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Our test system uses the ultra high end Asus Rampage IV Extreme. We installed both HD7990's in adjacent slots on the motherboard. There were no problems initially however the fans on the top card quickly began to work overtime when we started the testing. The backplate on these cards does get quite hot under load.
In this configuration, the three fans on the top HD7990 were directly sucking in warm air radiated from the back plate on the lower card. The bottom card was working as expected, but the top card was running at around 93c under load. We needed to space the two cards out.
We moved the bottom card down to the third slot on the ASUS motherboard, sadly however the supplied Crossfire connector didn't extend far enough. We have a few extra long length Crossfire connectors in our labs however, so we swapped over. You can buy these 10cm extra long connectors for around £5 from Ebay, if you need one.
Crossfire X worked fine and the upper card was able to intake cool air directly over the heatsinks thanks to the increased spacing. The fans didn't have to work so hard either and the temperatures dropped.
If you want to run two of these cards in CrossfireX it is worth looking into the configuration of your motherboard and if specific slots needed will run at x16 or x8 when two cards are paired up.
well thats a lot of cash for that system lol. Interesting to see the staggering power demands.
my friend still cant buy one HD7990 never mind two, no stock anywhere. any ideas when they might be available?
More positive than the article in January, I read that and thought AMD weren’t supporting quad cf at all. I guess at that stage the HD7990 wasn’t official.
Good information on the power demands, I think a lot of people think every gaming system needs a 1000W PSU.
LOL, I was jockingly expecting the ‘MUST HAVE’ tag and you didn’t disappoint me at all.
@just a passerby. you should look at the more ‘budget’ oriented articles. people who want the fastest system and the most powerful computer would consider this a must have. I want a HD7990 and am saving up for it. due to the power with 3 monitors. Nothing is faster.
These reviews are hardly designed for people who struggle to afford a GTX650.
good review.
@Alex
I think ‘Worth Buying’ tag is more appropriate, not ‘Must Have’ but I was jokingly expecting it.
So internet denizen nowadays can decide what others should read, eh?
As cocky as a person can be, you fit the word perfectly. Maybe you’re born to have that personality.
I don’t need a graphic card as I don’t do gaming but I do fond reading hardware reviews. Also there is no such a thing ‘nothing is faster’, such thinking is a retardation to technology advancement. Well, of course if you had written it as ‘for now, nothing is faster in the market’, I would agree, but never forget engineering sample of next gen do exist (to be fair quadxfire/ quadsli it) and of course even you will struggle to afford it right now :).
You can feel free to give me those HD 7990s, I will gladly take them off your hands,besides I need to upgrade from my 2 Sapphire ATI Radeon 2gb HD4850x2s I have in quad-CrossfireX.
I am a nvdia fan boy and always been using nvidia video card but it seems to me nvidia release so many card and deliver no real difference between them gtx 780 then gtx 790 keep releasing stupid model and all nvidia fan boy keep buying ghem but o well might as well get the this hd 7990 because i know it beats all other-cards….Wow what a good article I just bought a sapphire 7990 will get another one when the price drop so I can cf these bad boys thankyou so much for the great article cf wins sli lose