• XFX HD 6990 Review

    XFX HD 6990 Review

    Roydon Cerejo, Mar 25, 2011 1537 hrs IST

    Sheer raw power but it comes at a price

    Great performance, fan is relatively silent at 80 percent speed, good connectivity, well designed cooler

    Crazy expensive, load power draw on OC BIOS is very high, buggy drivers

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While the battle in the mid-range and mainstream segments is fierce, the high-end flagship segment is always a rather cold affair. For the past three generations, we've seen dual GPU monster graphics cards sitting at the top of the pyramid each designed to fight for the 'fastest card in the world' title. As always, there is just a single card from each camp that's designed to showcase what's really possible and how far you can push video card engineering to get the ultimate experience. These cards are not for the faint hearted; power consumption takes a back seat here as the main focus is on performance and nothing else. It's no wonder that they are the proffered choice for those looking to break benchmark records.



Antilles was the codename given to AMD's current generation dual GPU graphics card and now that it's finally hit retail, it goes by the name of HD 6990. The card itself is a holy combination of two powerful Cayman GPUs so everything is doubled, shaders, ROPs and memory. This card will go head on with the soon to be released GTX 590, Nvidia's answer to Antilles. XFX was kind enough to send across its version of the card quickly and today we'll be putting it through the grind. XFX has stayed true to AMD's reference clock speeds and cooler design; all it has done is added a bit of decal on the cooler to make it its own. The card comes in an attractive box with very good packaging.

Bundle
  • Drivers disk
  • Quick install guide
  • XFX 'Do not disturb' door hanger
  • CrossFire bridge
  • Mini-DP to HDMI adapter
  • Mini-DP to DVI-I adapter
  • Mini-DP to DVI-D adapter
There is not 8-pin PCIE to Molex power adapter since you're expected to use a 750W PSU as the bare minimum. So, 8-pin power connectors are standard with these types of power supplies.

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Discussion Board
(8) Comments
Jeff Stinson
,Atlanta, on Mar 26, 2011 09:52 PM
PC games dying LOL wait and see the sales for BF3 and Diablo3 just to mention a couple. No I say what is dying is your few remaining brain cells, also PC games are so far superior to console games there is no comparison. But enjoy your angry birds its fun kinda like spider solitaire... Good Day!
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Xbox_fan
,Mumbai, on Mar 25, 2011 08:02 PM
playing on a console is much better and enjoyable, these graphics card are just a headache and waste of money for pc gamers..
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PC_fan
,bangalore, on Mar 25, 2011 09:02 PM
Yeah right ... graphics cards are for the cream of the crop gamers and consoles are for low budget wannabes
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handheld_fan
,Delhi, on Mar 26, 2011 09:29 AM
Naturually, you're both wrong. Mobile gaming is where it's at! Who needs to worry about high-performance graphics and big-screen TVs when you got the simplest, most basic of entertainment in the palm of your hand. Not to mention that it's dirt cheap, and everyone knows that console and PC gaming are dying. Yes, I said console. The Angry Birds guy told me so. Anyone wanna trade Pokemon on my 3DS? /epenis
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psychotherapist
, lobotomy lab, on Mar 26, 2011 11:26 AM
Allow me to summarise what each of these fine gentlemen say into something that can be understood by a layman:
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psychotherapist
,lobotomy lab, on Mar 26, 2011 11:27 AM
PC_fan: Let's suit up and go to the Taj for dinner.
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psychotherapist
, lobotomy lab, on Mar 26, 2011 11:30 AM
Xbox_fan: I'm broke and lazy; besides, food is overrated, so better get this over with quick. Let's grab a bite from McDonalds.
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psychotherapist
, lobotomy lab, on Mar 26, 2011 11:33 AM
handheld_fan: Ah, who gives a flying fcuk?! I'll just grab a take-out from Munna Chinese stall.
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