but it will be last resort.
Well I want to "build" the best gaming PC I can, so I was thinking in 4x AMD 6990 4GB DDR5 in a Rampage III Extreme, problem to me is they will work only at 8x each.
So the chose problem begins.
Chose that motherboard, or, a Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 or a better one because I couldn't find a motherboard that run the 4 PCI-e slots at 16/16/16/16 or a 3 slot at 16/16/16.
All this regarding that I don't know any dual processor motherboard with this slots or gaming propose.
Also I intend to use a water cooling solution including the graphic cards in but a separated water cooling system.
Money and chassis size isn't problem because the chassis will be made in a CNC modeling enterprise and not intend to be small.
About the other components, no problem also... just top Intel CPU and the top memory to.
About power i've already order from a electrical engineering enterprise to build me at costume power supply too. I've bean told the minimum power will be around 3KW.
So not facing the other stuff problems in the supposed easy choice, I can't get no one to give me the right choice without make a self question, witch one is the best.
I know that you will probably ask your self, "If money isn't the problem why ask here or why not to order a costume motherboard at a developer?"
Well, money can't buy everything. They don't build just one regardless of the payment amount.
Only solution would be to buy the company but will it be able to build it?
So, facing the fact to use "ordinary" components so I can get the build before Christmas and keep In mine I don't want other graphics else then AMD/ATI, what the solution for the "TOP Gaming PC"?

Best Regards,
Elect_T

 

Mate,

Looks like you've gone crazy with your ideas

If you want the top gaming PC at the current moment, you have basically no other sensible choice except an Intel 2600K, 2x AMD 6990 (or for cooling purposes, 4x 6970 might be better), and "some RAM" (8GB to start). (no increases in performance beyond 4 GPU-s btw, drivers).
Paying more than that will net you no performance increases to speak of...

But, be aware that AMD is rumoured to bring out their new GFX cards fairly soon (who knows when though, could be october, november or later).
Also, some SSD-s in Raid 0 might help you (even though in a purely gaming PC, Raid 0 vs a single SSD won't make that big of a difference, shorter load times that's all.

Moreover, a 2500K is basically as good in a gaming PC as a 2600K - it almost doesn't make sense to spend the additional ~100$ on a 2600K if your main goal is gaming.

2 cents right there.

Edit: if you're a troll, well done