Redefine your Gaming Paradigm with AMD Radeon HD 6990 Dual GPU Graphics Card

Dual GPU graphics cards, though popular to quite an extent amongst the game-freaks all over the world for their breathtaking high-speed, have always been at the receiving end of some strange reaction in the larger picture.

 

 

The truth is, in spite of their ability to deliver a high-end experience in gaming, so far their charm has been confined only to a certain section of users for a host of reasons: They have the same performance and compatibility drawbacks as any multi-GPU configuration typically has, they usually have enormous power and cooling requirement and really are at the extreme side of things so far the cost is concerned.

 

 

However, things are rapidly changing in the last few days since the introduction of HD 6990 from AMD and the GeForce GTX590 from Nvidia in the frenetically competitive graphics-card market.
 

Radeon HD 6990, the latest offering from AMD was launched on March 10, 2011. AMD, the company responsible for delivering a number of high-end, efficient graphics cards throughout its existence has not disappointed its fans this time either. Testers from all around the world have already certified it to be a success.

 

 

The HD 6990 pretty much looks the same as most if the previous AMD cards which means Nvidia, yet again has gone with its trademark red-black color combination. Even the design and the overall look is kind of similar to the earlier 6800 and 6900 series.

 

 

The center of the PCB contains the fan. It is placed in such a way that both the graphic processing units will be under the same air flow, as well as at the exact same temperature, hence always maintaining a steady temperature.

 

 

To have a fair bit of idea about the dual GPU heatsink brackets, one just needs to flip the card. Also, a look at the x16 PCI Express connection can provide us an idea how long this card really is. Yes, the Radeon HD 6990 is really a long one, almost 12 inches. This enormous size can put even the painfully lengthy 5970 in shame.

 

 

There is a fresh, new design board just below the enormous cooling fan. The design quite surprisingly places a single blower at the heart of the 6990. Beneath the blower, there is the PCIe bridge chip (functions as the interconnection between the the two GPUs and other parts of the system) and the voltage regulators.

 

 

Then there is this array of compact Mini-Display Port, which lets the 6990 offer quite a satisfactory mix of display outputs without giving away the full slot cover of exhaust venting. The 6990 also owns the ability to run upto 5 displays. And not only that, with the help of a Display Port hub, it can also run multiple displays simultaneously.

 

AMD has always enjoyed the domination over its competitors when it comes to display output. However, there is a drawback too; it requires adapters for supporting ‘legacy’ displays with HDMI or DVI inputs. But in order to nullify this drawback, AMD has included a 3 piece set of adapter dongles so that conversions between those Mini DPPs to work under other standards are possible. The adapter trio consists of- one one passive HDMI type, one passive single-link DVI type, and one active single-link DVI type.

 

 

The only reason behind the third adapter belonging to the ‘active’ category is that the Graphic Processor Unit has only a finite quantity of timing sources for the display outputs. This means that additional active adapters will be required to fulfil the demand of more than three ‘legacy’ displays. In the same way, to have a second or third dual-link DVI display drive, one will need additional active, dual link capable dongles.
 

AMD, in the beginning, suggested to many sources that the 6990’s idle power draw would be slightly reduced than the 5970’s. It seems, they kept their words on that.
 

At idle state, it draws only 8 watts more than one single Nvidia GeForce GTX 580. On the other hand, while loaded, it draws even less power than a couple of GTX 560s in Scalable Link Interface. And to add more to the glory, so far, there is no any hint of compromises being made with the performance factor. However, it is worth mentioning that being AUSUM did cost the product some price to be paid, 50 watts to be precise. Still, it draws significantly lesser power than the GTX 570 SLI system.

 

 

According to AMD, since the card has a 5 way o/p array, it would definitely support some pretty unique and exciting display configurations.
 

About noise, the 6990 is a bit on the louder side compared to its main rival GeForce GTX 590, both at idle, as well while running a game. Yes, its quite audible. It makes quite a loud hiss. The pitch and the tenor however, are not that annoying. But having said that, in the cut throat competition with the rival GTX 590, the noise factor could pose some serious threat to this otherwise quite magnificent product.
 

But there are added advantages too, that could make one look away from the noise factor. While it comes to the cooling features of the card, AMD has certainly put an extra effort to deliver the best possible. The GPU temperature is really pretty low. So, there is a high probability that users own mind to bear with some extra noise for maintaining the low temperature.

 

 

The price of the AMD Radeon HD 6990 is R7, 500 the exact same amount chosen by Nvidia for it’s GeForce GTX 590.
 

If you are interested in top quality gaming PCs, you should certainly take a look at the amazing range of AMD ATI Radeon HD 6990 Series DX11 Gaming PCs. We offers some of the most powerful, yet low-cost gaming PCs in the market today.