You’re looking for a new graphics card and AMD has a new model, the AMD HD 6990, in its portfolio. If you’re looking for a graphics card that’s not too expensive, but doesn’t break the bank, consider this one. It’s a powerful card that doesn’t break the bank, and will help you achieve the gaming performance you’re after. The power consumption is moderate, but it’s still under the 300W limit of PCI-SIG. AMD hasn’t provided a list of system builders for the AMD HD 6990, but it’s likely to include some of the boutique vendors that offer custom builds.
Performance
The AMD Radeon HD 6990 is billed as the fastest graphics card ever made. Its 31072 Stream Processors and 64 ROPs help it win over the NVIDIA GTX 590 in our tests. This card supports multiple displays, AMD HD3D, stereoscopic 3D gaming, and movies via HDMI. It supports DirectX11 and CrossFireX, too. Regardless of the size of your system, the AMD HD 6990 is an excellent choice for gaming.
AMD’s graphics card is capable of running demanding games, including Dirt 2 and Far Cry 2. Both games have intricately lit environments and high action. The Radeon HD 6990 has a 67% advantage in the Performance mode, and nearly a 60% lead in the Extreme mode. It can also run games in the highest quality settings. In 3DMark 11, the Radeon HD 6990 is faster than the GTX 580 at all three tests, revealing its superior performance in all three.
The HD 6990 is basically two Radeon HD 6970 cards stacked onto a single card. Its base core clock speed is 830MHz, while the full 6970 has 3,072 shader ALUs and 192 texture units. It also has 4GB of GDDR5 memory running at 1,250MHz. However, AMD’s HD 6990 does not boast the highest TDP.
Overall, the performance of AMD Radeon HD 6990 is excellent, despite its high price tag. It scores in 3DMark 11 with overclocking turned off. The resultant performance is more impressive with overclocking, though it won’t blow out every game. However, at its boosted speeds, the 6990 is gentle, so it’s not a bad choice for gaming. AMD recommends that you purchase the AMD Radeon HD 6990 if you want to experience the best gaming experience possible.
Compatibility
The AMD Radeon HD 6990 graphics card is an upgrade of the previous HD6970 and is available as of July 2012. The new card was originally codenamed Antilles, and was expected to arrive in late 2010. This new card was released just weeks after the Nvidia GTX 590, and its price tag was comparable to the previous model. AMD has stated that the new HD 6990 is capable of supporting a wide variety of games.
AMD has long touted the capabilities of the HD 6990 when it comes to multi-monitor gaming. The graphics card also supports HDMI 1.4a and DisplayPort 1.2, giving gamers the flexibility to set up as many displays as they wish. In addition, the AMD Radeon HD 6990 also supports AMD’s Eyefinity technology, which enables up to five displays to be connected as a single display.
AMD is not pushing 3D as heavily as its Nvidia counterpart, but they are supporting the open standards that allow many games to be played in 3D. Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Dragon Age 2 were two examples of such games, and both feature native HD3D support. AMD also supports AMD’s APP and has two BIOSes to choose from, which allows users to tweak the settings for their specific graphics card.
The AMD Radeon HD 6990 graphics card is a dual-GPU design based on a 40-nanometer manufacturing process and primarily targets the gaming market. The card’s 2 GB of GDDR5 memory and 256-bit interface make it the fastest video card in the world, but the price is not cheap. It’s still worth the price, though.
Power consumption
Unlike some other midrange graphics cards, the AMD Radeon HD 6990 uses less power at full load than its counterparts. Its base-clocked GPU uses 413 watts when gaming, while an overclocked version can consume 450 watts. The power consumption figures are not representative of typical usage, but should give you an idea of what you can expect when you buy a graphics card.
The power consumption of the AMD HD 6990 is not as high as you might expect, thanks to its 8-pin auxiliary power connectors. While this isn’t a big deal if you plan to use your GPU for gaming, overclocking can significantly raise its power consumption. In addition, overclocking can lower performance. The GPU is capable of detecting its power consumption and automatically ramping back clock speeds to stay within its power envelope. The power consumption of the 6990 was only slightly higher than its competitors when playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2 with 1920×1200 resolution. PowerTune didn’t limit performance in typical gaming workloads, but it did limit it when synthetic tests were performed.
The AMD Radeon HD 6990 is very large and quite similar to its dual-GPU predecessor, the 5970. It is a good-looking graphics card, with a dual-slot cooler that looks remarkably sleek and is easy to connect. The graphics card has five video connectors and two eight-pin power connectors. This GPU consumes 375 watts at its maximum and needs additional juice for powering multiple displays.
While the Radeon HD 6990 is expensive, it is still much faster than the GeForce GTX 570 in single-GPU mode. This is largely due to the fact that the Radeon HD 6990 uses less power under load than two GeForce GTX 570 cards in SLI. It also has a wide range of display outputs and an affordable price tag. This GPU is an excellent choice at a price of $700.
Dual-BIOS switch
Recently AMD released a graphics card called the AMD Radeon HD 6990 that has a dual-BIOS switch. Activating this switch increases the card’s performance by 50MHz. AMD has also increased the card’s operating voltage from 1.12V to 1.175V, which increases its TDP and boosts the clock speed. This feature is best for gamers who want to overclock their graphics card to maximize its potential.
When you turn on the Dual-BIOS switch, the memory and GPU operate at their respective clock speeds. While the memory operates at a speed of five Gbps, the GPU operates at 830 MHz. This is good for gamers who want to hammer the technology to its limits, but bad for those who want to stress AMD’s technology. AMD has also shown this with a graphic that shows the clock speed on a Y-axis.
AMD’s Volterra regulators are designed to lower power consumption and improve efficiency. The new Volterra regulators also reduce the card’s temperature. A symmetrical layout is another important feature of the card. The graphics card’s cooling system can use up to 450W. AMD has not yet announced which system builders will support it. However, it’s likely that this graphics card will be offered by a boutique vendor.
The Dual-BIOS switch on the AMD Radeon HD 6990 graphics card is a useful feature that allows users to change the BIOS settings from one GPU to the other. The dual-BIOS feature enables users to easily switch between these two BIOSes in case one of them malfunctions. Furthermore, AMD has hacked the card’s secondary BIOS to increase the clock speed of each GPU by 5MHz.
Price
The AMD Radeon HD 6990 is a graphics card that supports HDMI 1.4a and DisplayPort 1.2. This makes it very versatile for multi-monitor setups. In addition, the Radeon HD 6990 is supported by Eyefinity technology, which allows for up to five monitors to be connected to a single card. For those who are considering purchasing this graphics card, here are some of the features that you should know about.
The AMD Radeon HD 6990 is the world’s fastest graphics card. Nvidia is preparing a dual-GPU solution that should be released within a few weeks. The price of the card makes it comparable to a budget desktop system. Despite the high price tag, it is worth the purchase if you plan to use multiple displays with it. It is advisable to use at least one 30-inch monitor if you plan on gaming on multiple monitors.
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