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The AMD HD6990 looks pretty much as we expected, with the traditional red fan occupying the center of cooler. As this is a reference board direct from AMD, we don't receive other peripherals in a ‘bundle' package, but we will be looking at partner cards shortly.
The PCB has a protective backplate covering the components, with both GPU mounting blocks visible from the rear.
The card is crossfire capable, and to the right is a bios switch, which we have seen on other AMD cards recently for bios modifications. The AMD HD6990 will ship in the default position of ‘2'. This is a factory supported clock setting (830mhz) with voltage set to 1.12. Position ‘1' is a ‘hardware' overdrive option with increased clocks, 880mhz on the core and an increased voltage setting of 1.175. They are naming this the ‘AUSUM' or ‘Antilles Unlocking Switch for Uber Mode', which we don't expect to become a widely used acronym.
Interestingly, the press pack highlights that the ‘AMD product warranty does not cover damages caused by overclocking, even when overclocking is enabled via AMD software and/or the Dual-BIOS Function'. Not sure how much water that would hold in a small claims court. For now, if you are worried about your investment, best leaving the switch in Position 2.
Retail boards will ship with a cover on this switch with information in the bundle as to what exactly it does, and possibly information on invalidating the warranty.
Connectivity is offered by 4x miniDP connectors (DP 1.2), and a single DL-DVI port.
AMD have informed us that partners will bundle displayport to DVI adapters with their cards, such as those seen above. 3 adapters will ship with every HD6990, a miniDP to SL-DVI passive, a miniDP to SL-DVI active, and a miniDP to HDMI passive.
The card requires two 8 pin power connectors to operate. Obviously if you are powering one of these cards we would recommend a quality power supply.
AMD are using 4GB of quality Hynix H5GQ2H24MFR memory rated to 6ghz.
AMD advised reviewers to avoid disassembling the card until the testing was completed. They are using a ‘phase change TIM' which, apparently, offers 8% better thermal performance. When the connection is broken between GPU core and cooler, the TIM has to be removed. We reapplied quality Noctua NT-H1 thermal paste after the review was completed and we can't say we noticed much difference.
AMD are using the latest generation digital programmable Volterra regulators on the card, to deliver increased efficiency with higher current capacity. The regulators are located at the centre of the board, in a symmetrical layout, to provide efficient power delivery to each GPU and its associated memory. Premium ASICs are screened for high speed and low leakage properties.
Above, GPUz highlights the two different BIOS settings available from the switch on the PCB. AMD class this as ‘HD6990 OC' mode and we will be testing with both settings later.
Same form factor as the HD5970 … bigger than the Cayman cards.
Awesome, time to get every thing i need ready and read what I’ve been waiting for.
damn that is a powerful card!
Very impressive card, but its out of reach for most people. it costs a few quid in the UK
GTX590 up for the challenge, thats what I want to see 🙂
I wish that AMd would sort out their coolers, those fans have been used now for about 10 years. its really a tough decision buying one of these due to the noise levels, but no more so that all the other dual gpu cards from AMD, at least this one isnt running at 100c+
The kettle is one, time for a good read, thanks.
what a mega product, I wasn’t expecting it to be so quick. Nvidia need to come up with something now 🙂 im sure they will
Actually when you look at the price, which will be say £550, compared to GTX480 at £400. The performance, per pound is excpetionally good for the added price difference
Well I might be very wrong here, but Nvidia will have a very tough time beating this card. The temperatures are the killer.
Two GTX570’s in a high bandwidth state could possibly beat this board, but the engineering would be difficult, a single GTX570 runs hot as it is.
I think their cooler is extremely impressive for a reference solution, sure its loud, but they aren’t letting it get into the 90c’s which is always good to see. thats why their older dual GPU cards failed. this one shouldnt.
I could live with the noise for that level of power. no more worrying about IQ settings.
What a fantastic product. even if its more expensive that my monthly rent !
It will be really interesting to see what nvidia come up with. I think they can beat this. but its all about the cooling. AMD struggled with this, its clear to see, and its noisy. I dread to think how loud the nvidia card would be.
whats next? 550W graphics cards? its starting to really get out of hand now. two of these would consume 800w when gaming? the bill at the quarter would be insane.
Just a heads up for anyone buying the card and wanting to remove the stock cooler…. There is a small screw on the back that is covered by two stickers with (its under the two stickers that look like a barcode). Well removing that you will then notice a void logo underneath it… I just wanted to point it out to you all…
Didnt bother us too much here seen as ours is sample but I know to some droppin £550ish UK is quite a bit of cash and if all you are doing is having an inquisitive look it seems a shame to void your warranty :-S
So if you change the bios switch to OC mode you void your warranty. If you take the cooler off for a look you also void it? Anything else? plugging in a DVI cable maybe?
“whats next? 550W graphics cards? its starting to really get out of hand now. two of these would consume 800w when gaming? the bill at the quarter would be insane”
I also just wanted to touch on that comment. Whilst these cards seem excessive to some you have to remember that @ this moment in time they are as I dub it the veyron moment like others in the past the concorde moment. They might not be for most people practical but to its like me saying to my team, look lets see what we can do. Not only that but having the crown of fastest single card (agreed single card but multi gpu) goes a long way to brand loyalty and advertising.
An example I like to use is the GTX 560. Its a fantastic card and in many ways better… hang with me a second. In terms of actual raw power you get for sub £200 is incredible also factor in its quiet and wont eat through your electricity like a mouth through primark. But…. to not produce these high end cards would be criminal. We need people to keep pushing as hard and fast (that sounds so wrong) at the the boundaries(agreed quite crudely in the 6990 case but hey I dont sit in either camp just wait a few days for the 590 for brute but crude).
with the reduction in nm to 28 the power consumption and heat will be brought down further (dont need pointing out here that a lot of factors at play here it was just a generalisation) but sure we could see just as big and hot cards within practical reason.
I would not say out of hand I would say its progress and with progress we can learn
DO NOT take off the cooler, according to AMD this time around they have used a new thermal compound they are transitioning to that is better than anything on the market. The claim is that once this compound is broken, ie the cooler removed it cannot work anymore and you will suffer higher temps when you put on another compound to replace it.
The logic with the GTX560 is true. I dont think many people can afford a 6990 or 580 gtx even. but they are showcase cards of how ‘advanced’ the companies are. and I agree with the intro in the review that people always opt for a card in the range of a ‘performance leader’ higher up the chain.
Interesting to read about the phase change paste.
“Your comment is awaiting moderation”
You would not mind spell checking it also would you ;-P
Damn predictive text
It is a mighty impressive card, but I see it as totally overkill. Im probably one of the few. I can understand the point of it and its extremely quick, but id be happy with a 460 or 560, or even a 6870.
Many people buy these cards and have a 1080p screen, which to me is the stupidest decision you could ever make, even a 2560×1600 screen is easily powered by a GTX570 or 6970.
Now give us some after market cooling versions for both 6990 and 590. Drolling already.
the VGA cards get me insane…!