AMD Radeon HD 6990 4 GB Review: Antilles Makes (Too Much) Noise

[masterofevil22]

Yeah, when Nvidia cards suck a lot of power and produce heat it is all about how bad of a company Nvidia is. Oh, but if AMD does it that is perfectly fine. Sorry AMD fan boys but you are such hypocrites.

Ahhhh...maybe that's because T H I S C A R D H A S T W O G P U ' S I N I T . Had to say that slowly, apparently some people think a card that has two chips on it should be judged within the same relative parameters as a single gpu card. It should not.

That's like saying; boy, that Bugatti Veyron with twin V8's is one heavy piece of crap car compared to the Astin Martin DB8 with one V8.

HELLO....does this really take a rocket scientist to figure out the basic thermal dynamics at work here??

 

[masterofevil22]

Btw, jasonpwns

AMD fans are not lying when they say NVIDIA cards are notoriously power hungry. If you look at history, really starting after they acquired 3dfx (Voodoo was also not afraid to use substantial system power, especially considering its time) NVIDIA cards (even with just one GPU) have almost always used more power than their ATI counter parts.

I personally have owned a lot of both manufactures' cards over the years and I love both companies products for different reasons, but saying that one is more power hungry (typically) than the other isn't hate, it's just an observation and a fact.

 

[f-14]

due to double water cooling resivoirs and disapators i don't use compact cases, if it does not have at least 5 front bays all the required parts will not fit.
for a compact case (which does not result in a compact solution, think outside the box & leaf blower ugly, it is so ugly it has to be kept out of sight chris, i increased the cfm, added 3M furnace style anti static filters and a similar but dramatically smaller style blower with a thermal resistor to dramatically slow down the fan speed and decrease the blowers normal noise & air flow below factory spec and custom ducting (front & sides)on an air cooling solution only. i did that for a test on a CM storm scout with an intel 950 oc'd to 4ghz (thmltk frio), evga classified, tri sli'd evga factory oc'd 275's (yes i know they are rear exhaust) 8gb gskill pc1600 and got it all to fit inside my old sauder corner tower enclosure desk which i modded intake holes for the blower and external exhaust and required removing a shelf on top and remounting below the case.

He put a plastic pen inside an enclosed case with the two cards. I'm told that, running overnight, the pen started to melt.

ouch. sounds like i will have to raise my price for these cards. past experiments tapping into a portable air conditioner & later also a dehumidfier was disaterous. i will have to see if my noise canceling & special ventilation technique can handle this challenge! if not that's $1300/$2000 down the drain just to test it tyvm for that last bit of info, i thought i might have this covered with the 295's sli'd i developed my techniques on.

 

[f-14]

thermal resistor

i meant voltage regulator.

 

[sargentchimera]

If this is anything like the 5970 heat wise then I would not Crossfire it. I had 2 5970s and the bottum card kept burning up. Luckily the warranty covered the 3 cards that died and I convinced them to let me exchange the 2 5970s for 2 580s. Was a great trade in my opinion.

 

[atikkur]

reallly immature product! more immature than gtx480 as i see.

 

[silky salamandr]

[citation][nom]masterofevil22[/nom]Ahhhh...maybe that's because T H I S C A R D H A S T W O G P U ' S I N I T . Had to say that slowly, apparently some people think a card that has two chips on it should be judged within the same relative parameters as a single gpu card. It should not.That's like saying; boy, that Bugatti Veyron with twin V8's is one heavy piece of crap car compared to the Astin Martin DB8 with one V8. HELLO....does this really take a rocket scientist to figure out the basic thermal dynamics at work here??[/citation]

We dont want to hear that my friend. People always compared the 5970 to the 480 in benchmarks and what was the response? They said that its totally fair cause this is Nvidias flagship card and this is ours. Then we(being)Nvidia said "hey thats not fair, the 5970 is a dual gpu card". Amd(fanboys) said tough its only fair.

So please we dont want to hear all the justifacations on why this card is not ready for prime time in its reference form. That crap flooded the net so fast and was the joke of the gaming community. When AMD does it, theres all the fans defending and not calling it for what it is.

I owned a 480 so I know a little about hot and loud. I could not believe how loud the fan was. And before you say it, I game with Tritton AX pros and I still could hear the card! I couldnt imagine anything louder than a 480.

Since you want to use car references;
You can have 1000hp but whats all that power if you still have garbage suspension and garbage brakes.

The beauty of this is that ANYBODY can make something go fast but do you have the engineering to make all of it work in harmony.

 

[wikiwikiwhat]

Hide yo wife, Hide yo kids...hide yo husband too cuz this card is RAPIN' EvryBODY!!!!!!!!

 

[shin0bi272]

Funny how a lot of the comments are on how its too hot and too loud and uses too much power but people still want one... where were these people when the 480 and 580 came out for nvidia? Oh yeah fanboyism... I keep forgetting. This is certainly a monster card and if you have the right cooling system (like a 20" house fan mounted to the side of your case lets say) then you can use it ... with earplugs. Personally Id rather have the single chip 580 and come in second or 3rd in the fps race but use less power, have less noise, less heat, and better physx. Anyone seen the new unreal engine trailer? yeah that uses physx and lots of dx11.

also the cheapest one on newegg (not in stock of course) is 709 with the average price being 750.

 

[johnners2981]

Maybe it was just a bad card because read another 6990 review at guru3d and it was maxed at 46 dBa under load which is pretty acceptable

 

[fools79]

Well I haven't even gotten my 6950 yet and I already have buyer remorse, even though I could barely afford that and a new processor as my bi-annual upgrade. Oh weel maybe when I finish my masters and get a real job.

 

[cangelini]

[citation][nom]fools79[/nom]Well I haven't even gotten my 6950 yet and I already have buyer remorse, even though I could barely afford that and a new processor as my bi-annual upgrade. Oh weel maybe when I finish my masters and get a real job.[/citation]

Don't--the 6950 is a great card.

 

[chefboyeb]

Glad i made the switch from my dual Black edition 5850s to dual 6970s... I'll gladly skip this monstrosity... Smdh!

 

[voltagetoe]

The GTX 480 is already way too noisy for me, so i really would not like to be near this card. I hate CUDA rendering with the 480 because the fan noise gives me a headache. Some people actually have to do work with these kinds of cards every day... I guess that we soon have to start using earmuffs like circular saw workers.

 

[firebld]

gd upgarde for my HD6850... lovely,, hope to get this card on the same day crysis 2 out for sale..

 

[damric]

Not sure what planet this reviewer is from. If you are looking at getting a card like this, you are going to have a highly efficient case cooling solution.

 

[cangelini]

Cost != efficiency, damric. Just because you're rich doesn't mean your chassis can work magic.

 

[weaselsmasher]

It's all about the total cost of ownership.

If you are pretty much required to get an aftermarket cooling solution, either for noise or because putting two of these cards into the same system will barbecue that system, the cost and hassle of the aftermarket coolers have to be considered part of the cost of the card. You might also need a motherboard that has extra space between the PCIe-16 slots.. this is fine if you already have one or if you're starting from scratch, but if you're planning on using your current motherboard you might have issues.

I've mentioned elsewhere that I consider cards like this to be more of a stunt than a product. As pointed out in this review, if you want two 6970 GPUs, for many reasons getting two discrete cards is superior. And is there anyone who would use the stock cooling solution on ANY quad-GPU rig?

Yup. Kind of a solution looking for a problem.

 

[verbalizer]

you will not be able to hear the game your gaming on, headphones or not..... LOL

 

[dragonsqrrl]

[citation][nom]johnners2981[/nom]Maybe it was just a bad card because read another 6990 review at guru3d and it was maxed at 46 dBa under load which is pretty acceptable[/citation]
The noise charts on Guru3D are usually lower then most other review sites because they take their DBa measurements differently. They place the mic about 1-2m from their test bed, which sits in a fully enclosed case. Many other sites take open case measurements from a much closer distance. However if you notice in their charts, the HD6990 is still at the top of the single card configurations and even surpasses several dual card setups for noise production.

You have to read their charts relative to other cards, then you'll notice the order the cards are given, from quietest to loudest, isn't all that different from the charts on Tom's and other sites.

 

[alidan]

[citation][nom]jasonpwns[/nom]Yeah, I'm not an AMD nor Nvidia fan boy. I just get sick at people band-wagoning and switching companies over a bit of heat. Then those same people are drolling over this card right now. Don't understand that. I will continue using Nvidia since it works and until they ruin that for me ill be good.[/citation]

when nvidia had their major heat problems, it was REAL problems. as in the cards could die kind of problems, or the high heat and power for their lesser cards.

i hate nvida for a different reason than everyone else, but thats besides the point.

the highest end card, nvidia and ati, will produce heat. and a significant amount. when we are talking nvidia to ati, an ati that is equal to an nvidia us almost always cooler and quieter, which is a plus, they also usually use less power too.

currently nvidia has nothing on par with this, so until than there is nothing to compare it to realistically.

 

[K2N hater]

2 alternatives to lower temps and noise:

triple or quad-slot configuration - larger heatsinks and better air intake would mechanically solve the issue and getting a suiable case for a pair of 6990 should be quite easy.

water cooling - despite the higher cost and maintenance it leads to much lower temperatures if properly set, also enabling more agressive overclocking.

 

[damric]

[citation][nom]weaselsmasher[/nom]It's all about the total cost of ownership.If you are pretty much required to get an aftermarket cooling solution, either for noise or because putting two of these cards into the same system will barbecue that system, the cost and hassle of the aftermarket coolers have to be considered part of the cost of the card. You might also need a motherboard that has extra space between the PCIe-16 slots.. this is fine if you already have one or if you're starting from scratch, but if you're planning on using your current motherboard you might have issues.I've mentioned elsewhere that I consider cards like this to be more of a stunt than a product. As pointed out in this review, if you want two 6970 GPUs, for many reasons getting two discrete cards is superior. And is there anyone who would use the stock cooling solution on ANY quad-GPU rig? Yup. Kind of a solution looking for a problem.[/citation]

I'm sure even my simple CM 912 would suffice. You would be foolish to think you are going to be able to put this card in your e-machine.

 

[dragonsqrrl]

[citation][nom]alidan[/nom]when nvidia had their major heat problems, it was REAL problems. as in the cards could die kind of problems, or the high heat and power for their lesser cards. i hate nvida for a different reason than everyone else, but thats besides the point.[/citation]
Real? Care to expand on what exactly you define as a "REAL" problem? But before you do, I'm just going to venture a guess and assume all the issues found in recent reviews of the HD6990 fall outside this definition, even if the problems share commonalities with some previous gen Nvidia cards.


I'll give you credit though, at least you just tell it straight and admit your blatant fanboyism instead of trying to cover it up like some others.

 

[dragonsqrrl]

I just can't understand how one sided and biased some people can be when it comes to these two graphics companies. Double standard really is the key word here, as many of the same people on this thread who once relentlessly bashed Nvidia's previous gen cards now have nothing but praise for the HD6990, ironically calling the reviewer biased and an 'AMD hater' for recommending other AMD cards... amazing.